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Orchid bees aren’t so dependent on orchids after all, according to a new study that challenges the prevailing view of how plants and their insect pollinators evolve together. It turns out that the orchids need their bees more than the other way around, a finding with implications in conservation biology as bee populations decline worldwide.
Tag: plant biology
Four faculty members named fellows of AAAS
November 29, 2012:
Four UC Berkeley faculty members – plant biologist Sheng Luan, cell biologist Kunxin Luo, nuclear engineer Eric Norman and chemist Evan Williams – are among 702 new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, bringing the campus total to 227.
The backstory of a vital CO2 discovery
November 13, 2012:
How do plants use carbon dioxide? Photosynthesis is at the heart of biology, but it wasn’t until biochemist and alum Andrew Benson got together with UC Berkeley chemistry professor Melvin Calvin in the years following World War II that the process was elucidated. A new video interview with Benson captures his perspective on the collaboration.
NSF grant to help unlock corn’s genetic mysteries
August 9, 2012:
Damon Lisch of UC Berkeley’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology has been awarded $1.3 million of a $3.4 million shared NSF grant to answer some fundamental questions about genetic inheritance in plants.
Peggy Lemaux elected president of the American Society of Plant Biologists
August 25, 2011:
Peggy Lemaux, cooperative extension specialist, has been elected president of the American Society of Plant Biologists. She is the fifth UC Berkeley scientist to lead this professional group in its 87-year history as a plant biology-focused organization.
