More than 5 billion people would die of hunger following a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, according to a global study led by Rutgers climate scientists that estimates post-conflict crop production.

A bacterial species closely related to deadly citrus greening disease is rapidly evolving its ability to infect insect hosts, and possibly plants as well.

Using synthetic genes, researchers at Stanford have been able to modify the root structures of plants. Their work could make crops more efficient at gathering nutrients and water, and more resilient to increasing pressures from climate change.

How can biodiversity be preserved whilst securing the economic livelihood of smallholder farmers growing vanilla in Madagascar? There is a way, according to a study by the Universities of Göttingen, Marburg and Hohenheim. The research team shows that vanilla plantations established on fallow land do not differ in terms of yield from those established in the forest. Cultivation on fallow land also increases biodiversity there. The results were published in Nature Communications.

A study involving scientists from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA)-CABI Joint Laboratory (Joint Lab) has highlighted the mass rearing capabilities of a natural enemy to fight the brown marmorated stink bug pest. Dr Feng Zhang, CABI’s Regional Director, East & South-East Asia, led research which shows how the solitary egg endoparasitoid Anastatus japonicus Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) can be produced efficiently to tackle the brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys Stål (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in China.

The cascading effects of extreme weather – such as recent heatwaves which combine heat and drought – and the interconnectedness of critical services and sectors has the potential to destabilize entire socioeconomic systems, according to a study published in PLOS Climate by Laura Niggli at University of Zurich, Switzerland and colleagues.