This has positive results for the protective effect as well as for wood production and carbon storage.
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions urgently neededone conclusion of CH2014-Impacts is that with or without climate protection Switzerland will not be able to do without adaptation.
A reduction of greenhouse gas emissions still remains an urgent priority. In other words: adaptation and climate protection must go hand in hand.
and sequester carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas. The project is part of the Gates Foundation's Reinvent the Toilet Challenge an effort to develop a next-generation toilet that can be used to disinfect liquid and solid waste
Linden is working closely with project co-investigators Professor R. Scott Summers of environmental engineering and Professor Alan Weimer chemical and biological engineering and a team of postdoctoral fellows professionals
The interdisciplinary project requires chemical engineers for heat transfer and solar energy work environmental engineers for waste treatment
and are critically important to global carbon and energy cycles and yet do not attract the interest levels that tropical rainforests do.
Whilst it is assumed generally that'more trees are better'in tropical rainforest this is not necessarily the case for tropical grassy ecosystems and so the outcomes of global carbon and conservation initiatives
They also store about 15%of the world's carbon. Tropical grassy ecosystems are associated with savannas
and management strategies but also a means to conduct very detailed molecular studies focusing on ecotoxicology reproduction
and may reduce the amount of fat the cattle accumulates he said. This means the cattle converts more of the feed it eats into beef and it does this more efficiently.
and paper production-a process that involves harsh chemicals and expensive treatments. The research provides a new approach integrating knowledge of genes proteins plant chemical compounds
and engineering modeling to understand how plants make products and structures needed for growth and development.
This work in the new area of plant systems biology integrating biology chemistry and engineering sets a new standard for understanding any complex biological feature in the future.
Seufferheld now works for Monsanto and is based in Buenos aires where he is in charge of insect resistance management.
Having identified the de novo gene defect the researchers conducted laboratory experiments to confirm the resulting protein dysfunction and its effects on electrical-regulating mechanisms.
and swapped the cheese in the nachos eliminating trans fat from the products. The group advertised the new offerings in a poster
which to record the severity of four symptoms--gas diarrhea audible bowel sounds and abdominal cramping--on a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being the most severe.
and attacks it which leads to the release of chemicals called histamines into the blood.
#Predation on invertebrates by woodland salamanders increases carbon capturewoodland salamanders perform a vital ecological service in American forests by helping to mitigate the impacts of global warming.
when greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. Woodland salamanders facilitate the capture of this carbon before it is released by feeding on invertebrates (beetles earthworms snails ants etc.
that would otherwise release carbon through consumption of fallen leaves and other forest debris. Woodland salamanders are the most common vertebrate species in American forests;
consequently these small seldom-seen animals may play a significant role in regulating the capture of carbon from leaf litter in forest soils.
Dr. Hartwell Welsh Jr. research wildlife biologist at the U s. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) helped conduct a study in Northwestern Calif. that examined how woodland salamander
and carbon are captured at the litter-soil interface. The objective of the study was to investigate the role of salamanders in regulating invertebrate abundances
and agricultural land use because it increases the storage of carbon and may also enhance agricultural productivity.
Food that is rich in carbohydrates particularly fiber tends to produce larger amounts of gas than a diet without these ingredients.
In the laboratory they analyzed their chemical physical and hydrological qualities and discovered that the concentration of sodium in the soil is crucial for its stability.
and unsaturated fats from milk products and spreads were some of the healthy components whereas sausages eggs sweets sugary drinks salty fish and saturated fats from milk products and spreads were indicated as unhealthy.
Previous studies on diet and dementia have focused mainly on the impact of single dietary components.
Higher intake of saturated fats linked to poorer cognitive functions and increased risk of dementiathe impact of dietary fats on cognitive performance and the risk of dementia was studied separately as well.
A high intake of saturated fats was linked to poorer cognitive and memory functions and to an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment in a 21-year follow-up.
It was shown also that a higher saturated fat intake was associated with an increased risk of dementia among those carrying a genetic risk factor of Alzheimer's disease the epsilon 4 variant of the apolipoprotein E (Apoe) gene.
Even those who are genetically susceptible can at least delay the onset of the disease by favouring vegetable oils oil-based spreads
As humans burn fossil fuels dose crops with chemical fertilizers and dispose of manure from livestock they introduce extra nitrogen and other nutrients into the soil air and water.
The ORNL technology offers a new pathway to biomass-derived renewable fuels that can lower greenhouse gas emissions and decrease U s. reliance on foreign sources of oil.
and CEO who will take this novel catalyst from the lab to the marketplace. We see this technology as a significant step in moving the United states toward energy independence.
and Associate Laboratory Director Martin Keller uses an inexpensive zeolite catalyst to transform ethanol into hydrocarbon blend-stock.
The ORNL team's lab-scale tests also indicate the catalyst can operate at relatively low temperatures
and widely license breakthrough technologies that substantially expand the use of sustainable transportation fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Furthermore the same amount of carbon isotope (14c) in a given sample can quite easily result in different dating results
which are laced with high concentrations of copper arsenic and other plant-unfriendly chemicals. Then Wusirika and his team planted maize in the stamp sand incorporating bacteria in four different ways:
By analyzing metabolic compounds the team was able to show that the bacteria enhance photosynthesis
I as well as from varieties provided by Monsanto Pioneer and Syngenta. In the process of documenting the genetic changes the researchers observed an increase in yields over the past 80 years that is equivalent to one-third of a bushel per acre per year increase.
and have seeds with less protein and greater oil concentration. The new varieties tend to mature later within these maturity groups
With soybean being a leading source of protein and oil for human food animal feed and other products global rates of yield increases for the crop will need to keep up with demand in the future.
Their results--obtained from analysing stable isotope ratios of three elements in the bone collagen of 49 adults buried at the Teouma archaeological site on Vanuatu's Efate Island--suggest that its early Lapita settlers ate reef fish
The researchers analysed the isotopic ratios of carbon nitrogen and sulphur in adult human bone collagen and compared these with ratios in ancient and modern plants and animals from the location
which provided a comprehensive dietary baseline Examining these ratios gave us direct evidence of the broad make-up of these adults'diets over the 10-20 years before they died
and greater access to protein from sources such as tortoises pigs and chicken than women did.
Also with some supplements animals can produce more milk and meat for proportionally less greenhouse gas.
Despite ruminant livestock's poor image as major greenhouse gas emitters sustainably managed grazing can increase biodiversity maintain ecosystem services
With animal protein set to remain part of the food supply we must pursue sustainable intensification and figure out how to keep livestock in ways that work best for individuals communities and the planet.
Metaboliteswith colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (Germany) the KU Leuven researchers identified the metabolites that kill the nematodes.
and the Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics (CBGP) is studying the tolerance of trees using molecular and biotechnological tools.
Nicotine one of the main chemical components of tobacco smoke is metabolised immediately in the liver
Next a soil moisture profile is developed with the principle of maximum entropy model (POME) which uses prior specific data over a set of trial probabilities to determine which is the most likely outcome.
#Predators delay pest resistance to Bt cropscrops genetically modified with the bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) produce proteins that kill pest insects.
Steady exposure has prompted concern that pests will develop resistance to these proteins making Bt plants ineffective.
Cornell research shows that the combination of natural enemies such as ladybeetles with Bt crops delays a pestâ##s ability to evolve resistance to these insecticidal proteins. â#oethis is demonstrated the first example of a predator being able
Bt is a soil bacterium that produces proteins that are toxic to some species of caterpillars
In the Central Hardwoods the effects of a changing climate are expected to include rising temperatures due to a rise in greenhouse gas concentrations leading to longer growing seasons.
and their doctors to consider changes to their hypertensive and lipid-lowering medication dosages. Of the 90 people who completed six-month follow-up the 44 who had been assigned randomly to receive dietitian e-care had higher rates of patient satisfaction
and saturated fats and were low in whole grains and fiber. The new standards from the United states Department of agriculture (USDA) aimed to improve the nutritional quality of school meals by making whole grains fruits
and vegetables removing trans fats and placing limits on total calories and sodium levels. The researchers collected plate waste data among 1030 students in four schools in an urban low-income school district both before (fall 2011)
#Amazons canopy a patchwork quilt of chemicals generated by plantsin many ways plants act as chemical factories using energy from sunlight to produce carbon-based energy
How much does the portfolio of chemicals generated by plants vary depending on the surrounding environment and
The answer involved climbing into the Amazonian canopy resulting in the discovery that the forest's chemical portfolios form a rich mosaic that varies with elevation and soil content.
They found that canopy chemical traits are organized in a large mosaic controlled by changes in the underlying soils and by elevation.
Chemical variation across coexisting species greatly exceeded the variation within each species. These and other findings reveal that different Amazonian species make up a diverse matrix of growth
We discovered that this incredible region is a patchwork mosaic of trees with chemical signatures organized into communities to maximize their growth potential given their local soils
Within these communities the trees have evolved chemical portfolios that are different from one another maybe to help each species take a place in its community
and could thus be compared in terms of solar-driven chemical synthesis. This meant using climbing techniques to reach the outer edge of each canopy hundreds of feet above the surface.
They are already threatening whole patches in a kaleidoscopic quilt of chemical diversity that underpins these ecosystems.
More people are consuming more calories protein and fat and they rely increasingly on a short list of major food crops like wheat maize
and soybean along with meat and dairy products for most of their food said lead author Colin Khoury a scientist at the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical agriculture (CIAT) which is a member of the CGIAR Consortium.
and cotton plants genetically engineered to produce proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). These proteins kill some key pests
but are not toxic to people wildlife or even most insects. Organic growers have used Bt toxins in sprays for decades
The two pathways or proteins that contribute to fibrosis in those tumors also encourage Cox-2 an enzyme that causes inflammation
Carbon emission will be higher in second half of centuryspanish forest ecosystems will quite probably emit high quantities of carbon dioxide in the second half of the 21st century.
Consequently woodlands that now drain carbon will become carbon producers because plant respiration (a process in
and the decomposition of death organic matter will exceed photosynthesis processes (carbon sequestration and oxygen release).
When an object is exposed to light its molecules absorb certain wavelengths and the appearance of color results from the unabsorbed light
Understanding effects of smoke compounds on seed germinationalthough seemingly destructive wildfires help to maintain biodiversity
but the quick release of nutrients heat and compounds found in ash and smoke play an important role in the life cycle of the native flora.
As plant tissue is burned numerous compounds are released some of which have been found to break seed dormancy and stimulate germination.
In a new study published in the March issue of Applications in Plant sciences scientists at Eastern Illinois University have developed a novel system to produce smoke solutions to further investigate the importance of smoke compounds such as butenolides
Because many of the identified compounds are known to be water soluble using a smoke solution is a convenient alternative to direct fumigation of seeds explains Dr. Janice Coons lead author of the study.
Water-soluble compounds are dissolved by bubbling smoke through water contained in a flask. This setup is inexpensive and much more compact than previous systems allowing for the production of smaller volumes of smoke solution within a small space such as a fume hood.
This new apparatus increases the concentration of smoke compounds in the solution and allows for greater control of variables.
For example different species of plants contain different compounds which may have different effects on seed germination.
and colleagues on the other hand provide researchers with the means to distinguish the effects of smoke compounds from other additives.
so that each subject got the same total quantity of food protein regardless of the number of foods they were being desensitized to.
The food dose was increased gradually until subjects could eat 4 grams of each food protein
or up to 20 grams of the allergenic food proteins in total without experiencing a reaction.
This drug reduces activity of the body's Ige molecules the antibodies involved in allergic responses
The patients continued consuming food powders until they could safely eat 4 grams of each food protein.
The global demand for palm oil has spiked in recent years as processed food manufacturers have sought an alternative to trans fats.
For now the carbon footprint of cutting down forests to make way for palm plantations dwarfs the greenhouse gases coming from the wastewater lagoons.
However the climate impact of the leaking methane could be mitigated by capturing the gas and using it to fuel power plants.
Taylor whose research typically focuses on carbon cycling in old-growth tropical forests was inspired to do the analysis by undergraduate researcher Hana Fancher who also is a co-author of the journal article.
But one Texas A&m Agrilife Extension service specialist is trying to manage the disease symptoms with alternative methods and chemistries.
To do that we hope to use several compounds to see if the plant can actually trigger a mechanism to defend itself from the pathogen
if these systemic acquired resistance compounds work and if so why are they working? French said.
We add these compounds whether it is for plant defense responses pathogen control plant health on top of what the growers is applying he said.
and try new chemicals new compounds or new products. Additionally he hopes to move from small plot research to larger plots.
Ideally we would like to work with compounds already labeled for potato or maybe a closely related crop like pepper tomato
and heat tolerance for molecular studies and deployment of these genes in other crops she said.
because they are a high protein grain vegetable fodder and high nitrogen-fixing legume that can be intercropped with corn cotton
and cloned will significantly advance understanding of the molecular basis underlying plant tolerances to these stresses Zhang said.
Those analyses uncovered several chemicals specific to intact male goats including one in particular 4-ethyloctanal with the power to activate the gonadotropin-releasing hormone pulse generator in the female brain
In 4-ethyloctanal we identified a novel chemical that had never been demonstrated in nature before.
and activity of the reproduction center in the female for mating by a single molecule Takeuchi says.
Before experimenting with contaminated water the group used water mixed with red ink particles ranging from 70 to 500 nanometers in size.
This experiment showed that sapwood is naturally able to filter out particles bigger than about 70 nanometers.
However in another experiment the team found that sapwood was unable to separate out 20-nanometer particles from water suggesting that there is a limit to the size of particles coniferous sapwood can filter.
In general flowering trees have smaller pores than coniferous trees suggesting that they may be able to filter out even smaller particles.
and prevents crystallization therefore making it easier to sell Bryant explains. However by removing the pollen you also remove clues needed to verify where the honey was produced and
New gas-phase compounds form organic particle ingredientsscientists have made an important step in order to better understand the relationships between vegetation and climate.
So-called extremely low-volatility organic compounds which are produced by plants could be detected for the first time during field and laboratory experiments in Finland and Germany.
and theories about how volatile organic compounds produced by vegetation are converted into atmospheric aerosol--especially over forested regions.
Forests emit large amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOC. Their reaction products form the so-called secondary organic aerosol.
In this case gases are converted into particles that reflect solar radiation or act as nuclei for cloud droplets.
However the model calculations have been very inaccurate as there are still large gaps in our knowledge concerning the role of the compounds emitted by plants during the transition between gaseous and solid state.
Large uncertainties do primarily exist regarding the growth of newly formed particles towards cloud nuclei on
The particle growth in the diameter range between about three and one hundred nanometers requires low-volatile organic vapors as has been speculated.
These extremely low-volatility organic compounds (ELVOC) have been detected hardly so far and their possible formation pathways are very speculative.
Until recently these compounds could not be measured because they are very short-lived. As soon as these molecules collide with a surfaces they remain adsorbed
and cannot be detected in the gas phase by analytical instruments. To prevent this the ELVOCS are ionized directly under atmospheric conditions in the gas phase
and subsequently transported as an electrically charged ELVOC-molecule into the sensor (mass spectrometer) where the detection takes place.
This powerful analytical method using mass spectrometric detection is called CI-API-TOF (chemical ionization--atmospheric pressure interface time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
The newly released study by scientists from Finland Germany the USA and Denmark consists of several parts.
The field measurements were carried out at the station of the University of Helsinki in Hyytiã¤la in southern Finland
We have focused our efforts on the oxidation of Î-pinene because it accounts for about half of global monoterpene emissions explains Dr. Mikael Ehn from the University of Helsinki who is the first author of this study
Every forest visitor can recognize these compounds as the typical fir needle smell. We managed to present the first molecular evidence of a direct and ubiquitous source of ELVOCS arising from the oxidation of monoterpenes and other volatile organic compounds in the gas phase.
This produces vapors with relatively large molecules containing many hydrogen atoms as well as approximately the same number of oxygen as carbon atoms.
The results suggest that about 10 percent of the reacting VOC mass is converted tosecondary organic aerosol over the tree tops.
not only to detect these new compounds but also to explain the mechanism that leads to the formation.
Measurements in the chemistry laboratory of the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig have contributed also to this result.
in order to determine the portion of heavy oxygen atoms (18o) in the formed ELVOCS. These experiments allowed us a first insight into the formation mechanism of these compounds
and provide the basis for a series of further experiments as Dr. Torsten Berndt from TROPOS explains.
and one oxygen atom is one of the most common free radicals in the air and is referred therefore often as the detergent of the atmosphere.
The new findings help to explain a significant part of the organic mass of aerosol particles in the air which had remained mysterious to the scientists so far.
which had taken not sufficiently into account the growth of nanoparticles caused by these compounds produced in boreal regions.
#Characterization of stink bug saliva proteins opens door to controlling pestsbrown marmorated stink bugs cause millions of dollars in crop losses across the United states because of the damage their saliva does to plant tissues.
and identify the major protein components which could lead to new pest control approaches. Until now essentially nothing was known about the composition of stink bug saliva which is surprising given the importance of these insects as pests
By identifying the major protein components of saliva it now may be possible to target the specific factors in saliva that are essential for their feeding and therefore design new approaches for controlling stink bugs.
and analyzed it for protein content. To collect sheath saliva the scientists placed organic grape tomatoes in the cages.
and analyzed the sheaths for protein content. We found that the watery saliva and the sheath saliva have distinct protein profiles Felton said.
In other words we did not find any proteins in common between the two. Consistent with a role in digestion the team found that watery saliva contains several digestive proteins including amylases proteases and an esterase.
In the sheath saliva the researchers found peroxidase suggesting that this protein could be involved in sheath formation.
In addition they found a large number of proteins from tomato. These results reveal that the protein composition of the sheath is a mixture of insect
-and plant-derived proteins Felton said. We used extraordinary precaution to avoid disrupting tomato tissues during the collection of the sheaths
so we do not believe that the composition of tomato proteins in the sheath material is a spurious artifact of our collection methods
but rather it represents the natural coalescing of insect -and plant-derived proteins that occurs during formation of the sheath and subsequent feeding.
These initial findings suggest that sheath saliva may elicit a plant self-protection response. According to the scientists the methods they developed to extract the saliva
and to analyze the proteins should be generally applicable for any species of stink bug.
In the future the team plans to use a genetic approach to test the function of individual proteins in the saliva to determine their function and essentiality to the feeding process.
By understanding the specific details of feeding and the damage it causes researchers can begin to develop targeted control methods for these pests Peiffer said.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Penn State. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#Pine forest particles appear seemingly out of thin air, influence climatepine forests are especially magical places for atmospheric chemists.
Coniferous trees give off pine-scented vapors that form particles very quickly and seemingly out of nowhere.
New research by German Finnish and U s. scientists elucidates the process by which gas wafting from coniferous trees creates particles that can reflect sunlight
and observe particles apparently form from thin air. They're not emitted from anything they just appear said Joel Thornton a University of Washington associate professor of atmospheric sciences and second author on the paper.
The study shows the chemistry behind these particles'formation and estimates they may be the dominant source of aerosols over boreal forests.
Scientists have known for decades that gases from pine trees can form particles that grow from just 1 nanometer in size to 100 nanometers in about a day.
These airborne solid or liquid particles can reflect sunlight and at 100 nanometers they are large enough to condense water vapor and prompt cloud formation.
and then simulated the same particle formation in an air chamber at Germany's JÃ lich Research Centre.
A new type of chemical mass spectrometry let researchers pick out 1 in a trillion molecules and follow their evolution.
Results showed that when a pine-scented molecule combines with ozone in the surrounding air some of the resulting free radicals grab oxygen with unprecedented speed.
The radical is so desperate to become a regular molecule again that it reacts with itself.
The new oxygen breaks off a hydrogen from a neighboring carbon to keep for itself
Current chemistry would predict that 3 to 5 oxygen molecules could be added per day during oxidation Thornton said.
But researchers observed the free radical adding 10 to 12 oxygen molecules in a single step.
This new bigger molecule wants to be in a solid or liquid state rather than gas
and condenses onto small particles of just 3 nanometers. Researchers found so many of these molecules are produced that they can clump together
and grow to a size big enough to influence climate. I think unravelling that chemistry is going to have some profound impacts on how we describe atmospheric chemistry generally Thornton said.
Lead author Mikael Ehn did the work as a postdoctoral researcher in Germany working in the group of co-author Thomas Mentel.
Boreal or pine forests give off the largest amount of these compounds so the finding is especially relevant for the northern parts of North america Europe and Russia.
and he believes the rapid oxidation may apply to a broad range of atmospheric compounds.
I think a lot of missing puzzle pieces in atmospheric chemistry will start to fall into place once we incorporate this understanding Thornton said.
Forests are thought to emit exponentially more of these scented compounds as temperatures rise. Understanding how those vapors react could help to predict how forested regions will respond to global warming
In related work Thornton's group was part of a campaign last summer to study air chemistry over the Southeastern United states where aerosols formed by reforested areas
and some fraction of them will be converted to particles which can potentially shade the Earth's surface Thornton said.
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