USGS-funded research weighs benefits of forest thinning on plants and animals
Recent studies show that thinning of young forests can benefit the development of old-growth characteristics and the diversity of plants and animals, but only if methods are used that protect and promote the development of shrubs, hardwoods, and large or old trees.
The findings, which were made by researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Oregon State University (OSU), hold special sig
Nicotine isn’t all bad, despite its addictive qualities and its presence in tobacco products, increasingly taboo in these health-conscious times. As a chemical compound, nicotine even has beneficial properties. It’s used around the world as a relatively cheap, environmentally friendly insecticide, repelling bugs that attack tobacco and other plants, and – contrary to popular misconceptions – it is not a carcinogen.
Take a nicotine molecule and snip off a methyl group, though, and y
Global Environment Facility Funds New UNEP Poverty-Busting Project Promising New Hope to People and Wildlife
A pioneering new project to heal dying and degraded lands fringing Africa`s mighty deserts was launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The project, marking a new phase of the five year-old Desert Margins Programme, has numerous aims including conserving the rich and uni
A new computer program devised by British physicists can quickly spot tiny beetles, rodent droppings and ergot (a poisonous mould) in grain destined for flour and bread manufacture. The researchers reveal details of their work today in the Institute of Physics journal Measurement Science and Technology.
Professor Roy Davies and his colleagues in the Machine Vision Research Group at Royal Holloway, University of London, in Egham, Surrey, have found they can run their program on a conventional
Genetically modified Bt crops are now widely used in the USA.
These crops contain genes from bacteria that make them toxic to some insect pests. A central concern in regulating these genetically modified crops is the risk of insects evolving resistance to the Bt toxins.
To reduce this risk, the “high dose/refuge” strategy is now being used, in which non-Bt fields (refuges for insect pests) are planted near Bt fields (where there is high dose of toxin).
In the Nove
Texas research shows mid-September success with containerized trees
Most foresters hold to the straight and narrow when it comes to planting pine trees: nursery seedlings go in the ground between Dec. 1 and March 1. Period.
But a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station study is branching out to show that early planting — even as early as mid-September – can give slash pine trees a growing head start towards better survivability, thus faster regrowth on harvested or burnt area
Antibiotics have been used against infectious diseases with great success and have been a part of agriculture for many years. Agricultural uses of antibiotics include the treatment and prevention of diseases in animals and plants and the promotion of growth in food animals. But scientists have long recognized a down side. The concentrated and widespread use of antibiotic agents has resulted in the emergence of drug-resistant organisms, some of which can now survive most commercially available antibio
The relationship between rocks and our health, and new methods for farming and countryside management to both encourage wildlife and make a profit, are just two of the exciting research projects highlighted in the latest issue of Planet Earth, the quarterly journal of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The rock diet
Rocks are a vital source of the essential elements and minerals people need to stay healthy. The British Geological Survey (BGS) together with part
In unprecedented space research, DuPont scientists have attained a significant scientific accomplishment regarding the future development of soybeans – one of the most consumed crops in the world today.
During a research mission that concluded with the return of Space Shuttle Atlantis Friday, soybean seeds planted and nurtured by DuPont scientists germinated, developed into plants, flowered, and produced new seedpods in space. The 97-day growth research initiative is the first-ever to compl
UCSF-led researchers have developed a highly sensitive, automated test for detecting prions (PREE-on) that they report significantly improves the accuracy and speed of detecting the various forms of the infectious agent, which causes a set of neurodegenerative diseases, in cattle, sheep, deer and elk.
Because the test is automated, the researchers say, it could be used for high-throughput testing of brain samples of cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow” disease, a
The changing attitude of European society to research in food and agriculture demands that researchers pay more attention to the concerns of the public and other stakeholders
Today in Brussels, the annual Euragri conference, entitled “Science for Society – Science with Society” and sponsored by the European Commission, addressed European consumers’ concerns and proposed new goals, roles and rules to respond better and quicker to the needs of society. Research Commissioner Philippe Bu
One of the most widespread ways to protect wood from organisms’ attacks is to use chemicals. However, due to the risks its usage involves (toxic for the user, pollution of the environment…), the interest to obtain a more effective but non-polluting protector has increased.
Nowadays, the research of active matter with biocide effects has become one of the most interesting research lines to find new pesticides.
Objectives
The aim of the project the Basque Research Ce
Researchers from Imperial College London have published new results that suggest that over half of BSE cases went unrecognised or unreported during the epidemic in Great Britain. The new figures, to be published in a forthcoming Proceedings B, a learned journal published by the Royal Society, estimate that the total number of cattle infected during the epidemic was over two million.However the paper highlights the need for additional research to reduce the uncertainties in some key biological factors
Scientists have raised concerns following the discovery of a single gene that gives vinegar flies resistance to a wide range of pesticides, including the banned DDT.
Scientists are worried as this single mutation unexpectedly provides the fly (Drosophila melanogaster) with resistance to a range of commonly available, but chemically unrelated, pesticides. Significant also, is this species is rarely targeted with pesticides and many of the chemicals it is resistant to, it has never been expo
An international team of scientists have today reported the discovery of a protein, called DIR1, that is a key step in the pathways that enable plants to protect themselves against disease. DIR1 is involved in the transmission of a warning signal from plant cells infected by disease. The signal alerts cells, in areas remote from the infected site, that the plant is under attack and switches on defence mechanisms that prevent the disease establishing further infection sites. The report, from scientis
A University of Toronto botanist has identified a protein that ultimately could provide chemical-free ways to protect crops from disease.
“Finding this protein, called DIR1, could help make it possible to genetically engineer crops that resist disease-causing organisms,” says Robin Cameron, a professor of botany at U of T and the senior investigator of the study, which appears in the Sept. 26 issue of Nature. “In the long run, having a better understanding of the whole process of disease re
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