Under blue skies, where low-rolling hills rise south of the Canadian border in the tiny town of Adams, N.D., a couple braves the stench of old honey, wax, smoke and bee muck. Nancy and Keith Budke, married 43 years, are migratory beekeepers. They produce honey with the taste of canola nectar, sweet clover and other…
When territorial animals are confronted by intruders, they instinctively protect their turf — no matter how small. For warty birch caterpillars, that means patrolling one of the tiniest territories on Earth: the tips of birch leaves. Scientists observed the caterpillars warding off intruders with loud vibrations that advertise they are in command of a domain…
The silent season is drawing to a close. All winter, there was little birdsong to lift my heart. The occasional caw of a crow, the chickadee-dee-dee of a chickadee, the big song of the little Carolina wren that now stays on our Pennsylvania farm all winter. But no courtship call of great horned owls, no…
Mycorrhizal fungi are the supply chains of the soil. With filaments thinner than hair, they shuttle vital nutrients to plants and tree roots. In return, the fungi receive carbon to grow their networks. In this way, 13 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide — one-third of fossil-fuel emissions worldwide — enter the soil each year….
For the past five years, Molly Culver, owner of Molly Oliver Flowers in Brooklyn, has mounted a quiet battle against the goliath of Valentine’s Day flowers: the rose. Classically red, multilayered, prickly and velvety, millions of roses, most imported from overseas, will be sold for the annual day of love. But Ms. Culver is among…
The vast majority of plants are hermaphrodites, with both male and female reproductive parts. Oaks, some orchids, the potted spider plant in your office — they’re all capable of reproducing without a member of another sex nearby. “It makes sense if you are an organism that can’t run around and find mates,” said Deborah Charlesworth,…
In Hanoi and other Vietnamese cities at this time of year, potted kumquat trees fastened to motorbike seats dodge and weave through traffic in a haze of orange. Families buy them as symbols of luck and good fortune for the new Lunar New Year, which started on Wednesday. This year a typhoon and extreme heat…
Flower mites spend their lives slurping nectar and nibbling pollen in flowers throughout the tropics. To travel from one blossom to another, these tiny, eight-legged creatures hitch rides on the beaks of hummingbirds, taking shelter in the birds’ nostrils during flight. When a speedy hummingbird arrives at a flower to drink nectar, mites run toward…