Tag: Biology

Projects

How spruce meets bark beetle

How efficient is the defence mechanism of spruce trees when they are suffering from drought, what attracts bark beetles to stressed trees, and what role do their fungal symbionts play in the infestation? In a basic research project, entomologist Sigrid Netherer and her team succeeded in furnishing the first empirical evidence that drought-stressed spruce trees […] Continue reading “How spruce meets bark beetle”

Portrait

Here’s a tobacco plant that saves lives

By Margit Schwarz-Stiglbauer

Molecular biologist Herta Steinkellner and her team have succeeded in producing highly effective antibodies against Covid-19. What is amazing about her method is that these medical wonder weapons are produced by – humanised – plants. This feat could be performed because at the genetic level the boundaries between living beings are blurred. Continue reading “Here’s a tobacco plant that saves lives”

Projects

Balancing growth and resilience

In an international research project, a research group at the Gregor Mendel Institute in Vienna has investigated how plants react to rising temperatures in terms of the two strategies essential for their survival: “growth” and “warding off disease”. Their studies show that heat triggers a broad immune response and stops growth. Awareness of these regulatory […] Continue reading “Balancing growth and resilience”

On the road

Early morning in the reeds

By Katharina Mahr

The Hortobágyi National Park in Hungary was the recent venue of Katharina Mahr’s field research into the big questions of evolution. A behavioural scientist, Mahr wants to find out how the growth and reproduction of living creatures have developed over time and what the underlying mechanisms are. She expects her research object, the bearded reedling, […] Continue reading “Early morning in the reeds”

Projects

How does the beta blocker get into the garden cress?

The effluents from sewage treatment plants are testimony to the most common ailments of the Austrian population, and transport residues of painkillers, antibiotics or anti-hypertensives into the rivers. Fortunately, they only contain small traces. But if water becomes scarce – which might well happen even in Austria in the face of climate change – farmers […] Continue reading “How does the beta blocker get into the garden cress?”
Researchers guided migratory birds to their wintering grounds.

Projects

No survival without teamwork

Migratory birds flying south provide an impressive example of cooperative behaviour that saves power and energy. In the past it was impossible for scientists to study this phenomenon in a natural environment. Researchers who guided young Northern Bald Ibises to their wintering grounds have now succeeded for the first time in obtaining a comprehensive data […] Continue reading “No survival without teamwork”