They’re planting trees everywhere and other stories

In stories we shared on social media, tree planting was once again a popular theme.

Paris to plant first ‘urban forest’ on busy roundabout in drive to build a garden city

This winter, the city will plant 478 trees on the Place de Catalogne near the Gare Montparnasse train station as a flagship project in Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s drive to cut noise, pollution and tackle global warming.

Planting a revolution in the community garden

A mile north of London’s M25 orbital motorway, a deep-set lane through woodland and fields leads to an undulating 240-acre estate in Hertfordshire shared by three Stuart-Smith siblings. One of those acres is home to Tom and Sue Stuart-Smith’s remarkable not-for-profit enterprise to cultivate good mental health, community and a “plant library”.

Grower produces rarer white variety of poinsettia house plant

Poinsettias originated in Mexico where they originally grew much like a weed.

Insects thrive on solar farms planted with native flowers

Two solar farms in Minnesota saw big increases in bees and other insects after a variety of native grasses and wildflowers were planted among the panels

Over The Course Of Three Summers, She Planted 372,290 Trees In An Effort To Repopulate Canada’s Forests

With deforestation, wildfires, and other kinds of manmade or natural influences, the planet’s naturally growing trees have taken quite a hit. Thankfully, there are conservationists, experts, and caring citizens who are striving to introduce more trees and plants to their areas every year. But have you heard of one person planting over 300,000 trees on their own?

Milkweed, Fire, and Flowers: An Artist’s Take on the Texas Grasslands

Plus, old favorites and the always fascinating Louise Nevelson, at the Amon Carter in Fort Worth

Maternal effects of human-mediated disturbances on the growth and reproductive traits of different ecotypes of an annual invasive plant Erigeron annuus ($)

Among the numerous invasive alien plants, annuals have fast adaptability and evolution via maternal effect in human-mediated disturbance environments, such as chemical and physical controls. The characteristic enables them to quickly disperse and establish new habitats. Thus, understanding the adaptability and evolution of invasive plants in response to multifactorial human-mediated disturbances is crucial for developing effective management strategies to control their spread and minimize their impacts on ecosystems and human activities. In order to test the growth and reproductive responses in both the parent and offspring generations, two ecotypes (clump and scatter) of an annual invasive plant, Erigeron annuus, were subjected to simulated trampling, defoliation (simulated herbivory), and herbicide disturbances.

Forest understorey flowering phenology responses to experimental warming and illumination ($)

Lorer et al. recorded flowering onset, peak, end and duration of 10 temperate forest understorey plant species in two mesocosm experiments to understand how phenology is affected by sub-canopy warming and how this response is modulated by illumination, which is related to canopy change. Furthermore, they investigated whether phenological sensitivities can be explained by species’ characteristics, such as thermal niche.

Global patterns and ecological drivers of taxonomic and phylogenetic endemism in angiosperm genera (OA)

Endemism of lineages lies at the core of understanding variation in community composition among geographic regions because it reflects how speciation, extinction, and dispersal have influenced current distributions. Qian et al. investigated geographic patterns and ecological drivers of taxonomic and phylogenetic endemism of angiosperm genera across the world. They identify centers of paleo-endemism and neo-endemism of angiosperm genera, and show that they are mostly located in the Southern Hemisphere in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in Asia and Australia.

Slowing taxon cycle can explain biodiversity patterns on islands: Insights into the biogeography of the tropical South Pacific from molecular data (OA)

Islands in the tropical Pacific Ocean are renowned for high biodiversity and endemism despite having relatively small landmasses. However, our knowledge of how this biodiversity is formed remains limited. The taxon cycle, where well-dispersed, earlier colonizers become displaced from coastal to inland habitats by new waves of colonizers, producing isolated, range-restricted species, has been proposed to explain current biodiversity patterns. Keppel et al. integrate the outcomes of phylogenetic studies in the region to investigate the sources, age, number of colonizations, and diversification of 16 archipelagos in the tropical and subtropical South Pacific. They then evaluate whether the results support the taxon cycle as a plausible mechanism for these observations.

Proximate cues of flowering in a subtropical rain forest ($)

Plants have evolved mechanisms to track seasonal variation in environmental resources, enabling them to time key life-history events to appropriate seasons. While the proximate cues for flowering initiation are well documented in the temperate region, it is still unclear what the flowering cues are in the tropics, especially in the subtropics. Chang-Yang et al.’s study compared first flowering dates (FFDs) predicted by eight hypothesized proximate cues concerning photoperiod, mean and directional changes in solar irradiance and warm/cool temperature, and rainfall with flowering dates observed over 19 years of weekly monitoring for 16 species in a subtropical rain forest.

Naturalizations have led to homogenization of the Malesian flora in the Anthropocene (OA)

Worldwide, floras are becoming homogenized at global scales, but regional patterns vary. Holnes et al. present the first assessment for the Malesian phytogeographical region in terms of the timing of introductions, direction, magnitude and drivers of floristic change due to alien plant naturalizations.