EurekAlert! - Agriculture

Drought makes Borneo's trees flower at the same time

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Zurich) A drought period causes the trees in Borneo's tropical forests to flower at the same time. Evolutionary biologists from the University of Zurich have identified two genes that indicate when the plants are about to flower. By monitoring these genes specifically, scientists are better able to predict when mass flowering will occur. This means that plant seeds can be collected in a targeted manner and used for reforestation.

UC Riverside announces science research grants related to immortality

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Riverside) Phenomena related to near-death experiences, immortality in virtual reality, and genes that prevent a species of freshwater hydra from aging are among the first research proposals funded by The Immortality Project at the University of California, Riverside.

UCLA life scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Los Angeles) UCLA scientists provide important new details of how climate change will affect species interactions.

Study reveals how fishing gear can cause slow death of whales

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Using a "patient monitoring" device attached to a whale entangled in fishing gear, scientists showed for the first time how fishing lines changed a whale's diving and swimming behavior. The monitoring revealed how fishing gear hinders whales' ability to eat and migrate, depletes their energy as they drag gear for months or years, and can result in a slow death.

Research at the cutting edge of knowledge

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) The Brazilian funding agency for scientific and technological research São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP, based in the state of São Paulo, announced an investment estimated in US$680 million to support 17 Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers for a period of up to eleven years. Each selected RIDC must develop opportunities to have its research results contribute to commercially and/or socially relevant high-impact applications, as well as contributing to education and dissemination of knowledge.

Book explores place-based conservation as framework

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(USDA Forest Service - Pacific Northwest Research Station) The concept of "place" is increasingly being considered in the management of natural resources, and practitioners now have a new resource that can help them recognize and respond to the relationships people have with the places in their lives.

Climate change and wildfire

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(USDA Forest Service ‑ Southern Research Station) Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of wildfire emissions on climate.

Going green: Nation equipped to grow serious amounts of pond scum for fuel

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) A new analysis shows that the nation's land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country's yearly needs. For the best places to produce algae for fuel, think hot, humid and wet. Especially promising are the Gulf Coast and the Southeastern seaboard.

UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Louisville) University of Louisville researchers have uncovered how to create nanoparticles using natural lipids derived from grapefruit, and have discovered how to use them as drug delivery vehicles.

Save the date: American Chemical Society National Meeting, Sept. 8-12, 2013, in Indianapolis

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(American Chemical Society) The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, invites news media coverage of its 246th National Meeting & Exposition, September 8-12, 2013, in Indianapolis, Ind. It will take place at the Indiana Convention Center and at area hotels.

U-M Water Center awards $570K in Great Lakes restoration grants

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Michigan) The new University of Michigan Water Center today awarded 12 research grants, totaling nearly $570,000, to support Great Lakes restoration and protection efforts.

Encouraging signs for bee biodiversity

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Leeds) Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years, according to a new study.

'Whodunnit' of Irish potato famine solved

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) An international team of scientists reveals that a unique strain of potato blight they call HERB-1 triggered the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century.

Small but speedy: Short plants live in the evolutionary fast lane

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent)) Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role, says Robert Lanfear of Australian National University and the US National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. In a study to be published 21 May in the journal Nature Communications, Lanfear and colleagues report that shorter plants have faster-changing genomes.

Abundance and distribution of Hawaiian coral species predicted by model

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Hawaii ‑ SOEST) Researchers from the University of Hawaii, Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology developed species distribution models of the six dominant Hawaiian coral species around the main Hawaiian Islands, including two species currently under consideration as threatened or endangered.

Unraveling the Napo's mystery

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Michigan State University) In the United States, rivers and their floodplains are well-documented and monitored. Ecuador's largest river, however, remains largely mysterious.

Amazon River exhales virtually all carbon taken up by rain forest

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Washington) A study published this week in Nature Geoscience shows that woody plant matter is almost completely digested by bacteria living in the Amazon River, and that this tough stuff plays a major part in fueling the river's breath.

Academy of Natural Sciences to guide coordinated region-wide watershed protection

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Drexel University) The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University has received a major grant from the William Penn Foundation to support watershed protection and restoration in the Delaware watershed that is intended to coordinate and demonstrate a region-wide impact on improving water quality.

NSF approves planning grant for Center for Advanced Research in Drying

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences) A National Science Foundation planning grant will help establish the Center for Advanced Research in Drying, a joint program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass.

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle kicks off Northeastern's Sustaining Coastal Cities Conference

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Northeastern University College of Science) Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence will be speaking at Northeastern University on May 22, 2013. Earle, a world-renowned oceanographer, explorer, author and lecturer, will deliver the opening address to the College of Science's Sustaining Coastal Cities Conference on the critical role and fragile state of marine ecosystems.

Food laboratory accuracy remains a concern

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(American Society for Microbiology) Food microbiology laboratories continue to submit false negative results and false positive results on a routine basis. A retrospective study of nearly 40,000 proficiency test results over the past 14 years, presented today at the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, examined the ability of food laboratories to detect or rule out the presence of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter.

Intestinal bacteria protect against E. coli O157:H7

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(American Society for Microbiology) A cocktail of non-pathogenic bacteria naturally occurring in the digestive tract of healthy humans can protect against a potentially lethal E. coli infection in animal models according to research presented today at the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The research, conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, could have important implications for the prevention or even treatment of this disease.

Why we need to put the fish back into fisheries

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of York) Overfishing has reduced fish populations and biodiversity across much of the world's oceans. In response, fisheries are increasingly reliant on a handful of highly valuable shellfish. However, new research by the University of York shows this approach to be extremely risky.

Shifts in global water systems -- markers of a new geological epoch: The Anthropocene

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Global Water System Project) A suite of disquieting global phenomena have given rise to the "Anthropocene," a term coined for a new geologic epoch characterized by humanity's growing dominance of the Earth's environment and a planetary transformation as profound as the last epoch-defining event -- the retreat of the glaciers 11,500 years ago.In Germany May 21-24, experts will focus on how to mitigate key factors contributing to extreme damage to the global water system being caused while adapting to the new reality.

Cracking the ice code

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) UWM geologist John Isbell reads rock, looking for the natural rules that govern the Earth's climate in the absence of human activity. His work is challenging many assumptions about the ways drastic climate change unfolds -- and what to expect next.