Healthy growth of wheat, maize and other crops is not possible without the plant's own hormones. Professor Ulrich Hammes is investigating the proteins that help the hormones reach their sites of action.

Plants adapt their water consumption to environmental conditions by counting and calculating environmental stimuli with their guard cells. Plant researchers from Würzburg report this in ‘Current Biology’.

Using optogenetics, Würzburg researchers have detected a new acid sensor in plant cells that is addressing a cell-internal calcium store, as they report in the journal "Science".

Plants in which an ion channel of the vacuole is hyperactive are extremely stressed and grow poorly. But the broad bean is an exception, as Würzburg researchers have discovered.

Drought significantly reduces the reproductive success of bumblebee colonies. This is shown by a new study conducted by a research team at the University of Würzburg. This also has consequences for plant pollination.

A large-scale experiment shows that warmth brings bees and wasps out of hibernation earlier – leaving some of them with poorer starting conditions. This is particularly true for species in cooler regions that emerge during spring.

Rainforest cleared for agriculture can regenerate: trees and animals return. This is shown by a new study published in “Nature”; researchers from the Würzburg Biocentre are involved.

A specific protein controls mRNA transport in fungi and distinguishes important from unimportant binding sites in the transported mRNAs. Researchers from Würzburg and Düsseldorf have discovered this mechanism.