Can Genetically Altered Plants Prevent Global Warming?

Could forests of genetically altered plants help sequester billions of carbon from the atmosphere annually and stave off global warming? That's the focus of research by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists.

Besides increasing the efficiency of plants' absorption of light, researchers might be able to genetically alter plants so they send more carbon into their roots--where some may be converted into soil carbon and remain out of circulation for centuries. Other possibilities include altering plants so that they can better withstand the stresses of growing on marginal land, and so that they yield improved bioenergy and food crops. Such innovations might, in combination, boost substantially the amount of carbon that vegetation naturally extracts from air, according to the authors' estimates.

Read more here.

Bird of Paradise Discovery

Bilirubin is an effective lipid-soluble antioxidant that compares with Vitamin E in its protection from cellular damage. Bilirubin is responsible for the yellowish color of bruises and unbalanced amounts of bilirubin can cause jaundice in newborn infants. The Department of Biological Sciences has now discovered that the pigment, once only thought of as being found in animals and humans, is also available in the tropical white Bird of Paradise plant. The science breakthrough was published in the American Society for Horticultural Science's journal HortScience September 2010 issue. The findings may allow scientists to experiment and create new color and breeding in plants.

Growing white Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia nicolai in Florida.

How to maintain white Bird of Paradise.

GMO Eucalyptus Withstands Cold

Scientists have been successful at genetically modifying eucalyptus trees to withstand colder temperatures.

"Green biotechnology" may facilitate eucalyptus as an efficient and renewable raw material even in regions with cool winters. Scientists at the ArborGen firm have transferred a gene from a cold-tolerant plant that makes eucalyptus less sensitive to frost. In field trials, the trees withstood temperatures as low as –6°C without collapse. This would allow, for example, cultivation in the USA to expand from the southernmost tip of Florida to the entire south coast.

Research is being conducted at 29 locations in the United States for more sustainable agriculture for producing more wood in smaller areas.

Ground-Breaking Soil Research

Soil science research is being turned upside down with the latest EPA studies how water flows through soils. Working with Oregon State University scientists, the EPA study with the assistance of new technology that allows scientists to "fingerprint" water, finds that plant root systems allow for greater uptake than previously thought.

The new study by scientists from Oregon State University and the Environmental Protection Agency showed – much to the surprise of the researchers – that soil clings tenaciously to the first precipitation after a dry summer, and holds it so tightly that it almost never mixes with other water.

The finding is so significant, researchers said, that they aren't even sure yet what it may mean. But it could affect our understanding of how pollutants move through soils, how nutrients get transported from soils to streams, how streams function and even how vegetation might respond to climate change.

Jeff McDonnell, an OSU distinguished professor and holder of the Richardson Chair in Watershed Science in the OSU College of Forestry quoted:

"We used to believe that when new precipitation entered the soil, it mixed well with other water and eventually moved to streams. We just found out that isn't true... This could have enormous implications for our understanding of watershed function, it challenges about 100 years of conventional thinking."

These latest studies, published in Nature GeoScience will shed new insights and possibly different stormwater engineering policies for the future. Read the entire article here.

What Makes A Bug A Pest?

It seems it's all in the guts. Latest Japanese studies refine what is a pest and what is a bug. Depends on the micro-organism in their stomachs.

Writing in the latest issue of the Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the researchers said the finding sheds new light on the evolution of pests and may offer fresh approaches to controlling insects that harm livestock and crops.

The team worked on two very closely related species of stinkbugs in Japan - the Megacopta punctatissima, which is a pest of soybean and other crop legumes, and the Megacopta cribraria, that hardly causes any agricultural problems.

After the scientists switched the gut bacteria between the two species, the non-pest species thrived and reproduced prolifically on soybean plants in their laboratory.

The pest species, meanwhile, suffered sharply reduced egg-hatch rates and higher death rates of its nymphs, or larvae -- the very problems that the non-pest species used to face.

"We experimentally exchanged the gut bacteria between the species ... and we found the non-pest species performed very well after the transfer of the symbiont (symbiotic bacteria) and the pest species performed very poorly," Takema Fukatsu of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology said in a telephone interview.

"This indicates that the symbiont determined the pest status of the host stinkbug."

Fukatsu and his colleagues are now analyzing the bacteria found in the two species of stinkbugs.

"We suspect that some mutation may have occurred in their (gut) bacteria and we hope to find the difference between them. In this way, we hope to understand the molecular mechanism underlying what makes a pest and what makes a non-pest," he said.

Looking ahead, Fukatsu hopes their research will have practical applications.

"This molecular mechanism can be used for pest control," he said.

Cell Phones Cause Of Bee Disappearance?

More discoveries of bee colony collapse in Europe and United Kingdom with speculation pointing a finger at telephone radiation.

Nigel Hurst, the editor of the Scottish Beekeeper magazine, said: "One or two people here have lost colonies. More and more, we are hearing about unexplained losses. "A good one-third of the food we eat is affected in some way by the bee population. The quote that's normally given is from Einstein, who said, 'If all the honey bees were wiped out, mankind would follow in about four years'."
Beekeepers across the UK have found hives deserted by bee colonies, even though there is no obvious reason, such as disease.
Mr Hurst said: "There's all kinds of guesswork going on - a lot of money is being spent in America to try and find out exactly what the problem is."
Janice Furness, the secretary of the Fife branch of the Scottish Beekeepers' Association, said: "We have had some cases - we've been calling it the Mary Celeste syndrome. A hive seems fine, then the next week it is empty and there are no more dead bees inside than you would normally expect. They have left behind developing broods and eggs. It is totally against all their instincts to do that."
Ms Furness said bees sometimes left their hives in the autumn and moved elsewhere, but that mass abandonments early in the year were extremely unusual.
She added: "If they do something like this in February, there's no chance of setting up a new colony - it's mass suicide." She said one beekeeper in her area had lost 12 out of 15 hives for no apparent reason.
Ms Furness added: "One of my beekeeping friends is convinced it has something to do with telephone masts. Bees are very sensitive to radiation from these things."
Ms Furness added that the government needed to put more money into research.
She said: "I don't think that they realise how important bees are. About 80 per cent of pollination is through honey bees. If anything affects that, it could be very serious."
In Spain, thousands of colonies are said to have been lost, and up to 40 per cent of Swiss bees are reported to have disappeared or died. Heavy losses have also been confirmed in Portugal, Italy and Greece.

Read Colony Collapse Disorder Solved?

Read Hernando County's Florida Native Plant Society member Sharon's wonderful article on Little Known Pollinators.
 

Read about Colony Collapse Disorder

Plight of the Bumblebee

Mobile Phones Wiping Out Bees?