Tag Archives: plants

Researchers Assess Radioactivity Released to the Ocean from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Facility

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2011Environmentbaltic and black seas, cesium 134, cesium 137, chernobyl accident, coastal waters, contamination, fate of radioactivity, fukushima dai ichi nuclear power plants, fukushima nuclear power plants, groundwater, history of contaminant, iodine 131, isotope, japan agency for marine earth science and technology, ken buesseler, levels of radioactivity, limnology, march 11 earthquake, marine biota, marine life, marine sediments, masao fukasawa, meteorological research institute, mext, michio aoyama, northwest coast of japan, ocean, ocean mixing processes, plants, radioactive leaks, radioactivity, radioactivity from fukushima, radionuclides, reactor facility, salt lake city, salt water basins, tepco, tsunami, woods hole oceanographic institution

With news this week of additional radioactive leaks from Fukushima nuclear power plants, the impact on the ocean of releases of radioactivity from the plants remains unclear. But a new study by U.S. and Japanese researchers analyzes the levels of radioactivity discharged from the facility in the first four months after the accident and draws some basic conclusions about the history of contaminant releases to the ocean.

The study, conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution chemist Ken Buesseler and two Japanese colleagues, Michio Aoyama of the Meteorological Research Institute and Masao Fukasawa of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, reports that discharges from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plants peaked one month after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that precipitated the nuclear accident, and continue through at least July. Their study finds the levels of radioactivity, while quite elevated, are not a direct exposure threat to humans or marine life, but cautions that the impact of accumulated radionuclides in marine sediments is poorly known. (more…)

Powerful Mathematical Model Greatly Improves Predictions for Species Facing Climate Change

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2011Environment, Nature, Scienceatmosphere and oceans, beetle, bridgett vonholdt, carbon dioxide emissions, coat color gene, coat color phenotype, daniel macnulty, daniel stahler, earth temperature, ecological impacts, ecological model, ecological parameters, ecosystem, Environment, environmental change, general model, genetics, global warming, gray wolf, grizzly bears, harmony, health of populations, heterozygotes, high arctic, integral projection model, ipm, mathematical model, new model, plants, polar bear, population ecology, population genetics, predictive model, quantitative genetics, robert wayne, species, sub fields of ecology, tim coulson, trophic cascade, wolf, wolf population, wolves, yellowstone, yellowstone national park

UCLA life scientists and colleagues have produced the most comprehensive mathematical model ever devised to track the health of populations exposed to environmental change.

The research, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, is published Dec. 2 in the journal Science.

The team’s groundbreaking integral projection model, or IPM, unites various sub-disciplines of population biology, including population ecology, quantitative genetics, population genetics, and life-span and offspring information, allowing researchers to link many different data sources simultaneously. Scientists can now change just a single variable, like temperature, and see how that affects many factors for a population. (more…)

Britain’s Wildlife Will Benefit from Better Coastal Structures

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2011Environmentanimals, australia, breakwaters, Britain, climate change, coastal structures, coasts, david baxter, ecological enhancement, environment agency, ilfracombe in devon, jetties, larissa naylor, newlyn in cornwall, plants, plymouth and treweek environmental consultants, plymouth university, richard thompson, rock armour, seattle harbour, seawalls, south west coast, sydney harbour, universities of exeter, usa

*Plants and animals that live on Britain’s coasts could benefit from changes to the way coastal structures such as seawalls, breakwaters, rock armour and jetties are designed and built.*

*Research by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and Treweek Environmental Consultants, supported by the Environment Agency, has led to the development of recommendations for the design and construction of coastal defence structures.*

The team has produced guidance on how the ‘ecological enhancement’ of hard coastal structures can be embedded in the design and planning process, from conception through to construction.

Past research has found that hard structures are poor ecological substitutes for natural rocky shores, often supporting only a few dominant, opportunistic species such as green algae. The research team assessed the suitability of different materials, surface roughness, positioning and height for coastal habitats. They examined structures across the South West coast, including Ilfracombe in Devon and Newlyn in Cornwall, as well as looking further afield to work from Sydney Harbour in Australia and Seattle Harbour in the USA. They focused on organisms such as barnacles and limpets as these dominate many rocky shore environments and rapidly colonise hard surfaces placed in the sea, including harbour walls. Once these organisms have established themselves, other plants and animals typically follow, to the benefit of species such as salmon. (more…)

Computer Helps MSU Researchers Unravel Plants’ Secrets to Survival

By Guest PostSeptember 5, 2011Sciencealexander seddon, arabidopsis thaliana, artificial intelligence of computers, bacterial infection, cheng zou, cis regulatory elements, cluster of computers, drought, extreme environments, genes, genome wide scale, heat, joshua mackaluso, kelian sun, michael thomashow, michigan state university, plant and computer scientists, plants, rong jin, shin han shiu

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Recent research by Michigan State University scientists has shed more light on how plants are able to cope with extreme environments.

However, the name of one of the key contributors to the work, which is detailed in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is not listed among the paper’s authors. That’s because it’s a cluster of computers. (more…)

Fossil Reveals Oldest Evidence of Live Birth in Reptiles

By Guest PostJuly 22, 2011Scienceaquatic groups, Beijing, blood supply to the embryos, chinese academy of sciences, early cretaceous period, eggs, embryos of modern lizards, fossil, fossil records, invertebrates, jehol biota, jehol group, lizards, mammals, marine ichthyosaurs, north eastern china, offspring, physiological adaptations, plants, rocks, snakes, squamate reptiles, susan evans, terrestrial reptiles, university college london, yabeinosaurus

*A fossil from north-eastern China has revealed that terrestrial reptiles were giving birth to live young at least as early as 120 million years ago.*

The newly discovered fossil of a pregnant lizard proves that some squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) were giving birth to live young, rather than laying eggs, in the Early Cretaceous period – much earlier than previously thought. The fossil shows a pregnant female filled with the tiny skeletons of more than 15 baby lizards at a stage of development similar to that of late embryos of modern lizards. The mother lizard, which is 30 centimetres long (excluding her tail), probably died only a few days before giving birth.

The discovery is described in the journal Naturwissenschaften by scientists from UCL (University College London) and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. (more…)

Spurring Sweet Success

By Guest PostJune 1, 2011Environmentcrop health, diseases, farmers, farming, michigan, michigan state university, michigan sugar beet advancement program, michigan sugar co, nematodes, parasitic worms, paul pfenninger, plants, poindexter, roots, sugar beet, sugar beet industry, sugar quality, sweet partnership, tillage practices

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Thanks to Michigan State University, a sweet partnership has helped resurrect Michigan’s $444 million sugar beet industry.

In 1996 the industry was in peril. Yields hit an all-time low due to pest, disease and production issues that greatly reduced crop health. Farmers were looking to get out of sugar beet farming and switch to more profitable crops. Industry representatives reached out to MSU to help solve the problem. (more…)

It Takes a Community of Soil Microbes to Protect Plants From Disease

By Guest PostMay 15, 2011Environment, Scienceactinobacteria, archaea, bacteria, berkeley lab, burkholderia, complex microbial network, coral reefs, deepwater horizon spill, disease, dna sequences, dutch scientists, environmental mysteries, gary andersen, gulf of mexico, immune system, mammals, pathogens, phylochip, plants, potato, psuedomonas, puerto rico, rathmann family foundation, rhizoctonia solani, rice, root fungus, soil, soil microbes, sugar beet, todd desantis, types of bacteria, vegetables, xanthomonas, yvette piceno

*Berkeley Lab scientists decipher immune system for plants beneath our feet*

Those vegetables you had for dinner may have once been protected by an immune system akin to the one that helps you fight disease. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Netherland’s Wageningen University found that plants rely on a complex community of soil microbes to defend themselves against pathogens, much the way mammals harbor a raft of microbes to avoid infections.

The scientists deciphered, for the first time, the group of microbes that enables a patch of soil to suppress a plant-killing pathogen. Previous research on the phenomenon of disease-suppressive soil had identified one or two pathogen-fighting microbes at work. (more…)

‘Wicked Weed of The West’ Waning With Effect of Weevils, Other Nontoxic Remedies, Cu Finds

By Guest PostApril 4, 2011Environmentalfalfa, biocontrols, david knochel, eurasia, floral wmd, knapweed, parcel of land, plants, species, spotted knapweed, spruce gulch, tim seastedt, united states, weed of mass destruction, weevils, wicked weed of the west

It’s not often that plants are described as diabolical, but spotted knapweed has that rare distinction. A 2004 issue of Smithsonian magazine, for instance, dubbed it the “wicked weed of the West,” a “national menace” and a “weed of mass destruction.”

Such reports were overstated and incorrect, but the press wasn’t making this stuff up. It was summarizing research results published in leading academic journals. (more…)