Increasing crop yields by breeding plants to cooperate
A simple breeding experiment, combined with genetic analysis, can rapidly uncover genes that promote cooperation and higher yields of plant populations, according to a new study published November 29 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, by Samuel.....»»
How plants compete for light: Researchers discover new mechanism in shade avoidance
Plants that are close together do everything they can to intercept light. This "shade avoidance" response has been extensively researched. It is therefore even more remarkable that researchers from the laboratory of Molecular Biology at Wageningen Un.....»»
Nitrogen-fixing plant diversity declines with over-fertilization, study finds
Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition and climate change can reduce the competitive advantage of nitrogen-fixing plants, leading to reduced diversity of these plants in a community. Surprisingly, changes in temperature and aridity do not contribute to th.....»»
Attribution studies reveal increasing effects of global warming on fire dynamics and public health
Climate change is increasingly influencing fire behavior worldwide and intensifying fire smoke, endangering public health from air pollution caused by fires. These are the results of two new climate change impact attribution studies, both published i.....»»
Loss of "nitrogen fixers" threatens biodiversity, ecosystems, say biologists
Mississippi State University is part of a European-American collaboration studying how human activities, like fertilizer use and pollution, are impacting nitrogen-fixing plants which are crucial for maintaining healthy ecosystems by adding nitrogen t.....»»
Teslas don"t work as green squad cars, California police say
As an increasing number of cities in California require departments to buy zero-emission vehicles, police say the Teslas they're being put in make their jobs harder......»»
Materials of the future can be extracted from wastewater
A group of researchers is on the way to revolutionizing what biomass from wastewater treatment plants can be used for. Biopolymers from bacteria can be a sustainable alternative to oil-based products, and phosphorus and other minerals can also be har.....»»
Q&A: A faster way to identify drought-resistant plants for crop breeding research
Climate change is making droughts more common and more severe—which makes research into developing drought-resistant crops more important than ever. Now researchers have developed a new framework that should expedite this important research......»»
Nonnative plants are a major force behind global insect invasions, study finds
In an article in the journal BioScience, an international team of researchers led by Dr. Cleo Bertelsmeier from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, argues that the global spread of nonnative plants is a key factor driving the growing number of i.....»»
How extreme weather and costs of housing and insurance trap some households in a vicious cycle
Climate change is increasing the risk of extreme weather events for Australian households. Floods and bushfires are becoming more likely and severe. As a result, household insurance costs are soaring—tripling in some cases. High-risk areas might ev.....»»
Discovery of key protein for biosynthesis of plant defense steroids could enhance pest control strategies
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology have identified GAME15 as a key protein that regulates the biosynthesis of both steroidal glycoalkaloids and steroidal saponins in plants of the genus Solanum......»»
Visible light energy yields two-for-one deal when added to carbon dioxide recycling process
By combining visible light and electrochemistry, researchers have enhanced the conversion of carbon dioxide into valuable products and stumbled upon a surprising discovery. The team found that visible light significantly improved an important chemica.....»»
Stem carbohydrate richness in two cycad species
Terrestrial plants have developed strategies to cope with suboptimal conditions. Storage of nonstructural resources is one of those strategies. Nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) of plants are primarily sugars and starch, and have been studied extens.....»»
Quantum scaling recipe: ARQUIN provides framework for simulating distributed quantum computing system
One of the most difficult problems with quantum computing relates to increasing the size of the quantum computer. Researchers globally are seeking to solve this "challenge of scale.".....»»
Chickpeas identified as key crop for future food security
Climate change has a negative impact on food security. An international research team led by Wolfram Weckwerth from the University of Vienna has now conducted a study to investigate the natural variation of different chickpea genotypes and their resi.....»»
Trace gas measurements could advance carbon cycle predictions
A novel method for estimating the rate of photosynthesis from land plants reveals that satellite observations—the current gold standard for quantifying terrestrial carbon uptake—underestimate this important metric, a result that could inform and.....»»
In a fusion device plasma, a steep ion temperature gradient slows the growth of magnetic islands
Future fusion power plants will require good plasma confinement to sustain reactions and generate energy. One way to contain plasma for fusion reactions is to use a tokamak, a device that applies magnetic fields to "bottle" plasma. However, magnetic.....»»
Ship-mounted camera systems help increase protections for marine mammals
Vessel strikes and entanglement are some of the leading causes of injury and death to marine animals such as whales. Increasingly urbanized waterways, warming oceans, changes in prey distribution—and in some cases, increasing species populations—.....»»
The monarch butterfly may not be endangered, but research suggests its migration is
With vigorous debate surrounding the health of the monarch butterfly, new research from the University of Georgia may have answered the biggest question plaguing butterfly researchers. Why are the wintering populations declining while breeding popula.....»»
Nano-nutrients can blunt effects of soil contamination, boost crop yields
One of the pressing problems that the world faces in the era of climate change is how to grow enough healthy food to meet the increasing global population, even as soil contamination rises. Research recently published in Nature Food by an internation.....»»
Honey bees in demand: New contract strategies to support pollination services
As the world's native bee populations are declining, crop production requiring pollinators increasingly relies on commercial pollination services. In the U.S., the beekeeping industry is in great demand, and truckloads of bee colonies travel the coun.....»»