2017-06-09 - The world’s oldest fossil mushroom was preserved in limestone, an extraordinarily rare event, researchers say.

2017-05-04 - Donald Ort is among four University of Illinois professors elected to the National Academy of Sciences this year.

2016-11-19 - Using computer model simulations, scientists have predicted that modern soybean crops produce more leaves than they need to the detriment of yield—a problem made worse by rising atmospheric carbon dioxide. They tested their prediction by removing about one third of the emerging leaves on soybeans and found an 8% increase in seed yield in replicated trials. They attribute this boost in yield to...

2016-11-19 - Plant biology professors Lisa Ainsworth, Stephen P. Long, and Donald Ort are three of eight Illinois faculty members on the Clarivate Analytics / Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers list, 2016.

2016-11-19 - As computer models predicted, genetically modified plants are better able to make use of the limited sunlight available when their leaves go into the shade, researchers report.

2016-10-07 - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign B.Sc. Integrative Biology, 2006 Ph.D. Plant Biology, 2013

2016-09-08 - Plant biology professor Andrew Leakey and colleagues report that soybeans will suffer yield losses sooner than previously predicted under future conditions that combine elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels with drought.

2016-04-05 - Scientists are trying to tweak a well-known model of ecological change to account for environmental fluctuations

2016-02-24 - University of Illinois plant biology professor James Dalling, graduate student Adriana Corrales and their colleagues found that fungi that associate with tree roots can profoundly influence plant diversity in a tropical forest.

2016-01-29 - Plant biology professor Evan DeLucia and co-authors found that the renewable fuel standard’s greater emphasis on second-generation biofuel can reduce emissions greatly despite economic considerations.

2015-10-19 - U. of I. professor Feng Sheng Hu led a study of carbon cycling and forest fires in the boreal forests of the Yukon Flats in Alaska.

2015-09-14 - How farmers can sustainably, and affordably, meet humanity's growing demand for food and fuel

2015-07-28 - U. of I. postdoctoral researcher Katarzyna Glowacka, left, crop sciences professor Erik Sacks, visiting scholar Shailendra Sharma and their colleagues found that chill-tolerant sugarcane hybrids, called “miscanes,” also photosynthesize at lower temperatures.

2015-07-22 - A plan to increase crop productivity by making crop plants more efficient, and better neighbors. Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology Donald Ort led a diverse group of researchers who propose a roadmap to achieve global food production goals by redesigning photosynthesis.

2015-07-15 - The results, published in PNAS, reveal microbial family trees with distinct evolutionary patterns that may one day help us understand how harmful microbes evolve.