Despite dozens of interceptions at U.S. ports, a public enemy has infiltrated the nation’s borders. Taken captive in Fulton County, N.Y., and identified by a Cornell University expert, the adult female alien is the only one of its kind ever discovered in the eastern United States.
The discovery of a single specimen of Sirex noctilio Fabricius, an Old World woodwasp, raises red flags across the nation because the invasive insect species has devastated up to 80 percent of p
In the face of tough competition, Skogforsk (the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden) has landed the role of coordinator for one of the EU’s biggest ever research projects in the forestry and forest-based sector. The project, entitled Eforwood, has been set up to develop a tool for sustainability impact assessment of the European forestry and forest-based sector. The project is scheduled to run for four years and will involve 35 organizations in 18 countries, with a planned total budget
Pesticide levels previously thought to be safe for pollinators may prove harmful to wild bee health, according to research published in Pest Management Science this month.
The Canadian study shows that adult bumble bees exposed to the pesticide spinosad during larval development – at levels they could encounter in the environment – have impaired foraging ability. Bees are important pollinators of crops. In developed countries, approximately a third of human food is reliant on po
A study of the USDA’s corn and soybean production forecasts over a 34-year period concludes that such projections “perform reasonably well in generating crop production forecast for corn and soybeans.” Still, the study, done at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, finds room for improvement.
“In particular, the USDA may want to consider expanding the scope of the subjective yield surveys to incorporate a wider range of market and industry participants,” said Dar
Up to now it was thought that nutrients penetrated the interior of plant cells by means of substance-specific transporters. Nevertheless, researchers at the Agrobiotechnology Institute at the Public University of Navarra have shown that the nutrients (saccharose, amino-acids, etc.) penetrate the cells basically through an “endocitic”, mechanism similar to fagocitosis, and induced by saccharose. This finding, carried by the latest issue of the Japanese journal, Plant Cell Physiology, will enable th
Getting resistance to the latest biotype of greenbug or rust in wheat may require some bridge building.
Dr. Jackie Rudd, associate professor at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center and state wheat breeder, is looking at wild grass species and synthetic wheats for possible solutions.
“We’re looking for new unique sources of resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses,” Rudd said. “I’m being forced to find broader gen
Specialists of the Institute of Taxonomy and Ecology of Animals (Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences) investigate peculiarities of struggle against Asian populations of Gipsy moth – one of the most widespread and economically significant forest pests. The methods applied in the North America and Europe do not work with Asian populations of the vermin. In Siberia, the climate is different, other tree species grow in the region and Gipsy moth is slightly different.
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Carrying out measurements on carcasses – such as the thickness of the dorsal fat mass or the veining in the meat by means of ultrasonic technology – enables a determination to be made of the amount of fat or the flavour of the veal, essential parameters for establishing its quality. This is the conclusion of Gregorio Indurain Báñez in presenting his PhD at the Public University of Navarra. He proposes that it would be advisable to include these two variables in the current classification of car
Organic gardeners can control pesky weeds with the help of some common soil microbes, according to an article in the May 2005 issue of Microbiology Today, the quarterly magazine of the Society for General Microbiology.
As Robert J. Kremer of the University of Missouri explains, soil that suppresses the growth of weeds isn’t science fiction and doesn’t involve chemical fertilisers and herbicides. “Weeds have been a nuisance for gardeners since ancient times,” says Professor Kremer
Trees in the world¹s most productive forests — forests that add the most new growth each year — also tend to die young, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study published in a recent issue of the journal Ecology Letters. This discovery could help scientists predict how forests will respond to ongoing and future environmental changes.
“One implication of this fast turnover rate is that the world¹s most productive forests may be those likely to respond most quickly to su
The ability to observe the health of a field from images taken remotely by satellites or aircraft may have a positive economic and environmental impact on plant disease management, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS).
According to Karl Steddom, associate research scientist at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Amarillo, Texas, “remote sensing” in plant disease management is the practice of gathering information about a crop’s he
It’s ‘plastic please’ when it comes to scientists’ choice of pesticide-water sampling devices in field crops.
Wide acceptance has been building for the compact plastic disks over glass containers which are used to collect water samples and determine threatening levels of pesticide runoff. Experts say the glass containers were prone to break during transit from field to the laboratory, and have allowed chemicals to degrade prior to being analyzed.
The disks
Oliver Chadwick is a doctor of dirt. The soil scientist –– or biogeochemist, as he is known in some circles –– is helping to shed light on the historical interactions between people and their soils in Hawaii.
Chadwick, a professor of geography and environmental science at UC Santa Barbara, has been sponsored in this research by a special National Science Foundation program, “biocomplexity in the environment,” linking the social sciences and the natural sciences. The results of h
The rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, is cultivated in many humid tropical countries for the latex it produces, from which is extracted natural rubber mainly used by the tyre industry. Asia alone provides almost 95 % of the world production, where the first producer is Thailand whose rubber industry earns a regular income for 10 % of the population. However, a disease is attacking rubber trees that causes irreversible drying-up of latex flow, and can affect up to 30% of trees in African, Asian
Parasitic nematodes of plants are microscopic soil-inhabiting organisms. Although they are present in all crop-growing areas, whether in the tropics or under temperate climes, it is predominantly in the tropical regions that these parasites perpetrate extensive damage and crop-yield losses. Market-garden produce, banana, sugar cane and rice are particularly prone to attack.
Chemical control strategies based on regular use of nematicides are to date still the usual recommended
Dutch-sponsored researcher Thuy Huynh has discovered that pigs get stressed if they become too warm. They go and lie on the slatted floor, wallow in urine, eat less and grow less as well. With cooling systems, such as floor cooling, sprinkling or water baths, the pigs remain cool and grow better.
Pigs in confinement find it difficult to lose body heat. Therefore their well being is strongly dependent on the ambient temperature. Huynh discovered that they huddled less at a temperatu
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