In order to efficiently protect crops we must better understand molecular mechanisms like these that occur in the very earliest stages of infection.
and carbon to cycle in ecosystems but there was little evidence that human-induced loss of these animals has effects at the level of the whole ecosystem on services such as agricultural yield said Mark Bradford an Associate professor at the Yale
#Novel phenolic compounds discovered in barley, beernovel forms of phenolic compounds have been discovered from barley and beer.
The results will open new interesting possibilities for evaluation of possible health benefits of barley and beer.
These compounds are found in barley grains but also in beers brewed from barley malts. Japanese research teams have linked previously beer hordatines to some physiological effects.
Increasingly local adaptation to climate is being studied at the molecular level by identifying which genes control climate adaptation
and the carbon availability than how hot or dry the climate is. This allows diverse microbial communities to thrive wherever the soil conditions are equally diverse.
Specifically to control the molecular orientation and packing at electrode surfaces the team combined knowledge about graphene and organic crystals.
Though it was difficult Briseno says they managed to get the necessary compounds to stack like coins.
Stacked compounds are ideal for charge transport since this configuration has the largest charge transport anisotropy.
Charge transport anisotropy is a phenomenon where electrons flow faster along a particular crystallographic direction due to close molecule-molecule interactions.
Briseno says The biggest challenge in producing this architecture was finding the appropriate substrate that would enable the molecules to stack vertically.
#Floridas climate boosts soil-carbon storage, cuts greenhouse emissionswarm temperatures and a wet landscape increase soil's ability to store carbon
Soil-stored carbon can slow the build up of carbon-based gases in the atmosphere a phenomenon believed to be a cause of global climate change.
So it's vital to preserve soil carbon said Sabine Grunwald a UF soil and water science professor who led the research.
Soils serve as a natural container to hold carbon that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases that accelerate global climate change.
In addition to environmental stewardship landowners can make money by storing carbon. Participants in the state's Florida Stewardship Program are sitting on an estimated $300 million worth of carbon.
Because it's so wet Florida's soil has stored historically more carbon than any state except perhaps Alaska
which has not been studied extensively Grunwald said. With Florida's rapid population growth in the past 45 years from 5 million to about 18 million land use has changed considerably.
That change has caused carbon-rich wetlands to increase 140 percent while carbon-poor agricultural land decreased about 20 percent according to the study.
In the first study of its kind UF researchers reviewed data from 1251 soil samples collected across Florida from 1965 to 1996.
They studied carbon sequestration rates from 1965 to 2010. Researchers studied land use land cover and climate change to see how those factors affect the soil's ability to store carbon.
Organic carbon in soil includes dead plant and animal tissue and makes up most global soil carbon.
Land cover is what's On earth's surface whether it's dirt pavement water or trees among other things.
Land use means how people utilize public and private land such as agriculture forestry or conservation land.
Together land use land cover and climate change account for 46 percent of soil carbon sequestration the study showed.
They found higher average annual temperatures correlated with higher soil carbon sequestration specifically in crops mesic upland forest pineland
Among land-use types researchers also found sugarcane in the soils of the Everglades Agricultural area near Lake Okeechobee and wetlands stored the most soil carbon
#An apple a day could keep obesity awayscientists at Washington state University have concluded that nondigestible compounds in apples--specifically Granny smith apples--may help prevent disorders associated with obesity.
The study thought to be the first to assess these compounds in apple cultivars grown in the Pacific Northwest appears in October's print edition of the journal Food Chemistry.
We know that in general apples are a good source of these nondigestible compounds but there are differences in varieties said food scientist Giuliana Noratto the study's lead researcher.
The tart green Granny smith apples benefit the growth of friendly bacteria in the colon due to their high content of nondigestible compounds including dietary fiber and polyphenols and low content of available carbohydrates.
Despite being subjected to chewing stomach acid and digestive enzymes these compounds remain intact when they reach the colon.
and Red delicious in the amount of nondigestible compounds they contain. The nondigestible compounds in the Granny smith apples actually changed the proportions of fecal bacteria from obese mice to be similar to that of lean mice Noratto said.
The discovery could help prevent some of the disorders associated with obesity such as low-grade chronic inflammation that can lead to diabetes.
and fixing nitrogen by manipulating the molecular mechanisms that regulate these functions. If this can be done with legumes such as soybeans perhaps this trait can be transferred to other crops that don't fix nitrogen he added.
When the genome of the black Perigord truffle was mapped in 2010 we thought that the fungus had sufficient genes to create its flavour on its own junior professor Richard Splivallo from the Institute for Molecular Life sciences at the Goethe University explained.
The researchers were able to show that bacteria produce a specific class of volatile cyclic sulphur compounds
because the compounds we investigated are only found in the white truffle Tuber borchii. For this reason in the future they plan to study compounds which are found in the PÃ rigord
and Piermont truffles and are common to all types of truffles. We don't just want to know which part of the truffle flavour is produced by bacteria.
Now researchers at A*STAR have used a process known as friction stir processing (see image) to produce an evenly distributed mix of nanosized aluminum oxide (Al2o3) particles in aluminum1.
It also reduced the amount of airborne particles produced during powder placement and friction stir processing explains Guo.
smaller aluminum matrix grains can flow past each other more smoothly than larger particles enhancing the strength of the material.
and seed production collect insects survey mammals quantify carbon stocks and flows within the ecosystem take soil samples
and the original plant compound was simply the stereochemical configuration of one atom. The crucial change however is the fact that the insect metabolite is no longer reactive to the plant enzyme
The importance of the three-dimensional structure of molecules and the stereospecificity of chemical reactions is overlooked often.
The chemical chirality of the compounds is the key here explains Jonathan Gershenzon director of the Department of Biochemistry.
These insects can teach us humans a lot about an important chemical concept the idea that a compound
even though the atoms are connected in the same way. The term chirality is derived from the Greek word for hand
That two mirror molecules can have a completely different mode of action became widely known in the aftermath of the tragic effects the sedative drug Contergan had on unborn children in the early 1960s.
Understanding the controls on water movement through biochar-amended soils is critical to explaining other frequently reported benefits of biochar such as nutrient retention carbon sequestration
In a first-of-its kind study that combined molecular and environmental data professor Meng-Hua Li et al. performed a search for genes under environmental selection from domesticated sheep breeds.
#NASA, partners target megacities carbon emissionsdriving down busy Interstate 5 in Los angeles in a nondescript blue Toyota Prius Riley Duren of NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory Pasadena California is a man
The instruments in the Prius and airplane are just two of many elements of the Megacities Carbon Project an international multi-agency pilot initiative to develop
Duren is principal investigator for the LA component of the Megacities Carbon Project. He hopes to work with international partners to deploy a global urban carbon monitoring system that will eventually allow local policymakers to fully account for the many sources
and sinks or storage sites of carbon and how they change over time. Los angeles and Paris are pilot cities in the initiative.
Efforts are underway to add other cities around the world. When fully established in late 2014 the LA network will consist of 15 monitoring stations around the LA basin Most will use commercially available high-precision greenhouse gas analyzers to continuously sample local air.
There's an urgent need to get a handle on explosive growth in carbon emissions from fossil-fuel use by cities
In many cases we know very little about the carbon emissions of individual cities said LA Megacities Carbon Project Co-Principal investigator Charles Miller of JPL.
The United nations predicts that Earth's urban population will double by 2050 dramatically increasing the number and size of megacities and their carbon footprints.
Cities are serving as bellwethers of society's carbon emission trends. While many are experiencing growth in emissions others are leading the charge to reduce them.
These rapid changes in the carbon emissions from megacities represent both a mega-problem and an opportunity said Duren.
NASA's recently launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite is capable of detecting the enhanced levels of carbon dioxide over the world's largest cities
The result will be independent accurate assessments of carbon emissions and a better understanding of the factors that affect them.
Toward an Urban Carbon Monitoring System With Some Challenging Twistsultimately the concept of a global carbon-monitoring system focused on the largest carbon emitters hinges on the ability to extend pilot efforts like those in LA and Paris
which both release and absorb carbon. Doing so requires more frequent and dense measurements and the ability to sense multiple species of greenhouse gases from Earth's surface and from space.
Another important method involves measuring radiocarbon isotopes. That's something scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration (NOAA) will begin contributing to the LA Megacities effort in the coming months.
Directly monitoring the carbon emissions of entire countries probably won't be feasible for at least another decade
The project team is also working with scientists in Sao paulo to establish a companion effort there to study another unique urban carbon system.
A follow-on version of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 that may ultimately fly on the International Space station is being designed with a city mode that will provide frequent maps of the carbon dioxide emissions of many of the world's largest emitters.
It may someday serve as part of an international constellation of carbon monitoring satellites providing frequent comprehensive mapping of greenhouse gases across entire cities and broader regions.
#Impact of temperature on belowground soil decompositionearth's soils store four times more carbon than the atmosphere
and small changes in soil carbon storage can have a big effect on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
A new paper in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes that climate warming does not accelerate soil organic carbon decomposition or affect soil carbon storage despite increases in ecosystem productivity.
Creighton Litton and Susan Crow (University of Hawai`i at Manoa) and Dr. Greg Asner (Carnegie Institution for Science) shows that soil carbon storage was constant across a highly constrained 5 degrees
From these results they concluded that long-term warming in tropical montane forests will accelerate carbon cycling
but is unlikely to cause net losses of soil carbon. Given our findings we expect that warming alone that is in the absence of other changes such as drying
or increased fire will not accelerate the loss of carbon from mineral soils says Giardina. This means that tropical soils will not become a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere.
The effects of warming on soil carbon storage are quantified poorly because it is difficult to assess how temperature change impacts processes below the soil surface.
This allowed them to isolate the effects of changing temperature on ecosystem carbon storage and flux.
The scientists propose that where ecosystem carbon is unprotected such as at the surface in plant debris its decomposition
However when carbon is protected in the soil decomposer organisms have reduced access to that carbon and so decomposition or storage show little temperature sensitivity.
And while climate warming will continue with the addition of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere due to human activities (fossil fuel combustion land-use clearing) previous assumptions about a positive soil carbon cycling feedback to future warming
While soil carbon storage and turnover was insensitive to warming the decomposition of coarse wood
which means that the capacity of tropical ecosystems to retain carbon will depend on the balance of changes within each ecosystem.
The research stems from a look at the function of a large family of lipid-derived molecular signals that regulate differential processes in humans animals and plants according to Kolomiets
The molecular signals are understood less in plants than in animals and humans he noted. â#oepeople take certain drugs such as aspirin to suppress the activity of these signals
because overproduction of these molecules may lead to headaches and pain and all sorts of disordersâ#Kolomiets said. â#oeitâ##s the same group of metabolites that are produced by the plants
The best characterized molecule of the fatty acid-derived signals is called jasmonic acid because it was isolated first as a volatile produced by jasmine Kolomiets said.
Jasmonic acid one of perhaps 600 oxylipin molecules identified in plants is known to have diverse functions.
Then this molecule since it is a volatile attracts parasitic wasps. They come to the plant that is being chewed up by insect herbivores
We have provided genetic evidence that green leafy volatiles have this dual function â#in the plant they activate production of insecticidal compounds
The imperfections have unique electronic properties that the researchers were able to exploit to increase sensitivity to absorbed gas molecules by 300 times.
Their first discovery was that gas molecules are attracted to the grain boundary and accumulate there rather than on the graphene crystal making it the ideal spot for sensing gas molecules.
A grain boundary's electrical properties attract molecules to its surface. A theoretical chemistry group at UIC led by Petr Kral was able to explain this attraction and additional electronic properties of the grain boundary.
The irregular nature of the grain boundary produces hundreds of electron-transport gaps with different sensitivities.
Gas molecules accumulate on the grain boundary; there is a charge transfer; and because these channels are paralleled all together all the channels abruptly open or close.
With the grain boundary's strong attraction for gas molecules and the extraordinarily sharp response to any charge transfer such an electronic nose might be able to detect even a single gas molecule Salehi-Khojin believes
He is working with molecular biologist Jai Rohila of the biology and microbiology department through a two-year project sponsored by the National Institute of Crop science in Suwaon South korea.
#For legume plants, a new route from shoot to roota new study shows that legume plants regulate their symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria by using cytokinins--signaling molecules--that are transmitted through the plant structure from leaves
and CLE-RS2 but the identity of the molecule doing the signaling downward has remained veiled in mystery.
In this research published in Nature Communications the group demonstrates using the model legume Lotus japonicus that the downward signaling is performed actually by a cytokinin--though the exact molecule remains to be identified
This study together with previous research results clearly shows that cytokinins are key signaling molecules in organ-to-organ communication allowing balanced plant growth
In particular a delay in when leaves change color could affect how much carbon an ecosystem removes from the atmosphere
and taking carbon out of the atmosphere Medvigy said. The longer you have green leaves the more carbon dioxide you can take out of the atmosphere.
The growth trends at stand level are relevant for the forestry industry in terms of productivity carbon sequestration
The material is made of graphene nanoribbons atom-thick strips of carbon created by splitting nanotubes a process also invented by the Tour lab
In other words how much carbon the plant had invested in the leaf. In addition the researchers measured the density of the leaves'vein networks a measure of the amount of water a plant can transpire and the rate at
which it can acquire carbon. There is a spectrum between fast-and slow-growing species said Blonder.
Our ability to use molecular techniques like 16s RIBOSOMAL RNA gene sequencing to characterize nearly all of the bacteria on a leaf is going to make it possible to see how very different members of forest communities interact said Wright.
The research is based on probable sequences of events indicated by radiocarbon and Bayesian dating which suggest that Vuoksi was created a few decades before the culture in the area changed.
Acid-free approach leads to strong conductive carbon threadsthe very idea of fibers made of carbon nanotubes is neat
The single-walled carbon nanotubes in new fibers created at Rice line up like a fistful of uncooked spaghetti through a process designed by chemist Angel Martã and his colleagues.
Left to their own devices carbon nanotubes form clumps that are perfectly wrong for turning into the kind of strong conductive fibers needed for projects ranging from nanoscale electronics to macro-scale power grids Earlier research at Rice by chemist
A process revealed last year by Martã and lead authors Chengmin Jiang a graduate student and Avishek Saha a Rice alumnus starts with negatively charging carbon nanotubes by infusing them with potassium a metal and turning
They then employ cage-like crown ethers to capture the potassium ions that would otherwise dampen the nanotubes'ability to repel one another.
but gave the process a spin with a different preparation so now we're the first to make neat fibers of pure carbon nanotube electrolytes.
whether methane losses from well pads and pipelines outweigh the lower carbon dioxide emissions said Jackson.
Just four days after infection the researchers found increased expression of certain pathogen receptors (TLR-2 and NOD2) and signalling molecules involved in inflammatory reactions (TNF-Î) in the intestine of the infected animals.
in addition that the compounds went into the groundwater through runoff or stayed in the tubers making the damages greater relates the scientist at INECOL.
which compounds in fruit and vegetables keep humans healthy. The research team are the first to record the continual movement cycle of Nrf2 which sees the protein oscillate in and out of the cell nucleus once every 129 minutes.
In addition to devastating impacts on forest-dependent people and biodiversity the illegal conversion of tropical forests for commercial agriculture is estimated to produce 1. 47 gigatonnes of carbon each year--equivalent to 25%of the EU's annual fossil fuel
This bacterium produces an aromatic compound also found in human foot odor and that is what attracted the mosquitoes.
The source of the aromatic compounds that produce body odor are bacterial colonies that exist on human skin particularly in dark moist areas such as the arm pits and between the toes.
While they have identified dozens of aromatic compounds that trigger the mosquito's antennae the researchers haven't discovered one that acts as a super-attractant.
Individual compounds on the other hand can act as powerful repellants. Natural repellants such as clove oil citronella lemon grass eucalyptus castor oil peppermint lavender and cedar oil all work to a limited extent Pitts said
The mosquitoes do so in part by sensing the carbon dioxide in human breath. When we exhale our breath contains four to five percent more carbon dioxide than the surrounding air
The result is a kind of molecular matchmaking Marbã¡n said. Through magnetic resonance imaging we were able to see the iron-tagged cells traveling to the site of injury where the healing could begin.
which protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. Ocean Acidificationfor the first time this Bulletin contains a section on ocean acidification prepared in collaboration with the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC
or skeletal material (via calcification) depends on the abundance of carbonate ion. For many organisms calcification declines with increased acidification.
http://ds. data. jma. go. jp/gmd/wdcgg) The summary on ocean acidification was produced jointly by the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO
Integral for medicine and biotechnologythe Phd student Stephan Mauracher worked at the University of Vienna taking an essential part in this project as part of the University Initiative termed Functional Molecules.
Physicists find 2-D form pays no heed to defectsdefects damage the ideal properties of many two-dimensional materials like carbon-based graphene.
In a paper in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters the Rice team analyzed the properties of elemental bonds between semiconducting phosphorus atoms in 2-D sheets.
these metal compounds have also been considered for electronics because of their inherent semiconducting properties. In pristine dichalcogenides atoms of the two elements alternate in lockstep.
But wherever two atoms of the same element bond they create a point defect. Think of it as a temporary disturbance in the force that could slow electrons down Yakobson said.
Semiconductors are the basic element of modern electronics that direct and control how electrons move through a circuit.
or grain boundaries--where sheets of a 2-D material merge at angles forcing like atoms to bond--the materials become far less useful.
But at an angle phosphorus reveals its true form as alternate atoms jut out of the matrix.
The researchers also show it may be possible to tune the electronic properties of 2-D phosphorus by altering (aka doping) it with foreign atoms.
Carbon and zinc may boost positive conductivity while potassium may increase negative conductivity; the researchers believe phosphorus may be a promising anode material for batteries.
and land use changes and for calculating carbon balances. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Helmholtz Centre For Environmental Research-UFZ.
#Agricultural revolution in Africa could increase global carbon emissionsproductivity-boosting agricultural innovations in Africa could lead to an increase in global deforestation rates
and carbon emissions a Purdue University study finds. Historically improvements in agricultural technology have conserved land and decreased carbon emissions at the global level:
Gaining better yields in one area lessens the need to clear other areas for crops sidestepping a land conversion process that can significantly raise the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
Increasing productivity in Africa--a carbon-rich region with low agricultural yields--could have negative effects on the environment especially
Hertel and fellow researchers Navin Ramankutty and Uris Baldos developed a novel economic framework to analyze the effects of regional improvements in agricultural technology on global rates of land use and carbon emissions.
and diminish carbon emissions compared with an alternative scenario without crop innovations. The global effects of a green revolution in Africa however are less certain Hertel said.
If the future global economy remains as fragmented as it has been historically--a world of very distinct agricultural markets--then a green revolution in Africa will lower global carbon emissions he said.
But if markets become more integrated faster agricultural innovation in Africa could raise global carbon emissions in the coming decades.
4 million acres) and global carbon emissions by 267 million metric tons. The sharp differences between the global impacts of a prospective African green revolution and those of previous green revolutions can be traced to several factors Hertel said.
The area converted would likely be carbon intensive and have a low emissions efficiency--that is crop yields would be low relative to the carbon emissions released by converting the land to crops.
But the potential negative effects of an African green revolution will diminish over time Hertel said.
and decrease carbon emissions especially if yields improved quickly. The most carbon-rich land however should be protected immediately from conversion to cropland he said.
We need to prevent regions in Africa that are rich in carbon and biodiversity from being cleared for agriculture to avoid increasing emissions he said.
Boosting yields brings many benefits but increasing global food supplies while minimizing the environmental footprint of agriculture remains a major challenge.
which control the atmospheric distribution of many short-lived climate pollutants such as tropospheric ozone methane and aerosol particles.
carbon storage and the albedo effect. The lost carbon storage capacity caused by forest conversion has exacerbated global warming.
Meanwhile the disappearance of dark-colored forests has helped also offset temperature increases through the so-called albedo effect.
and increased albedo may have entirely offset the warming caused by the loss of forest-based carbon storage capacity.
Not all of these compounds affect atmospheric chemistry in the same way. Aerosols for instance contribute to global cooling
But a study published last year by Unger showed that emissions of these volatile compounds have decreased indeed.
In particular the GEDI data will provide us with global-scale insights into how much carbon is being stored in the forest biomass.
By revealing the 3-D architecture of forests in unprecedented detail GEDI will provide crucial information about the impact that trees have on the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
Although it is established well that trees absorb carbon and store it long-term scientists have not quantified exactly how much carbon forests contain.
As a result it's not possible to determine how much carbon would be released if a forest were destroyed nor how well emissions could be countered by planting new trees.
One of the most poorly quantified components of the carbon cycle is the net balance between forest disturbance
and internal structure of the forest at the fine scale required to accurately estimate their carbon content said Bryan Blair the deputy principal investigator for GEDI at Goddard.
and in turn how much carbon they are storing. By combining these findings with spatially comprehensive maps from other satellites showing where development
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