Eat too much without exercising and you'll probably put on a few pounds. As it turns out, plant leaves do something similar. In a new study at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists show that retaining sugars in plant leaves can make them get fat too. In plants, this extra fat accumulation could be a good thing.
Protein malnutrition can be caused by low soil fertility, which in turn reduces yields. Food security hinges on this issue. The “Building Institutional Capacity in Tropical Legumes” symposium planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.
Wetlands, including the Everglades, are important to the health of the environment. Restoring their ability to process water is the topic of several talks at a scientific meeting.
In a new study, scientists report significant strides in transferring disease- and stress-resistance traits from wild relatives of several legumes to their domesticated varieties.
ho knew that it’s possible to predict the fragrance of a flower by looking at its color? This is true for many of the 41 insect-pollinated plant species growing in a Phrygana scrubland habitat on the Greek island of Lesbos. An international research team published their findings Sept. 4 in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Researchers and Extension faculty suggest resetting uprooted palms and trees only after they have been examined for safety and deemed worthy of replanting. For hardwood trees, if a majority of major anchor roots have been fractured, it is unlikely that such trees will successfully reestablish themselves, and they will likely fail in future storms. Uprooted trees and palms in good condition should be replanted as soon as possible and watered frequently.
Cornell University scientists in partnership with state agencies identified oak wilt, a devastating pathogenic fungus that kills oak trees, in six new locations throughout New York state: four towns on Long Island, Brooklyn and Canandaigua.
The installation of natural gas wells requires soil reclamation efforts after installation. These efforts are often hindered by salt-affected soils, weed invasions and slow plant establishment. The “Soil Changes Before, During, and After Natural Gas Drilling” presentation planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.
Searching for water, some tree roots probe hundreds of feet deep and many trees send roots through cracks in rocks, according to a new study led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick professor. Moreover, the depth of plant roots, which varies between species and soil conditions, will play a key role in plants’ adaptation to climate change, said Ying Fan Reinfelder, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Department of Environmental Sciences.
Some of the world’s most beloved plants — coffee, bananas, potatoes, chrysanthemums and roses, to name a few — could be made even better, but the complexity of their chromosomes either stumps or stifles scientists who study them. A meeting has been set for San Diego in January to start to address that issue.
An international consortium under the lead of the non-profit organization "International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics" (ICRISAT) and participation of a research team around the system biologist Wolfram Weckwerth has published the genome sequence of Pearl millet, a drought resistant crop plant most important in aride regions in Africa and Asia. This so-called C4 plant is especially important to small and medium farmers who grow the plant without larger irrigation. Pearl millet delivers a good harvest index under drought and heat conditions when rice, maize or wheat already have no grains anymore.
Changing tillage practices can help the environment and reduce costs, according to a study in Montana.
The Nature Conservancy and the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)—collectively known as the TriSocieties—today announced a new partnership to advance the science of soil health.
Specific modifications to fungi DNA may hold the secret to turning common plant degradation agents into biofuel producers.
Contemporary plant breeding requires teams of scientists with expertise in genetics, phenotyping, and statistics. The “Plant Breeding in the 21st Century” presentation planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.
The International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research announced today that Colorado State University has joined the organization as a sponsoring partner.
University of Colorado Boulder researchers and collaborating institutions have been awarded $2.9 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a comprehensive digital archive of over 1.7 million plant specimens native to the southern Rocky Mountain region.
Cms1 CRISPR Nuclease Available to Partners to Drive Crop Improvement
In climate change scenarios, abiotic stresses, such as drought and heat stress, become intensified, leading to severe crop loss. The “Physiological Traits for High Throughput Phenotyping of Abiotic Stress Tolerance” symposium planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.
Seven-year-study shows plant growth does not sustainably balance carbon losses from solar warming and permafrost thaw.
Most people are familiar with antibiotic resistant bacteria – and the same has happened with herbicides. Decades of research has shown that resistant weed varieties have adapted, and other weed-control tools will be necessary. The “Future of Weed Science: Thinking Beyond Herbicides in the Agricultural Landscape” symposium planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.
Hidden in plain sight – that’s how researchers describe their discovery of a new genus of large forest tree commonly found, yet previously scientifically unknown, in the tropical Andes. Researchers from the Smithsonian and Wake Forest University detailed their findings in a study just released the journal PhytoKeys.
Scat-sniffing research dogs are helping scientists map out a plan to save reclusive jaguars, pumas, bush dogs and other endangered carnivores in the increasingly fragmented forests of northeastern Argentina, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.Published Aug. 25 in the online journal PLoS ONE, the study explores options for mitigating the impact of human encroachment on five predators who cling to survival in isolated pockets of protected forest surrounded by a mosaic of roadways, unprotected forest, plantations and pastures.
4R nutrient stewardship is an agricultural industry guideline that refers to “right source, at the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place.The “Lab to Field: CCA 4R Nutrient Management and Soil Health Working Together” symposium planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL will cover this important topic.
Studies examining whether invasive species outcompete native species may reflect bias of researchers. However, rigorous scientific debate and self-criticism may result in self-correction.
In 1849, the Board of Regents of the new University of Wisconsin directed the curation of the state’s plants, animals and minerals in a “cabinet of natural history.” Now, that founding piece of scientific inquiry is re-forming — digitally. A new initiative will centralize the databases of the university’s five natural history museums, which have separated over the decades to specialize and accommodate growing collections.
Traditional ways of analyzing soil texture are slow. Danish researchers have shown a new, high-tech method that is fast, cost-effective, and portable. This technique could make it much easier to understand the soil texture of a particular area—or even large areas across the globe.
Northern China’s roadsides are peppered with deciduous phoenix trees, producing an abundance of fallen leaves in autumn. These leaves are generally burned in the colder season, exacerbating the country’s air pollution problem. Investigators in Shandong, China, recently discovered a new method to convert this organic waste matter into a porous carbon material that can be used to produce high-tech electronics. The advance is reported in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.
Soils can be extraordinarily biodiverse and differ widely in the kinds of microbial communities that inhabit them. Without a vibrant soil microbial community, humans would not be able to depend on soil for food and other ecosystem services. The “Life Underground: Who, Where, Why?” lecture planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.
Resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus is one of the characteristics researchers hope to transfer from sea wheatgrass, a distant relative of wheat, into bread wheat.
Genetic and agronomic potential do not result in yield without adequate soil fertility. Crops need to grow in nutrient-rich soil, with available nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Recent research also shows the importance of micronutrients. The “Plant Nutrients: The Disconnect Between Local Needs and Global Production” lecture planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.
Using plants and trees to make products such as paper or ethanol leaves behind a residue called lignin, a component of plant cell walls. That leftover lignin isn’t good for much and often gets burned or tossed into landfills. Now, researchers report transforming lignin into carbon fiber to produce a lower-cost material strong enough to build car or aircraft parts.
UGA researchers pinpoint a mutation that triggered the development of the modern tomato from its tiny berry-sized ancestor
Photosynthesis provides energy for the vast majority of life on Earth. But chlorophyll, the green pigment that plants use to harvest sunlight, is relatively inefficient. To enable humans to capture more of the sun’s energy than natural photosynthesis can, scientists have taught bacteria to cover themselves in tiny, highly efficient solar panels to produce useful compounds.
The study analyzed multiple species of Inga, a genus of tropical trees that produces defensive chemicals, and their various insect herbivores. The researchers found that closely-related plants evolved very different defensive traits. Additionally, their analysis revealed that herbivores may drive evolution of plant defenses, but may not show coevolutionary adaptations. Instead, they may ‘chase’ plants based on the herbivore’s own traits at the time they encounter a new host.
Nectar, the high-energy ‘honey’ produced by flowers, might be a brilliant distraction technique to help protect a flower’s reproductive parts, according to new research. Rather than merely providing a ‘come-on’ to bees and other insects to attract them to pollinate the flower, nectar could be playing a much more subtle and entrancing role.
Researchers from the University of Delaware have joined a team from Western Sydney University in Australia to examine the addition of silicon to the soil in which plants are grown to help strengthen plants against potential predators.
Biologists conducted the first large-scale experiment on a Superfund site using poplar trees fortified with a probiotic — or natural microbe — to clean up groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE.
Urban forests capture pollutants, store carbons and have other significant benefits that can be quantified
The introduction of exotic, nonnative plant species to U.S. grasslands has led to changes in prairie phenology, or the timing of seasonal changes. A new study from an Iowa State University scientist details the magnitude of those changes.
Plots of foliage thicken in Cornell University’s Climate Change Demonstration Garden. Located at the Cornell Botanic Gardens, these raised beds provide a living illustration of how future temperature conditions may affect plants.
Flowering plants with at least 300,000 species are by far the most diverse group of plants on Earth. They include almost all the species used by people for food, medicine, and many other purposes. However, flowering plants arose only about 140 million years ago, quite late in the evolution of plants, toward the end of the age of the dinosaurs, but since then have diversified spectacularly. No one knows exactly how this happened, and the origin and early evolution of flowering plants and especially their flowers still remains one of the biggest enigmas in biology, almost 140 years after Charles Darwin called their rapid rise in the Cretaceous "an abominable mystery". A new study, coordinated by Juerg Schoenenberger from the University of Vienna and Hervé Sauquet of the Université Paris-Sud and published in "Nature Communications" reconstructs the evolution of flowers and sheds new light on what the earliest flowers might have looked like.
A binational research group is collecting data on the migratory pattern of Mexican long-nosed bats. These bats pollinate the agave plant from which tequila is made. They migrate toward the corridor of agave and columnar cactus from Mexico to the Southwestern U.S. Researchers hope to save the species by understanding more about their migration.
Are your plants waxing poetic? The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) August 1 Soils Matter blog post explains how plants and soil communicate—even without the advantage of words.
A research group led by Raimund Fromme has gained important new insights by resolving with near-atomic clarity, the very first core membrane protein structure in the simplest known photosynthetic bacterium, called Heliobacterium modesticaldum (Helios was the Greek sun god). By solving the heart of photosynthesis in this sun-loving, soil-dwelling bacterium, Fromme’s research team has gained a fundamental new understanding of the early evolution of photosynthesis, and how this vital process differs between plants systems.
How does a giant, foul-smelling plant from the tropics fare in an outdoor garden in New York? We will soon find out.
New research could help claypan farmers improve yields while saving costs.
Redox metabolism was engineered in Yarrowia lipolytica to increase the availability of reducing molecules needed for lipid production.
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