Kyoto, Japan -- Monitoring biological indicators plays a crucial role in forest management, which requires finding a delicate balance between timber use and biodiversity conservation. Across forests and across species, responses to forestry operations that alter habitat conditions vary, so repeatable surveys of biological indicators like ground-dwelling beetles can capture forest spatial variation and changes over time.

While ground dwelling beetles help scientists understand conditions on the forest floor, indicators that reflect conditions in the canopy have been more evasive. But a team of researchers at Kyoto University thought that Platycerus might fit this role: a genus of stag beetles that inhabits broadleaf forests, munching on the dead wood of trees as larvae and new leaf buds as adults. The research team chose to investigate whether these beetles might complement their ground-dwelling counterparts in the biological monitoring of broadleaf forests.

In the forests of Hida, Japan, the scientists conducted a survey called a female-attracted flight Interception trap -- F-FIT -- a "honey trap" that uses female Platycerus stag beetles to attract males. F-FIT was introduced only recently to address the limitations of conventional Platycerus surveys, which depend on an observer's skill and may risk damaging breeding sites. With this new survey, the team recorded captures of male Platycerus takakuwai, a species typical to Japan.

Native seed systems are a crucial part of prairie restoration and have been studied from ecological, production and trouble-shooting angles, but never from a social science perspective, until now. Researchers from South Dakota State University conducted more than 60 interviews to better understand the people and relationships within the native seed system of the Northern Great Plain Region to help identify the best ways to support the local network.

Planting broccoli under magenta solar panels helped the plants absorb sunlight more efficiently than those grown out in the open finds a study publishing October 2 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science. Scientists used customized, semi-transparent solar panels to generate electricity while boosting blue- and red-light wavelengths to enhance broccoli growth. The crops grown with these panels showed a 4.5-fold increase in how efficiently they used sunlight and ultimately grew as large as traditional broccoli, although it took them 25 days longer to mature. The solar panels offer a potential tool for farmers to harvest renewable energy while sustaining crop yields. 

For decades, American farmers have been unable to keep up with the demand for organic products. This has forced billions of dollars to be spent on foreign organic imports instead of domestic ones — stymying nationwide goals of improving soil health and decreasing reliance on harmful synthetic pesticides. Arizona State University’s Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems is working to reverse this trend with the launch of a new organic mentorship program called Kernel. By equipping farmers, ranchers and handlers with the support they need to meaningfully transition their operations to organic, the project aims to drive some of the $5.7 billion routed to organic food imports as of 2024 back into U.S. pockets.