New research to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting on July 5 shows that maize roots which have fewer cortical cells in the outer layer of their roots are more efficient at accessing water and nutrients.
which improves water acquisition growth and yield. By combining this trait with other plant traits such as improved disease resistance the researchers expect that there is potential to produce improved seeds for agriculture.
They say this would minimise the pressure on the environment in a world in which land water
and water to promote their growth. Previous studies have detected strains of drug-resistant S. aureus from livestock first among farm workers and subsequently in hospital and community settings in Europe.
#Mapping the benefits of our ecosystemswe rely on our physical environment for many things--clean water land for crops or pastures storm water absorption and recreation among others.
provisioning (providing resources like food fiber or fresh water) cultural (such as aesthetics and hunting) and regulating (including improving ground
and surface water quality handling floodwater preventing erosion and storing carbon). They focused on the Yahara River watershed
Some of those interactions were not surprising--for example higher levels of crop production were associated generally with poorer surface and ground water quality.
flood regulation pasture and freshwater supply all went together as did forest recreation soil retention carbon storage and surface water quality.
Even in the expected tradeoff between crop production and water quality the researchers found something unexpected.
But despite this there are still some locations that can be high for all three services--exceptions that can produce high crop yield and good water quality in general.
and proximity to streams with riparian vegetation may contribute to maintaining both crop production and good water quality.
The work was undertaken as part of a larger project to improve water sustainability in a mixed urban and agricultural landscape supported by the Water Sustainability and Climate Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF.
#Cattle grazing and clean water are compatible on public lands, study findscattle grazing and clean water can coexist on national forest lands according to research by the University of California Davis. The study published in the journal PLOS ONE is the most comprehensive examination of water quality
on National Forest public grazing lands to date. There's been a lot of concern about public lands and water quality especially with cattle grazing said lead author Leslie Roche a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis Department of Plant sciences.
We're able to show that livestock grazing public recreation and the provisioning of clean water can be compatible goals.
Roughly 1. 8 million livestock graze on national forest lands in the western United states each year the study said.
With an annual recreating population of over 26 million California's national forests are at the crossroad of a growing debate about the compatibility of livestock grazing with other activities dependent upon clean safe water the study
and on horseback hiking across meadows along campsites and down ravines to collect 743 water samples from 155 sites across five national forests in northern California.
UC Davis researchers analyzed the water samples for microbial and nutrient pollution including fecal indicator bacteria fecal coliform E coli nitrogen
Overall 83 percent of all sample sites and 95 percent of all water samples collected were below U s. Environmental protection agency benchmarks for human health.
The study noted that several regional regulatory programs use different water quality standards for fecal bacteria.
and provide the most accurate assessment of water quality conditions and human health risks. The study also found that all nutrient concentrations were at
and warming temperatures have increased stagnant water and favorable conditions for mosquitoes which will likely magnify the incidence West Nile virus and the risks of human transmission.
if irrigated by pond water says Park. As E coli is used commonly as an indicator of fecal contamination with food-borne pathogens the practice of hygiene--availability of portable toilets
Yet when created wetlands are discussed in agricultural circles it's almost always in the context of water quality.
Then we found out they cleaned up water and could protect against floods and storms he says.
The central regions of these brilliant powerhouses are ringed by doughnuts of cosmic dust 1 dragged from the surrounding space similar to how water forms a small whirlpool around the plughole of a sink.
and Acting Director of the Forest Products Lab. This research clearly illustrates that America's urban forests are critical capital investments helping produce clear air and water;
and is now with the Wisconsin Department of Natural resources and Julian Olden a UW associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences.
and form a wick-like structure that removes water from leaves and promotes dehydration. These results are published in Environmental Pollution.
and needles from water loss. It has long been known that air pollutants accelerate wax ageing
and interior of the needle and water is removed from the needles by these wick-like structures.
Because the plants are unable to counteract this removal of water the plants dehydrate more rapidly.
#Pesticides significantly reduce biodiversity in aquatic environmentsthe pesticides many of which are used currently in Europe and Australia are responsible for reducing the regional diversity of invertebrates in streams and rivers by up to 42 percent researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
and fungicides on the regional biodiversity of invertebrates in flowing waters using data from Germany France and Victoria in Australia.
whether or to which extent and at what concentrations their use causes a reduction in biodiversity in aquatic environments.
In both Europe and Australia the researchers were able to demonstrate considerable losses in the regional biodiversity of aquatic insects and other freshwater invertebrates.
Biological diversity in such aquatic environments can only be sustained by them because they ensure a regular exchange between surface and ground water thus functioning as an indicator of water quality.
Protection concepts fall short of requirementsone worrying result from the study is that the impact of pesticides on these tiny creatures is already catastrophic at concentrations
and that legally-permitted maximum concentrations do not adequately protect the biodiversity of invertebrates in flowing waters.
Results of the animal study will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San francisco. Found in plastic water bottles older baby bottles
Quandt and colleagues have looked also at water quality housing conditions and occupational safety in migrant farm camps.
In the new experiments the Rice lab mixed graphene nanoribbons and tin oxide particles about 10 nanometers wide in a slurry with a cellulose gum binder and a bit of water spread it on a current collector
Now in its third year this NASA Earth Ventures program investigation is expanding our understanding of how the Arctic's water
and even after adoption of the practice by many farmers harmful algal blooms were still occurring in surface waters.
and allowing water to move more rapidly into the soil. It is also possible that earthworm activity mixes up soil moving surface-applied P deeper into the soil and away from potential runoff.
There's trouble ahead for the whitebark pine a mountain tree that's integral to wildlife and water resources in the western United states and Canada.
Vast stands of whitebark pine help to maintain the mountain snowpacks that provide water to more than 30 million people in 16 U s. states each year.
Basso part of MSU's Global Water Initiative and his team of researchers developed the System Approach for Land-use Sustainability model.
SALUS is a new generation crop tool to forecast crop soil water nutrient conditions in current and future climates.
and water use in water-sensitive areas such as the Ogallala aquifer (spanning from South dakota to Texas) Siberia India and Africa.
#Roman seawater concrete holds the secret to cutting carbon emissionsthe chemical secrets of a concrete Roman breakwater that has spent the last 2000 years submerged in the Mediterranean sea have been uncovered by an international team of researchers led by Paulo Monteiro of the U s
The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated--incorporating water molecules into its structure
--and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together. Pozzuoli Bay defines the northwestern region of the Bay of Naples.
may be the key to the cohesion and stability of the seawater concrete. Another striking contribution of the Monteiro team concerns the hydration products in concrete.
Tobermorite does occur in the mortar of ancient seawater concrete however. High-pressure x-ray diffraction experiments at ALS beamline 12.2.2 measured its mechanical properties and for the first time clarified the role of aluminum in its crystal lattice.
and seawater formed highly stable C# -S-H and Al-tobermorite insuring strength and longevity.
and water we turned to large-scale industrial animal production systems and put high environmental pressure on land soils and biodiversity Krausmann points out.
If they ate fish that ate algae it would give a false appearance of grass-eating because of the way algae takes up carbonate from water Cerling says.
But the cost in water may outweigh those concerns. Whereas biofuels offer a means to use more renewable energy
One important unintended consequence may be the aggravation of water scarcity by increased irrigation in some regions.
Their 2009 feature article in Environmental science and Technology suggested the amount of water required to bring biofuels to market may be prohibitive;
they calculated it takes 50 gallons of water to grow enough Nebraska corn to produce the amount of ethanol needed to drive one mile.
They suggested at the time that potential consequences to the water supply needed further study. With the new research they have taken on that challenge
which would in turn require more extensive--and expensive--water catchment infrastructure. On the Northern Plains of South dakota Nebraska and Kansas where the growth of corn for ethanol already depends heavily on irrigation the study found that crop yields would decline
The researchers said agriculture costs the water supply in two ways: through the drawdown of groundwater from irrigation and through loss to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET) by which water moves through plants
and evaporates. Higher atmospheric temperatures increase ET at a cost to groundwater they wrote. The production of one liter of gasoline requires three liters of water according to the researchers.
The production of one liter of corn ethanol requires between 350 and 1400 liters of water from irrigation depending on location.
A liter of ethanol also translates into 1600 liters of ET water that might not directly replenish the local watershed.
The researchers suggested the growth of crops for ethanol was already questionable because of its impact on the environment.
The projected increases in water intensity due to climate change highlight the need to reevaluate the corn ethanol elements of the Renewable Fuel Standard Dominguez-Faus said.
Dominguez-Faus lead author of the paper is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Davis. Co-authors are Christian Folberth of EAWAG Aquatic Research DÃ bendorf Switzerland;
Their study was published as a special issue Carbon and Water Footprint of U s. Milk From Farm to Table of the International Dairy Journal in April.
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 water from degrading it is said easy he but protecting it from ultraviolet degradation over time is hard.
and water sustainabilityimprovements in crop water productivity--the amount of food produced per unit of water consumed--have the potential to improve both food security
and water sustainability in many parts of the world according to a study published online in Environmental Research Letters May 29 by scientists with the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment (Ione) and the Institute of Crop science and Resource
Led by Ione postdoctoral research scholar Kate A. Brauman the research team analyzed crop production water use
and crop water productivity by climatic zone for 16 staple food crops: wheat maize rice barley rye millet sorghum soybean sunflower potato cassava sugarcane sugar beet oil palm rapeseed (canola) and groundnut (peanut.
Together these crops constitute 56 percent of global crop production by tonnage 65 percent of crop water consumption and 68 percent of all cropland by area.
The study is the first of its kind to look at water productivity for this many crops at a global scale.
The wide range of variation in crop water productivity in places that have similar climates means that there are lots of opportunities for improving the trade-off between food and water.
without increasing water use or using additional cropland. On irrigated cropland water consumption could be reduced enough to meet the annual domestic water demands of nearly 1. 4 billion people
while maintaining current production. Since crop production consumes more freshwater than any other human activity on the planet the study has significant implications for addressing the twin challenges of water stress
and food insecurity says Brauman. For example if low crop water productivity in precipitation-limited regions were raised to the 20th percentile of water productivity specific to particular crops
and climates total rain-fed food production in Africa could be increased by more than 10 percent without exploiting additional cropland.
Similar improvements in crop water productivity on irrigated cropland could reduce total water consumption some 8-15 percent in precipitation-limited regions of Africa Asia Europe and South america.
Because the study is global in scope it is able to identify potential locations for interventions crops to pay attention to and opportunities for the biggest improvements in crop water management.
and well water drinking were included also. The research found that exposure to bug or weed killers and solvents increased the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by 33 to 80 percent.
And I agree that many of the services the environment provides like clean water and air are irreplaceable necessities.
and close to a permanent supply of water. Apparently the selection of roosts is conditioned less in the Mediterranean;
--even though the presence of water was a more limiting factor points out Napal. In both areas the colonies hunted in the middle of the forest
#Reforestation study shows trade-offs between water, carbon and timbermore than 13000 ships per year carrying more than 284 million tons of cargo transit the Panama canal each year generating roughly $1. 8 billion dollars in toll fees for the Panama canal Authority.
Each time a ship passes through more than 55 million gallons of water are used from Gatun Lake
which is also a source of water for the 2 million people living in the isthmus
and locks three times larger than at present leaving the authority to consider how best to meet the increased demand for water.
dry-season water flows carbon sequestration timber and livestock production. Published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) their study--Bundling ecosystem services in the Panama canal Watershed--examines precipitation topography vegetation
We find however that reforestation does not necessarily increase water supply but does increase carbon sequestration
Simonit and Perrings found that only 37 percent of the currently forested area positively impacts dry-season water flows offering up roughly 37.2 million cubic meters of seasonal flow (equivalent to US $16. 37 million
Water supply is however only one amongst many ecosystem services affected by reforestation of the watershed said Perrings a professor in the School of Life sciences in ASU's College of Liberal arts and Sciences.
Even with water-saving advances in the new locks the canal is expected to need 14 percent more water
and water is not the only ecosystem service supplied. 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.
According to their study water losses from natural forest regeneration would be compensated by the value of carbon sequestration in 59.6 percent of the converted area at current carbon prices.
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.
and where can reduce the negative impact of forests on dry season water flows while providing other important ecosystem services.
A spectacular large harp-or lyre-shaped carnivorous sponge discovered in deep water (averaging 3399 meters) from the northeast Pacific ocean off the coast of California.
Wildfires impact atmospheric conditions through emissions of gases particles water and heat. Some of the article focuses on radiative forcing from fire emissions.
#Artificial forest for solar water-splitting: First fully integrated artificial photosynthesis nanosystemin the wake of the sobering news that atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at its highest level in at least three million years an important advance in the race to develop carbon-neutral renewable
To facilitate solar water-splitting in our system we synthesized treelike nanowire heterostructures consisting of silicon trunks and titanium oxide branches.
The paper is titled A Fully Integrated Nanosystem of Semiconductor Nanowires for Direct Solar Water Splitting.
and produce charge-carriers to drive separate water reduction and oxidation half-reactions. In natural photosynthesis the energy of absorbed sunlight produces energized charge-carriers that execute chemical reactions in separate regions of the chloroplast Yang says.
while the photo-generated holes in the titanium oxide nanowires oxidize water to evolve oxygen molecules.
#Insecticides lead to starvation of aquatic organismsneonicotinoid insecticides have adverse effects not only on bees but also on freshwater invertebrates.
Exposure to low but constant concentrations of these substances--which are highly soluble in water--has lethal effects on these aquatic organisms.
these soluble but persistent substances can then enter surface waters via runoff. Interestingly pulses lasting no more than a day proved less harmful to the organisms than concentrations that were much lower
While organisms transferred to clean water after pulsed exposure recovered relatively rapidly constant exposure led to starvation after 2 to 3 weeks.
and to identify processes other than starvation that influence survival rates in aquatic organisms the research team has developed also a mathematical model
Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
which minimizes the water and nutrients available to cheatgrass. Using data from 75 study sites researchers found that high levels of cattle grazing were associated with reduced bunchgrass cover with wider
It lives in aquatic habitats like freshwater wetlands and has developed corresponding highly specialized hunting methods.
To capture prey the plant pumps water from tiny chambers called bladders turning each into a vacuum that can suck in
and water and its flowers generate heat to attract pollinators. Now researchers report in the journal Genome Biology that they have sequenced the lotus genome
which allows the plant to repel water and remain clean) and survival in a mineral-starved watery habitat were retained for example.
however as the natural ecosystems sustain food production maintain water and forest resources regulate climate
#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
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
and changes in forest composition from 2004 to 2011. The four studied stands were once dominated by eastern hemlock trees
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.
Without the shade provided by eastern hemlock stream temperatures could rise threatening aquatic animals like eastern brook trout that require cold water for survival.
Instead of the substantive innerworkings of standards'principles such as protections for air water soil biodiversity and community values debate has centered on the level of participation
when states have not fully assessed baseline water quality and all parties responsible for its degradation. The third precondition for successful standard implementation is international harmonization.
and the right amount of water if you had to add nitrogen to produce it
But in California's Salinas Valley some more vigorous interventions are cutting into the last corners of wildlife habitat and potentially threatening water quality without evidence of food safety benefits.
Other precautions include treating irrigation water with chemicals toxic to fish and amphibians and setting poisoned bait for rodents.
As a community we need to approach food health wildlife health and water health in the Salinas Valley as parts of an integrated system.
and drought tolerance control water loss and store sugar can have profound implications for increasing the supply of food
Simply increasing inorganic fertilizer use and water supply or applying organic farming systems to agriculture will be unable to satisfy the joint requirements of increased yield and environmental sustainability the scientists added.
which impairs the uptake of water and nutrients. From their recent findings the plant biologists now understand how transport proteins control processes that allow roots to tolerate toxic aluminum.
or to eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems through water run off. The biologists said crops could be made more efficient in using water through discoveries in plant transport proteins that regulate the stomatal pores in the epidermis of leaves where plants lose more than 90 percent of their water through transpiration.
Two other major goals in agriculture are increasing the carbohydrate content and pest-resistance of crops.
but five remained as they fed on aquatic plants in shallow ponds created by the receding flood waters typical of the Pantanal's dry season.
structural quality that helps dictate how water moves through soil and soil's resistance to erosion.
Growing corn continuously under conventional tillage and with high inputs of water and fertilizer may seem outmoded
and efficient water capture of the meadow fescue. Over two years of field experiments in the south west the team demonstrated that the hybrid named Festulolium reduced water runoff from agricultural grassland by up to 51 per cent compared to a leading UK
nationally-recommended perennial ryegrass cultivar and by 43 per cent compared to meadow fescue. It is thought the reduced runoff is achieved
because Festulolium's intense initial root growth and subsequent rapid turn over especially at depth allows more water to be retained within the soil.
In areas with similar climate and soils then there is potential for reducing the likelihood of flood generation based on increased soil water storage within a river's catchment.
Neill's study looked specifically at the impacts of soybean agriculture on water quality and quantity at Tanguro Ranch a nearly 200000-acre farm similar in climate
and low-oxygen conditions that endanger fish and other aquatic life. At Tanguro Ranch however the soils are old
Water infiltrates the soil very rapidly and the soil has a great capacity to absorb the nutrients.
So it's quite possible we will see greater effects on water quality in the future. The study also noted impacts of deforestation on the quantity of water entering streams.
Typically after a forest is cut downabout four times more surface water runs off into small streams because of reduced evaporation to the atmosphere.
However at Tanguro Ranch rainfall infiltrates quickly into the soil and streams are fed predominantly by groundwater
But in the bigger rivers we see a cumulative impact of all the extra water from those small streams piling up
When larger rivers have to handle that extra water caused by deforestation they change geomorphically;
Those are also rivers that people use for water supplies fishing and transportation. Finally the study showed that the agricultural streams were warmer than the forested streams caused both by a reduction in bordering forest
Warmer water has implications for the fish Neill says because it holds less oxygen. Warmer water also increases fish metabolism
so fish need more food. We don't know if warming and other changes associated with expanding cropland also increase fish food supply
--either directly or via electricity generated by solar cells--to convert the end products of hydrocarbon combustion water and carbon dioxide back into a carbon-based fuel.
One key step is splitting water or water electrolysis. By splitting liquid water (H2o) into hydrogen and oxygen the hydrogen can be regenerated as a gas (H2)
and used directly as fuel Sasaki explained. We sought to fabricate a commercially viable catalyst from earth-abundant materials for application in water electrolysis
and the outcome is indeed superb...the best-performing non-noble-metal-containing hydrogen evolution catalyst yet known...
But with platinum as the main ingredient in the most effective water-splitting catalysts the process is currently too costly to be economically viable.
The Brookhaven team had identified already some promising leads with experiments demonstrating the potential effectiveness of low-cost molybdenum paired with carbon as well as the use of nitrogen to confer some resistance to the corrosive acidic environment required in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis cells.
To make the catalyst the team ground the soybeans into a powder mixed the powder with ammonium molybdate in water then dried
Electrochemical tests of the separate ingredients showed that molybdenum carbide is effective for converting H2o to H2
The presence of nitrogen and carbon atoms in the vicinity of the catalytic molybdenum center facilitates the production of hydrogen from water Muckerman said.
The scientists also tested the Mosoy catalyst anchored on sheets of graphene--an approach that has proven effective for enhancing catalyst performance in electrochemical devices such as batteries supercapacitors fuel cells and water electrolyzers.
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