Plant biology
Plants responding to their surroundings, reproducing and diversifying.
10 problemsPlant biology
Plant development, responses to light and gravity, reproduction and evolutionary history.
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Browse collectionsA few problems to explore
11 totalFlowering plant origins
Fossils and DNA offer different timelines for the earliest living flowering-plant lineages. Why do their estimated beginnings still disagree?
Circadian temperature compensation
Most chemical reactions change speed with temperature. A plant’s daily clock can keep nearly the same rhythm. How do its components cooperate to do that?
Mast seeding
Some plants produce huge seed crops together, then little for years. How do weather cues and stored resources set that rhythm?
Non-photochemical quenching
Plants safely release excess absorbed light as heat. How does their light-harvesting machinery switch this protection on and off?
Polyploid establishment
A plant with extra chromosome sets may have few compatible mates. Which conditions let a new polyploid population persist?
Gravity sensing in plants
Roots and shoots can tell which way gravity points. How do settling structures inside cells become a directional growth signal?