PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Are long stems on flowers an adaptation that encourages bat pollination?

2024-09-11
(Press-News.org) Flowers that are pollinated by bats tend to have long stems that make them stand out from the surrounding foliage. New research published in New Phytologist reveals the evolutionary advantage that this characteristic provides to plants to ensure that they are discovered by bats.

In simple backgrounds lacking foliage, bats showed no significant difference in the time it took them to find flowers with long versus short stems, but in complex backgrounds (with arrays of leaves and flowers), bats took nearly twice as much time to locate short-stemmed flowers.

Investigators hypothesize that flowers located away from the surrounding foliage likely help bats to distinguish floral echoes from background clutter during echolocation. Therefore, long stems represent an adaptation to aid bat pollination.

“This work suggests long stems make bat-flowers more ‘visible’ to bats in the same way that bright red petals help hummingbirds find their flowers,” said corresponding author Nathan Muchhala, PhD, of the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/NPH.20075

 

Additional Information
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.

About the Journal
New Phytologist is a leading international journal focusing on high quality, original research across the broad spectrum of plant sciences, from intracellular processes through to global environmental change. The journal is owned by the New Phytologist Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of plant science.

About Wiley
Wiley is a knowledge company and a global leader in research, publishing, and knowledge solutions. Dedicated to the creation and application of knowledge, Wiley serves the world’s researchers, learners, innovators, and leaders, helping them achieve their goals and solve the world's most important challenges. For more than two centuries, Wiley has been delivering on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New research provides insights into how the brain regenerates lost myelin

2024-09-11
The neurons of the brain are protected by an insulating layer called myelin. In certain diseases like multiple sclerosis, this protective layer is damaged and lost, leading to death of neurons and disability. New research published in The FEBS Journal reveals the importance of a protein called C1QL1 for promoting the replacement of the specialized cells that produce myelin. The findings could have important implications for the ongoing effort to develop new and improved therapies for the treatment of demyelinating diseases. In experiments conducted in mice, deleting the gene that codes for C1QL1 caused a delay in the rate at which oligodendrocytes ...

Cells that die during inflammation send wound-healing messages 

2024-09-11
Cells that die during inflammation send wound-healing messages  A study by the team of Prof. Kodi Ravichandran (VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research) and colleagues found that pyroptosis, a form of programmed cell death traditionally thought to be purely inflammatory, also plays a crucial role in promoting healing and tissue repair. This research, published in Nature, opens new avenues for understanding how our bodies respond to injury and could lead to innovative treatments for wounds and inflammatory diseases.  Dying cells  About a billion cells ...

Risk of secondary cancers after CAR T therapy may be similar to risk after other cancer treatments

2024-09-11
Bottom Line: The frequency of second primary malignancies (SPMs) arising in cancer survivors following treatment with CAR T-cell therapy was statistically comparable to the frequency of SPMs following other standard-of-care therapies, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Author: Kai Rejeski, MD, a visiting investigator and research fellow in the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Background: In January 2024, the U.S. Food and ...

Enhance and revise for better low-light image enhancement

Enhance and revise for better low-light image enhancement
2024-09-11
With the development of intelligent era, information captured in low-light environments has become increasingly vital. Low-light enhancement technology is now a significant research topic in the domain of machine vision. Designing a robust low-light enhancement algorithm can not only improve the contrast of images, but also restore color and texture details, so as to obtain more distinct and accurate low-light scene information. The team led by Prof. Danhua Cao from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), ...

Multiple ways to evolve tiny knee bone could have helped humans walk upright

2024-09-11
The evolution of bones in primates’ knees could have implications for how humans evolved to walk upright, a new study has found. Researchers from King’s College London analysed the presence of the lateral fabella, a bone in the knee the size of a sesame seed, in 93 different species of primates. They found that while most primates have these bones, they are often absent in hominoids, the group of primates that humans belong to alongside chimpanzees, gorillas, gibbons, and others. Yet ...

UBCO study explores access to psychedelics for therapeutic use

UBCO study explores access to psychedelics for therapeutic use
2024-09-10
Feeling safe and comfortable are key when discussing your health and wellbeing with your primary care provider. However, that feeling of comfort and safety can’t be taken for granted among many people who have turned to psychedelic substances—including psilocybin—to help control their symptoms of depression, anxiety or PTSD. Now, a team of UBC Okanagan researchers in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has published a study looking into patient perspectives and potential issues when it comes to discussing psychedelics for therapeutic use with their physicians. Dr. Michelle St. Pierre conducts ...

Lower diligence level linked to higher cardiovascular disease risk in type 2 diabetes

2024-09-10
People with type 2 diabetes, who display lower levels of diligence, may have a significantly higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease with which diabetes is strongly associated, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. While certain personality traits may influence cardiovascular disease risk, adopting a healthy lifestyle is still beneficial, irrespective of diligence level, the findings show. Effective management of type 2 diabetes ...

Statins cost effective and linked to better health outcomes in older people

2024-09-10
Statin treatment is cost effective and linked to better health outcomes in older people with or without previous cardiovascular disease, although the risk reductions were substantially smaller in the latter, reports a modelling on the lifetime benefits of these drugs among the over-70s, published online in the journal Heart. The findings back consideration of these drugs for most over-70s, say the researchers. Statins are used extensively to ward off heart attacks and strokes in middle-aged people, ...

Abdominal fat linked to widespread chronic pain, especially in women

2024-09-10
Excess abdominal fat is associated with widespread chronic pain, particularly in women, finds the first study of its kind, published in the open access journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.   Reducing excess fat deposits in the abdomen may help reduce chronic musculoskeletal pain, especially if it’s experienced at multiple body sites, suggest the researchers. Previously published research has shown that obesity is associated with musculoskeletal pain, but it’s not known if excess fat tissue is linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain and at multiple body sites, ...

Wearable brain imaging device shines a light on how babies respond in real-world situations

Wearable brain imaging device shines a light on how babies respond in real-world situations
2024-09-10
A new technology which uses harmless light waves to measure activity in babies’ brains has provided the most complete picture to date of brain functions like hearing, vision and cognitive processing outside a conventional, restrictive brain scanner, in a new study led by researchers at UCL and Birkbeck. The wearable brain imaging headgear, which was developed in collaboration with UCL spin-out Gowerlabs, found unexpected activity in the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that processes emotions, in response to social stimuli, appearing to confirm ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Giant Magellan telescope begins primary mirror support system testing

Experimental cancer drug eliminates bone metastases caused by breast cancer in lab models

Political candidates who fight climate change stand to benefit in election

Stand up to Cancer announces new grants supporting pioneering research in six cancer types

Researchers awarded $1.3M to help military Veterans battling Acute Myeloid Leukemia

New hub for high-energy astrophysics — CTAO Science Data Management Centre opens at DESY in Zeuthen

JMIR publications CEO and Executive Editor Gunther Eysenbach achieves #1 ranking as most cited researcher in Medical Informatics for fifth consecutive year

ERC grant for groundbreaking wearable health tech

NIH announces winners of prize competition to improve postpartum maternal health and health equity through innovative diagnostics

APS and SPR honor Dr. Cynthia F. Bearer with the 2025 Mary Ellen Avery Neonatal Research Award

Election delays and voter trust

US air pollution monitoring network has gaps in coverage, say researchers

Continuous monitoring of fatigue in factory workers

Farmer ants’ wearable bacteria

Political polarization and trust

Study uncovers how silkworm moth's odor detection may improve robotics

New study links obesity to elevated hypertension risk among young middle eastern women

How ‘vaccinating’ plants could reduce pesticide use and secure global food supplies

Seven new frog species discovered in Madagascar: sounds like something from Star Trek

New temperatures in two thirds of key tropical forest

Fearful memories of others seen in mouse brain

Rangers lead ground-breaking effort to monitor Uganda's lion population in critical stronghold

Modern mass extinction in an Ecuadorean cloud forest found to be a mirage

HLA-DRB1*01:03 and severe ulcerative colitis

Quantum leap in suicide prevention: Professor Philippe Courtet's visionary approach unveiled in Genomic Press Interview

Need for streamlined miscarriage care in Canada

Traces of ancient immigration patterns to Japan found in 2000-year-old genome

Countries that choose to do so can reduce premature death by half, researchers say

50 by 50—How can we reduce the probability of dying before age 70 by 50% globally by 2050?

Research explains why some cyclists don’t wear helmets and what might convince them to wear one

[Press-News.org] Are long stems on flowers an adaptation that encourages bat pollination?