nrdc: Global Warming Threatens Plant Communities
Environment 360 reports: “A new study says that a warming climate is having a more profound effect on the world’s mountain vegetation than previously believed and that some alpine meadows could vanish altogether within a few decades.”
Between 25-50% of modern medicines are derived from plants. Indeed, of the top 150 prescribed drugs in the United State nearly 60% were originally derived from plants. We’re talking about drugs we all take for granted, like digitalis, which treates heart disease (foxglove), and l-dopa, which is used to combat Parkinson’s (vanilla bean), as well as cancer treatments, such as taxol (derived from the Pacific Yew tree). Read more.
Photo: (Pacific Yew) Pellaea, Creative Commons license
Future of Frankincense Not So Sweet
by Sara Reardon
The mythical gifts of the Magi—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—represented the rarest and most precious tributes one could give a king. Unfortunately, frankincense, a sweet-scented resin from the desert tree Boswellia, has become even rarer and will continue to do so, researchers report today in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Boswellia trees have had trouble reproducing in recent years, and ecologists believed that they were weakened when traders tapped them for resin.
Working in Ethiopia over a period of 2 years, the researchers monitored 12 copses of B. papyrifera: six that had been tapped and six that had not. They found that the tapped trees were able to reproduce as well as the untapped, ruling out human interference as the major killer. Instead, the biggest threats seemed to be grazing livestock, fires, and the longhorn beetle, which burrows into trees’ bark, kills them, and leaves them as ready fuel for forest fires.
If these problems aren’t remedied soon, the team’s models suggest that frankincense production could drop by 50% in the next 15 years: a tough blow to the economies of Ethiopia and Eritrea who export it.
(via: Science NOW)
(images: Maros Markovic/iStockphoto; (inset) Fotosearch)
Christmas Chemistry - The Science of Holly
All about holly, that most poisonous of holiday decor.
(via Scientopia Guests’ Blog)
Seeing as this is a much better illustration than the ones I dug up, AND it has a very interesting article with it, here’s your holly for the season. :D
The rick rack cactus (Selenicereus anthonyanus) is a rare epiphyte from the rainforests of southern Mexico. Its stunning flowers open at dusk, to be visited by moths and bats. | +
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