EurekAlert! - Agriculture

First direct evidence of substantial fish consumption by early modern humans in China

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Washington University in St. Louis) Freshwater fish are an important part of the diet of many peoples around the world, but it has been unclear when fish became an important part of the year-round diet for early humans. A new study by an international team of researchers, including Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, shows it may have happened in China as far back as 40,000 years ago.

Study finds role for parasites in evolution of sex

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Chicago Press Journals) What's so great about sex? From an evolutionary perspective, the answer is not as obvious as one might think. An article published in the July issue of the American Naturalist suggests that sex may have evolved in part as a defense against parasites.

Ancient fossils shed light on anatomical changes accompanying evolution of first land vertebrates

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent)) Long before mammals, birds, and even dinosaurs roamed the Earth, the first four-legged creatures made their first steps onto land. These early land vertebrates varied considerably in size and shape. To understand the anatomical changes that accompanied this diversity, paleontologist Jennifer Clack teamed up with two biologists who work on living fishes -- Charles Kimmel of the University of Oregon, and Brian Sidlauskas of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina.

Nitrogen research shows how some plants invade, take over others

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Nebraska-Lincoln) University of Nebraska-Lincoln research shows how plants gain nitrogen and how this allows some species to invade and take over native plants.

Canadian researchers set to study impact of nanomaterials on aquatic ecosystems

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Alberta) A team of Canadian scientists and engineers, led by the University of Alberta and the National Research Council of Canada, will collaborate on a $3.39 million, three-year study to assess the potential effects of nanoparticles in specific water environments.

Investing wisely to save the Great Barrier Reef

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(CSIRO Australia) CSIRO science is being used to improve land management practices on farmland to help reduce run-off of sediments, nutrients and pesticides on to the Great Barrier Reef.

Sheep shrink on Scottish isle as world warms, says Stanford biologist

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Stanford University) Wild sheep on the Scottish island of Hirta have been diminishing in size for over 20 years. Now researchers have puzzled out why: it's the heat. Like wool socks run through the dryer, the sheep have shrunk. More precisely, average size of the island's Soay sheep has declined about 5 percent in body weight and stature since 1985.It is the exact opposite reaction that researchers would have expected in response to global warming.

'Genetic arms race' between bacteria, viruses subject of stimulus grant

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Michigan State University) The oceans teem with microscopic bacteria that produce much of Earth's oxygen as they absorb carbon dioxide greenhouse gas. But fast-mutating viruses also populate the seas, attacking marine bacteria in an ages-old evolutionary arms race. A Michigan State University researcher will probe that ancient dynamic against the backdrop of environmental and climate change, and the pivotal role played by aquatic bacteria in maintaining the Earth's biological balance.

A question of height

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Intelligent countryside management could improve the survival chances of animal and plant species threatened by climate change. The creation of small heat-shielded habitats and better links between habitats would counteract a moderate temperature increase, and give threatened species more time to adapt better and/or to migrate to cooler regions. This is the conclusion drawn by scientists at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research from a British study on saving the Large Blue butterfly.

Pacific Northwest forests could store more carbon, help address greenhouse issues

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Oregon State University) The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased rotation ages.

All in sight

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) A new measurement system for the detection of whales is used for the first time on board of the research vessel Polarstern. Visual sightings of whales by marine mammal observers are usually based on observations of the spout, the condensing and warm breathing cloud. It rises between one meter and ten meters over the water surface and remains visible for only a few seconds. A thermal imaging camera now uses the heat of this spout.

Evolution: Crabs go deep to avoid hot water

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK)) Researchers from the National Oceanography Center, Southampton, have drawn together 200 years' worth of oceanographic knowledge to investigate the distribution of a notorious deep-sea giant -- the king crab. The results, published this week in the Journal of Biogeography, reveal temperature as a driving force behind the speciation and radiation of a major seafloor predator -- globally, and over tens of millions of years of Earth's history.

Nursery programs for corals receive TLC from NOAA this Independence Day

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science) As the nation celebrates its birth on the 4th of July, University of Miami Prof. Diego Lirman and fellow coral nursery scientists will be celebrating as well. NOAA announced that the Nature Conservancy and its partners' staghorn and elkhorn coral recovery projects, including Lirman's nursery in Biscayne National Park, will receive $350K in stimulus support from the ARRA to further develop large-scale, in-water coral nurseries and restore reefs along Florida's southern coast and in the US Virgin Islands.

Climate change and the mystery of the shrinking sheep

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(American Association for the Advancement of Science) Changing winter conditions are causing Scotland's wild Soay sheep to get smaller despite the evolutionary benefits of having a large body, researchers report in a study that shows how climate change can trump natural selection.

New science review examines multiple health benefits of dairy foods

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Edelman Public Relations) In a supplement to the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, several prominent nutrition researchers weigh in on an updated review of the health benefits of consuming dairy foods. This supplement further contributes to the well-established evidence that consuming the recommended servings of dairy foods each day is a convenient and affordable way to get several key nutrients that many Americans do not consume enough.

Forest Service designates new experimental forest in Tongass National Forest

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station) The USDA Forest Service established a new experimental forest in Alaska on June 25. The 25,000-acre Héen Latinee Experimental Forest is located inside the Tongass National Forest, and is easily accessible by road from Juneau, Alaska. It is part of the largest temperate rain forest in the world.

ADA releases updated position paper on vegetarian diets

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(American Dietetic Association) The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position paper on vegetarian diets that concludes such diets, if well-planned, are healthful and nutritious for adults, infants, children and adolescents and can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes.

International team of students and scientists on month-long field course in Siberian Arctic

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Woods Hole Research Center) Scientists and undergraduate students from across the United States and Russia are departing July 2 for a month-long field course in the Russian Arctic. The program, known as the Polaris Project, is training future leaders in arctic research and education, and informing the public about the impacts of climate change.

Desert rhubarb -- a self-irrigating plant

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Haifa) Researchers from the department of science education-biology at the University of Haifa-Oranim have managed to make out the "self-irrigating" mechanism of the desert rhubarb, which enables it to harvest 16 times the amount of water than otherwise expected for a plant in this region based on the quantities of rain in the desert. This is the first example of a self-irrigating plant worldwide.

Inbred bumblebees less successful

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(BioMed Central) Declining bumblebee populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which can trigger a downward spiral of further decline. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology have provided the first proof that inbreeding reduces colony fitness under natural conditions by increasing the production of reproductively inefficient "diploid" males.

Plants save the earth from an icy doom

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Yale University) Fifty million years ago, the North and South poles were ice-free and crocodiles roamed the Arctic. Since then, a long-term decrease in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has cooled the Earth. Researchers at Yale University, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the University of Sheffield now show that land plants saved the Earth from a deep frozen fate by buffering the removal of atmospheric CO2 over the past 24 million years.

Mangrove-dependent animals globally threatened

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(American Institute of Biological Sciences) An assessment in the July/August issue of BioScience finds that substantial numbers of terrestrial vertebrates are restricted to mangrove forests. Many of these specialized species are listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Prospects for mangrove-restricted animals are bleak, because more than two percent of mangrove forests are lost each year.

Researchers survey Mid-Atlantic ridge looking for new life forms, clues to deep-sea communities

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service) An international team of researchers is surveying the Mid-Atlantic Ridge halfway between Iceland and the Azores to determine its biodiversity and perhaps discover new species and clues to deep-sea food webs. The project is part of a 16-nation effort to determine if the underwater mountain chain in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean has its own distinct animal communities.

Anti-biotech groups obstruct forest biotechnology

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Oregon State University) The potential of forest biotechnology to help address significant social and environmental issues is being "strangled at birth" by the rigid opposition of some groups and regulations that effectively preclude even the testing of genetically modified trees, scientists argue in a new report.

Recent news reports of sweetener reformulations raise questions about motivations

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Weber Shandwick Worldwide) The misleading "health" halo surrounding highly publicized marketing campaigns regarding sweetener reformulations is starting to dim. Recent announcements by Starbucks and other brands that they will remove high fructose corn syrup from certain products are being called into question in news articles by several experts and respected journalists. Recent Washington Post and Chicago Tribune articles have poked holes in companies' marketing efforts, and put forth scientifically substantiated facts about sweeteners commonly used in foods.