#Current trends for forest biomass for energy in EUTHE EU aims to get 20%of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Renewables include wind solar hydroelectric and tidal power as well as geothermal energy and biomass. These ambitious targets set in the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) have led to concerns about the levels of woody biomass from forests
which would need to be mobilized to meet them. Recently three NGOS--Birdlife Europe European Environment Bureau and Transport and Environment--contracted EFI along with the International Institute for Sustainability Analysis and Strategy (IINAS) and Joanneum Research to conduct a study
on current trends in forest biomass for energy in Europe carbon balance and the sustainable potential.
EFI presented two alternative mobilizations of forest biomass. The reference mobilization was based on a dynamic response to Renewable Energy Directive targets with increasing infrastructure and mechanization and stronger forest owner groups to 2020 and beyond.
This mobilization would see a potential availability of 880 million m3 of woody biomass by 2020.
The low mobilization assumed much stricter environmental constraints on forest biomass removal such as prohibition of stump removal no fertilizer use to replace nutrients lost
When compared with the reference this mobilization resulted in a 33%lower availability of total biomass from forests in 2020 to 583 million m3.
To place this in context approximately 470 million m3 of woody biomass was harvested from European forests in 2010.
The amount of forest-derived and woody biomass was estimated then that could be supplied sustainably for energy uses without compromising material uses of wood.
The role of sustainable woody bioenergy in the future EU energy system was analyzed for electricity heat and transport fuels taking into account the potentials for energy efficiency and non-bioenergy renewables.
Overall the study found that the lower mobilization of forest resources would be sufficient to meet woody material demands
Despite the bees having low genetic diversity and high levels of a nematode parasite that usually castrates other species 25 per cent of the queens were able to produce offspring.
despite high levels of this castrating parasite said researcher Catherine Jones from the School of Biological sciences at Royal Holloway.
Professor Mark Brown from the School of Biological sciences at Royal Holloway added: While these findings show promising signs for bee populations in the UK we still don't know
A novel bio-pesticide created using spider venom and a plant protein has been found to be safe for honeybees
New research led by Newcastle University UK has tested the insect-specific Hv1a/GNA fusion protein bio-pesticide--a combination of a natural toxin from the venom of an Australian funnel web spider
Publishing their findings today in the academic journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B the authors say the insect-specific compound has huge potential as an environmentally-benign'bee-safe'bio-pesticide and an alternative to the chemical neonicotinoid pesticides
Professor Angharad Gatehouse based in Newcastle University's School of Biology and one of the supervisors on the project explains:
The project is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative jointly funded by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council Defra the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) the Scottish government and the Wellcome Trust under the auspices of the Living
During the study the bees were exposed to varying concentrations of the spider/snowdrop bio-pesticide over a period of seven days.
If we destroy the biodiversity of pollinators then it will be irrelevant how effective our pesticides are
#Origin of biodiversity in the Atlantic Forest of Brazilthe Atlantic Forest of Brazil is one of the world's most important biodiversity hot spots;
and maintain biodiversity is a major and controversial topic in evolutionary biology with large implications for conservation management.
A research group from the University of Barcelona (UB) has performed a comprehensive phylogeographic study by analysing genetic diversity patterns
and levels of land planarians (Cephaloflexa bergi) in 11 site localities in and out the Serra do Mar biological corridor in the Atlantic Forest.
nchez-Gracia from the Department of Genetics and the Biodiversity Research Institute of UB (IRBIO) together with Fernando Carbayo from the University of SãO Paulo (Brazil.
and some biological corridors have been designed to restore ecosystem functionality. How is originated biodiversity? The causes of the origin and maintenance of extant biodiversity in the Neotropics--an area of high biodiversity value--have been discussed for decades.
Dominating hypotheses point out Pleistocene glaciations--which took place between 2. 5 years ago and 20000 years ago--or Tertiary tectonic geological reorganizations Tertiary
which occurred much earlier as the main factor. According to the new study extant biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest of Brazil originated
and has been shaped by complex interactions between ancient geological events and more recent evolutionary processes whereas Pleistocene climate changes had a minor influence in generating present-day diversity
and studying high biodiversity areas focus on organisms with high-dispersal ability. However these models could not be good indicators to detect small areas with high biodiversity
so it makes difficult to understand the processes that generate and maintain biodiversity. Innovatively the study carried out by UB research group is focused on the land planarian (Cephaloflexa bergi) a low-dispersal organism
which inhabits soil ecosystems. Land planarians an animal model of phylogeographic studiesauthors explain that to formulate an efficient conservation policy a good understanding of spatial and temporal biodiversity patterns
and their underlying evolutionary mechanisms is required. For this reason--they add--it is necessary to work with organisms with a low-dispersal ability that are particularly sensitive to changes in the environment.
The research group performed a comparative analysis of DNA sequence variation of land planarian by means of a nuclear and a mitochondrial gene.
By applying Bayesian inference methods (Approximate Bayesian Computation ABC) two scenarios proposed to explain the biodiversity of Southern Atlantic Forest region were evaluated.
Moreover most sampled localities harbour high levels of genetic diversity with lineages sharing common ancestors that predate the Pleistocene (more than 2. 5 million years ago.
To improve biodiversity management and conservationthe study published in the journal Heredity highlights that land planarians are an advantageous biological model for making phylogenetic
and particularly fine-scale evolutionary inferences. Furthermore the study has enabled experts to propose appropriate conservation policies for example the need to extend the boundary of the Serra de Mar corridor to the south
Future growth of U s. forests expected to declineas forests age their ability to grow decreases a new study by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) scientists
Since most U s. forests are maturing from regeneration that began about 100 years ago when extensive clear-cutting occurred the study suggests the future growth of U s. forests will decline.
The above story is provided based on materials by Marine Biological Laboratory. The original article was written by Diana Kenney.
#Supply of woody biomass for energy from privately owned forests in Europe overestimatedthe European commission expects the use of biomass for energy in the EU to increase significantly to meet a legally binding target of at least 20%of the EU's total energy use
In response to the increased demand the EU member states have estimated the direct supply of biomass from their forests to increase by 45%on a volume basis between 2006 and 2020.
A new study led by Kristina Blennow from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) shows for the first time that European private forest owners are not as ready to increase the supply of woody biomass for energy as assumed.
The private forest owners'attitudes towards supplying biomass for energy so that the targets can be met
This study shows that the future supply of woody biomass for energy from privately owned forests in Europe
and the effectiveness of economic policy instruments to mobilise woody biomass from them have been overestimatedan international team of scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences the European Forest Institute the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal)
although the forest owners generally asserted strong belief in a persistent and strong demand for woody biomass for energy use their readiness to change the management objective to woody biomass for energy in forest stands currently managed for stemwood is low
This shows that the attitudes of those who make decisions at the local level strongly influence the supply of woody biomass for energy from the European forest sector.
or strongly positive attitude to convert to producing woody biomass for energy at a profit in forest stands currently managed for stemwood.
and strongly positive attitude towards making the change from stemwood to biomass for energy will indeed make the change
how strongly do forest owners believe in a persistent demand for woody biomass for energy how likely is it that forest owners continue to manage the forest for stemwood
or convert to producing bioenergy for energy generation if it can be made at profit and how willing are the forest owners to convert land used for pasture agriculture
The findings of the team of researchers have strong implications for meeting the forest biomass share of the legally binding 2020 target for renewable energy in the EU and for the design of effective renewable energy policy.
the Institute of Microbiology Academy of Sciences of the Czech republic; the U s. National Center for Atmospheric Research;
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology and the Yale Climate & Energy Institute.
It provides new avenues to discover resistance genes and helps explain the mechanisms of repeated emergence of this disease which to this day is still the most costly potato pathogen in the world.
This should allow us to make significant headway in finding additional genes that provide resistance to P. infestans.
Gene sequencing technology used by this research group helped pin down the Toluca Valley as the ancestral hot spot. The P. infestans pathogen co-evolved there hundreds of years ago with plants that were distant cousins of modern potatoes
Since different potato varieties plants and pathogens have been co-evolving there for hundreds of years it offers some of the best hope to discover genes that provide some type of resistance.
The research which is funded by the National Science Foundation is published in BMC Plant Biology and includes along with Bais authors Carla Spence a doctoral student in the Department of Biological sciences Emily Alff who recently earned her master's degree in plant and soil sciences and Nicole Donofrio associate professor of plant and soil sciences all from UD;
and Sundaresan Venkatesan professor Cameron Johnson assistant scientist and graduate student Cassandra Ramos all from UC Davis. We truly are working to disarm a'cereal killer
'and to do so using a natural organic control says Bais in his laboratory at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.
For her work Spence the lead author recently received the Carson Best Paper Award for the best scientific paper published by a Ph d. student in biological sciences at UD.
In their study reported in BMC Plant Biology the researchers used gene sequencing techniques to identify 11 naturally occurring bacteria isolated from rice plants grown in the field in California.
So it's really cool to find a biological that can attenuate this thing. Bais who also has conducted multiple studies with beneficial microbes in the Bacillus family envisions a day
reducing emissions sequestering carbon through biological means on land and in the ocean storing carbon dioxide in a liquefied form in underground geological formations and wells increasing Earth's cloud cover and solar reflection.
Of the five options the group evaluated sequestering carbon through biological means --or converting atmospheric carbon into solid sources of carbon like plants--holds the most promise.
Improving soil management is another biological means of carbon sequestration that holds considerable promise because soils can trap plant materials that have converted already atmospheric carbon dioxide into a solid form as well as any carbon dioxide that the solids give off as they decompose.
The study also advocates a less familiar form of biological sequestration: the burial of biochar.
But not all biological sequestration would be so beneficial. The researchers evaluated the idea of adding iron to oceans
#New global maps of livestock distributionled by Marius Gilbert--Interfaculty School of Bioengineering Universitã libre de Bruxelles--and Tim Robinson (ILRI Kenya) an international researcher
A team of researchers led by Marius Gilbert Research Associate of the FNRS--Laboratory of Biological Control
and Spatial Ecology (LUBIES) Interfaculty School of Bioengineering (EIB Universitã libre de Bruxelles) and Tim Robinson (International Livestock Research Institute Nairobi Kenya) publishes this week
Livestock now represents the largest biomass among terrestrial vertebrates ahead of that of the human population and far ahead of that of wild animals.
This study is the result of a partnership between the Laboratory of Biological Control and Spatial Ecology (ULB LUBIES) the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI Nairobi Kenya) the Food and Agricultural organization of the United nations
and demand and another that assesses food security based on caloric consumption--to predict how global food security from 2006 to 2050 could be affected by changes in population income bioenergy agricultural productivity and climate.
#What can plants reveal about gene flow? That its an important evolutionary forcea plant breeder discovers his experimental crops have been contaminated with genes from a neighboring field.
New nasty weeds sometimes evolve directly from natural crosses between domesticated species and their wild relatives.
They illustrate the important role of gene flow among populations and its potential consequences. Although gene flow was recognized by a few scientists as a significant evolutionary force as early as the 1940s its relative role in maintaining a species'genetic integrity
and/or its diversity has been debated over the decades vacillating from trivial to critical. So how much gene flow is there between plant populations?
How important is gene flow for maintaining a species'identity and diversity and what are the implications of these processes for evolution conservation of endangered species invasiveness
or unintentional gene flow from domesticated crops to wild relatives? Norman Ellstrand a plant geneticist at the University of California Riverside is interested in many aspects regarding gene flow especially in applied plant biology
and has spent more than 25 years considering the possibility and potential impacts of unintended gene flow from genetically engineered crops.
As part of the American Journal of Botany's Centennial Review series Ellstrand reviews the history of gene flow focusing on plants
and provides evidence for its importance as an evolutionary force. Selection mutation gene flow and genetic drift are the four mechanisms that lead to biological evolution or a change in allele frequencies in a population over time.
Just how important are each of these forces relative to each other? Interestingly Ellstrand points out that evolutionary biologists'view on the importance of gene flow has waxed
and waned over the last century. Although it was seen first in the 1940s to be the evolutionary glue that held species together
and thus a significant evolutionary force a few decades later when quantitative data on gene flow in plant populations began being collected this view changed as evidence seemed to indicate that gene flow was not all that significant.
Not only was intraspecific gene flow among populations seen to be minimal at that time but somewhat incongruously interspecific hybridization or the movement of genes among species was seen to be a much larger force in evolution than intraspecific allele movement.
At the time the main concern for plant breeders was pollen movement between different strains of crops
--if a variety of sweet corn was contaminated by pollen from a popcorn variety then the resulting hybrid offspring would produce seeds that were unusable for market purposes
parentage and spatial population genetic structure studies. When I first started doing plant paternity studies in the 1980s Ellstrand comments our lab assumed that gene flow was limited.
But we kept identifying'impossible fathers'that could not be assigned to our study population. Surely these couldn't be fathers from outside of our wild radish populations--hundreds of meters away?
And the paradigm of limited gene flow in plants began to crumble. Indeed one of the amazing things that parentage studies revealed is just how far genes could flow from hundreds to thousands of meters in some cases.
In one extraordinary case a study found that the nearest possible paternal sire of an individual fig tree was 85 km away!
With the advent of more and more sophisticated ways to measure genetic variation and relatedness using molecular markers such as allozyme polymorphisms
but changes in allele patterns over time and thus the effects of evolution on populations can be seen in the genetic information.
despite the initial skepticism about the importance of gene flow modern empirical and theoretical research using up-to-date molecular
and DNA techniques have shown us not only how surprisingly far the flow of genes between distant plant populations can be
but also that the flow of alleles among populations is just as important if not more so in some cases as natural selection.
Indeed even just a low level of gene flow between populations can counter opposing forces of mutation genetic drift and selection.
Just like selection gene flow is one of the evolutionary forces--and a potentially important one notes Ellstrand.
And plants are suited very well for studies on gene flow because individuals are stationary yet pollen
However an important caveat that Ellstrand reports in his review is that the relative importance of gene flow can vary tremendously among species
and among populations and can be as low as no gene flow at all to very high rates of gene flow.
This review paper tells the story of gene flow's rise to respect among plant evolutionary biologists he concludes a fact that hasn't yet penetrated biology in general that is still mired in selection/adaptation-only thinking.
#3, 000 rice genome sequences made publicly availablethe open-access open-data journal Gigascience (published by BGI
and Biomed Central) announces the publication of an article on the genome sequencing of 3000 rice strains
This work is the completion of stage one of the 3000 Rice Genomes Project a collaborative effort made up of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
since the completion of the first high-quality rice genome sequence in 2005 there has been limited change in breeding practices that are important for producing improved and better adapted rice strains.
The 3000 Rice Genomes Project provides a major step forward for addressing these challenges by creating and releasing an extensive amount of genetic information that can ultimately be applied to intelligent breeding practices
which take advantage of the natural variation between different plant strains and information on the genetic mechanisms that underlie these traits to select strains for breeding that will be more successful in producing hybrid strains with characteristics that are suited highly for growing successfully in different environments.
Dr. Zhikang Li the Project Director at CAAS stated that the 3000 Rice Genomes Project is part of an ongoing effort to provide resources specifically for poverty-stricken farmers in Africa
and Asia aiming to reach at least 20 million rice farmers in 16 target countries (8 African and 8 Asian countries).
As a scientist in rice genetics breeding and genomics it would be a dream to help to solve this problem.
BGI is dedicated to applying genomics technologies to make a fast controllable and highly efficient molecular breeding model possible.
According to IRRI director general Dr. Robert Zeigler access to 3000 genomes of rice sequence data will tremendously accelerate the ability of breeding programs to overcome key hurdles humankind faces
This collaborative project added Zeigler will add an immense amount of knowledge to rice genetics
and breeders to directly link the genetic information (genotype) to the physical traits (phenotype) of these different strains.
which can then be linked to genetic markers in the now available genome sequences. Current breeding practices which have remained essentially the same
However the underlying genetic makeup can often confound breeder expectations because unknown genetic interactions can block modify
or alter the development of the selected physical characteristics when two strains are bred. Thus trial and error and multiple successive breeding stages are required often.
Having full knowledge of the genetic makeup of a plant allows researchers to identify genetic markers related to specific physical traits
and better understand how different genetic interactions effect plant phenotypes. This information allows a breeder to make more intelligent choices in strain selection resulting in more accurate and rapid development of rice strains that are suited better to different agricultural environments in poor and environmentally stressed economies.
Thus the release of these data and making the genetic information freely available to plant breeders
and scientists across the world will greatly aid in defining genotype/phenotype relationships as well as serve as an extensive resource improving our understanding of plant biology.
and long of charred kernels explains Josep Lluã s Araus professor from the Department of Plan Biology of UB.
What we basically conclude is that neither of the existing theories about butterfly eyespots is correct said Jeffrey Oliver a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Integrative Biology of the OSU College of Science.
Having appeared as a result of some genetic mutation however the eyespots then had the capability to move acquire a function that had evolutionary value
And at all times they retained the biological capacity for positional awareness--the eyespots formed in the same place until a new mutation came along.
There would be a biological position in which they were supposed to form and that would be retained he said.
#Understanding disease resistance genes in crops to secure future food productiona new understanding as to how plants defend themselves against some pathogens that cause crop diseases is proposed by researchers from the University of Hertfordshire to help scientists
By exploiting new molecular and genetic insights the research done in collaboration with Pierre de Wit from Wageningen Agricultural University in The netherlands provides a better understanding of the defense system of crop plants against the damaging pathogens that grow in the spaces between plant cells.
The second line of defense is referred to as effector-triggered immunity (ETI) this is based on the detection of disease pathogens by the plant's genes--there is a relationship between the gene in the host plant and the gene in the pathogen.
Through our research we discovered that defense against extracellular pathogens (ETD) involves different plant genes from those involved in the defense against intracellular pathogens.
We identified some specific resistance genes that code for receptor-like proteis (RLPS) and described how they operated against the pathogens.
This new understanding of plant defense through ETD suggests different operations of specific resistance genes
or woody vines can reduce net forest biomass accumulation by nearly 20 percent Researchers called this estimate conservative in findings published this month in Ecology.
This paper represents the first experimental quantification of the effects of lianas on biomass said lead author Stefan Schnitzer a research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
In gaps created by fallen trees lianas were shown to reduce tree biomass accumulation by nearly 300 percent.
and young forests may dramatically reduce tropical tree regeneration --and nearly all of the aboveground carbon is stored in trees said Schnitzer.
This exciting work suggests that these Galt-knockout porcine skin grafts would be a useful addition to the burn-management armamentarium says Curtis Cetrulo MD of the MGH Transplantation Biology Research center (TBRC) and the Division
which both copies of the gene encoding Galt (galactosyltransferase) the enzyme responsible for placing the Gal molecule on the cell surface were knocked out.
#Wood-waste biofuel to cut greenhouse gas, transform shipping industrya sustainable biofuel made from Norwegian forest wood waste could help transform the shipping industry
and unmerchantable wood left in forests after logging has occurred to produce new biofuels. Via the process of fast pyrolysis where material is heated in the absence of oxygen the wood will be converted into crude pyrolysis oil.
To counter this the Aston team led by Professor Tony Bridgwater will look to stabilise freshly produced pyrolysis biofuel through mild rapid low temperature catalytic hydrogen treatment.
In cooperation with the Paper and Fibre Research Institute in Norway they will also seek to blend the bio-oil with conventional diesel
Professor Bridgwater Director of the European Bioenergy Research Institute at Aston University said: This project will establish a knowledge platform for cost-effective production of all new sustainable fuels which have the potential to completely alter marine travel.
which represent a significant resource for bioenergy production. There is a net positive increment in biomass in Norway--it is growing faster than it is being consumed.
We hope to pave the way for large-scale biofuel production by 2020 in a way that is completely sustainable
and doesn't impact on land usage. Aston University's experience in fast pyrolysis and biofuel production technologies for biomass and biofuel products will contribute considerably in making that goal a reality.
In Scandinavia fast pyrolysis oil production is rapidly becoming commercialized. Energy company Fortum is to invest â0m in an integrate bio-oil plant
while Swedish packing firm Billerud received â2m from the European commission to build a new biofuel plant based on forest residues.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Aston University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length
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