Other research has shown that deep-rooted productive Brachiaria grasses capture large amounts of atmospheric carbon--on a scale similar to that of tropical forests--a further plus for climate change mitigation.
But since undergoing a cutting-edge minimally invasive surgical procedure called MRI-guided laser ablation at Wake Forest Baptist Medical center Vandyke is poised to reclaim her life.
Wake Forest Baptist is one of only 25 medical centers nationwide and the only one between Philadelphia and Atlanta to perform this type of laser surgery for epilepsy with a technology called Visualase.
and initially used to destroy tumors the Visualase system was employed first as a treatment for epilepsy in 2010 Wake Forest Baptist performed its first epilepsy-related laser procedure in June of last year
Our initial indications are that this is a really effective therapy said Wake Forest Baptist neurosurgeon Adrian Laxton M d. who performed the operation on Vandyke.
In 2010--12 years after her first seizure--she was referred to Wake Forest Baptist's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.
Vandyke now 37 is appreciative of the care she has received at Wake Forest Baptist (It's a great place;
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest Baptist Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
But alternatives such as planting strips of trees on farms agroforestry--integrating trees into cropping systems
Isolated from decaying leaves collected in a hardwood forest in North carolina in the summer of 1933 Dicty have been used for years to study development and more recently conflict and cooperation.
That's important said lead author Anna Greenwood Ph d . because it suggests that if researchers can identify the genes that influence the fishes'interest in being social they may be closer to understanding how genes drive human social behavior.
and humans said Greenwood a staff scientist in the Human biology Division at Fred Hutch. Some of the same brain regions and neurological chemicals that control human social behavior are involved probably in fish social behavior as well.'
'Some kind of genetic factor'controlling behavior Greenwood and several colleagues in the Peichel Lab at Fred Hutch have been studying sticklebacks for several years to understand the genesis of natural variation.
That really suggests that there's some kind of genetic factor controlling this difference Greenwood said. This time around the researchers used lab-raised hybrids of the strongly schooling saltwater-dwelling marine sticklebacks and the schooling-averse sticklebacks that live in freshwater.
Greenwood and co-author Abigail Wark scoured craft shops and hardware stores looking for a suitable part trying everything from plastic bra straps to necklaces before finding some silicone tubing that worked.
It was a few weeks of going around to shops Greenwood said. They made a mold to create model fish from resin tinted with grey pigment dabbing on eyes with black paint to make them look more realistic.
That suggests a single gene could cause fish to detect their environment differently Greenwood said
but Greenwood said natural variation can influence not just behavior but also susceptibility to illness and disease.
and tulip trees in 1975 in Kansas. Dilcher and Peter Crane now the dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale university published information about the fossils and named the plant Archaeanthus.
#An unprecedented threat to Perus cloud forestsperu's cloud forests are some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world.
To date scientists only believe a fraction of cloud forest tree and plant species have been discovered. This massive array of underexplored biodiversity will face an unprecedented threat before the end of the century.
Now researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-salem N c. have pieced together startling new evidence that shows rapid 21st century warming may spell doom for tree species in Peruvian cloud forests with species
and throw a rock completely across their ranges says David Lutz the paper's lead author and a former postdoctoral associate at Wake Forest University.
Historically Andean cloud forest seedlings sprout higher in elevation during periods of global warming. However an unprecedented rate of projected temperature gain in the region over the next century 5 degrees Celsius will have them going upslope faster than ever before says Miles Silman professor of Biology at Wake Forest University.
Silman says plants are going to have to migrate around 3000 feet to remain in equilibrium with the warming climate by 2100.
however is that cloud forest trees can't go through or around the ecotone. Previous work we've done shows that the trees in the forest are migrating upwards
but this work shows the ecotone isn't Silman says. The ecotone presents a wall to species migration.
The Wake Forest team's research is the first to address rates of Andes timberline migration at high resolution.
It consists of climate change projections based off computer modeling of photos and Quickbird satellite images of remote Cloud Forests in Peru's protected Manu National park and unprotected surrounding areas.
so that the cloud forest can evolve and grow as nature intended. He says a more hands on approach will be needed in the immediate future to protect the region from massive population loss.
Our next step is working with local and international conservationists to come up a plan to help cloud forests keep moving upslope.
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
or even increasing in forest areas Thuppil said. While the forest itself is protected human settlement increasingly has moved into the buffer areas surrounding the forest
which elephants pass through while foraging or visiting different patches of forest. The work was supported by the U s. Fish and Wildlife Service Asian Elephant Conservation Fund and the Rufford Small Grants Foundation.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of California-Davis. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Climate change may speed up forests life cyclesmany climate studies have predicted that tree species will respond to global warming by migrating via seed dispersal to cooler climates.
The Duke university-led study published online Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Global Change Biology is the first to show that a changing climate may have dual impacts on forests.
Anticipating the impacts of this unexpected change on U s. forests is an important issue for forest managers
or both the scientists went through decades of data on 65 dominant tree species in the 31 eastern states compiled by the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program.
The patterns we were able to see from this massive study are consistent with forests having faster turnover where young trees tend to be more abundant than adult trees in warm wet climates.
Christopher W. Woodall research forester at the U s. Forest Service's Northern Research Station in St paul Minn.
#Bacteria enhance growth of fruit trees up to 40 percentimprovement in reforestation and agriculture is possible thanks to the work of scientists in the Center of Research
According to researcher VÃ ctor Olalde Portugal responsible of the project one of the challenges of the reforestation systems is to achieve the survival of the species when planted.
not only focusing in reforestation with timber species but also with agave and nopal that are specific to arid areas.
The deliberate tasteful chemistry experiment begins with dense American white oak wood usually harvested from forests in the South
They season the wood for barrels and dry it outside or indoors a step that exposes it to fungi and bacteria.
Factories called cooperages bend the wood into barrels and toast them. The insides of bourbon barrels are charred.
Then additional factors of temperature humidity and air pressure come into play affecting how deeply the spirits seep into the wood
This is a pretty serious issue said Thomas Hilker an assistant professor in the OSU College of Forestry.
whether farms with protected forests and thus a greater biodiversity of insect-eating birds fared better under attack from the insects.
and whether the birds required forest to survive. This required a more unorthodox approach. We had the not-so-glamorous task of collecting the birds'poop
and these birds were more abundant on farms featuring more forests. Depending on the season the birds provide $75 to $310 increases in yield per hectare of farmland Karp said.
The scientists found that the closer the forests were to the farms the greater benefit the birds provided.
Specifically smaller stands of trees--roughly the size of a few football fields--situated throughout crop fields provided better levels of beetle protection than the much larger forest preserves set on the outskirts of farms.
The work here shows there has been a win-win said Daily a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
is known for its pleasant fragrance and valuable wood. The juniper's wood#ighly valued for its durability rich color and pleasant aroma#s popular for use as interior paneling furniture and fence posts.
#Northeastern US forests transformed by human activity over 400 yearsforests in the northeastern US have been transformed radically over the last four centuries by human activity
and natural reforestation have changed forest composition across 9 states ranging from Maine to Pennsylvania. While most varieties of trees persist modern forests are distinct from those in pre-colonial times.
Beech oak hemlock and spruce are less abundant with the sharpest decrease seen in beech proportions in Vermont western Massachusetts and northern Pennsylvania.
Once forming an average of 22 percent of pre-colonial forests only about 7 percent of forests now are composed of beech.
Fir cherry and maple trees increased in abundance with maples experiencing the highest absolute change in proportions from 11 percent in the past to 31 percent in modern forests.
despite these changes and opportunities for species invasion or loss the varieties of trees in modern forests are remarkably similar to pre-colonial forests.
The modern forest is more homogenous and less structured by changes in local climate. Thompson elaborates If you only looked at a list of tree species you'd have the impression that Northeast forests haven't changed.
But once you start mapping the trees and counting them up a very different picture emerges.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's republic of china the National Natural science Foundation of China the Special Fund for Forestry Scientific research in the Public interest the Organization Department of the Central Committee the Fundamental Research
Ajayan is the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry at Rice.
Wallenberg's foundation the Royal Swedish Academy of Science and the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.
A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical center shows that community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs may be a feasible approach for providing fresh fruits and vegetables to under-resourced communities.
and prevention at Wake Forest Baptist said that CSAS which link consumers to a local farm's produce over a growing season have been proposed as a solution for disparities in fruit
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest Baptist Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
improving forestsa collaborative project involving a Kansas State university ecologist has shown that the Clean Air Act has helped forest systems recover from decades of sulfur pollution and acid rain.
Our data clearly shows a break point in 1982 where the entire growth patterns of the trees in this forest started on a different trajectory Nippert said.
It's kind of interesting that those two very important periods in our history match up perfectly in terms of the responses seen throughout this whole forest ecosystem Nippert said.
For example warming generally stimulates insect herbivory at higher latitudes as seen in outbreaks of the Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) that has destroyed large areas of pine forest in the US Pacific Northwest.
In the 1970s red spruce was the forest equivalent of a canary in the coal mine signaling that acid rain was damaging forests
as a result of winter injury U s. Forest Service and University of Vermont scientists came up with a surprising result--three decades later the canary is feeling much better.
Paul Schaberg a research plant physiologist with the U s. Forest Service's Northern Research Station in Burlington Vt. and partners studied red spruce trees in Vermont New hampshire and Massachusetts.
The study Quantifying the legacy of foliar winter injury on woody aboveground carbon sequestration of red spruce trees was published earlier this year in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.
Forest Service science was at the forefront in identifying acid rain and its impacts and it is enormously gratifying to be at the forefront of discovering this amazing turn-around in red spruce growth in New england said Michael T. Rains Director of the Northern Research Station and the Forest Product Laboratory.
Whether this is a success story for pollution control or a developing story about the effects of a changing climate we are not yet sure.
Historically red spruce has been an important timber species in the United states . While it remains a major commercial species in Canada in the United states acid rain
The above story is provided based on materials by USDA Forest Service-Northern Research Station. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Their articles say that forest corridors play an essential role in maintaining the flow of genes between tiger
First into two clusters about 700 years ago when great swathes of central India's forestland were cleared for agricultural use during the early Mughal era;
then into four clusters around 200 years ago when The british Empire cut vast tracts of timber to build railroads and ships.
Some of the areas are connected by relatively contiguous corridors of forest while others are connected by sparse and fragmented corridors.
while the flow of genes between the four tiger and leopard populations has decreased over time clusters linked by contiguous forest corridors have maintained a high rate of gene flow.
The viability of the forest corridors connecting tiger habitats has a direct affect on a tigers'chance of finding an unrelated mate
and the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests recently gave permission for coal mining development in a key forest corridor connecting two of the habitats in the study.
#Woodland salamanders indicators of forest ecosystem recoverywoodland salamanders are a viable indicator of forest ecosystem recovery according to researchers from the U s. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station.
PSW Research Wildlife Biologist Dr. Hartwell Welsh and Garth Hodgson examined two species of woodland salamanders across four stages of tree development at Mill Creek--a disturbed
old-growth redwood forest in northern California. They found that the numbers and body condition of two common species of salamander tracked closely with forest stand growth development and structural changes.
Using salamander population numbers and physiological condition on adjacent never harvested old-growth parkland to reference advancements along this developmental pathway they demonstrated relationships between salamander counts
and body condition and aspects of forest advancement including stand age tree size ambient moisture canopy closure
and litter depth. The case study established that when woodland salamanders are found in high abundance it indicates a healthy forest having undergone ecological advancement and ecosystem recovery.
There have been concerns about using indicator species as metrics of ecosystem conditions; however amphibians are increasingly becoming accepted as researchers verify their applicability and usefulness.
The woodland salamanders evaluated in Mill Creek were deemed credible due to their conservatism trophic role and high site fidelity which tie them closely to conditions of place.
because old-growth forests are quickly diminishing but they provide crucial environmental services to society. According to the researchers this type of forest is a unique carbon sink containing the most abundant land carbon stocks on the planet.
Old-growth forests sequester carbon pollution and support the world's most diverse ecosystems. Mill Creek is an old-growth forest located in Del Norte Calif. in a geographically limited coastal redwood forest bioregion
which has seen extensive commercial logging for more than 100 years. It has recently been acquired by the state park system
and is intended to have logged its-over areas restored to primary forest. If restored it can provide migration corridors for rare absent and native wildlife.
Report: http://www. fs. fed. us/psw/publications/welsh/psw 2013 welsh 001. pdfstory Source: The above story is provided based on materials by USDA Forest Service-Pacific Southwest Research Station.
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#Parasitic worm genome uncovers potential drug targetsresearchers have identified five enzymes that are essential to the survival of a parasitic worm that infects livestock worldwide
A very significant change will be the emergence of forests where there are currently only four species of trees
and the area around Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strã¸mfjord) already have the potential to become much greener with a forest flora corresponding to that occurring during former interglacial periods.
Forests like the coastal coniferous forests in today's Alaska and western Canada will be able to thrive in fairly large parts of Greenland with trees such as Sitka spruce and lodgepole pine.
For example we see that people use wood wherever there is forest. This could also create new opportunities for activities such as hunting and the commercial exploitation of berries.
and Forestry (DAFF Qld) and BGI has discovered that sorghum a drought-tolerant African crop holds vastly more genetic variation than previously reported.
However new research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical center finds that the recommended daily doses of these supplements may not prevent loss of bone mineral density (BMD) in these women.
Study author Gary G. Schwartz Ph d. a cancer epidemiologist at Wake Forest Baptist said the purpose of the study was to examine
Schwartz and co-author Mridul Datta Ph d. a postdoctoral fellow at Wake Forest Baptist reviewed data from clinical trials that evaluated the effect of antiresorptive drugs on BMD
The research is supported by the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University Cancer Control Traineeship--NCI/NIH grant R25ca122061.
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest Baptist Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#New technique for measuring tree growth cuts down on research timetree growth is measured to understand tree health fluxes in carbon sequestration and other forest ecosystem functions.
Middleton and Anemaet developed a general method that is widely applicable to long-term forest studies. We are hoping that other researchers will be more likely to utilize dendrometer bands in their studies
Researchers at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine hope the oxygen-generating compound could one day aid in saving
and associate professor of regenerative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist We modified the material so it can be injected into muscle
The major implication of these findings is that oxygen-generating compounds can potentially reduce the magnitude of the permanent functional deficits resulting from traumatic injury to muscle said George Christ Ph d. co-author and professor of regenerative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist.
Co-authors are Catherine L. Ward Ph d. Benjamin T. Corona Ph d. James J. Yoo M d. Ph d. Wake Forest Baptist.
The above story is provided based on materials by Wake Forest Baptist Medical center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and acid rain from smokestack industries have had a major impact on forests and streams. Water alkalinity has increased the fastest in areas underlain by carbonate rocks at high elevations
NASAS Landsat directs restoration to at-risk areaswhile the 138000-acre Silver Fire still smoldered forest restoration specialists were on the job.
The map looked like a big red blob said Penny Luehring the U s. Forest Service's Burned Area Emergency Response
and operated by the U s. Geological Survey help direct the crews to those forest areas needing attention.
As a wildfire starts to die down fire managers like Luehring can contact the Forest Service's Remote Sensing Applications Center in Salt lake city to request maps that identify the high moderate and low severity burns.
When that call comes in remote sensing specialist Carl Albury finds satellite imagery of the burned forest both pre-and post-fire.
That's because of the coverage of its spectral bands as well as the free availability of the images--he can sort through to find cloud-free views of that forest at a similar time in the growing season for the pre-fire comparison.
After the Silver Fire for example they identified severely burned areas upstream of a community campgrounds and forest roads.
So crews scattered barley seeds over 11000 acres dropped mulch on 800 acres closed off roads storm-proofed forest roads
#Forest-interior birds may be benefiting from harvested clearingsefforts to conserve declining populations of forest-interior birds have focused largely on preserving the mature forests where birds breed
but a U s. Forest Service study suggests that in the weeks leading up to migration younger forest habitat may be just as important.
In an article published recently in the American Ornithologist Union's publication The Auk research wildlife biologist Scott Stoleson of the U s. Forest Service's Northern Research Station suggests that forest regrowth in clearcuts
The study suggests that declines in forest-interior species may be due in part to the increasing maturity and homogenization of forests.
Openings created by timber harvesting may increase habitat for some forest interior birds according to Stoleson.
Humans have changed really the nature of mature forests in the Northeast Stoleson said. Natural processes that once created open spaces even within mature forests such as fire are controlled largely diminishing the availability of quality habitat.
On four sites on the Allegheny National Forest and private timber inholdings in northeastern Pennsylvania Stoleson set out to learn where the birds spend time after breeding season and
Of these 33 percent were mature-forest specialists 22 percent were forest-edge species and the remaining 45 percent were early-successional specialists.
but only 29 species were captured within forest. Stoleson's research concluded birds'use of young forest in the postbreeding season is correlated with better physiological condition for some forest birds
which suggests that the maintenance of such early-successional habitats in mature forest may benefit these species. Study results did not find a correlation between habitat and the presence of fat or parasites.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by USDA Forest Service-Northern Research Station.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#First scientific method to authenticate worlds costliest coffee, from the feces of the palm civetthe world's most expensive coffee can cost $80 a cup and scientists now are reporting development of the first way to verify authenticity of this crã me de la crã me the beans
of which have large territories may play in forest regeneration through digesting and passing seeds from fruits.
Fossil cycads are recorded from 280 million years ago around the time coniferous forests first arose.
he is currently planning to explore these ideas in other plants and landscapes especially in forest understories.
and leaves but their ecosystem should also be able to process other agricultural byproducts and forestry waste.
A team of Smithsonian scientists however uncovered overlooked museum specimens of this remarkable animal which took them on a journey from museum cabinets in Chicago to cloud forests in South america to genetics labs in Washington D c. The result:
The 2-pound olinguito with its large eyes and woolly orange-brown fur is native to the cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador as its scientific name neblina (Spanish for fog) hints.
But these Andean forests are so amazing that even if we didn't find the animal we were looking for
Working with Pinto they found olinguitos in a forest on the western slopes of the Andes and spent their days documenting
what they could about the animal--its characteristics and its forest home. Because the olinguito was new to science it was imperative for the scientists to record every aspect of the animal.
In addition to body features and behavior the team made special note of the olinguito's cloud forest Andean habitat
We hope that the olinguito can serve as an ambassador species for the cloud forests of Ecuador
People have been living in or near the olinguito's cloud forest world for thousands of years.
--and one of the rarest--is also a key indicator of the health of some of the last great primary forests of Russia's Far east.
The study found that Blakiston's fish owl relies on old-growth forests along streams for both breeding
and riparian old-growth forest were the primary distinguishing characteristics of both nest and foraging sites.
and conservation of old-growth forests is essential for sustaining this species because they are central to the owls'nesting
Moreover conservation of Primorye's forests and rivers sustains habitat for many other species: including eight salmon and trout species that spawn there;
Blakiston's fish owl is a clear indicator of the health of the forests rivers
Retention of habitat for fish owls will also maintain habitat for many other species associated with riparian old-growth forests in the Russian Far east.
Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Minnesota Zoo Foundation National Aviary National Birds of Prey Trust United states Forest Service-International Programs and the University of Minnesota.
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