The new study published online this month in the journal Environmental science and Technology is the first to examine how biochar affects the chemical signaling that's routinely used by soil microorganisms that interact with plants.
which formed in the wake of Hurricane Ike in 2008 when the city of Houston called for ideas about how to get rid of the estimated 5. 6 million cubic yards of fallen trees broken branches
and dead greenery left behind by the storm. The Rice Biochar Group won the $10000 grand prize in the city's Recycle Ike contest
Now a discovery by a team of University of Missouri researchers could be the first step toward helping crops use less nitrogen benefiting both farmers'bottom lines and the environment.
hydrogenfor astrophysicists the interplay of hydrogen--the most common molecule in the universe--and the vast clouds of dust that fill the voids of interstellar space has been an intractable puzzle of stellar evolution.
and organize themselves in the presence of magnetic fields to precisely align in key astrophysical environments.
Scientists have known long that starlight becomes polarized as it shines through clouds of neatly aligned rapidly spinning grains of interstellar dust.
It was like ecological Armageddon said Luke Gibson from the National University of Singapore who led the study.
#Steroids may persist longer in the environment than expectedassessing the risk posed to aquatic organisms by the discharge of certain steroids
and pharmaceutical products into waterways is often based on a belief that as the compounds degrade the ecological risks naturally decline.
But there's growing sentiment that once in the environment some of these bioactive organic compounds may transform in a way that makes their presumed impact less certain.
In lab tests followed by field experiments the researchers found that trenbolone does not fully break down in water as believed retaining enough of a chemical residue to regenerate itself in the environment under certain conditions to an extent that the drugs'lives may be prolonged even in trace amounts.
Researchers says the study is a first step toward better understanding the environmental role and impact of steroids and pharmaceutical products all of which have been approved by the federal government for various uses
and that have been shown to improve food availability environmental sustainability and human health. We're finding a chemical that is broadly utilized to behave in a way that is different from all our existing regulatory
and assess the environmental fate of emerging contaminant classes. There are a variety of bioactive pharmaceuticals
and better mitigate the impact of these products in the environment. The team found similar results for dienogest a hormone used in a birth-control pill called Natazia
The steroid has been considered safe due to its rapid degradation with studies pointing to an environmental half-life of less than a day.
when found in concentrated amounts can be harmful to aquatic species and the environment generally.
Sunlight is one catalyst for breaking down compounds in the environment. But in this study by simulating day
or at least not increasing says Ingo Heinrich. Our results stress the need for further research of the regional climate variations.
and high latitudes do not always correctly reflect the climate of the different geographical regions. The past temperature variations in the lowlands of Central europe and in the Mediterranean are understood not well yet.
The carbon isotope ratios measured in individual tree rings largely depends on the environmental conditions; thus the varying tree-ring isotope values are good indicators for changes in the environment.
The carbon isotope ratios in the trees from Turkey indicate a temperature sensitivity of the trees during late winter to early spring.
Once invasive plants become established they can alter soil chemistry and shift nutrient cycling in an ecosystem.
Bioavailable nitrogen is frequently limiting in soils yet many invaded ecosystems have more carbon and nitrogen in plant tissues and soils compared with systems dominated by native plants.
Studying disruptions to ecosystems like those seen in plant invasions provides a window into something--specifically the process of co-evolution--that we normally don't get to observe in a single human lifetime.
--and may even inhibit establishment of native species. Furthermore the authors were able to show that not only can this invasive plant acquire microbes from the environment
of this species. These findings give us a new understanding of how an invasive plant can acquisition soil biota to its own advantage altering the environment
and changing the ecosystem in the process. By acquiring soil bacteria S. halepense increases the bioavailable nitrogen
and ecosystem functions like nutrient cycling are connected more intimately to micro-scale influences than we might expect summarizes Rout Rout's fascination with bacterial endophytes continues;
and ecosystem researchever wonder what plants do when you're not around? How about an entire forest or grassland?
Not even the most dedicated plant researcher can be continuously present to track environmental effects on plant behavior
This system greatly improves the utility of time-lapse photography by capturing interactions between the environment and a plant population in a single sequence.
Environmental responses can be seen across a large population with the additional advantage of examining individual responses within the same population using one time-lapse sequence.
The rapid greening response of the grassland to rainfall is seen easily as well as the response of an individual cholla cactus as its branches become erect due to the rainfall.
As Steven emphasizes The technique has amazing potential to study the importance of the environment on plant phenology and behavior.
Depending on the researcher's needs the time-lapse sequence can be scaled from hours (e g. flash floods) to years (e g. post-fire recovery.
This new technique will be a powerful tool to allow researchers to simultaneously examine environmental influence over time across a population as well as at a high-resolution on a single plant and to do so with a minimum of manpower.
Additionally it will be useful in a number of other disciplines including geology archaeology biodiversity glaciology and rangeland ecosystem research.
and the operating costs said Dong-Yeon Lee a Ph d. student in the Georgia Tech School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
The study findings were reported July 16 2013 in the journal Environmental science and Technology. The research team took into account the sources of electricity used to charge the electric vehicles in evaluating greenhouse gas emissions.
Our expectation was that the electric vehicle would provide environmental benefits but at a cost.
and have environmental benefits. Depending on what happens with vehicle and fuel costs the advantages could swing even farther in the direction of electric vehicles.
and Molecular Medicine Laboratory developed a pig model that closely mimics the human gastric environment.
#Sustainable livestock production is possibleconsumers are increasingly demanding higher standards for how their meat is sourced with animal welfare and the impact on the environment factoring in many purchases.
and ethically sourced food including production without negative impacts on animal welfare the environment and the livelihood of poor producers.
The effects on the local environment include the removal of trees and shrubs as well as the increased use of herbicides all of
Trees and shrubs have added the benefit of providing shade from hot sun and shelter from rain.
These environmental costs have been neglected largely in the drive to meet the nation's growing energy needs the researchers say
but it's an environmental disaster in the making said Robert B. Jackson Nicholas Professor of Environmental sciences
which was published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change. As part of the largest investment in coal-fueled synthetic natural gas plants in history the central Chinese government recently has approved construction of nine large-scale plants capable of producing more than 37 billion cubic meters
The increased carbon dioxide emissions from the nine government-approved plants alone will more than cancel out all of the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from China's recent investments in wind
The overall environmental impacts will be said severe Jackson. It will lock in high greenhouse gas emissions water use and mercury pollution for decades.
Researchers at Aarhus University have reached this conclusion by making use of the rapidly increasing amount of data from satellites that monitor the global environment with a high level of detail.
The researchers analysed high-resolution global satellite data describing the distribution of tree cover in the period 2000-2005 linking this to global data for terrain (slope) climate human activity and a number of political and socioeconomic factors.
This results in a hotter and drier microclimate and will have an impact on species composition in the forests of the future promoting species that do not require a stable dense forest environment.
On the other hand species in steep mountainous areas can better track their preferred climate as it becomes warmer.
Hence considering future climate change it's fortunate that forests will especially occur on steep terrain in the future.
#Time to rethink misguided policies that promote biofuels to protect climate, experts saypolicymakers need to rethink the idea of promoting biofuels to protect the climate
because the methods used to justify such policies are flawed inherently according to a University of Michigan energy researcher.
and sugarcane--are already pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis said Decicco a research professor at the U-M Energy Institute and a professor of practice at the School of Natural resources and Environment.
because it methodically deconstructs the life-cycle-analysis approach that forms a basis for current environmental policies promoting biofuels.
If there is any climate benefit to biofuels it occurs only if harvesting the source crops causes a greater net removal of carbon dioxide from the air than would otherwise have occurred Decicco said.
and modeling it in the U s. To better understand UAH graduate student Zirnstein's work you first need to think of Voyager 1 as more like a mole than a hawk best at sensing only its immediate surroundings.
The Department of Pesticide Regulation approved its use in December 2010 despite opposition from scientists environmental organizations and farmworker groups.
If consumers workers and the environment are to be protected from the adverse effects of pesticides the approval process needs to be based on comprehensive data objective evaluation and meaningful participation of all relevant parties.
#Modifying rice crops to resist herbicide prompts weedy neighbors growth spurtrice containing an overactive gene that makes it resistant to a common herbicide can pass that genetic trait to weedy rice prompting powerful growth even
This new study is a surprising example of gene flow from crops to weeds that makes weeds more vigorous even without an environmental trigger researchers say.
whether it might make the weed more prolific as well#said Allison Snow professor of evolution ecology
#The work is the result of Snow s longtime collaboration with senior author Bao-Rong Lu a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Because companies that genetically modify commercial crops don t fully disclose their methods Snow and her colleagues aren t sure how prevalent this method might be now or in the future.#
and ramping it up#Snow said.##oewe don t know yet if our findings are going to be generalizable
because those genes would be represented at a higher percentage in future generations#Snow said. When Snow and Lu set out to study this new genetic engineering method they didn t know what to expect.#
#oeour colleagues developed this novel transgenic trait in rice and we didn t know if it would have a fitness benefit
or a cost or be said neutral#Snow.##oewith most types of herbicide resistant genes there s no benefit to a wild plant
either selectively neutral in wild plants or if they have a benefit it depends on environmental factors like insects diseases
In 2002 she led a study that was the first to show that a gene artificially inserted into crop plants to fend off pests could migrate to weeds in a natural environment
and make recommendations about the release of genetically engineered species into the environment. She is interested in identifying new possible outcomes of the growth of crop-weed hybrids that contain genetic modifications
#oeit s not always the end of the world if a weed starts to become a lot more common after acquiring a new trait#there may be effective ways to manage that weed#Snow said.#
and knowledge from ecological studies like ours can help inform risk assessment and biosafety oversight.#
and fuelalthough sorghum lines underwent adaptation to be grown in temperate climates decades ago a University of Illinois researcher said he
To adapt the drought-resistant tropical sorghum to temperate climates Brown explained that sorghum lines were converted over the years by selecting
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental sciences (ACES.
and saturated fats and therefore are high in calories says Noelia Betoret principal researcher and professor at the School of Agricultural engineering and Natural Environment.
and part of the membrane will typically shift from the center of the pit to one side to seal the pit opening said Barry Goodell a professor of sustainable biomaterials in the College of Natural resources and Environment at Virginia Tech.
The paper published Sept. 19 in the journal Environmental science and Technology (EST) Letters and led by John Battles professor of forest ecology at the University of California Berkeley also presents strong evidence that acid rain
The paper reports on 15 years of data from an ongoing field experiment in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New hampshire led by study co-author Charles Driscoll Jr. professor of environmental systems engineering
The trees in the calcium-treated watershed were able to recover faster from a severe ice storm that hit the region in 1998.
This study has important implications that go well beyond the forests of the northeastern United states said Dave Schindler a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta in Canada who was not part of this research.
Similar depletion of soil nutrients by acid precipitation has occurred in much of eastern Canada and Europe.
New research published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry analyses blood samples from spectacled caiman in Costa rica and finds that intensive pesticide use in plantations leads to contaminated species in protected conservation areas.
The climate of the country's North East is ideal for bananas; however the Rio Suerte which flows through this major banana producing area drains into the Tortuguero Conservation Area.
In Costa rica which ranks second in the world for intensity of pesticide use the problem of contamination is compounded by environmental conditions and lax enforcement of regulations.
Frequent heavy rains can wash pesticides from plantation areas leading to contamination and the reapplication of sprays to the crops said Grant.
and can be indicative of pesticide damage throughout the ecosystem. Caiman and other aquatic species have been exposed to pesticides from upstream banana plantations even in remote areas of a national wilderness area concluded Grant.
however their erosion of aquatic ecosystems highlights the need for a developed regulatory infrastructure and adequate enforcement.
Staphylococci are bacteria found in humans animals and in our surrounding environment. Staphylococcus aureus is part of the normal nasal and skin flora in approx. 50%of the population.
and cotton grass can strongly influence climate warming effects on greenhouse gas emissions researchers from Lancaster University The University of Manchester
and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology have discovered. The findings published this week in the journal Ecology Letters show valuable carbon stores
which lie deep below peaty moorlands are at risk from changes in climate and from land management techniques that alter plant diversity.
But the study found that the make-up of the plant community could also play a key role in controlling greenhouse gas emissions from these carbon rich ecosystems as not all vegetation types respond in the same way to warming.
The research supported by a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant took place at Moor House National Nature Reserve high up in the North Pennines a long-term ecological monitoring site for the UK Environmental Change Network.
The newly set up experimental site manipulated both temperature and the composition and diversity of vegetation at the same time allowing the team to study the combined effects of these global change phenomena for the first time.
when heather was present warming increased the amount of CO2 taken up from the atmosphere making the ecosystem a greater sink for this greenhouse gas.
or climate change itself also had such a strong impact on greenhouse gas emissions and even changed the way that warming affected them.
In other words the diversity and make-up of the vegetation which can be altered by the way the land is farmed can completely change the sink strength of the ecosystem for carbon dioxide.
This means that the way we manage peat land vegetation will strongly influence the way that peat land carbon sink strength responds to future climate change.
Dr Sue Ward the Senior Research Associate for the project at Lancaster Environment Centre said:
Setting up this experiment allowed us to test how greenhouse gas emissions are affected by a combination of changes in climate and changes in plant communities.
By taking gas samples every month of the year we were able to show that the types of plants growing in these ecosystems can modify the effects of increase in temperature.
and relevance to ecological and climate change scientists and policy makers. Changes in vegetation as well as physical changes in climate should be taken into account
when looking at how global change affects carbon cycling she added. Otherwise a vital part is missing--the biology is a key ingredient.
Professor Nick Ostle from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology a joint partner in the research said:
This'real-world'study of the response of peat lands to climate change is unique making these findings even more important.
It seems that the identity of the plants present in these landscapes will exert a strong influence on the effect of climate warming on soil CO2 emissions back to the atmosphere.
Many people think you can only control the environment inside the home but there are also precautions you can take to help eliminate allergens outside as well.
Rain showers can temporarily clear pollen from the air. Thunderstorms however can increase airborne allergens and the standing water left behind is the perfect breeding ground for mold spores.
Dress to Protect--You don't need to impress while working in your yard instead dress wisely. Buy pollen masks
The issues surrounding food production in urban areas are outlined in a paper recently published by Wortman and Sarah Taylor Lovell in the September-October issue of Journal of Environmental Quality.
Urban gardens are built often on previously unused lots increasing the beauty and value of the neighborhood.
Several obstacles face planners and growers including soil contaminants water availability and changes in climate and atmospheric conditions.
Changes in atmospheric and climate conditions in cities compared to rural areas can also be obstacles for urban growers.
and reducing photosynthesis. To better understand the effects of varying climates and atmospheric states on food production Wortman and his colleagues have a project underway.
They are looking at six sites on a gradient from downtown Chicago to 40 miles west of the city.
We are monitoring concentrations of carbon dioxide ozone temperature humidity wind and other factors across all of the sites.
The effects of atmospheric conditions on crops appear to be important. Wortman and his colleagues have a twofold goal for the project.
First they want to identify crops that grow well in any given urban environment. It may then be possible to develop new crops that are adapted to urban gardens
Also urban conditions with higher temperatures ozone and carbon dioxide are similar to the changes expected elsewhere with climate change.
but it also has an angle of how these different crops respond to altered environments says Wortman.
The Makira REDD+(Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus conservation) Project is the first sale of government-owned government-led REDD+credits in Africa.
Through carbon credit sales from avoided deforestation the Makira REDD+Project will finance the long-term conservation of one of Madagascar's most pristine remaining rainforest ecosystems harboring rare and threatened plants and animals
This sale is a major step forward for the Government of Madagascar in advancing the use of carbon credits to fight climate change
REDD+is an international framework that assigns a financial value to the carbon stored in forests offering compensation to developing countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation while investing in low-carbon paths
According to the Secretaire General of the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Republic of Madagascar Pierre Manganirina Randrianarisoa Green growth is the fruit of a green economy within the context of sustainable development realized through the implementation of an appropriate
and fights climate change said Todd Stevens Vice president of the Makira Carbon Company a nonprofit subsidiary of WCS.
and has received a'Gold'level validation by the Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance. Avoided deforestation has been identified as a key mechanism for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Scientists estimate that up to 17 percent of annual carbon emissions--more that the entire U s. generates each year--are caused by destruction of forests especially in tropical areas.
According to principal investigators Dr Matthew Struebig and Anthony Turner from the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology (DICE) these findings challenge a long-held belief that there is limited
The research which monitored bats as an indicator for environmental change on Borneo is the first of its kind to have wildlife in forests logged more than two times.
because across the tropics forest that has been harvested intensively is targeted frequently for conversion to agriculture and is perceived to hold little value for timber carbon or biodiversity.
'Across the tropics there is increasing investment to restore the timber and wildlife in logged rainforests.'
Gradient and Comparative Approaches from Borneo'is published In advances in Ecological Research Volume 48 and includes the efforts of Malaysian Indonesian and Canadian researchers in addition to scientists from the University of Kent and the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK.
This study is the first field data to be published from the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project in Sabah Malaysia--a new landscape experiment
which combines the efforts of more than 100 researchers around the world to investigate the impacts of logging deforestation and forest fragmentation in the natural world.
and even death in humans are spread by consuming contaminated food and water or by contact with livestock feces in the environment.
We increasingly recognize the fact that we share a common environment with the animals we keep
environmental conditions. We found that plant growth increased with increasing water content threshold in both greenhouse
especially hot daysbecause Wisconsin and Ontario are similar in terms of agricultural practices types of vegetable crops produced climate
and latitude researchers in Ontario looked to data from Wisconsin when comparing the long-term effects of climate on vegetable crop yield.
To study the effects of weather we examined yield data of the major vegetable crops by county and county weather data for a 55-year period from Wisconsin explained the study's lead author Michael Tesfaendrias.
The study was designed to determine the associations between long-term weather and yield of 11 horticultural crops and one field crop in Wisconsin and to determine
if the relationships between weather and yields identified in Ontario were similar for vegetable crops in Wisconsin.
The data revealed several similarities between the long-term weather in Wisconsin and Ontario. The number of days with rainfall and the mean season temperatures showed the strongest relationships.
Among the weather parameters that were examined to determine their impact on vegetable crop yield in Wisconsin the number of hot days during the growing season was the most important factor the scientists reported.
When the team looked at rainfall data they determined that the number of days with rainfall was more important than the total monthly rainfall.
With the exception of beets the yield of crops in the study was unaffected by the total number of days with rain during the growing season.
The yields of beets in Wisconsin and green pea in both Wisconsin and Ontario increased with increasing total growing season rainfall.
The number of days with hot temperatures especially during July and August emerged as the most important environmental factor that should be measured to estimate yields of vegetable crops the researchers said.
The study shows the utility of electronic health records for demonstrating the unrecognized public health consequences of operations with environmental impacts said Brian Schwartz M d. MS senior author
and environmental epidemiologist who splits his time between Geisinger Health System and Bloomberg School's Department of Environmental Health Sciences.
Funding for the research was provided by the New york University-Geisinger Seed Grant Program the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future the Johns Hopkins Sommer Scholarship and the National Institute of Environmental Health
#Climate change to shift Kenyas breadbasketskenyan farmers and agriculture officials need to prepare for a possible geographic shift in maize production as climate change threatens to make some areas of the country much less productive for cultivation
The report released today by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food security (CCAFS) at a high-level event with Kenya's agriculture and environment ministries finds that overall Kenyan farmers--who make up 75 percent of the country's labor force--may not only survive
but could even thrive in the face of climate change. The authors caution that there is a low adaptive capacity in Kenya's farming sector due to limited economic resources heavy reliance on rainfed agriculture frequent droughts and floods and general poverty.
But they believe there are reasons to be optimistic. As long as we offer farmers the right services
and policies now and more options in what they grow and where they grow it Kenya can make a major transformation in its ability to cope with the changing climate said Timothy Thomas a research fellow at IFPRI
and co-author of the analysis. Climate predictions for Kenya's most important crop for example tell us where maize farmers may need to shift to other crops where they might need to introduce drought-resistant varieties
and even new areas where maize can grow. The assessment of how shifting weather patterns could alter farming
and food security in Kenya between now and 2050 is one chapter in an upcoming book produced by IFPRI and CCAFS East African Agriculture and Climate Change
The NAP meeting is a collaborative effort organized by CCAFS and Kenya's agriculture and environment ministries.
and opportunities presented by climate change. It is attracting representatives from government farmer organizations research institutes agriculture-oriented industries
and civil society groups who are seeking consensus on agriculture-related actions to be included in Kenya's National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP).
Crop models reveal opportunities for Kenyan agriculturepredictions produced in the analysis of how climate change will affect farming in Kenya employed data from four different climate models to assess the impact on crop yields at over 6000 locations.
Notably all models showed rainfall increasing in certain arid and semiarid regions of Kenya such as Kitui Samburu and Isiolo counties
if climate change stunts maize production in parts of Kenya one option would be to help farmers migrate to new maize-friendly areas.
Partners support Climate Smart Villages to prepare farmersccafs is already working with the Kenyan government
Researchers development partners and farmers have established recently Climate Smart Villages across East Africa. One climate smart village established in 2011 in Western Kenya's Nyando Basin--one of the most food insecure regions of Kenya that is prone to droughts
and flooding--is already seeing the benefits. Farmers are now using faster maturing Gala goats red Maasai sheep
The Climate Smart Villages initiative is testing a range of crops technologies and farming methods that are suited best for a particular community.
By supporting the creation of climate-smart villages and pursuing this very inclusive adaptation planning process Kenya is leading by example for how we can ensure African farmers are prepared for climate change said James Kinyangi CCAFS regional program leader for East Africa.
Kenya's leadership in adaptation planning is particularly important he added given that international negotiations to mitigate the effect of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions are basically at a stand still.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by CGIAR. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
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