I was particularly curious of the ecological role of this root adaptation explained Frida Piper a terrestrial ecosystem ecologist at the remote research center Centro de Investigaciã n en Ecosistemas de la
Piper designed a field study to better understand the role of cluster roots of E. coccineum across a natural precipitation and phosphorus gradient in its native habitat.
Piper found that cluster roots mediate a decoupling of foliar P from soil P concentrations for small seedlings.
The biotechnology potential of these traits is being studied now Piper says. Piper's research clarifying the mechanism of seedling establishment success for E. coccineum in conditions with limited availability of N
and P may lead to advantageous root adaptation in other plants. Piper is already exploring further research to understand how E. coccineum benefits neighbors by providing increased nutrient availability from root exudates
or leaf litter decomposition. As a result of this study nitrogen status of soil and plants in addition to phosphorus will always be included in Proteaceae studies by Piper.
Proteaceae can do something no other plant can do Piper explains. They are accessing nutrients that no other plants can access.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Journal of Botany. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and hearsay surrounding the ancient Battle of Raphia the only known battle between Asian and African elephants.
In the Battle of Raphia Ptolemy had 73 African war elephants and Antiochus had 102 Asian war elephants according to Polybius a Greek historian who described the battle at least 70 years later.
Did Ptolemy employ African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) or African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the Battle or Raphia?
including Carolina peas, raw peanuts, benne, barley and camelina, a microscopic oil seed from antiquity.
Genes that code for pheromone biosynthesis were injected into the tobacco plant Nicotiana benthamiana via bacteria cultures (pictured.
Rosa Fajardo and her daughter, Itzel Patricio, traded 15 kilos of recyclable material for four houseplants and two rounds of cheese.
And one looks at the jatropha plant, which is important in the development of biofuel,
Warrigal Greens (tetragonia tetragonoides
Bye-bye barf: whale vomit no longer necessary to make perfumesambergris-the technical term for hunks of sperm whale vomit-has long been a component in high end perfumes.
if planters of feedstocks like palm, jatropha and camelina eradicate forests and grasslands, thus releasing the CO2 stored in those natural sinks.
Neste says the blend consists 80%of camelina 15%of jatropha and 5%of animal fat and as such is environmentally responsible.
Camelina and jatropha are plants that are inedible to humans. Biofuel proponents say they can grow with relatively little water
and in some cases on poor soil that would not sustain food crops. Fuel producer Honeywell UOP says that camelina grows on fallow wheat fields
and improves yields in the fields subsequent wheat-growing years. Foe claims that the jatropha in Neste s Lufthansa mix comes from Mozambique,
and that it signals a land grab there and in other African countries. One jatropha business
Energem, had been allocated 60,000 hectares in Mozambique that was used previously for community farming and grazing land, Blake said.
A Neste spokeswoman says that Neste does not get the jatropha from Mozambique, but that it responsibly obtains it, the camelina and animal fat from Australasia, EU countries, North america, and Southeast asia.
She declined to identify specific countries. Foe biofuel campaigner Kenneth Richter added that airlines overstate the environmental friendliness of jatropha.
Although the crop can grow on degraded soil low yields mean that producers are more likely to grow it on healthy soil where it would compete against food,
The same could be true of camelina, according to the Foe position paper. By one estimate, jatropha would use up the equivalent of 35%of Germany s arable land to meet Lufthansa s 2025 biofuel target, Foe noted.
The controversy surrounding biofuel land use could settle down if researchers find more land-friendly sources. One such possible hope is algae.
Lindsay Smith It was such a loss--sidewalk-slicing ficus trees cut down in her Gardena, California,
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