and recent high-res images Fisher and his colleagues can identify which patches of forest are most likely to contain new species of ants based on their elevation vegetation and adjacent habitats.
and leaf litter where they live Kavanaugh explains They're no bigger than the head of a pin
Toxoplasma spores are found in dirt and easily infect farm animals such as cows sheep pigs and chickens.
#The origin of flowers: DNA of storied plant provides insight into the evolution of flowering plantsthe newly sequenced genome of the Amborella plant addresses Darwin's abominable mystery--the question of why flowers suddenly proliferated On earth millions of years ago.
The genome sequence sheds new light on a major event in the history of life On earth: the origin of flowering plants including all major food crop species. On 20 december 2013 a paper by the Amborella Genome Sequencing Project that includes a full description of the analyses performed by the project as well as implications for flowering plant research will be published in the journal Science.
The paper is among three on different research areas related to the Amborella genome that will be published in the same issue of the journal.
Amborella (Amborella trichopoda) is unique as the sole survivor of an ancient evolutionary lineage that traces back to the last common ancestor of all flowering plants.
and the University of California-Riverside--is uncovering evidence for the evolutionary processes that paved the way for the amazing diversity of the more than 300000 flowering plant species we enjoy today.
This unique heritage gives Amborella a special role in the study of flowering plants. In the same way that the genome sequence of the platypus--a survivor of an ancient lineage--can help us study the evolution of all mammals the genome sequence of Amborella can help us learn about the evolution of all flowers said Victor Albert of the University
at Buffalo. Scientists who sequenced the Amborella genome say that it provides conclusive evidence that the ancestor of all flowering plants including Amborella evolved following a genome doubling event that occurred about 200 million years ago.
Some duplicated genes were lost over time but others took on new functions including contributions to the development of floral organs.
therefore offer an explanation to Darwin's abominable mystery--the apparently abrupt proliferation of new species of flowering plants in fossil records dating to the Cretaceous period said Claude depamphilis of Penn State university.
Comparative analyses of the Amborella genome are already providing scientists with a new perspective on the genetic origins of important traits in all flowering plants--including all major food crop species. Because of Amborella's pivotal phylogenetic position
it is an evolutionary reference genome that allows us to better understand genome changes in those flowering plants that evolved later including genome evolution of our many crop plants--hence it will be essential for crop improvement stressed Doug Soltis of the University of Florida.
As another example of the value of the Amborella genome Joshua Der at Penn State noted We estimate that at least 14000 protein-coding genes existed in the last common ancestor of all flowering plants.
Many of these genes are unique to flowering plants and many are known to be important for producing the flower as well as other structures and other processes specific to flowering plants.
This work provides the first global insight as to how flowering plants are genetically different from all other plants On earth Brad Barbazuk of the University of Florida said
and it provides new clues as to how seed plants are genetically different from non-seed plants. Jim Leebens-Mack from UGA noted that The Amborella genome sequence facilitated reconstruction of the ancestral gene order in the'core eudicots'a huge group that comprises about 75 percent of all angiosperms.
This group includes tomato apple and legumes as well as timber trees such as oak and poplar. As an evolutionary outsider to this diverse group the Amborella genome allowed the researchers to estimate the linear order of genes in an ancestral eudicot genome
and to infer lineage-specific changes that occurred over 120 million years of evolution in the core eudicot.
since it split from the rest of the flowering plant tree of life. For example DNA sequences that can change locations
In addition to its utility in retrospective studies of the evolution of flowering plants the Amborella genome sequence offers insights into the history and conservation of Amborella populations.
There are only 18 known populations of this very special angiosperm in mountainous regions New caledonia. Resequencing of individual Amborella plants across the species'range reveals geographic structure with conservation implications plus evidence of a recent major genetic bottleneck noted Pam Soltis of the University of Florida.
Previous research has shown that the traditional argument that differences in plumage between the sexes stem from differences in breeding systems doesn't always hold up.
Yet a drawback to using these hybrids has been the high cost of purchasing the seeds
and recorded the number of ECB tunnels and larvae per stalk. They also evaluated corn ears for ECB damage.
just as well as Bt hybrids so the decline in ECB populations provides an opportunity for growers to generate greater profits by planting high-yielding non-Bt seed
which is much cheaper than Bt seed. Secondarily planting more non-Bt corn will reduce the potential for ECB to develop resistance to Bt toxins as corn rootworms have done in about a dozen states so far.
#Bacteria to aid sutainable sugarcane productionscientists have discovered a bacterium that could reduce the use of fertilizer in sugarcane production
and sugarcane accounts for about 80%of production. The price of sugar has increased at a rate considerably above inflation over the last 30 years.
This research published in Sfam's journal Microbial Biotechnology describes how scientists searched the roots of sugar cane
Bacteria are used widely in sugar cane production as well as with other crops where they help to break down organic matter in the soil to make vital nutrients available to the growing plants
This variability means that the success of bacterial fertilizers might depend on developing tailor-made versions for different crop cultivars and environments.
and went looking for bacteria that were present in large numbers around the roots of thriving sugar cane plants.
The team tested the bacteria checking that they were happy living amongst the roots of growing sugarcane seedlings
Paungfoo-Lonhienne and colleagues are also looking for bacteria that break down waste produces from sugar cane processing
They hope to conduct field tests with a view to assisting the development of commercial products that will be used to improve the health and productivity of sugarcane crops whilst reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers.
which are stored in the vegetation (in the form of wood roots leaves) and oxygen. New forests continue to accumulate carbon for hundreds of years.
The more carbon is stored in the vegetation the more profitable such projects are. Restoring forests should bring especially high carbon returns in areas where plants grow fast
and to big sizes but where past disturbances such as deforestation fires and degradation have resulted in much of the vegetation being destroyed because the difference between
Researchers from Aarhus University Denmark the University of Pretoria South africa and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South africa have developed now a method to calculate the difference between the potential carbon that could be stored in vegetation
and the carbon that is stored currently in vegetation in tropical Africa. The researchers based their analysis on a satellite-derived map of current carbon being stored in vegetation.
Combining it with data on environmental factors that affect plant growth such as climate and soil they could model the maximum amount of carbon that could be stored in vegetation across tropical Africa.
By subtracting the actual amount of carbon currently stored in vegetation from this they could
thus show where in Africa carbon-stocking projects would be particularly profitable. People and biodiversity factors are also importantin reality such a map of where most carbon could be stored is limited probably of use for deciding where to plan carbon projects
The area currently has little vegetation biomass due to heavy degradation but has an excellent climate for tree growth
From Imperial Rome to Garden Gnome Professor Campbell has investigated the little-known history of the ornamental hermit a tradition with its roots in Ancient Rome but still present in the form of the humble garden gnome.
and respond to this new rich food resource said Charles Flower UIC postdoctoral research associate in biology and first author of the study.
and the impact on the ecosystem Flower said. In this study the researchers wanted to see
or perhaps more efficient than other methods to slow the spread of this pest said Flower.
One of the ways a predator can respond to a new abundant food source according to Flower is a functional response:
and eat their way through the phloem layer of the tree the vascular system that delivers water and nutrients from root to branch.
and painted all the holes they found in the bark of each tree--a different color each for large round woodpecker holes for the characteristic crescent-shaped holes mature emerald ash borers
Paint seeped through to dye the stem beneath and after the bark was stripped the students could identify woodpecker holes that penetrated into emerald ash borer galleries
or into holes made by other bugs. The students tracked the fate of each bug that had been in the tree.
This was looking at woodpecker foraging at a fine tree-by-tree scale said Flower.
the numbers of the predator in this case woodpeckers and other bark foraging birds increase either because they were moving into the area
and the white-breasted nuthatch the important bark foraging birds in this region increased as the emerald ash borer increased.
and didn't tell you what the birds were doing there said Flower. With the numerical response they found
or how its population is controlled said Flower. Slowing its course may give researchers time to learn more about how it can be controlled.
Or at least save a nearby forest said Flower. The research suggests that the woodpeckers are likely slowing the spread of emerald ash borer.
Sugar beet is the first representative of a group of flowering plants called Caryophyllales comprising 11500 species
or quinoa as well as plants with an interesting biology for instance carnivorous plants or desert plants. 27421 protein-coding genes were discovered within the genome of the beet more than are encoded within the human genome.
Sugar beet has a lower number of genes encoding transcription factors than any flowering plant with already known genome adds Bernd Weisshaar a principle investigator from Bielefeld University who was involved in the study.
Additionally gene numbers varied between different sugar beet cultivars which contained up to 271 genes not shared with any of the other lines as Juliane Dohm
and reducing the risk of chronic disease is to wisely choose a wide variety of foods said registered dietitian nutritionist and Academy spokesperson Heather Mangieri.
#A roly-poly pika gathers much moss: High-fiber salad bar may help lagomorphs survive climate changein some mountain ranges Earth's warming climate is driving rabbit relatives known as pikas to higher elevations
But University of Utah biologists discovered that roly-poly pikas living in rockslides near sea level in Oregon can survive hot weather by eating more moss than any other mammal.
Our work shows pikas can eat unusual foods like moss to persist in strange environments says biology professor Denise Dearing senior author of the new study published online today in the February 2014 issue
Mosses are 80 percent fiber. It's a bit like eating paper. By consuming mosses that grow on the rockslides where they live the pikas are released from foraging outside the safety
and shady heat buffer of the rocks where they can overheat or be killed by weasels
Few herbivores consume moss because it's so nutritionally deficient. The pikas in our study actually set a new record for moss in a mammal's diet:
60 percent. The study also found the low-elevation pikas build much smaller food caches to survive the winter compared with pikas in typical high-elevation habitat she adds.
The end product is six times more nutritious than the moss. Varner says the findings suggest Northwest residents may want to preserve moss that often covers rockslides which are known as talus slopes.
Moss is collected for horticulture in some areas and traipsing all over rockslides and trampling moss cover has become a popular pastime in the gorge she adds.
Funding for the study came from the National Science Foundation University of Utah the Wilderness Society Southwestern Association of Naturalists Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology and American Society of Mammalogists.
Pikas in the Mistthe Order lagomorpha has two families: one with rabbits and hares the other with pikas.
but collect and carry vegetation--often grasses flowers fir needles and herbaceous forbs such as lupine alumroot and yarrow--to their homes to make haypiles for winter use.
Both sexes make a distinctive high-pitched loud short staccato call--EEP! --while males also have a longer call of EEP EEP EEP!
In the gorge--which runs roughly 30 miles east-to-west--these American pikas--Ochotona princeps--live among the rocks on moss-covered talus slopes.
The scientists surveyed the abundance of lichens mosses ferns grasses sedges rushes forbs shrubs and trees along the two rockslides.
The slopes were 60 percent to 70 percent covered by vegetation. Three biologists in 2011 and five in 2012 used binoculars in two-hour shifts watching
Eat Moss Eat Poop and Livesixty percent of the pikas'diet by dry weight came from moss at both sites with the rest from grasses lichens ferns forbs shrubs and some fir needles.
The pikas favored two species: hoary rock moss and big red-stem moss. Varner is unaware that pikas have been seen eating moss elsewhere and certainly not in this quantity.
To our knowledge this study represents the highest degree of voluntary moss consumption reported for a mammalian herbivore in the wild
although wood lemmings have survived on a pure moss diet in a laboratory Varner and Dearing write.
Svalbard reindeer consume up to 54 percent moss in winter but most reindeer eat only 22 percent to 30 percent moss.
Brown lemmings can consume up to 40 percent moss during Arctic winters. And Soay sheep can eat up to 30 percent moss in winter.
Analysis of the pikas'caecal pellets showed they contained six times more protein than the moss they ate.
Less snow cover low in the Columbia Gorge--only about 20 days per winter--means the pikas there collect smaller haypiles (about 10 pounds per animal per year by dry weight) for winter than do pikas at high elevations
in Colorado (about 60 pounds per animal per year in a 1997 Dearing study. The haypiles contained little moss but had forbs shrubs
and fir needles high in phenol to preserve the food cache through the winter. Yet in both places the haypiles equaled about three ounces per animal per day of annual snowpack also showing the low-elevation pikas didn't need to prepare for winter as much because of the availability of their year-round salad bar.
The researchers wondered if nitrogen air pollutants from the Portland area might be absorbed by the moss making it more nutritious.
But the analysis found no support for that idea. In cooperation with the Oregon Zoo and local wildlife agencies Varner has helped begin a citizen science program in the Columbia river Gorge so local hikers can help monitor the pikas.
Pikas also exist in some other low-elevations places including in California's Sierra nevada and in lava flows in Idaho and Washington state.
Carissa Klein of the University of Queensland; Stacy Jupiter of the Wildlife Conservation Society; and Matthew Watts and Hugh Possingham of the University of Queensland.
but also how much they benefit coral reef ecosystems said lead author Dr. Carissa Klein. Thinking about the connections between the land and sea is done rarely
However we were surprised to find that these priority places for management actually did not include a lot of the key threatened forest vegetation types.
and pulp industries and in an emerging biofuel industry that could be based on hybrid poplar plantations.
or cut back at the age of two years before they were old enough to flower
Annual crops such as cotton and corn already are grown routinely as GMO products with insect resistance genes.
Agoutis eat tree seeds. Ocelots eat agoutis said Patrick Jansen research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and assistant professor at Wageningen University.
Scientists compared daily activity patterns of agoutis between parts of forest with contrasting abundance of palm seeds.
Next Jansen will examine what the differences in predation risk mean for seed dispersal by agoutis which bury seeds as food reserves in numerous scattered caches.
These seeds may germinate and establish a new tree. Hungry agoutis plant trees but may never see the fruit of their labor--a fascinating feedback loop.
Taxonomy and nine new combinationsthe sweet-gum family Altingiaceae is a small group of wind-pollinated trees that produce hard woody fruits that contain numerous seeds.
and they produce fragrant resin (styrax). Some species are cultivated also as ornamentals while others are prized locally highly for the roots
and bark used in traditional Chinese medicine. Some species are local endemics and Liquidambar chingii is listed as near-threatened by the IUCN.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Pensoft Publishers. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
So let's make a product out of it building on the existing infrastructure of the pulp and paper industry.
For example the low livestock feed efficiencies and high greenhouse gas emission intensities in Sub-saharan africa are determined largely by the fact that most animals in this region continue to subsist largely on vegetation inedible by humans especially by grazing on marginal lands
says co-author Qiuhong Tang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Still an increase of precipitation is also challenging--the additional water may cause water logging flooding
Much to the Denny's relief medics arrived quickly. Thankfully in the 10-minute ride in the ambulance to Nationwide Children's Hospital the epinephrine started to work
and composite resins in addition to leatherlike materials must be a priority if we are to benefit the environment
In 2012 Dixie Chemical began producing Wool's bio-based composite resins for a worldwide market.
Atmospheric nitrogen deposition has changed already the number and richness of forest floor vegetation species in European forests over the last 20-30 years.
The work involved the examination of long-term changes in vascular plant communities within a 1 300 monitoring grid covering 28 forested areas in various parts of Europe.
The number and richness of forest floor vegetation species in European forests have changed over the last 20 to 30 years due to wet and dry deposition of atmospheric nitrogen.
Among such habitats coverage of species such as heather and may lily has been reduced in many areas in
The largest changes in vegetation have occurred in Southern and Central European forests. Although deposition has affected not yet markedly species numbers within plant communities most new species spreading into forests during the monitoring period have been types that favour nitrogen.
Although nitrogen deposition remains small in Northern europe even a slight rise in long-term deposition could change the competitive relationship of vascular plants by promoting the dissemination
and growth of nitrogen-favouring species. The effects of nitrogen deposition on Finland's forest vegetation can only be investigated with the assistance of a permanent environmental monitoring network.
According to long-term monitoring by the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) tree felling is still the key factor in changes to forest floor vegetation.
This monitoring reveals a reduction in lichens throughout Finland including in unfelled forests. In Northern Finland reindeer grazing is the key factor in lichen reduction.
Slow-growing lichens in Southern Finland can also suffer due to the rapid growth of and shading by plants benefiting from nitrogen deposition.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Heaths woods and meadows are in most ways no more'natural'than suburban gardens or inner-city waste grounds.
and in terms of wildlife conservation More heaths downs and wetlands are required certainly simply to ensure healthy populations of birds like the stone curlew as well as to sustain a wide range of endangered plants.
This said when we create new heaths at great expense and then attempt to maintain the result--an impoverished artificial species-poor habitat--by mimicking long-redundant economic and agricultural activities then we are certainly doing something a little odd.
In the case of heathland for example we might consider restoring some of the wood-pasture heaths
which once existed such as the systematic and regular stripping of areas of heather and its roots.
Frederick Gmitter a citrus breeder and faculty member at IFAS'Citrus REC said his research team has found new experimental rootstocks that seem to be supporting healthier trees--even ones with citrus greening.
An elephant's trunk or a rooster's crest might never fossilize because there's no bone in them Bell explains.
This is equivalent to discovering for the first time that elephants had trunks. We have lots of skulls of Edmontosaurus but there are no clues on them that suggest they might have had a big fleshy crest.
Whereas fallow forests can have a surprisingly high tree-biodiversity a large proportion of tree species only occur as seedlings and saplings.
which they counted more than 52000 trees palms and lianas. To the authors'knowledge this was the first metacommunity study of its kind ever conducted in the tropics.
In the study plots researchers found 324 tree and shrub species about 55 percent of Agua Salud's suite of approximately 600 tree species. They estimated relative reproductive size thresholds
and species that depend on forest-dependent animals for seed dispersal. If left undisturbed secondary forests may regain levels of tree diversity similar to those of mature forests
--but only when the surrounding landscape includes natural seed sources like protected parkland patches of old forest
#Hormones in the crosshairswhile small-scale horticulture is a relatively recent addition to the human repertoire of food provisioning hunting has deep evolutionary roots.
#Better protection for mangroves with models for successful seedling establishmentseedlings of mangroves do not have an easy time to get established.
Human intervention in coastal areas and climate change also make life difficult for mangrove seedlings.
Thorsten Balke studied the conditions that enable mangrove seedlings to be successful. On 18 december he will defend his Phd thesis at Radboud University.
For successful management and restoration of mangrove forests good understanding of the interaction between vegetation soil and the forces of nature is required.
how do the seedlings get to the tidal flat and what factors ensure their growth to become a successful mangrove forest?
The dangers of high tide What is the biggest danger for mangrove seedlings? High tide. Due to the currents and waves that accompany high tide sedimentation
and erosion can prevent seedlings from becoming established on the bare tidal flat. During sedimentation material carried by the water sinks to the l bed
and accumulates there essentially burying the seedlings. Erosion is another factor whereby soil particles are removed from the bed by water currents.
Many limiting factors However the seedlings also work against themselves. Due to their own buoyancy it takes some time before they become firmly anchored in the soil
Under ideal conditions relatively short roots are sufficient but only longer roots can withstand the currents
and waves that accompany high tide. And after the seedlings are anchored in the soil their growth process can still fail
because they become buried by sediments or they topple due to soil erosion. Experiments in wave tanks To study all these aspects in detail Balke set up an experiment in Singapore to simulate the various rates of sedimentation and erosion at high tide.
tidal periods in which the conditions are ideal for the establishment and further development of mangrove seedlings.
'The results of Balke's models emphasise that the most important factor for successful restoration is not planting seedlings
but improving the growing conditions for the seedlings. For example in Indonesia mangrove rehabilitation projects are being developed using brushwood groynes to counteract erosion
and enable mangrove seedlings to develop. Balke:''All my publications are open source so that everyone in the world can use this information freely.'
'Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Radboud University Nijmegen. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
and sustained vegetation recovery in areas that were deforested previously by agribusiness in the tropical savannas or cerrado of Brazil.
By controlling fires according to the weather winds moisture and natural fire barriers they successfully conserved the increasingly threatened cerrado vegetation.
and seed size and production defense against pests and pathogens and response to abiotic stresses such as drought and ozone Pandey said.
when G proteins quantities were elevated in Camelina sativa the plant produced more seeds which were also bigger in size.
Camelina seeds have very high oil content leading researchers at the Danforth Center to focus on Camelina to develop biodiesel and other industrial products.
Discoveries about the impact of G proteins on seed production and size were published in the September 2013 issue ofplant Biotechnology Journal.
The Pandey lab also showed that G proteins function in soybean roots to affect formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules through a symbiotic relationship with certain beneficial bacteria.
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