Opuntia demand is making cultivation of the insect an attractive opportunity in other regions, such as in Mexico, where cochineal production had declined again owing to the numerous natural enemies of the scale insect. Apart from cochineal, the red dye betanin can be extracted from some "Opuntia" plants themselves. Fluid ("cactus juice") extracted from "Opuntia" pads and stems, especially "O. ficus-indica", is one of the most commonly used additives in earthen plaster. The flesh ("mucilage") of the cactus has been found to purify water. A project at the University of South Florida is investigating its potential for low-cost, large-scale water purification.
Plant functional type key parameters are defined, such as fecundity, competitiveness, resorption (rate at which plant decays and returns nutrients to the soil after death), etc.; the value of each parameter is determined or inferred from observable characteristics such as plant height, leaf area, etc. Climatologists and ecologists struggle to determine which minimal set of plant characteristics best model the actual responses of the biosphere in response to climate changes. Plant functional type Plant functional types (PFTs) is a system used by climatologists to classify plants according to their physical, phylogenetic and phenological characteristics as part of an overall effort to develop a