Nightshades' mating habits strike uneasy evolutionary balance
Thursday, October 21, 2010 - 13:50
in Biology & Nature
Most flowering plants, equipped with both male and female sex organs, can fertilize themselves and procreate without the aid of a mate. But this may only present a short-term adaptive benefit, according to a team of researchers led by two University of Illinois at Chicago biologists, who report that long-term evolutionary survival of a species favors flowers that welcome pollen from another plant.