me and started measuring the lengths of the branches with my daughter's plastic ruler that happened to be on the table.
Just like branches on a real tree you can see that the branches on the evolutionary tree grow at different rates in humans versus horses versus birds.
One possible source is rice husks: They're unfit for human food produced by the millions of tons and 20 percent silicon dioxide by weight.
Carbohydrates--mainly cereals sugars potatoes and other tubers--and vegetable oils produced efficiently by large-scale agriculture
A Penn State geographer is gathering all the information he can about the agrobiodiversity of these uniquely adapted tubers with an eye toward sustainability of this fourth largest food crop worldwide.
The fields tubers and landscapes are visually stunning. Zimmerer has studied high-agrobiodiversity land use for over 20 years
Performance under flood Seed treatments for row crops such as corn cotton or soybean target early-season pests that are in the soil
when the seed is planted. But rice seed treatments are different. We're targeting primarily rice water weevils
Gore said all of the seed treatments are water soluble and water can have both positive and negative effects on seed treatments.
Because rice is grown in aquatic or semiaquatic environments we needed to find out how different water management practices might impact the seed treatments'performance he said.
Andrew Adams an MSU graduate student from Greenville set up tests in grower fields across the Delta and at the Delta Research and Extension Center.
which is about two months that the seed treatment was sitting in the soil without having insect pressure Adams said.
Where we delayed the permanent flood until eight weeks after planting the seed treatment was compromised not
Flushing is used for herbicide incorporation seed germination or for irrigation during hot and dry conditions he said.
Adams tested zero one and two flushes with water across a rice field to check the efficacy of three different seed treatments.
The seed treatments Cruiser and Nipsit were impacted negatively with the application of the second flush
Seed treatment rates Gore and Adams also tested the efficacy of seed treatment rates in hybrid rice.
Hybrid rice varieties are grown at 20 to 25 pounds of seed per acre versus 75 to 85 pounds with conventional varieties Gore said.
Because seed treatment rates are based on a per-seed basis we wanted to know if the lower seeding rate and hence the lower seed treatment rate on a per acre basis impacted insect control.
It did not. No additional benefit was observed from increasing the seed treatment rate. Currently labeled rates for hybrid rice production are said correct Gore.
The management practice that showed significant improvement in rice water weevil control beyond the seed treatment was a foliar overspray with a pyrethroid on hybrid rice Gore said.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Mississippi State university Office of Agricultural Communications.
It is possible that the synthetic version of pheromone could be used in combination with an insect pathogenic fungus that is being studied at Cornell University by Ann Hajek Hoover said.
This fungus can be sprayed on a tree and when beetles walk on it they pick up the fungus
which infects and kills them. By also applying the pheromone that female beetles use to attract males we can trick the male beetles into going to the deadly fungicide rather than to a fertile female.
While often called cocoa beans cocoa plants actually are colored large brightly pods filled with many seeds.
Cocoa to Chocolatecocoa seeds are removed from the pod dried and roasted giving them a distinct dark color and unique flavor.
After roasting cocoa seeds are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor. The liquor separates into dry cocoa and cocoa butter or fat.
Chocolate Safetythe roasting process kills bacteria on the cocoa seeds. Because of the high fat low moisture content chocolate generally does not spoil.
A white coating called chocolate bloom may appear on the surface of a chocolate bar. This is either the cocoa butter
or sun. The presence of chocolate bloom does not mean that the chocolate is unsafe to eat.
The team identified ax-cut wood chips tree stumps and charcoal fragments from early logging efforts in unexpectedly deep layers of sediment 1. 5 meters (five feet) below the ground
#New species of Oak hidden away in the greenery of Ton Pariwat Wildlife Sanctuaryan international team of scientists from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical garden (China)
-and wildlife such as the Blue-banded Kingfisher and Whitehanded Gibbons as well for its rare and beautiful flora like Rafflesia's--known to hold some of the largest flowers on earth.
The new species Lithocarpus orbicarpus is a medium to small tree with simple leaves. It can be distinguished easily by its spherical acorns covered with a dense pattern of irregularly placed scales that completely conceal the nut except for a tiny opening at the top and
which are arranged in dense clusters on upright spikes. This species is known only from Thailand and has not been recorded outside Ton Pariwat Wildlife Sanctuary.
'which is going to turn every part of the alga into something useful. Algae are known for their ability to convert CO2
This particular alga is able to produce up to 80%of its mass as fuel but is currently too expensive to cultivate for fuel alone.
The Dunaliella alga has been chosen because it produces a wide range of compounds appropriate for the'biorefinery'concept
***Seaweed could be next new biofuelnew research to turn seaweed into liquid biofuel aims to overcome two main barriers to the plant becoming a major source of renewable energy.
and preserve seaweed for year-round use. Ensilage--a method traditionally used by farmers to turn grass into hay for winter animal feed--has potential to stop the seaweed rotting.
The research backed by £1. 6m from the Engineering and Physical sciences Research Council will also explore the conversion of wet seaweed to gas which can in turn be converted to liquid fuel.
There is a global race on to develop the technologies to make seaweed a viable source of green power.
First generation fuels such as bioethanol from sugarcane and corn or biodiesel from rapeseed and palm oil are in direct competition with food for arable land and water.
They have an adverse effect on food prices and supply. Saltwater algae are therefore a very attractive proposition as an alternative biofuel if we can overcome the challenges.
Professor Harvey explains The alga is simply freeze-dried and put in a capsule. So when someone takes it as a vitamin supplement they are also consuming chemicals
#Black raspberry candies find the sweet spot for cancer prevention studywhether it's a plate or pyramid healthy eating guidelines always give fruits
and Food Innovation Center (FIC) Vodovotz has developed now novel black raspberry-based functional foods that can withstand the rigors of a large-scale cancer prevention trial.
Black raspberries--not to be confused with the more recognizable red variety--have piqued the interest of cancer scientists in the last decade due to research showing they have distinct antioxidant
and then grinding the whole berry--fiber seeds and fuzz--into a fine powder. The black raspberry formulations are currently being used in a clinical study of men with prostate cancer undergoing surgery.
The researchers hope to see if the black raspberry preparations coupled with different types of diets can improve post-surgery outcomes versus a control group of men with diet interventions only.
Kristen Roberts a nutrition Phd candidate in the College of Education and Human ecology who was awarded a CCTS-trainee grant to work with James researchers
The black raspberry gummy confections were packed with phytonutrients that the men truly enjoyed. Most of the participants inquired about ordering the gummies after they had completed their prescribed dose. said Roberts whose interest in gastrointestinal health absorption
which uses plant resins to build its nestsscott thought it might be chewing gum originally Moore said.
Turns out that M. campanulae was occasionally replacing plant resins with polyurethane-based exterior building sealant such as caulking in its brood cells--created in a nest to rear larva.
Some species were observed climbing as far as four meters high in a tree and five meters down a branch.
Climbing a steep hill or steep branch is mechanically similar assuming the branch is wide enough to walk on the authors wrote.
which are compounds found in the tissue of broccoli and other brassica vegetables (such as cauliflower cabbage and kale).
Because the herbicides typically target broadleaf plants such as wildflowers they are not as harmful to grasses Egan said.
and potato leaf hoppers and an increase in a pest called clover root curculio Egan said.
because they eat weed seeds in the field edge site. The researchers who report their findings in the current issue of Agriculture Ecosystems
The key has been to supply breeders with specific proteins (we call them effectors) that the fungi use to cause disease.
Using large wheat variety trials provided by Kalyx Australia the team looked at yield loss of different cultivars (plants chosen for breeding because of desirable characteristics)
They compared cultivars with disease-sensitivity genes to cultivars that lacked these particular genes and were able to show that the cultivars lacking the gene showed no yield loss and in some instances increased yields in the presence of disease.
From this the team were able to conclude if a sensitivity gene was eliminated there would be associated minimal risks
Besides this test will produce materials of high quality (seeds and sections of plants) and using them will allow farmers to obtain better yields in future plantings.
and many other crop plants thrive in the shade of banana trees and other tall trees.
They used finely woven nets to prevent animalsâ##access to the coffee flowers or even to entire coffee trees.
Reduced leaf damage is supposed to reduce the number of coffee cherries falling from the tree while ripening.
This is due to the fact that they registered merely one type of visitor honey bees to the blossoms.
The green-up indicated productive thriving vegetation in spite of limited rainfall. Now a new NASA study published today in the journal Nature shows that the appearance of canopy greening is caused not by a biophysical change in Amazon forests
Scientists who use satellite observations to study changes in Earth's vegetation need to account for seasonal differences in the angles of solar illumination
An area is covered likely in green vegetation if sensors detect a relatively small amount of red light--absorbed in abundance by plants for photosynthesis
Scientists use the ratio of red and near-infrared light as a measure of vegetation greenness.
At this point the forest canopy is shadow-free highly reflective in the infrared and therefore very green according to some satellite vegetation indices.
and to explore the influence of drought on corrected vegetation indices said Scott Goetz an ecologist at Woods Hole Research center in Woods Hole Mass. who was not involved with the Nature study.
This interdisciplinary collaboration is critical to improve our understanding of the patterns and processes driving changes in vegetation productivity.
Bees from a single colony may gather nectar and pollen resources from flowers in a 200-square-kilometer area.
while the seeds were stored. Dr Robin Allaby of the School of Life sciences at the University of Warwick who led the study said:
Researchers from Oxford and Sheffield Universities have found that temperatures affect the thickness of the leaf litter
which the tree roots grow. In a warmer world this means that tree roots are more likely to grow into the mineral layer of the soil breaking down rock into component parts
which will eventually combine with carbon dioxide. This process called weathering draws carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere
They measured the growth of the tree roots to 30 cm beneath the surface every three months over several years.
and the roots of trees in tropical mountains such as the Andes play a disproportionate role.
and insect species says University of Cincinnati researcher Alina Avanesyan who developed the new protocol while studying grasshopper leaf tissue consumption.
The method recovers high-quality DNA of ingested plant tissue from grasshopper guts. This PLANT DNA offers valuable information about grasshopper diets because it holds more data than
Results indicated that plant tissue could be detected up to 12 hours after ingestion in nymph M. differentialis and M. bivittatus grasshoppers and adult M. femurrubrum grasshoppers.
For adult M. differentialis grasshoppers which were the largest in size plant tissue was detected up to 22 hours post-ingestion.
Terrestrial vegetation naturally emits vast quantities of volatile organic compounds for instance. These are critical precursors for organic aerosols and ozone a potent greenhouse gas.
According to their findings the increase in global vegetation was the dominant driver of emissions during the Pliocene--and the subsequent effects on climate.
and herbivores) and some of which may be beneficial (such as mycorrhizal fungi). By conducting a series of experiments on young plants the researchers have shown that the growth of the lodgepole pine is affected greatly by
while the Swedish soil offers an enhanced mutualism with mycorrhizal fungi. But we have not yet had the opportunity to examine this.
and Canada collected seeds from several areas tested different fertilisation levels and took into account chemical and physical variations in the soil.
There are many good reasons to reduce agriculture's reliance on chemical weed control. But for the objective of plant species conservation other strategies like preserving farmland habitats including woodlots pastures
Egan worked with David Mortensen professor of weed and applied plant ecology and Ian Graham an undergraduate student in plant science.
Almost universally the term whole grain indicates inclusion of all three components of the cereal grain kernel--endosperm (this is the largest part of the grain
and pseudo grains (such as quinoa and amaranth) and processing guidelines that take into account current milling practices.
and technological substitutes affect the value of pest control services provided by Mexican free-tailed bats on cotton production in the U s. They found the services are impacted by the forces to the tune of millions of dollars.
Taking into account a drop in cotton commodity price the resulting decrease in cotton production and the adoption of transgenic Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis cotton which is modified to express its own pesticide the researchers found that the value of the pest control services dropped 79 percent from a high of $23. 96 million in 1990
to a low of $4. 88 million in 2008. The results of this study document that volatile market conditions
and technological substitutes such as Bt cotton can affect the value of an ecosystem service even
The researchers point to mounting evidence of the evolution of pest resistance to Bt cotton suggesting that the value of bat pest control services may increase again.
This evidence of resistance evolution suggests that Bt cotton may not be a long-term solution to pest-related losses said Mccracken.
In fact by preying on the individual insects that survive the Bt toxin bats may provide the additional service of slowing the evolution of resistance to Bt and other insecticides.
We found that for every $1 increase in agricultural sales personal income rose by 22 cents over the course of five years said Goetz.
The team used a high-resolution data set of vegetation carbon stock (VCS) to map 16257 corridors through areas of the highest biomass between 5600 protected areas in the tropics.
a single main stem topped by a single tassel a few very short branches tipped by female ears and synchronous seed maturation.
After the Industrial revolution carbon dioxide rose to today's 405 parts per million the level in the control chamber where teosinte plants look like plants in the wild today--tall with many long branches tipped by tassels and seed maturation taking place
and inflorescence sexuality that we see today and use as the baseline for research on maize domestication said Piperno.
and Orius insidiosus researchers used caterpillars that were known to be resistant to Bt proteins and fed them Bt maize and Bt cotton.
They then fed the caterpillars to two common beneficial predatory insects--insidious flower bugs (Orius insidiosus)
and cotton crops globally do not harm Geocoris punctipes or Orius insidious two important insect predators that help suppress pest populations on corn cotton
and many other crops said Dr. Anthony Shelton a professor of entomology at Cornell University
and the United states on genetically modified (GM) rice cotton and maize have concluded that the biodiversity of insects
#Three native aromatics indicated for use in Mediterranean extensive green roofsgreen roofs are being studied as a means to increase vegetation and preserve aesthetics in old Mediterranean cities.
Xerophytes--species of plants that have adapted to survive in environments with little water--fit well in green roof construction plans creating lightweight roofs that don't compromise ancient buildings'structural concerns.
A research team in Athens explored the use of three Mediterranean aromatic xerophytes Artemisia absinthium Helichrysumitalicum and H. orientale for use in an extensive green roof design.
although Artemisia absinthium generally showed the greatest growth as indicated by the final diameter and height of the plants.
In both Helichrysum species we found there were interactions of the main factors in almost all growth parameters;
and results showed that cold temperatures promoted stomatal closure higher root resistance lower stem water potential lower transpiration and lower stem water potential.
Leaf relative water content was not different for cold-acclimated trees compared with the control trees.
The scientists used bell pepper (Capsicum annum L.)in a case study for intensive vegetable cropping. Pepper production is becoming commercially important in various regions of the world including Israel Spain southern Europe
They selected two pepper cultivars with different growth habits for the study and drip-irrigated the greenhouse plants with solutions containing four different nitrogen concentrations.
and adopting cultivars with improved nitrogen use efficiency the authors concluded. The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS Hortscience electronic journal web site:
The species is recognized for its innate ability to recover from damage after a tropical cyclone Resprouting on snapped tree trunks
The data showed that stem decay caused by earlier damage from a native stem borer reduced the species'tolerance to external forces resulting in stem failure in Typhoon Chaba.
Invasions of two invasive insects (Aulacaspis yasumatsui in 2003 and Chilades pandava in 2005) were found to be responsible for the 100%mortality of the intact portions of the trees'snapped stems during the 5 years after Typhoon Chaba.
These planners argued that public spaces with large amounts of vegetation were essential elements of healthy functional cities.
and other vegetation that characterize these spaces are important for meeting the community and ecosystem needs of low income urban neighborhoods that do not have large expanses of undeveloped land
(or fungi) or were derived from a variety of native and nonnative species above-and belowground parts:
bark flowers fruit leaves roots stems etc. Prominent among the nonnative species are many edible fruit
and nut species including common apple (Malus domestica) Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) European or sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) European plum (Prunus domestica) and European pear (Pyrus communis).
African-americans in Baltimore and Philadelphia foraged young pokeweed shoots (Phytolacca americana; and American indians in Seattle harvested evergreen huckleberries (Vaccinium ovatum)
and nettle leaves (Urtica dioica). Managers in the Philly II study also describe talking with foragers of Italian Hispanic
and Eastern European origin many seeking prized species for family recipes (e g. morel mushrooms (Morchellaâ spp.)
and greens common in Europe) or carrying on traditions of foraging practiced in their sending countries (e g. harvesting mushrooms.
#Secrets of potato blight evolution could help farmers fight backresearchers at Oxford university and The Sainsbury Laboratory Norwich looked in unprecedented detail at how Phytophthora infestans a pathogen that continues to blight potatoes
and tomatoes today evolved to target other plants. The study published today in the journal Science is the first to show how pathogens switch from targeting one species to another through changes at the molecular level.
Researchers examined the biochemical differences between Phytophthora infestans and sister species Phytophthora mirabilis a pathogen that split from P. infestans around 1300 years ago to target the Mirabilis jalapa plant commonly known as the four o'clock flower.
They found that each pathogen species secretes specialised substances to shut down the defences of their target hosts'Plants have called these enzymes proteases that play a key role in their defence systems'said Dr Renier van der Hoorn co-author of the study from Oxford university
'The researchers found that P. mirabilis evolved effectors that disable the defences of the four o'clock plant
just as P. mirabilis has evolved effectors that fit four o'clock proteases.''If we could breed plants with proteases that can detect these stealthy EPIC effectors we could prevent them from'sneaking in
and control the expression of numerous plant genes in function of the task to be undertaken that is to say cell growth flowering root initiation leaf growth etc.
#Savanna vegetation predictions best done by continenta one-size-fits-all model to predict the effects of climate change on savanna vegetation isn't as effective as examining individual savannas by continent according to research published in Science this week.
We wanted to find out what controls savanna vegetation--essentially the density of trees within the savanna
Glossophaga soricina a nectar bat feeding on the flowers of a banana plant. Nectar feeding bats comprised one of three evolutionary optima for mechanical advantage among New world Leaf-nosed bats.
Nectar feeders have very low mechanical advantage--a trade-off for having long narrow snouts that fit into the flowers in
Morphological diversity among New world Leaf nosed bats with different diets. Nectar: A) Platalina genovensium B) Glossophaga soricina;
what processors and seed companies need to know in order to make improved production decisions. In other words Williams said researchers need to start speaking the same language as the sweet corn industry.
and seed companies make decisions in the future according to the researcher. Applied research aimed at improving crop productivity is predicated on the ability to accurately measure important crop responses such as yield.
Epsilon toxin may be responsible for triggering MS. Epsilon toxin is produced by certain strains of Clostridium perfringens a spore-forming bacterium that is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness in the United states. The U s. Centers for Disease Control
and fruit that was hidden by leaves and branches. He and his colleagues found 80 percent of the immature fruit.
and then gauging the number of fruit each branch is expected to yield. This gives growers a more accurate rate than just guessing Lee said
and fungi also kill honeybee larvae within their hives according to Penn State and University of Florida researchers.
or they may indirectly kill them by disrupting the beneficial fungi that are essential for nurse bees to process pollen into beebread.
Chlorothalonil is a broad-spectrum agricultural fungicide that is often applied to crops in bloom when honeybees are present for pollination
#Developing new methods to assess resistance to disease in young oilseed rape plantsbeing able to measure resistance to disease in young oilseed rape plants is vital in the battle to breed new
Oilseed rape is prone to phoma stem canker also known as blackleg disease which is responsible for losses worth more than £1200 million in oilseed rape crops across the world.
With the fragile state of the world's economy and concern over food shortages there is a need to protect arable crops from disease.
However assessing disease resistance in young oilseed rape plants is difficult as there is a long period where the pathogen is not visible--it can infect plants
So there is a need to develop oilseed crop varieties with greater inbuilt resistance to the disease.
Although oilseed rape crops in the UK are bred for disease resistance it is a difficult and expensive process--both in time
Traditionally selection of disease resistant oilseed crops has relied on field assessments of disease severity on stems
If resistance can be assessed in young oilseed rape plants it will not only accelerate the process of breeding oilseed rape crops for resistance
The paper based on experiments done by Dr Yong-Ju Huang at Rothamsted Research shows that resistance in young oilseed rape plants can be detected in controlled conditions
#Electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness power of evaporating watera new type of electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness the untapped power of evaporating water according to research conducted at the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired
The prototype generators work by harnessing the movement of a sheet of rubber coated on one side with spores.
or a freshly fallen leaf curls and then straightens when humidity rises. Such bending back and forth means that spore-coated sheets
or tiny planks can act as actuators that drive movement and that movement can be harvested to generate electricity.
Specifically he had characterized how moisture deforms materials including biological materials such as pinecones leaves and flowers as well as human-made materials such as a sheet of tissue paper lying in a dish of water.
Sahin collaborated with Mahadevan and Driks on one of those studies. A soil bacterium called Bacillus subtilis wrinkles as it dries out like a grape becoming a raisin forming a tough dormant spore.
The results which they reported in 2012 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface explained why.
Unlike raisins which cannot reform into grapes spores can take on water and almost immediately restore themselves to their original shape.
In fact spores would be particularly good at storing energy because they are rigid yet still expand
Since changing moisture levels deform these spores it followed that devices containing these materials should be able to move in response to changing humidity levels Mahadevan said.
When Sahin first set out to measure the energy of spores he was taken by surprise. He put a solution thick with spores on a tiny flexible silicon plank expecting to measure the humidity-driven force in a customized atomic force microscope.
But before he could insert the plank he saw it curving and straightening with his naked eye.
and the spores had responded. I realized then that this was extremely powerful Sahin said. In fact simply increasing the humidity from that of a dry sunny day to a humid misty one enabled the flexible spore-coated plank to generate 1000 times as much force as human muscle
and at least 10 times as much as other materials engineers currently use to build actuators Sahin discovered.
In fact moistening a pound of dry spores would generate enough force to lift a car one meter off the ground.
To build such an actuator Sahin tested how well spore-coated materials such as silicon rubber plastic
Then he built a simple humidity-driven generator out of Legosâa miniature fan a magnet and a spore-coated cantilever.
but it could be improved by genetically engineering the spores to be stiffer and more elastic.
Indeed in early experiments spores of a mutant strain provided by Driks stored twice as much energy as normal strains.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011