#Human activity echoes through Brazilian rainforestthe disappearance of large fruit-eating birds from tropical forests in Brazil has caused the region's forest palms to produce smaller less successful seeds over the past century researchers say.
Mauro Galetti from the Universidade Estadual Paulista in SãO Paulo Brazil along with an international team of colleagues used patches of rainforest that had been fragmented by coffee
They collected more than 9000 seeds from 22 different Euterpe edulis palm populations and used a combination of statistics genetics
and evolutionary models to determine that the absence of large seed-dispersing birds in the area was the main reason for the observed decrease in the palm's seed size.
Galetti and the other researchers found that palms produced significantly smaller seeds in patches of forest that had been fragmented by coffee
and palms continue to produce large seeds successfully dispersed by the birds they say. Small seeds are more vulnerable to desiccation
As a result of this impaired dispersal palm regeneration became less successful in the area with less-vigorous seedlings germinating from smaller seeds.
but none could account for the change in palm seed size over the years in the fragmented forests.
They performed genetic analyses to determine that the shrinkage of seeds among forest palms in the region could have taken place within 100 years of an initial disturbance.
Long periods of drought and increasingly warmer climate (as predicted by climate model projections for South america) could be particularly harmful to tropical tree populations that depend on animals to disperse their seeds.
rdenas'report also refers to findings by Smithsonian plant physiologist Klaus Winter that leaves of some tropical trees tolerate short-term exposure to temperatures up to 122 F (5 C)
. When carbon dioxide concentrations double trees use much less water which is further evidence that tropical forests may prove resilient to climate change.
but does not offset fossil fuel emissionsleading world climate change experts have thrown cold water on the idea that planting trees can offset carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.
and internationally assume that fossil fuel emissions can be offset through sequestering carbon by planting trees and other land management practices.
However no amount of reafforestation or growing of new trees will ultimately offset continuing CO2 emissions due to environmental constraints on plant growth and the large amounts of remaining fossil fuel reserves.
wheat maize rice barley rye millet sorghum soybean sunflower potato cassava sugarcane sugar beet oil palm rapeseed (canola) and groundnut (peanut.
He found they were pine trees and immediately investigated them further with colleagues from the WSL.
With the support of the building-site management to date the WSL researchers have managed to salvage some 200 pine-tree stumps which they have had transported in truckloads to the WSL.
What the find could mean for sciencewsl runs one of the leading laboratories for tree-ring research (dendrochronology) worldwide making a significant contribution to research work in a wide range of disciplines.
What is the genetic relationship between the Zurich Binz pines and their cognates today? In addition the prehistoric wood in Zurich Binz could help in the calibration of the C14 curve.
The tree rings and condition and location of the discovered stumps allow conclusions to be drawn about past fluctuations in temperature
And since relatively recently adna analysis allow trees'evolution to be traced. All the data produced to be publishedthe WSL researchers are now sawing three sections from each useable stump
This dataset contains dated tree rings going back to 12594 BP. The finds that have been made up to now in Zurich are from the period from 12700 BP to 14100 BP.
Through meticulous comparison of tree-ring patterns efforts are now being made to identify the overlaps needed for precise dating.
In the tradition of open scientific exchange the WSL will gradually make such data public for instance through the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB)
which for decades now has been supplied with a wealth of data by the WSL's tree-ring laboratory and its founder Fritz Schweingruber.*
Early spring is typically tree season with common tree allergens including oak maple walnut pecan and hickory.
and flowering trees like the Bradford pear and Crabapple but they are not typically allergens as they rely on insects instead of the wind to carry their pollen.
#Study explores 100 year increase in forestry diseasesas ash dieback disease continues to threaten common ash trees across Europe new research in the Journal of Quaternary Science explores the historic impact of forest diseases to discover
More flexible in the Mediterraneanin the Atlantic as well as Mediterranean domain the observations were consistent with the data available on the ecology of the species. M. bechsteinii prefer roosts carved out by woodpeckers in the trunks of living oak trees located inside the forest
Just as tree rings record the environment in which a tree grew traces of barium in the layers of a primate tooth can tell the story of
natural forest regeneration and teak plantation. We found that if all existing grasslands were allowed to regenerate as natural forest there would be a reduction in dry-season flows across the watershed of 8. 4 percent compared to 11.1 percent
if reforestation took the form of teak plantations. In both cases these conditions potentially pose a problem for the Panama canal Authority.
Both natural forest and teak plantations offer benefits in the form of carbon sequestration and timber products among other things and these should be weighed against any water losses said Perrings.
On the other hand reforestation of existing grassland with teak (under sustainable forest management) would generate gains sufficient to offset the hydrological losses in all converted areas regardless of the value of carbon.
The original article was written by Holly Evarts. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
and hangingflies that perfectly mimicked ginkgo tree leaves 165 million years ago. Rounding out the list is a new monkey with a blue-colored behind
Eugenia is a large worldwide genus of woody evergreen trees and shrubs of the myrtle family that is particularly diverse in South america New caledonia and Madagascar.
along with leaves of a gingko-like tree Yimaia capituliformis in Middle Jurassic deposits in the Jiulongshan Formation in China's Inner Mongolia.
#Norway spruce genome sequenced: Largest ever to be mappedswedish scientists have mapped the gene sequence of Norway spruce (the Christmas tree)--a species with huge economic and ecological importance
--and that is the largest genome to have ever been mapped. The genome is complex and seven times larger than that of humans.
Forest tree breeding is now entering a new era and Sweden has the potential to be in the forefront of development says Professor Ove Nilsson from UPSC.
Newer and more effective methods can begin to be used to ensure that the over 200 million tree seedlings planted each year in Sweden are as strong healthy and well-adapted as possible for both poor and rich soil areas in different parts
but these do not seem to operate so well in conifers. It is remarkable that the spruce is doing so well
despite this unnecessary genetic load says Professor Pär Ingvarsson at UPSC. Of course some of this DNA has a function
This appears to be something special for conifers. The greatest challenge in the project has been to get the approximately 20 billion letters found in spruce's genetic code into the correct order rather than obtaining the actual DNA sequences.
Imagine a library with ten thousand books as thick as the bible written in a language with only four letters explains Professor Stefan Jansson at UPSC.
when the new DNA sequencing machines were unpacked at our newly established laboratory DNA arrived from our model spruce tree.
#Drought makes Borneos trees flower at the same timetropical plants flower at supra-annual irregular intervals.
An international research team headed up by evolutionary biologists at the University of Zurich has identified now two genes responsible for the flowering of a tropical deciduous tree species Shorea beccariana.
Kentaro Shimizu and their Malaysian Taiwanese and Japanese colleagues collected multiple buds from a single Shorea beccariana tree shortly before the start of flowering.
Given the fact that Shorea is a giant tree having its crown at 40 meters ofheight this sample collection was not easy at all says Shimizu.
#Polymer breakthrough inspired by trees and ancient celtic knotsa new slow-motion method of controlling the synthesis of polymers
which takes inspiration from both trees and Celtic Knots opens up new possibilities in areas including medical devices drug delivery elastics and adhesives.
which branch and spread outwards like trees. Polymers are a broad class of natural and synthetic compounds built up of many parts known as monomers
Until now creating more complex branched polymers known as dendrimers (from the Greek word dendron meaning tree) has been a labour intensive and time consuming process.
Now for the first time dendritic or tree like polymers have been synthesised in bulk with branch points after every few monomers of the build process.
#Top-class biofuel from the depths of the foresttops and branches from tree-felling sites are reborn in the laboratory as compact pellets.
It looks just like the sort of debris that litters the pavement around the Christmas tree stands on Christmas eve.
Ancient trees and soilin order to explain today's accelerated warming Gulbranson's research illustrates that glaciers alone don't tell the whole story.
One of the things Gulbranson hypothesizes from his research in Antarctica is that an increase in deciduous trees occurred in higher latitudes during the late Paleozoic driven by higher temperatures.
While trees soak in CO2 and give off oxygen there are other environmental processes to consider says Gulbranson.
ie. some seeds and tuberous plants such as freshwater chestnuts lotus root and the fern root the addition of starch from palms was unexpected totally and very exciting.
Several types of tropical palms store prodigious quantities of starch. This starch can be bashed literally
Many communities in the tropics today particularly in Borneo and Indonesia but also in eastern India still rely on flour derived from palms.
The presence of at least two possibly three species of starch producing palms bananas and various roots raises the intriguing possibility that these plants may have been planted nearby the settlement.
Today groups that rely on palms growing in the wild are highly mobile moving from one palm stand to another as they exhaust the clump.
Sedentary groups that utilise palms for their starch today plant suckers nearby the village thus maintaining continuous supply.
Like trees in a real forest the dense arrays of artificial nanowire trees suppress sunlight reflection
when planting trees. Maps developed by Laura Gray a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Renewable Resources at the U of A provide projections of climatically suitable habitat for tree species based on climate predictions for the 2020s 2050s and 2080s.
Currently Alberta forestry companies and government agencies plant 80 million spruce fir and pine seedlings to reforest more than 50000 hectares of harvested land annually.
The information helps forest managers have more confidence in their decisions on what and where to plant.
It allows them to more accurately assess the climactic risk said Gray co-author of the study with associate professor Andreas Hamann.
The study addresses concerns that many populations of wide-ranging tree species which are adapted to local growing conditions may now
The work is the first of its kind to tackle multiple potential climate scenarios for a large number of tree species across western North america.
Gray's large-scale research which considers 15 major commercial tree species and 18 different future climate-change scenarios was published recently in the journal Climatic Change.
The seed should still be of the same tree species rather than introducing a new species into a foreign environment she added.
Western Boreal Aspen Corporation and Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Alberta.
#Untangling the tree of lifethese days phylogeneticists--experts who painstakingly map the complex branches of the tree of life--suffer from an embarrassment of riches.
The trees produced by a number of well-supported studies have come to contradictory conclusions. It has become common for topnotch studies to report genealogies that strongly contradict each other in where certain organisms sprang from such as the place of sponges on the animal tree
or of snails on the tree of mollusks said Antonis Rokas Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological sciences at Vanderbilt University.
In a study published online May 8 by the journal Nature Rokas and graduate student Leonidas Salichos analyze the reasons for these differences
and provide greater accuracy in deciphering the deep branches of life's tree. The study by Salichos and Rokas comes at a critical time
and focus on those parts of the tree that are problematic. In broad terms Rokas and Salichos found that genetic data is less reliable during periods of rapid radiation
A lot of the debate on the differences in the trees has been between studies concerning the'bushy'branches that took place in these'radiations'Rokas said.
The discovery is a boon for organic as well as conventional tree fruit growers. The researchers recently published their study in the journal Biological Control.
After one week aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots
Researchers compared plots of apple trees with sweet alyssum to plots without flowers. While the sweet alyssum attracted hoverflies as desired Gontijo
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
and Extension Center in Wenatchee and Gontijo's mentor and co-author on the paper. These aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew
#Untangling the tree of lifethese days phylogeneticists--experts who painstakingly map the complex branches of the tree of life--suffer from an embarrassment of riches.
The trees produced by a number of well-supported studies have come to contradictory conclusions. It has become common for topnotch studies to report genealogies that strongly contradict each other in where certain organisms sprang from such as the place of sponges on the animal tree
or of snails on the tree of mollusks said Antonis Rokas Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological sciences at Vanderbilt University.
In a study published online May 8 by the journal Nature Rokas and graduate student Leonidas Salichos analyze the reasons for these differences
and provide greater accuracy in deciphering the deep branches of life's tree. The study by Salichos and Rokas comes at a critical time
and focus on those parts of the tree that are problematic. In broad terms Rokas and Salichos found that genetic data is less reliable during periods of rapid radiation
A lot of the debate on the differences in the trees has been between studies concerning the'bushy'branches that took place in these'radiations'Rokas said.
The discovery is a boon for organic as well as conventional tree fruit growers. The researchers recently published their study in the journal Biological Control.
After one week aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots
Researchers compared plots of apple trees with sweet alyssum to plots without flowers. While the sweet alyssum attracted hoverflies as desired Gontijo
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
and Extension Center in Wenatchee and Gontijo's mentor and co-author on the paper. These aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew
Unlike coffee or vanilla the biochemical processes that produce the strawberry aroma are very complex.
--and there are dozens--sacred lotus bears the closest resemblance to the ancestor of all eudicots a broad category of flowering plants that includes apple cabbage cactus coffee cotton grape melon peanut poplar
#Loss of eastern hemlock will affect forest water usethe loss of eastern hemlock from forests in the Southern Appalachian region of the United states could permanently change the area's hydrologic cycle reports a new study by U s. Forest Service
The hemlock woolly adelgid an exotic invasive insect has caused widespread hemlock mortality says Steven Brantley a postdoctoral researcher at Coweeta
Hemlock decline is expected to have a major impact on forest processes including transpiration. Transpiration describes the loss of water from plant leaves or needles.
Coweeta researchers estimated changes in transpiration at the forest-level since hemlock woolly adelgid infestation by monitoring tree water use
The four studied stands were once dominated by eastern hemlock trees and are located in the Coweeta watersheds.
Because of its dense evergreen foliage and dominance in riparian and cove habitats eastern hemlock plays an important role in the area's water cycle regulating stream flow year round.
The loss of hemlock from southern Appalachian forests can be compared to the loss of American chestnut from eastern forests
Changes in local forest hydrology from the loss of eastern hemlock will largely depend on which species replace it.
Rhododendron a woody evergreen shrub common in southern Appalachian forests is one of the species replacing eastern hemlock trees.
Although rhododendron is evergreen it has lower leaf area than hemlock and thus transpiration in rhododendron-dominated forest stands is lower than in previously-healthy hemlock forests.
Most of the other species replacing eastern hemlock trees are deciduous such as sweet birch which unlike the evergreen rhododendron and eastern hemlock do not transpire during the Winter sweet birch trees also have a much higher transpiration rate than eastern hemlock trees during the growing season.
The cumulative effect of these species changes will probably mean permanent changes in seasonal transpiration patterns says Brantley.
In the growing season transpiration rates will likely rise leading to lower stream flow in the summer.
Whatever species eventually replace eastern hemlock there will be important long-term implications for riparian habitats beyond stream discharge.
Without the shade provided by eastern hemlock stream temperatures could rise threatening aquatic animals like eastern brook trout that require cold water for survival.
The loss of eastern hemlock will not only affect the animal and plant communities in riparian habitats but ecosystem function throughout these areas.
Ikhlas Khan and colleagues explain that cinnamon which comes from the bark of certain trees is one of the most important flavoring agents used in foods and beverages.
True or Ceylon cinnamon is expensive so most breads sticky buns and other products in the United states use dried cassia bark or cassia cinnamon.
Ceylon cinnamon contains very little coumarin a naturally occurring substance that has been linked to liver damage in people sensitive to the substance.
However cassia cinnamon can contain larger amounts. Khan's team decided to check on the coumarin content of a wide variety of food products.
As found in this study coumarin was present sometimes in substantial amounts in cinnamon-based food supplements
#U s. urban trees store carbon, provide billions in economic value, finds state-by-state analysisfrom New york city's Central park to Golden gate Park in San francisco America's urban forests store an estimated 708 million tons of carbon an environmental service with an estimated value
Annual net carbon uptake by these trees is estimated at 21 million tons and $1. 5 billion in economic benefit.
and his colleagues used urban tree field data from 28 cities and six states and national tree cover data to estimate total carbon storage in the nation's urban areas.
With expanding urbanization city trees and forests are becoming increasingly important to sustain the health
and well-being of our environment and our communities said U s. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell.
Carbon storage is just one of the many benefits provided by the hardest working trees in America.
I hope this study will encourage people to look at their neighborhood trees a little differently
and care for trees for Earth Day and Arbor day this year but there are opportunities all year long.
The Forest Service partners with organizations like the Arbor day Foundation and participates in programs like Tree City USA to recognize
Nationally carbon storage by trees in forestlands was estimated at 22.3 billion tons in a 2008 Forest Service study;
additional carbon storage by urban trees bumps that to an estimated 22.7 billion tons. Carbon storage and sequestration rates vary among states based on the amount of urban tree cover and growing conditions.
States in forested regions typically have the highest percentage of urban tree cover. States with the greatest amount of carbon stored by trees in urban areas are Texas (49.8 million tons) Florida (47.3 million tons) Georgia (42.4 million tons) Massachusetts (39.6
million tons) and North carolina (37.5 million tons. The total amount of carbon stored and sequestered in urban areas could increase in the future as urban land expands.
Urban areas in the continental U s. increased from 2. 5 percent of land area in 1990 to 3. 1 percent in 2000 an increase equivalent to the area of Vermont and New hampshire combined.
More urbanization does not necessarily translate to more urban trees. Last year Nowak and Eric Greenfield a forester with the Northern Research Station and another study co-author found that urban tree cover is declining nationwide at a rate of about 20000 acres per year or 4 million
trees per year. Carbon Storage by Urban Treesstate: Carbon Stored (tons) Total 708100000the mission of the U s. Forest Service is to sustain the health diversity
and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.
Wetlands and buffers of trees grasses and shrubs help to keep runoff from fields out of the waterways slowing erosion of soil and blooms of algae downstream.
Boreal ecosystems encircle the planet's high latitudes covering swaths of Canada Europe and Russia in coniferous trees and wetlands.
because most models don't account for random events such as fire drought and insects that kill already-stressed trees.
#Sahara olive tree: Genetic heritage to be preservedthe Saharan cousin of Mediterranean olive trees remains largely unknown.
However this subspecies (called the Laperinne's olive tree) is of great interest for several reasons.
IRD researchers and their partners showed that its longevity is ensured by its original vegetative reproduction.
Extremely drought-resistant this relict tree could act as a genetic resource to improve its domestic counterparts provided conservation actions are implemented to prevent its disappearance.
The most resistant of all olive treescontrary to its cultivated counterpart the Laperrine's olive tree did not choose the mildness of the Mediterranean climate.
A genetic resource for cultivated plantsa symbol of Saharan mountain ecosystems the Laperrine's olive tree is a source of wood for local populations.
Indeed it can be crossed with cultivated olive trees to improve various properties such as the drought-resistance of the latter.
An endangered treedeveloping a conservation niche like the Laperrine's olive tree is not a risk-free process.
Under current climatic conditions the number of trees also tends to decrease. This combination of factors leads to the gradual erosion of the genetic diversity which lowers the ability of the Laperrine's olive tree to adapt to environmental changes
and means this subspecies is endangered potentially in the long term. This research into the ecology and evolutionary history of the Laperrine's olive tree helps to better identify the danger facing this tree--endemic to the Sahara desert
--and to establish the priorities for conservation programmes. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Institut de Recherche pour le D veloppement (IRD.
Figs and fig trees are familiar to a wide cross-section of human society both as a common food and for their spiritual importance.
it is the first fruit tree mentioned in the Bible and some traditions believe that it was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of eden.
It was the tree under which Buddha received enlightenment. Figs can also have powerful impacts on everyday life both in a positive or negative fashion.
For instance Kikuyu women in Africa smear themselves with the sap of fig trees to ensure pregnancy..
and walking under or felling these trees can cause illness. In Papua new guinea figs are believed to be the haunt of evil spirits
and leaves of fig trees are used for animal fodder which can sustain livestock through otherwise lean periods.
and roots from fig trees are used for manufacturing items such as barkcloth handicrafts shields and buildings. The authors provide examples of barkcloth manufacture from Mexico Uganda and Sulawesi.
Figs and fig trees have a seemingly inexhaustible list of qualities and uses. Despite populations being continents apart there are consistent similarities in the ways in
which the fig and its tree are valued. The authors hope to emphasize the global nature of this relationship.
Ficus religiosa in Southeast asia is spread by Buddhists and all fig species in Fundong Cameroon have been introduced from elsewhere.
and honeysuckle compared to nests built in native shrubs or trees. The relationship between invasive plants and wildlife is complex.
These components probably originate in the tree resins that bees use to make propolis the bee glue
The team of ecologists based at the Mpala Research center in Kenya found that trees close to the edges of glades grew faster
and were generally larger than trees elsewhere in the savanna. They also found more insects
Unexpectedly the area between two close glades had some of the lowest gecko lizard densities and tree growth rates of the entire study.
#New simulation speed record on Sequoia Supercomputercomputer scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Rensselaer Polytechnic institute have set a high performance computing speed record that opens the way to the scientific exploration of complex planetary-scale systems.
In a paper to be published in May the joint team will announce a record-breaking simulation speed of 504 billion events per second on LLNL's Sequoia Blue Gene/Q supercomputer dwarfing the previous record set in 2009
Constructed by IBM the 120-rack Sequoia supercomputer has a peak performance of 25 petaflops per second
and run on the 120-rack Sequoia system. Authors of the study are Peter Barnes Jr. and David Jefferson of LLNL and CCNI Director and computer science professor Chris Carothers and graduate student Justin Lapre of Rensselaer.
while Sequoia was in unclassified early science service as part of the machine's integration period.
Sequoia is dedicated to the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program for stewardship of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile a joint effort by LLNL Los alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.
The ASC program provided time on Sequoia to the LLNL-Rensselaer team as the capabilities tested have potential relevance to NNSA/DOE missions.
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