Botany in the News

The BOTANY IN THE NEWS page is designed as a place for holding interesting plant/botany/botanist related stories that appear in the news across the country, and around the world. If you find an interesting article you'd like to share, please forward it to us, providing the link. We'll do our best to post it. e-Mail - bsa-manager@botany.org

Botany in the News!

Sarawak steps for biodiversity conservation (August 19, 2007) — The Brunei Times -- Sarawak which is home to 25 of 90 of the world's species of Nepenthes or pitcher plants would like further research on the sustainable utilisation of its rich biodiversity through greater cooperation with the global network of "scientific diaspora", comprising expatriate scientists and engineers...... full story
Forget biofuels - burn oil and plant forests instead (August 19, 2007) — NewScientist - By Catherine Brahic -- It sounds counterintuitive, but burning oil and planting forests to compensate is more environmentally friendly than burning biofuel. So say scientists who have calculated the difference in net emissions between using land to produce biofuel and the alternative: fuelling cars with gasoline and replanting forests on the land instead...... full story
After burn: Forest does what comes naturally in wake of Meriwether fire (August 19, 2007) — Independent Record - By LARRY KLINE -- GATES OF THE MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS - Electricity ripped through the hot July air, crackling amongst the limestone cliffs of the Meriwether Canyon. Sparks struck dry timber high on Sacajawea Mountain, and the age-old dance of fire and forest began anew...... full story
Green forts for the coast (August 19, 2007) — The Hindu - SWAHILYA -- A scientist explained the concept of coastal bio-shields to a group of villagers in Nainar Kuppam along the East Coast Road in Chennai. The tsunami changed the attitude of villagers along the coast and they now help restore Pichavaram’s mangrove bio-shields...... full story
Satellite Imagery May Help Growers (August 19, 2007) — The Ledger - By KEVIN BOUFFARD -- The Florida Department of Citrus has been working with NASA for almost three years to determine how satellite technology can help the state's citrus industry track grove acreage and tree numbers, and eventually spot the early signs of diseases...... full story
Homeowner needed help quelling verdant invasion (August 19, 2007) — Chicago Tribune - By Jon Yates -- The plant has grown uncontrollably in the marshy areas of the Paul Douglas Forest Preserve, choking out native species. Siciliano, who lives a block away in Hoffman Estates, recognized the invasive plant three years ago after learning about it in a biology class at Roosevelt University...... full story
RCA Global commits B1bn to ethanol plant (August 18, 2007) — Bangkok Post - By YUTHANA PRAIWAN -- The project requires around 90,000 tonnes of cassava per year, most of which would come from Chanthaburi and nearby eastern provinces...... full story
Kelp! It needs somebody (August 18, 2007) — Daily Pilot - By Alicia Robinson -- Pollution from urban runoff and hungry sea urchins helped kill off the once-abundant forests of the long-leafed, greenish-brown sea plant over the last 50 years or so. Now, a project to regrow kelp off the Orange County coast is starting to show results, thanks to marine biologist Nancy Caruso and a team of volunteer divers who plant young kelp and check on it twice a week...... full story
Scientists develop flexible paper battery (August 17, 2007) — ZDNet UK - Colin Barker -- Scientists in upstate New York have produced an energy source made out of paper which could power computers and other electronic devices...... full story
Behind the Scenes: Tree-Climbing Scientist Makes Surprising Discovery (August 17, 2007) — Live Science - By Nalini M. Nadkarni -- In order to truly understand forest ecology and the responses of forests to environmental threats such as global warming, we must understand how the entire forest works – from root tip to tree top...... full story
Scientists seek new ways to feed the world amid global warming (August 19, 2007) — CheckBiotech -- On an agricultural research station south of Manila a group of scientists are battling against time to breed new varieties of rice as global warming threatens one of the world's major sources of food...... full story
Genetic research improving wheat crop (August 17, 2007) — Earth TimesE - UPI -- Oklahoma researchers say genetic research is paving the way for major breakthroughs in wheat improvement in the southern Great Plains...... full story
Ancient farmers bred white rice (August 17, 2007) — ScienceDaily - UPI -- U.S. researchers say white rice evolved from wild red rice some 10,000 years ago through a mutation spread by early farmers. The Cornell University report says 97.9 percent of all white rice is derived from a mutation in a single gene originating in the Japonica subspecies of rice...... full story
Torreya trouble (August 17, 2007) — Gadsden County Times - By Brian Dekle -- Decline of tree just another symptom of Florida's vanishing native landscape. Just fifty or so years ago the Torreya taxifolia - a small conical tree with whorled branches and evergreen needle-like leaves – dominated the bluffs and ravines along the Appalachicola River..... full story
Top scientist caught in GM moratoria cross fire (August 17, 2007) — North Queensland Register -- A leading Australian scientist has been commissioned by the WA Government to conduct a critical animal feeding study that may decide the future of commercial Genetically Modified (GM) crop production in that state...... full story
New species discovered in war-torn Africa (August 9, 2007) — Telegraph - By Paul Eccleston -- Botanists taking part in the expedition led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) also brought back a number of plants, 10 per cent of which they could not identify...... full story
Call for research funding (August 10, 2007) — stuff.co.nz - The Press - By TIM CRONSHAW -- New Zealand scientists are looking for an injection of $50 million in Government investment to step up trans-Tasman science. AgResearch's chief executive, Andy West, said more funding was needed from both sides of the Tasman for greater advances in science...... full story
Wild parsnip makes its way north (August 9, 2007) — International Falls Daily Journal - By TRINA SEVERSON -- These plants are relative newcomers to northern Minnesota, appearing mostly along roadsides, ditches, cropfields and disturbed areas. An invasive, exotic species, wild parsnip can form large stands that can cause problems in farmlands and choke out native plants in undeveloped areas. But agricultural and environmental effects aside, wild parsnip also poses public health risks...... full story
Planting a garden in space (August 8, 2007) — Wisconsin State Journal - By ALEC LUHN -- Plant-growth chambers made by a Madison company will journey into space today as part of the latest shuttle mission to the International Space Station...... full story
South Africa: Droughts Have Nothing On the Parched 1920s (August 8, 2007) — allAfrica.com - Cape Argus - By John Yeld -- UCT botany professor and eminent scientist William Bond says the 1920s experienced the worst rainfall on record since the country's oldest private weather station, Mertenhof at the head of the Biedouw valley in the Cederberg, became operational in 1898...... full story
Biofuel - meeting the needs of dryland farmers (August 9, 2007) — The Hindu - By M.J. PRABU -- Soaring prices of fossil-fuels and environmental pollution associated with their use, have resulted in an increased worldwide interest in the production and use of bio-fuel. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh, is playing a major role in bringing poor and marginal dryland farmers into the global biofuel revolution without compromising on food security...... full story
In Case of Apocalypse Later, a Plan to Ensure America’s Regreening (August 8, 2007) — New York Times - By ANDY NEWMAN -- The botanists forged through a thicket and crossed a rocky ravine bed. Their quarry, Polygonatum pubescens, was proving elusive. But they would not rest. They had promised a shipment of its seed to their partners in a bunker across the ocean...... full story
Remnants of once great American grasslands are gems (August 8, 2007) — The Capital Times - By Tim Eisele -- Armund Bartz, conservation biologist with the Department of Natural Resources in LaCrosse, noted that Wisconsin was on the northern border of the great American grasslands, which were broken and plowed in order to utilize the wealth of the prairie soil for producing agricultural crops...... full story
Cheap Labor (August 8, 2007) — Conservation Magazine - By Nancy Bazilchuk -- Brazilian researchers have found an unusual way to reforest hundreds of thousands of hectares of denuded Atlantic and Amazonian forests...... full story
St. Louis picked as Center of Excellence site (August 8, 2007) — Business Journals -- The Missouri Life Science Research Board named St. Louis as one of four sites for Centers of Excellence, the Missouri Department of Economic Development said Wednesday...... full story
Plants From Ancient Gondwanaland Spread By Continental Drift And Transoceanic Dispersal (August 8, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Blackwell Publishing Ltd. -- Using DNA sequence data, botanists have shown that the large southern hemisphere plant family Proteaceae lived on the super-continent Gondwanaland almost 120 million years ago...... full story
Scientists show differing patterns of rainforest biodiversity (August 8, 2007) — Physorg.com - By Smithsonian -- Rainforests are the world’s treasure houses of biodiversity, but all rainforests are not the same. Biodiversity may be more evenly distributed in some forests than in others and, therefore, may require different management and preservation strategies. That is one of the conclusions of a large-scale Smithsonian study of a lowland rainforest in New Guinea, published in the Aug. 9 issue of the journal Nature. ..... full story
Weeds lost interest in sex earlier than thought (August 7, 2007) — EurekAlert - University of Southern California - Carl Marziali -- The ability of plants to self-pollinate – a big factor in the spread of weeds – is much older than previously thought in one widely studied species, leading biologists say...... full story
'National treasure' germinates in Saskatoon (August X, 2007) — The StarPhoenix - By Bob Florence -- Axel Diederichsen was out checking his crops the other day in a field east of Saskatoon. The Swedish oats are rusty, the Chinese buckwheat looks thirsty. And while the pods on the Ukrainian faba beans are as plump as perogies, he won't know how the 2007 growing season fully rates until fall, when everything is in the bin...... full story
Biology Professor Investigates Invasive Plant Species in County (August 6, 2007) — Wilkes News - The Times Leader -- Biology professor and botanist Ken Klemow teamed up with local newspaper reporter Tom Venesky to look for invasive plants in Luzerne County...... full story
Global Warming: Carbon Dioxide 'Tree Banking' May Help, Provided Trees Have Optimal Water And Nutrient Levels (August 7, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Duke University -- "If water availability decreases to plants at the same time that carbon dioxide increases, then we might not have a net gain in carbon sequestration," said Oren, a professor of ecology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences...... full story
Climate change already challenging gardeners to plant smarter (August X, 2007) — Daily Press - By DEAN FOSDICK | For The Associated Press -- Gardeners across the country have to adapt, the sooner the better, said Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections with the New York Botanical Garden...... full story
Can Hemp Help The Everglades? (August 7, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Soil Society of AMerica -- Within Southern Florida, soil and water conditions indicate potential for leaching from the use of atrazine-based herbicides in corn crops. Scientists from USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and University of Florida conducted studies to evaluate the specific groundwater risk from atrazine use by focusing on a specific cover crop that seems to have the potential to greatly reduce that risk. full story
Danish researchers look at seaweed for biofuels (August 4, 2007) — Biopact -- Researchers from the University of Aarhus are looking at a species of seaweed known as 'sea lettuce' (Ulva lactuca) as a potential feedstock for the production of ethanol...... full story
Invasion of the weed: Without any major predators, garlic mustard getting out of control (August 4, 2007) — Quad Cities Online - By Nicole Harris -- Considered a culinary herb by some and a major headache by others, Illinois Natural History Survey assistant professor of science S. Raghu said garlic mustard is considered an invasive species...... full story
We must lean to preserve environment or we will lose it (August 5, 2007) — Tuscaloosa News - By WHIT GIBBONS -- The 1988 book “Biodiversity," edited by Edward O. Wilson and Frances M. Peter, presented some alarming facts that we should not ignore if we enjoy living on the planet Earth as it is now. Nearly two decades after the book’s publication, we would be well served to reconsider some of the concepts brought to light. My impression is that most people, including many members of Congress, still do not grasp the urgency or the depth of the problem...... full story
Project to preserve river biodiversity (August 2, 2007) — Viet Nam News, Vietnam News Agency -- US and Viet Nam officials launched a major conservation programme yesterday to preserve biodiversity and improve natural resources management in Viet Nam’s largest river basin...... full story
Genetic Processes That Determine Seed Development Identified (August 6, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council -- Scientists at the University of Oxford have paved the way for bigger and better quality maize crops by identifying the genetic processes that determine seed development...... full story
Hungary uncovers 8 million-year-old trees (August 3, 2007) — United Press International -- - Hungary will spare no expense to preserve 16 cypress trees, estimated to be 8 million-years-old, recently uncovered in a northern lignite mine. ..... full story
Canada's plant science industry applauds the government of PEI for its recognition of the importance of the new bioeconomy (August 5, 2007) — CNW GROUP -- CropLife Canada and its member companies today applauded the provincial government in Prince Edward Island for its announcement regarding the Office of Biosciences and Economic Innovation and its new deputy minister...... full story
Antarctic Research Earns KU Paleobotanist a High Honor (July 30, 2007) — Kansas City infoZine-- Edith Taylor's work takes her on six-week, bone-chilling treks through Antarctica, where she hunts fossil plants that thrived on the continent from 240 million to 260 million years ago...... full story
Saviour extraordinaire (July 28, 2007) — Deccan Herald - By Sumana Bharadwaj -- Dr Vanaja Ramprasad, a gutsy lady who had dedicated her life to saving biodiversity believes that unless small farmers are saved from the onslaught of global pressures and indigenous crops revived, we are looking at a bleak future...... full story
Stunting Growth: Ozone will trim plants' carbon-storing power (July 28, 2007) — Science News - By Sid Perkins -- Increases in low-altitude ozone predicted for the upcoming century will stifle the growth of vegetation in many regions, causing planet-warming carbon dioxide to build up in Earth's atmosphere more quickly than had been expected, a new model suggests...... full story
Proposed rule would shrink plant's habitat (July 27, 2007) — The Press-Enterprise - By GAIL WESSON -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposed rule Friday that would shrink by 25 percent the boundaries of critical habitat set aside for survival of a plant threatened with extinction in an area popular with off-road enthusiasts in Imperial County...... full story
African plant stops bleeding (July 27, 2007) — Gulf News - Reuters -- The leaves of Aspilia africana, a plant used in African traditional medicine, can stop bleeding, block infection and speed wound healing, a new study from Nigeria confirms...... full story
Plant life to get a new home (July 22, 2007) — The Charlotte Observer - By RICH HAAG -- UNCC biology professor Jim Matthews spent four decades assembling the herbarium, as these plant collections are called. Last fall, the university, following a national trend, decided to give the plants to make room for other uses...... full story
'An unprecedented opportunity' (July 22, 2007) — The Edmonton Journal - By Jeff Holubitsky -- For a non-native plant, the lowly dandelion has put down deep roots in Alberta's soil...... full story
Orangeburg student participates in research (July 21, 2007) — The Times and Democrat -- Martin is participating in a plant gene study at the University of South Carolina’s Department of Biological Sciences. She is researching ways to place nutrients into more edible parts of a plant, with the idea that the iron in a plant could be used as a substitute for meat...... full story
Genetically altered potato raises opposition (July 20, 2007) — International Herald Tribune - By Elisabeth Rosenthal -- Amflora potatoes, likely to become the first genetically modified crop in the past decade to be approved for growth in Europe, have become the unlikely poster child in the angry debate over such products on the Continent...... full story
ABC 4 Investigation: Utah's invasive alien species (July 20, 2007) — ABC 4 - By Terry Wood -- Alien invaders in Utah - they are everywhere, and some say if we don't deal with them, they will affect our health and economy....... full story
Insufficient Protection Of Crop Diversity Centres Threatens World Food Security, WWF Report Contends (July 20, 2007) — ScienceDaily - World Wildlife Fund -- While protected areas such as national parks have been established to conserve charismatic animal and plant species, very few have been set aside to protect wild plants from which our crops originate, a WWF report reveals...... full story
In evolutionary arms race, a bacterium is found that outwits tomato plant's defenses (July 18, 2007) — Cornell Chronicle - By Krishna Ramanujan -- An arms race is under way in the plant world. It is an evolutionary battle in which plants are trying to beef up their defenses against the innovative strategies of pathogens...... full story
Agriculture scientist Norman Borlaug honored (July 18, 2007) — Central Valley Business Times -- The inventor of high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties that have helped ease food shortages around the world -- plant scientist Norman Borlaug -- on Tuesday was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation’s highest awards...... full story
MSU researchers JAZ (zed) about plant resistance discovery (July 20, 2007) — Michigan State University Newsroom -- The mystery of how a major plant hormone works to defend plants against invaders has been revealed, thanks to collaborative research efforts by Michigan State University and Washington State University...... full story
Climate deals turn up heat in Indonesia’s dark peatlands (July 2, 2007) — Reuters - By Gillian Murdoch -- It used to be malaria that gave people fevers in Indonesia's remote, mosquito-infested peatlands. Now it is carbon....... full story
Kenya: Biotech is the Future - We Dare Not Be Left Behind (July 19, 2007) — Scientific American - By Florence Wambugu -- THE UNITED NATIONS University and the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) last week appointed Nairobi a regional centre of expertise on education and sustainable development...... full story
Genome sequencing: The greening of plant genomics (July 20, 2007) — CheckBiotech, Genetic News - By Elizabeth Pennisi -- As the National Plant Genome Initiative turns 10, it is beefing up its bioinformatics and its portfolio of sequenced crop and noncrop genomes...... full story
Gordon Brown 'must do better on environment' (July 19, 2007) — Telegraph - By Paul Eccleston -- Dr Carter said: "The science on climate change and biodiversity loss is clear; we have limited time to act if we are to prevent catastrophic impacts...... full story
USGS Botanists Help Identify a New Orchid, the Yosemite Bog-Orchid (July 16, 2007) — U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey - Office of Communication -- An orchid so elusive, 70 years elapsed after George Henry Grinnell collected the first specimens in 1923 before a new generation of botanists rediscovered its location in 1993. But the plant's identity remained a challenge to taxonomists. Now, two U.S. Geological Survey botanists and a colleague at the New York State Museum have identified the orchid as a new species, the Yosemite bog-orchid (Platanthera yosemitensis), according to a recent publication in the journal of the California Botanical Society, Madroño...... full story
Floral Derangement - Some of these vegetables are minerals (July 15, 2007) — Scientific American - By Steve Mirsky -- The late Harvard University paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould said that every species designation represents a theory about that organism—the species assignment is more than a mere naming; it is a classification of the organism within the context of all the other creeping, crawling, clinging and cavorting life on earth. As such, the discovery of a charismatic new species of animal or plant often piques the interest of both the scientific community and the lay public. Finding an entirely new genus is even more exciting. So it is somewhat shocking that a peer-reviewed publication announcing the discovery of a previously uncharacterized family of plants—an even higher taxonomic level than genus—has gone virtually unnoticed...... full story
Monsanto, BASF collaboration looks good (July 15, 2007) — ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH - By Rachel Melcer -- Monsanto Co. and BASF AG, authors of agricultural biotechnology, are peering for the first time into one another's crop genetics library — and finding only a few volumes in common. That discovery is crucial to the success of the companies' $1.5 billion research and development collaboration, which began in March. Together, Creve Coeur-based Monsanto and German chemical giant BASF hope to develop corn, soybean, cotton and canola plants with top yields, even under drought or other environmental stress...... full story
Seeking Cause and Cure for Ailing Wetlands (July 15, 2007) — New York Times - By TIM WACKER -- A phenomenon commonly called sudden wetland dieback has denuded hundreds of acres of salt marsh in more urban environs like Jamaica Bay in Queens over the past decade. But its recent and aggressive advance across the New York area — and especially into more pristine environs like the North Fork — has some scientists worrying about what might happen if it keeps spreading...... full story
Weslaco scientist offers insects as solution to weed’s growth (July 15, 2007) — The Monitor - By Jeremy Roebuck -- Arundo donax, an invasive plant species commonly known as carrizo cane, has become an ever-growing problem for state and federal agencies. Controlling the thick patches of tangled reeds that grow along the river costs thousands of dollars each year. ..... full story
Helping the Planet, One Back Yard at a Time (July 14, 2007) — Washington Post - By Joel M. Lerner -- Habitat destruction and global warming are in the news. Species are disappearing, whether frogs and butterflies or bees and bats. So Mizejewski's message -- that we can restore the earth back yard by back yard -- is a breath of fresh air. Anybody can help; it doesn't matter if you live on a farm, in the suburbs or in the middle of the city. "There's a lot that people can do," Mizejewski said...... full story
Scientists give drugs busts more grunt (July 14, 2007) — Discovery News - By Tracy Staedter -- Scientists say they can tell the origin of marijuana seized in a drugs bust, and whether it was grown inside or out, by looking at its chemical makeup. The clue to the drug's origin lies in some of its stable isotopes, forms of elements that are associated with growing conditions. All plants need water, but the isotopic signature of water, its hydrogen and oxygen, can differ depending on latitude...... full story
Sudden Oak Death spreading in California (July 13, 2007) — ScienceDaily - by United Press International -- Sudden Oak Death is devastating California's coastal oak and tanoak trees, scientists said. The disease is caused by the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, which manifests itself as a foliar or twig blight on more than 100 known plant species. Unlike Sudden Oak Death, the foliar and twig blight rarely causes the host plant to die. Instead, the spores build up on leaf and twig surfaces and facilitate pathogen spread, the American Phytopathological Society said Friday in a release...... full story
Leaving The Land Behind - Richard H. Goodwin, BSA Centennial Award Recipient, Dies at 96 (July 12, 2007) — The Hartford Courant -- Few people leave a legacy that will benefit generations for centuries to come. Richard H. Goodwin, among the world's leaders in preservation, helped energize a movement that has protected millions of acres around the globe for posterity...... full story
Professor probing the evolution of tropical orchids (July 12, 2007) — Nevada News - By Guia Del Prado -- John Cushman, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology professor, is making great strides in the ongoing research of plants with the metabolic ability to use less water than other plants. Plants with C3 photosynthesis, which occurs in 90 percent of all plants, lose a great deal of water by opening their stomata during the day while CAM plants lose much less water by storing carbon dioxide at night...... full story
A Cane the World Can Lean On (July 5, 2007) — New York Times - By ANNE RAVER -- BAMBOO is a versatile, ancient plant that shows up in creation myths as well as in pots on Manhattan terraces. It comes in clumping varieties that behave themselves and running “timber” types that spread by rhizomes — great for a grove, but not so good when they are planted as a property screen that escapes into a neighbor’s yard. But it’s that very vigor that has environmentalists hailing bamboo as the new “It” plant for saving the earth...... full story
Conservationist strives to protect rare habitat (July 5, 2007) — KYIV POST - by Elisabeth Sewall, Assistant Editor -- The largely unexplored riverine forests of Ukraine’s Transcarpathia Region may soon begin benefiting from international conservationist efforts following the landmark bestowal of a prestigious conservation award to a Ukrainian who has spent years working with teams of scientists and top environmental organizations researching the rare habitat...... full story
Weeds Survive The Wild Better Than Natives (July 4, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Queensland University of Technology -- Weeds are winning the battle when it comes to surviving in the wild with foliage eating insects preferring the taste of native plants, according to a study by Queensland University of Technology. Eve White, from QUT's School of Natural Resource Sciences, has been investigating the effect weeds can have on native plants especially when foliage eating insects, also known as herbivores, are involved. "While many plants need insects to reproduce there are many insects that simply feed off plants and this is having an effect on natives," she said,..... full story
Saving Earth From the Ground Up - Biologist Edward O. Wilson Warns of a Bleak World Without Bugs (June 30, 2007) — Washington Post - By Adrian Higgins -- A gram of soil might also contain 5,000 species of bacteria and untold fungi in a secret universe separated only by the soles of our shoes and our sad ignorance of our global home. These and other marvelous revelations come from the celebrated Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, who was in town this week as lawmakers, government officials and scientists took a little time away from pressing matters of state to consider . . . the plight and the future of bugs. Laughable? No, don't discount bugs -- your very life depends on them, it turns out...... full story
UF scientists hope exotic fly release will help curb 'evil weevils' (June 30, 2007) — Treasure Coast Palm Local News - By DAY GREENBERG -- All hope for saving Florida's dwindling population of bromeliad plants rests in the appetite of a bug the size of a housefly. The parasitoid tachinid fly is an insect that will eat only the larvae of the Mexican bromeliad weevil, a creature that specifically targets Florida's population of native and endangered bromeliad plants...... full story
Wind, algae projects to tap state money for energy studies (June 30, 2007) — The Virginian-Pilot - By SCOTT HARPER -- Turning algae into fuel? Researchers have plans to grow the algae at a Norfolk sewage plant, extract fatty oils from the weedy slime and convert the oils into clean-burning fuel. ODU researchers could find only one place where algae is being grown in treated sewage, then converted into biofuel: New Zealand....... full story
Poison ivy is becoming more potent (June 30, 2007) — Cincinnati Post - By Tara Parker-Pope, Wall Street Journal -- New research shows the rash-inducing plant appears to be growing faster and producing more potent oil compared with earlier decades. The reason? Rising ambient carbon-dioxide levels create ideal conditions for the plant, producing bigger leaves, faster growth, hardier plants and oil that's even more irritating...... full story
Andean seeds sown earlier than believed (June 29, 2007) — Star Tribune - By John Noble Wilford, New York Times -- Squash seeds nearly 10,000 years old found in Peru indicate that crop cultivation is twice as old as thought. Seeds of domesticated squash found by scientists on the western slopes of the Andes in northern Peru are almost 10,000 years old, about twice the age of previously discovered cultivated crops in the region, according to findings using new, more precise dating techniques...... full story
Environmental groups take aim at invasive plants (June 29, 2007) — The Providence Journal - By JOHN SEEVER, Associated Press-- Bamboo-like plants that grow taller than adults have choked out native plants in a marsh that once teemed with life at Maumee Bay State Park, along Lake Erie. Wildflowers have disappeared. Migrating birds have gone elsewhere. Now, environmental groups hope to slow the spread of invasive plants by persuading nurseries to stop selling them and instead promote native species...... full story
UT assists Seymour company with plant root X-ray system (June 25, 2007) — Oak Ridge News -- The poplar is hardy and quick-growing, traits that make the tree an ideal farm crop for reforestation and the biofuel industry. Phenotype Screening Corp. (PSC) of Seymour, Tenn., a company run by University of Tennessee alumni Dan McDonald and Ron Michaels, has studied which varieties of these trees root the quickest and grow the fastest. The company has received help along the way from four UT professors and the Center for Industrial Services (CIS), an agency of UT's statewide Institute for Public Service...... full story
Pollen and pollinators vital for conservation (June 23, 2007) — Biodiversity International -- Pollen and pollinators could play a much more important role in the conservation of crop diversity, Dr Jan Engels, a senior scientist at Bioversity International, today told the 9th International Pollination Symposium in Ames, Iowa, USA. "People are used to the idea of long-term storage of seeds in genebanks," Engels said, "but we could also store pollen, and that would be very useful.".... full story
Modified mushrooms may yield human drugs (June 23, 2007) — Biology News Net -- Mushrooms might serve as biofactories for the production of various beneficial human drugs, according to plant pathologists who have inserted new genes into mushrooms. "There has always been a recognized potential of the mushroom as being a choice platform for the mass production of commercially valuable proteins," said Charles Peter Romaine, who holds the John B. Swayne Chair in spawn science and professor of plant pathology at Penn State. "Mushrooms could make the ideal vehicle for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals to treat a broad array of human illnesses. But nobody has been able to come up with a feasible way of doing that."..... full story
Colorful algae is 'where everything starts' in Indian River Lagoon (June 22, 2007) — TCPalm Local News - By Chris Young -- Southeast of the twin towers of the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, a husband-wife scientist team was busy pulling algae from the ocean and putting it into plastic bags. Mark and Diane Littler called out each species as they collected them, rattling off scientific names as casually as colors of the rainbow...... full story
Plants, animals share signaling system (June 19, 2007) — The Scientist -- Endosome-mediating signaling occurs not just in animals, a finding that may ultimately turn back the clock on estimates of when this system evolved. For the first time, scientists have provided concrete evidence that endosome-mediated signaling occurs in plants, not just in animals, according to a new report in Genes and Development..... full story
Researchers succeed in improving plants’ abilities to cope with saline conditions (June 13, 2007) — The Hebrew University of Jerusalem -- A method for increasing plants’ tolerance to salt stress and thus preventing stunted growth and even plant death has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The method has significant consequences for dealing with soil salinization, which is an acute problem for a wide range of crops in different regions of the world, including Israel. ..... full story
Plants recognize their siblings, biologists discover (June 12, 2007) — Eurekalert - Contact: Susan Dudley -- The next time you venture into your garden armed with plants, consider who you place next to whom. It turns out that the docile garden plant isn’t as passive as widely assumed, at least not with strangers. Researchers at McMaster University have found that plants get fiercely competitive when forced to share their pot with strangers of the same species, but they’re accommodating when potted with their siblings...... full story
Study disputes Darwinian theory (June 11, 2007) — ScienceDaily -- Darwinian theory is being disputed by two U.S. botanists who are studying columbine (Aquilegia) flowers. Justen Whittall and Scott Hodges of the University of California-Davis said the flowers' long petals might have evolved in a predictable way but not for the reason Darwin predicted..... full story
Humongous fungus' takes toll on fir forest (June 10, 2007) — OregonLive.com - By RICHARD COCKLE -- Root rot - The world's largest organism is the size of 1,600 football fields. Question: What does the world's largest living organism do all day? Answer: Pretty much whatever it wants. But very slowly. e U.S. Forest Service has adopted an informal live-and-let-live policy for the enormous tree killer it calls the "humongous fungus."..... full story
BSA Member Gilford Ikenberry Honored (June 8, 2007) — The McPherson Sentinel DAILY -- After graduating from McPherson College with a bachelor of science in mathematics, Dr. Ikenberry moved throughout the Midwest to further his education and take on the role as college professor. He eventually returned to McPherson, however, where for 32 years he served as a professor of biology. Ikenberry earned a master's degree of science in botany and plant pathology from Oklahoma State (1956) and a doctorate in botany-plant development from Iowa State (1959)...... full story
Some genetically engineered crops could play a role in sustainable agriculture (June 7, 2007) — Santa Clara University -- A new study published today in SCIENCE magazine evaluates current data on the harms and possible benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops, and finds that genetically modified crops may, in some cases, contribute to more sustainable agricultural practices. The study, titled “A Meta-Analysis of Effects of Bt Cotton and Maize on Nontarget Invertebrates,” for the first time analyzes environmental impact data from field experiments all over the world involving corn and cotton with a Bt gene inserted for its insecticidal properties...... full story
Gene spurs plants in low nutrient areas (June 7, 2007) — ScienceDaily - United Press International -- U.S. scientists have discovered a gene that allows plants to grow better in low nutrient conditions and even enhances growth through sodium uptake. Salty soil caused by irrigation in arid regions has become a major agricultural problem in many areas of the world. The situation is expected to worsen as climate change produces desertification...... full story
Genetically Engineered Crop Containment Strategy Developed (June 7, 2007) — ScienceDaily - Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey -- Plant geneticists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, may have solved one of the fundamental problems in genetically engineered or modified (GM or GMO) crop agriculture: genes leaking into the environment...... full story
Envisat captures first image of Sargassum from space (June 6, 2007) — European Space Agency -- Sargassum seaweed, famous in nautical lore for entangling ships in its dense floating vegetation, has been detected from space for the first time thanks to an instrument aboard ESA’s environmental satellite, Envisat. The ability to monitor Sargassum globally will allow researchers to understand better the primary productivity of the ocean and better predict climate change...... full story
Columbine Flowers Develop Long Nectar Spurs in Response to Pollinators (June 6, 2007) — National Science Foundation - contact Cheryl Dybas -- Research offers evidence that evolution may occur in a stop-and-go pattern. In flowers called columbines, evolution of the length of nectar spurs--the long tubes leading to plants' nectar--happens in a way that allows flowers to match the tongue lengths of the pollinators that drink their nectar, biologists have found...... full story
Pesticides choke pathway for nature to produce nitrogen for crops (June 6, 2007) — University of Oregon News -- Many agrichemicals block a key receptor in soil bacteria, affecting production - According to years of research both in the test tube and, now, with real plants, a team of scientists reports that artificial chemicals in pesticides – through application or exposure to crops through runoff – disrupt natural nitrogen-fixing communications between crops and soil bacteria. The disruption results in lower yields or significantly delayed growth....... full story
Pollinating an idea (June 1, 2007) — FortWayne.com, McClatchy Newspapers - By Edward M. Eveld -- Here's the thing many people don't realize about bees and other animal pollinators: They pollinate three-quarters of the plant life on the planet. Unless pollen gets moved by them, either within a plant or between plants, nothing happens. No fruit, no seed. It's one of the most taken-for-granted processes in nature...... full story
Plants raise chemical alarm to protect 'family' (June 1, 2007) — NewScientist -- PLANTS send out SOS signals when they are under attack. If insects are feeding on them, some plants emit volatile chemicals that attract enemies of the insects. What is surprising, though, is that neighbouring plants not being eaten also send out distress signals to call in these "bodyguards"...... full story
The forest comes alive for students (May 31, 2007) — The Daily Astorian - By KARA HANSEN -- Astoria Middle School takes an adventure in learning - Astoria middle-schoolers have been learning about environmental stewardship at its roots, in an outdoor location that didn't take them too far from homeroom. More than 100 seventh-graders converged on the Oregon Department of Forestry's Astoria district last week...... full story