and water resources for their animals the interests of fauna and farmer might finally be unified by the Sodom apple a toxic invasive plant that has overrun vast swaths of East African savanna and pastureland.
or Solanum campylacanthum is wicked a plant. Not a true apple this relative of the eggplant smothers native grasses with its thorny stalks while its striking yellow fruit provides a deadly temptation to sheep and cattle.
and impalas among other wild animals can not only safely gorge themselves on the plant but can efficiently regulate its otherwise explosive growth according to a report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Without elephants ripping the plant from the ground
or impalas devouring dozens of its fruits at a time the shrub easily conquers the landscape. Just as the governments of nations such as Kenya prepare to pour millions into eradicating the plant the findings present a method for controlling the Sodom apple that is cost-effective for humans
and beneficial for the survival of African elephants explained first author Robert Pringle a Princeton assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
A 2011 study on sheep published in the journal Kenya Veterinarian showed that the plant caused emphysema pneumonia bleeding ulcers brain swelling and death among other effects.
Then they remove the animals that eat the plant. Ricardo Holdo a savanna ecologist and assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri said that the researchers present enough data to potentially determine the amount of pastureland that wild Sodom-apple eaters would be able to keep free of
the noxious plant. Holdo who is familiar with the research but had no role in it said that beyond removing the Sodom apple animals such as elephants
In this case the effect of large mammals such as elephants and impalas on the Sodom apple population--and perhaps the populations of other plants--is unlikely to be duplicated by another animal species the researchers found.
Elephants impalas and a taste for Solanumpringle was roughly three years into a study about the effects of elephants on plant diversity
and impala that the Sodom apple particularly flourished Pringle said which defied everything he knew about the plant.
They captured about 30000 hours of foraging using cameras they had focused on particular plants. The researchers also marked several hundred Sodom-apple fruit to track how many were eaten
and measured the average height mortality and reproducibility of Sodom-apple plants in all the exclosures.
At one point the plant's density was three times greater in areas restricted to all animals than those that permitted all of them the researchers report.
In February 2011 the researchers counted an average of less than one fruit per plant in the exclosure open to all animals meaning that nearly every fruit produced by the plants was being consumed.
In the plots closed to elephants that average increased to three fruits per plant. When both impala and elephants were kept away the average jumped to around 50 fruits per plant
and fruits were more likely to be eaten by insects rather than dik-diks or rodents.
The model weighed the cost to the plant of being consumed partially against the potential benefit of having healthy seeds scattered across the countryside in an animal's droppings.
whether different animal species had an overall positive or negative influence on the population of Sodom-apple plants.
While elephants ate an enormous amount of Solanum seeds they also often destroyed the entire plant ripping it out of the ground and stuffing the whole bush into their mouths.
The model showed that to offset the damage an elephant wreaks on a plant 80 percent of the seeds the animal eats would have to emerge from it unscathed.
Impalas on the other hand can have a positive overall effect on the plants the researchers found. Impalas ate the majority of the fruit consumed--one impala ate 18 fruit in just a few minutes.
although it is theoretically possible for elephants to benefit the plant that outcome is extremely unlikely.
#Fungal infection control methods for lucky bamboothe popularity of ornamental plants imported to the United states from China is accompanied by concerns about the potential to introduce pathogens into the market.
Pests and pathogens currently not in the United states could be imported with Dracaena plant materials said Ariena H. C. van Bruggen corresponding author of the study published in Hortscience.
but infected rooted cuttings as well as inoculated plants. The most important finding of our study was that the hot water treatments tested were not promising for the control of C. dracaenophilum latently present in lucky bamboo as plants become more susceptible at higher temperatures the researchers said.
The team also determined that seemingly healthy rooted cuttings of lucky bamboo introduced from China may carry C. dracaenophilum
and curing latent infections and anthracnose development on lucky bamboo plants. The authors recommended implementation of a systems approach to address the problem including:
training and disease management at the source careful inspection of plants at ports of entry fungicide treatment of rooted cuttings to eliminate latent infection and training and disease management in nurseries at lucky
light source for greenhouse plant production. The team published the findings of their study aimed at finding alternative lighting options in Hortscience.
LEDS can be selected to target the wavelengths used by plants enabling growers to customize the light produced to enable maximum plant production
Secondary lighting treatments used for comparison included 100%high-pressure sodium (HPS) 100%red LED light supplied from above the plant 100%red LED light supplied below the plant a 50%:50%LED:
With the increase in the organic and local food markets there may be areas in which plant breeding can focus to bring better disease resistance
but as a new study at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich shows a concomitant influx of plant species from warmer southern latitudes could counteract this effect.
and that leaf-out in our flora will occur at progressively earlier times in the year.
Some 16000 plant species from diverse climate zones are cultivated in the Garden and Renner and her doctoral student Constantin Zohner have taken advantage of this unique resource to monitor the timing of leaf-out in nearly 500 different species of woody plants.
Peak load is the portion of energy production from a bioenergy installation that cannot be covered by the plant's primary source of fuel on the coldest days.
and finance a plant in Norway. That would increase sales of Norwegian forestry resources and would also increase the number of local jobs.
and the Al concentration was 878 Î M. Rice plants grown under these conditions would normally suffer from acid
In the first season rice plants were affected by drought while in the second they were infested with rice blast fungus.
and nutrients for plants as well as a bioreactor to purify and filter water it is crucial to our quality of life.
Remove the plants and mulch from mineral soil and things start to happen. Raindrops can break apart the soil making it easier to move it by wind and water.
And certain groups of plants--such as honeysuckles willows lilacs and apples--tended to leaf out early while other groups--such as oak beeches honey locusts and grapes--tended to
#Helping growers mitigate costly droughtsa University of Florida-created model may help growers plant at optimal times
versus actual amounts of water that evaporates from plants into the atmosphere. When roots cannot take up enough water up from the soil to replace evaporated water plants experience stress said Ingram.
or productivity loss because theyâ##re not based on plant physiology said Ingram also director of the Southeast Climate Consortium.
because plants need less water during the cool short days of winter. Ingram Woli Jones director of the UF-based Florida Climate Institute and Gerrit Hoogenboom an agrometeorology professor at Washington state co-wrote the paper.
Soy foods are an almost exclusive dietary source of isoflavones a plant-derived estrogen. Some studies have highlighted their potential cancer protective properties
and plant species in Central europe that are thought to have a significant negative impact on biodiversity economy and health.
When it comes to controlling hay fever-triggering ragweed plants on Detroit vacant lots occasional mowing is worse than no mowing at all
Vacant lots contained up to 42 ragweed plants per square meter. When you consider that the tiny drab flowers of a single ragweed plant can produce up to a billion pollen grains annually it's clear that Detroit vacant lots are pollen factories churning out a noxious product that afflicts thousands of city residents.
They found that 28 percent of the unmowed lots contained ragweed plants while 63 percent of the annually mowed lots
Vacant lots mowed at least once a month during the growing season had no ragweed plants. When these lots are left alone completely other plants rapidly outcompete ragweed Katz said.
When the lots are left unmowed the common perennial plants that replace ragweed include goldenrod milkweed Kentucky bluegrass chicory and aster.
They found that the amount of ragweed pollen in the air at a collection site was determined both by the abundance of ragweed plants within 10 meters (33 feet) of the collector and by the number of vacant lots within 1 kilometer (0. 62 miles) of the site.
Though individual pollen grains occasionally travel hundreds of miles previous studies have demonstrated that more than 90 percent of pollen grains travel less than 100 meters from the source plant.
Protecting diversity hotspotthe forests are home to 2800 plant species and a diverse range of birds reptiles amphibians and mammals with some only found in this region making it
and burn techniques to clear the land to plant cocoa trees and raise staples such as the banana-like plantain
Just being outdoors for an hour each day to tend to your plants improves your mental and physical well-being.
While other researchers have identified genes involved in producing the first green leaves of spring the discovery of a master regulator in poplar trees (Populus species) could eventually lead to breeding plants that are adapted better for warmer climates.
No one has isolated ever a controlling gene for this timing in a wild plant outside of Arabidopsis a small flowering plant related to mustard
It's unlikely that plant breeders will use the finding any time soon Strauss said.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health working with colleagues at several U s. and Chinese institutions used the broccoli sprout beverage to provide sulforaphane a plant compound already demonstrated to have cancer preventive properties
when the plant is chewed or the beverage swallowed. It acts to increase enzymes that enhance the body's capacity to expunge these types of the pollutants.
But researchers in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life sciences have found an effective way to kill poison ivy using a naturally occurring fungus that grows on the fleshy tissue surrounding the plant's seed potentially giving homeowners and forest managers the ability to rid
Their findings could make the maddening itch of the summer season a thing of the past for the untold millions who are allergic to the plant.
and is a first of its kind on a plant that affects millions but has had surprisingly little research done on it.
John Jelesko an associate professor of plant pathology physiology and weed science began studying the plant after experiencing a nasty poison ivy rash himself
Much to his surprise there was scant research focused on the plant itself. Most of the work was centered on urushiol the rash-causing chemical found in the plant's oils.
Urushiol is extremely potent. Only one nanogram is needed to cause a rash and the oil can remain active on dead plants up to five years.
But rather than focusing on urushiol Jelesko set about studying ways to kill the plant itself.
He worked with Matt Kasson on the project a senior research associate in the same department.
We have the makings of a nonchemical way to control an invasive plant that can be used by homeowners
what he suspected was a fungus causing disease in the plants. The team discovered that the fungus was growing on all the plants that died
and the seeds that didn't germinate. The fungus caused wilt and chlorophyll loss on the seedlings just by placing it at the junction of the main stem and root collar of the plant at three weeks post-inoculation.
At seven weeks post-inoculation all but one of the plants had died. Though herbicides are available to kill poison ivy Jelesko
and Kasson said that if this fungus were developed into a commercial application it would not only be more effective than its chemical counterparts
and probably kill many other plant species so their use in large areas is not always practical said Thomas Mitchell associate professor of fungal biology
This type of approach using native pathogens to control noxious and invasive plants is gaining more much deserved recognition.
and recreational areas such as campgrounds to naturally infect the plants and kill them. After Kasson successfully isolated the fungus in pure culture from infected plants a DNA analysis revealed that the fungus--Colletotrichum fioriniae--is also widely known as an insect pathogen that kills an invasive bug that infests
and kills hemlock trees. In all of the natural world only humans are allergic to poison ivy and its itch-inducing oil urushiol.
cadmium-free cropswith news reports of toxic cadmium-tainted rice in China a new study describes a protein that transports metals in certain plants
and are interchangeably taken up by iron transporters in plants. Pollution and heavy fertilizer use have increased soil cadmium levels in China for example.
At the same time iron is an essential nutrient for plants and humans. Iron deficiency affects 30 percent of the worldâ##s population particularly in developing countries.
The Cornell-led study published in The Plant Cell describes an important role of a protein that transports nutrients â#OPT3 â#in maintaining balance of the essential micronutrient iron in Arabidopsis small plants related to cabbage
and mustard that are used as models for studying plant biology. OPT3 function in plants was previously unknown.
The new work finds that OPT3 transports iron and is involved in signaling iron concentrations â#from leaves to roots â#to regulate how much iron from the soil is needed by the plant.
This function allows the plant to partition cadmium away from the edible portions of plants including seeds (grain.
â#oeone would hope that this transporter can be used to produce iron-fortified rice and other grain crops one dayâ#said Olena Vatamaniuk associate professor of crop
and expression in woody tissues we defined a core set of genes as well as novel lignin-building candidates that are expressed highly in the development of xylem--the woody tissue that helps channel water throughout the plant
An additional finding by the team was sequenced that among plants to date Eucalyptus showed the highest diversity of genes for specialized metabolites such as terpenes.
This along with its keystone ecological status and ability to adapt to marginal terrain make Eucalyptus an excellent focus for expanding our knowledge of the evolution and adaptive biology of perennial plants.
Plants can transfer their entire genetic material to a partner in an asexual manneroccasionally two different plant species interbreed with each other in nature.
Instead of passing on only half of each parent's genetic material both plants transmit the complete information to the next generation.
This allows the plants to stay fertile and a new species is generated. Examples for such a combination of two genomes called allopolyploidy are found abundantly in both wild plants and crops like wheat rapeseed and cotton.
Now for the first time Ralph Bock's group at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology could show that new species can be generated in an asexual manner As well as in previous studies Bock's group at the Max Planck Institute
of Molecular Plant Physiology used a method called grafting. It is known generally from nature that plants are able to grow together at their contact zones.
In horticulture and viticulture growers make use of this ability to bring characteristic traits of two varieties together without crossing them.
For example this method is used to play a trick on grape phylloxera a notorious pest of commercial grapevines that attacks the roots of the plants.
By grafting pest-sensitive elite grape cultivars onto pest-resistant wild rootstocks infestation is prevented effectively.
or recombination of genetic material--so-called horizontal gene transfer--between the grafted plants. In our previous work we were able to prove that
contrary to the generally accepted dogma there is horizontal gene transfer of chloroplast genes at the contact zone between grafted plants.
or the transfer of the entire genetic material the researchers counted the chromosomes in the nuclei of the resistant plants.
If complete genomes were transferred the new plants would contain the sum of the chromosome numbers of the two species. Indeed we found 72 chromosomes in the resistant plants Ralph Bock explains 72 is the sum of the 24 N. glauca
Thus plantlets generated from the graft junction contained the genetic information of both species. We managed to produce allopolyploid plants without sexual reproduction Sandra Stegemann joint first author of the study is pleased to say.
When the scientists grew their new plants in the greenhouse it became obvious that they combined characteristics of both progenitor species
the new plants grew remarkably faster than their parents. Such a fitness advantage is known also from allopolyploid plants in nature and from the superior growth properties of allopolyploid crops.
Since the newly generated plants were able to reproduce sexually and their progeny was fertile as well one can consider them as a new species. The scientists named it Nicotiana tabauca.
Thus grafting two species and selecting for horizontal genome transfer could become an interesting method for breeders who could use this approach to create new crop plants with higher yields
and improved properties is the unanimous opinion of the scientists involved in the present study.
Their research has resulted in the obtaining of a large quantity of plants within a short period of time
and plant matter adapted to future climate conditions. In Canada the National Network of Somatic Embryogenesis Laboratories (NNSEL) has been set up within the Canadian Forestry Service for the purpose of effectively transferring the advances in biotechnology to the forestry sector.
Breast cancer survivors should continue to follow a plant-based dietary pattern as suggested by the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Association
It could happen with new plant-breeding toolsince the first plant genome sequence was obtained for the plant Arabidopsis in 2000 scientists have sequenced gene everything from cannabis to castor bean.
and accurately and is expected to give a big boost to traditional and nontraditional plant breeders.
It'll be a new tool in the hands of the next generation of plant breeders
and annotating genome sequences for plants at an amazing clip since breaking through with Arabidopsis the work has not been without challenges.
In documenting genome sequences scientists must sort through millions of bits of genetic code to identify what function each gene is responsible for (such as telling a plant how tall to grow
or how to transport an amino acid throughout the plant). They base those identifications on evidence from previous studies.
which should result in better more quickly-updated plant models for everyone using them. Plantseed will help plant scientists begin to make better use of genome information by helping them create consistently accurate models for all plant genomes contained in the database.
Hanson a faculty member with UF's Institute of food and agricultural sciences likens the new tool to models aeronautical engineers use
You can't really make as much use of the genome information as we should be able to until you can do that kind of modeling for plants as well he said.
and other wild insects to pollinate crop plants can reduce harvest yields more drastically than a lack of fertilizer
When crops are pollinated adequately on the other hand the plants bear more fruit and their nutrient content changes.
The team published articles presenting their findings in the journals Plant Biology and PLOS ONE.
and other research projects on the importance of insects for the pollination of crop plants.
Although these legumes have up to twice the micronutrients as cereals according to Tom Warkentin professor of plant breeding at the University of Saskatchewan they are cultivated not on the same scale as cereals in most countries.
They aerate the soil cycle nutrients and play a role in plant defense and seed dispersal.
Some ant species support colonies of plant-feeding insects such as aphids or plant hoppers even protecting them from predators.
and forests and the plants and animals that live in these ecosystems. Now new research funded by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station (NHAES) at the University of New hampshire College of Life sciences
however ensuring that there is an abundant supply of this legume is crucial both for its importance in cropping systems to ensure plant vitality and for food security.
Moreover the U s. Department of energy Office of Science has targeted research into the common bean because of its importance in enhancing nitrogen use efficiency for sustainability of bioenergy crops and for increasing plant resilience and productivity with fewer inputs on marginal lands
All plants require nitrogen to thrive and nitrogen fixation is the process by which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into ammonia.
The U s. Department of energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) contributed to the citrus pilot project Gmitter said harnessing their expertise in plant genomics
Researchers say carbon emissions from tropical forests will increase as the climate warms as rising temperatures accelerate the decay of dead plants
#Breakthrough study solves plant sex mystery: Genetic hierarchy in plant sperm cell formation undresseda team of biologists from the University of Leicester has solved a mystery surrounding how plants have sex.
The researchers have discovered a pair of proteins made by flowering plants that are vital for the production of the sperm present within each pollen grain.
This breakthrough study from the Twell Laboratory at the University of Leicester published in the academic journal The Plant Cell has found a pair of genes called DAZ1
Plants with mutated versions of DAZ1 and DAZ2 produce pollen grains with a single sperm that is unable to fertilize.
Although TOPLESS has many roles in plants it has not previously been linked sperm production. Professor David Twell at the University of Leicester's Department of biology who led the study said:
We often take for granted sexual reproduction in plants and its role in our lives. It is a complex process that has been studied scientifically for over a century
and to further demystify the fascinating process--of how plants make the fertile sperm inside the pollen grains--that are essential for the vast majority of our food crop production.
and DAZ2 has the potential to be applied in the development of new plant breeding techniques to prevent the unwanted passing of genes
which makes them so well-suited to a diet of low quality grass and other plants.
Both pollinator and plant fitness is greatly dependent on the ability of pollinators to discriminate flowers accurately
and it is advantageous for a plant to produce a number of different signals that a pollinator can utilise effectively.
During an expedition in southern Saskatchewan Canada the team discovered the first fossil-record evidence of forest fire ecology--the regrowth of plants after a fire--revealing a snapshot of the ecology on earth just before the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.
Excavating plant fossils preserved in rocks deposited during the last days of the dinosaurs we found some preserved with abundant fossilized charcoal and others without it.
The researchers'discovery revealed that at the forest fire site the plants are dominated by flora quite similar to the kind that begin forest recovery after a fire today.
Ancient forests recovered much like current ones with plants like alder birch and sassafras present in early stages
The abundant plant fossils also allowed us for the first time to estimate climate conditions for the closing period of the dinosaurs in southwestern Canada
Forest fires can affect both plant and animal biodiversity. The team's finding of ancient ecological recovery from a forest fire will help broaden scientists'understanding of biodiversity immediately before the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
Successfully reducing deforestation is essential as forests are home to a wide range of plants and animals and vital to the livelihoods of indigenous communities.
which will help the researchers identify plants in the South Farms'plots that appear to be absorbing
or reflecting light differently an indication that the plants are under some type of stress such as pests disease or nutrient deficiencies.
Plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and when it increases the forest evidently becomes more unstable and dynamic
and the bacteria were not able to survive inside the phloem of the plant where osmotic pressure from sugar is said highâ Fernando Pagliai a co-author of the study
Phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients to all parts of the plant.
The arrival of tree bumblebees could be hugely beneficial to us by absorbing parasite pressure from our native species as well as helping to pollinate wild plants and crops.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011