However, although conservation agriculture has now been adopted by the main producing countries, it is not easily applicable in every situation. The KASSA…

The Earth Institute at Columbia University, June 8, 2005–The end of the recurring, 100,000-year glacial cycles is one of the most prominent and readily…

Rapid climate changes over the past several decades have led to heritable, genetic changes in animals as diverse as squirrels, birds and mosquitoes, according…

Effect of genetic composition larger than expected.

The variation in the biochemical composition of plants is to a large extent determined by their hereditary characteristics. This is the conclusion of a publication by Wageningen UR researchers appearing in Nature Genetics- on line on 4 June. The study brought together researchers from the Wageningen UR departments Wageningen University, Plant Research International and RIKILT – in a joint project within the research programme of

Wheat producers have more than the drought cutting into their yields this year, said two Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers.

Dr. Tom Allen, Experiment Station assistant research scientist and plant disease diagnostician, saw more than 150 wheat samples sent to the Great Plains Diagnostic Network lab this growing season, in addition to 400-plus samples the plant pathology staff gathered across the Panhandle.

Ninety-five percent of these samples were diagnos

Residents of the town of Badger, located in the central region of Newfoundland and Labrador, are accessing satellite radar imagery used for forecasting floods straight from their computers. This service has been funded by the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), an EU-led initiative in partnership with ESA.

Badger, situated at the confluence of three rivers, has a long history of flooding due to ice build up in the Exploits River – the largest of the three. In

A new analysis of earthquake data indicates that aftershocks are triggered by the shaking associated with the mainshock, rather than by the added stress on nearby faults resulting from rearrangement of the Earth’s crust.

The triggering of aftershocks by shaking may seem obvious, but is in fact a surprising result, said Emily Brodsky, assistant professor of Earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“The problem is that it’s not clear how s

Environmental policy makers have come up with a list of the “top 100” ecological questions most in need of an answer. The list, published online in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, is the result of an innovative experiment involving more than 600 environmental policy makers and academics, and includes crucial questions such as which UK habitats and species might be lost completely due to climate change, and what are the comparative biodiversity impacts of newly e

Research conducted by Delft University of Technology has brought the efficient production of the environmentally-friendly fuel bio-ethanol a great deal closer to fruition. The work of Delft researcher Marko Kuyper was an important factor in this. His research in recent years has greatly improved the conversion of certain sugars from agricultural waste to ethanol. On Tuesday 6 June, Kuyper received his PhD degree for his research into the subject.

The search for alternatives to the current

New protected area proves timely in fight against fungus epidemic

The rediscovery of two frog species feared extinct has made a new Colombian protected area the focal point for efforts to save amphibians from a deadly fungus decimating their populations in Central and South America.

Scientists recently found the two Critically Endangered frogs – the Santa Marta harlequin frog (Atelopus laetissimus) and the San Lorenzo harlequin frog (Atelopus nahumae) – for the first t

Finlands agricultural sector is facing a period of serious re-adjustment to the challenges of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and the impending agreement in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The application of the single payment scheme introduced in the context of the CAP reform of 2003 starts in Finland in 2006. Coupled CAP support will continue to be applied for suckler cows, bulls and ewes and starch potato, but the CAP support for arable crops will be completely decoupled from

Chocolate lovers, beware. Each year 20 percent of the cacao beans that are used to make chocolate are lost to plant diseases, but even greater losses would occur if important diseases spread.

“Plant diseases are the most important constraints to cacao production and the continued viability of the world’s confectionary trades,” said Randy Ploetz, plant pathology professor at the University of Florida, Homestead, FL. Currently, 4 million metric tons of beans worth more tha

Beavers, long known for their beneficial effects on the environment near their dams, are also critical to maintaining healthy ecosystems downstream. Researchers have found that ponds created by beaver dams raised downstream groundwater levels in the Colorado River valley, keeping soil water levels high and providing moisture to plants in the otherwise dry valley bottom. The results will be published 8 June in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

Cherie

Since their discovery in the late 1970s, microorganisms known as archaea have fascinated scientists with their ability to thrive where no other life can – in conditions that are extremely hot, acidic or salty.

In the 1990s, however, scientists discovered that archaea occur widely in more mundane, low-temperature environments such as oceans and lakes. Now, researchers from the University of Georgia and Harvard University find evidence that these low-temperature archaea might have e

It has been 2.3 billion years since Earth’s atmosphere became infused with enough oxygen to support life as we know it. About the same time, the planet became encased in ice that some scientists speculate was more than a half-mile deep. That raises questions about whether complex life could have existed before “Snowball Earth” and survived, or if it first evolved when the snowball began to melt.

New research shows organisms called eukaryotes — organisms of one or more

Sandia researchers ready to complete research roadmap

After one last meeting in San Antonio in April, Sandia National Laboratories researchers Pat Brady and Tom Hinkebein are putting the final touches on the updated Desalination and Water Purification Roadmap — “Roadmap 2” — that should result in more fresh water in parts of the world where potable water is scarce.

The updated roadmap is the result of three previous meetings — two in San Diego and one in Tampa — and