Environment

In quantitative genetics,  genomic prediction is a statistical approach to predicting the value of an economically important trait in a plant, such as yield or disease resistance. The method works if the trait is heritable, as many traits tend to be, and can be performed early in the life cycle of the plant, helping reduce costs. A research team led by plant geneticists at the University of California, Riverside and Huazhong Agricultural University, China, has used the method to predict the performance of hybrid rice (for example, the yield, growth-rate and disease resistance). The new…

Drier conditions at the edges of forest patches slow down the decay of dead wood and significantly alter the cycling of carbon and nutrients in woodland ecosystems, according to a new study. Forests around the world have become increasingly fragmented, and in the UK three quarters of woodland area lie within 100 meters of the forest edge. It has long been known that so-called 'edge effects' influence temperature and moisture (the 'microclimate') in woodlands, but the influence on the carbon cycle is largely unknown.  Researchers from the University of Exeter and Earthwatch in the UK…

In some women abnormally high levels of the common and pervasive chemical perchlorate may lead to adverse effects in their offspring. The study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology  &  Metabolism says is the first of its kind to shed light on the possible harmful side effects of perchlorate in mothers and their children.   Perchlorate is a natural chemical that is also manufactured to produce things like rocket fuel and fireworks. Some studies have linked it to disruption the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones needed for normal growth and development. Because of that…

Southern California is aghast that cities are now enforcing water usage cutbacks during the ongoing drought - it's because during the mandatory restrictions, while the farming regions of central California have met their targets, water usage in southern California actually went up. They may not know something that most people in California realize - California is a desert and its water comes from dams and rivers north of them in California, and in Colorado. Rather than being a green paradise, California was mostly sparsely-inhabited desert prior to European colonization - its history has been…

You aren't always what you eat – and that's a good thing. It's also why pesticides in reasonable usage haven't harmed arctic mammals such as caribou. Not only can caribou metabolize some current-use pesticides ingested in vegetation, they also limit the exposure of humans, including those who eat caribou. Pesticides or heavy metals enter rivers or lakes and vegetation, where they are ingested by fish and mammals and, in turn, are consumed by other animals and humans. The substances can become biomagnified, or concentrated in tissues and internal organs, as they move up the food chain.…

Miles of linked habitat sounds like a good thing - until the ants show up. Environmentalists who promote the notion of unintended consequences regarding genetic modification never considered that wildlife corridors might have risks also - but they do, as a recent study showed. Julian Resasco and colleagues at the University of Florida found that one type of fire ant used wildlife corridors to dominate recently created landscapes. "Although habitat corridors are usually beneficial, they occasionally have negative effects," Resasco said."Sometimes they can help invasive species spread in…

Fires and the resultant smoke that comes from them are both just as widespread and heavy as they were in the month of July. Hundreds of fires dot the landscape and the Northwest Territories Live Fire map shows the extent of the wildfires and hot spots that have been reported. Fire danger around this area of the Northwest Territories remains in either the high or extreme range. On the live fire map, notated detections of new fires number in the dozens. These fires are ones having been detected within the last 24 hours. Residents of Yellowknife were witness to red lightning recently due to the…

Before there was a war on wheat and a war on sugar, there was a war on dairy products. Nutritionists need science insight the most and are least likely to want it, they instead listen to Yogic flying instructors, actresses and Food Babes at conferences embracing the latest fad. The Finns are immune to the trends - they are huge milk drinkers, perhaps the most in the world, but the debate was always when it happened. Conditions can be trying for residents today, they sure were not great for prehistoric man in the harsh environment of the far north, but new techniques that analyzed residents…

Insecticides that behave like nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, became popular in the late 1990s as replacements for more toxic products. They have been effective but like all products there is concern about ongoing environmental effects. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified all neonicotinoids as safe for humans. A recent United States Geological Survey study found neonicotinoids in streams throughout the Midwest. Because of their effectiveness and lower ecological footprint, neonics have dramatically increased over the last decade across the United States,…

It's no secret that the last few decades have seen a whirlwind of improvements in agricultural science. Where the world once feared the future of Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren, with mass starvations and forced sterilization, we now have so much food the US government wants to mandate food stamps for farmer's markets, so poor people will have to consume fewer calories. The food curve shows no signs of going anywhere but up, yet a new paper says climate change may impact the one the thing that hasn't been effected - in a few decades, anyway. There is a small risk of a major slowdown in the…