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News Story
Astronauts might be able to use asteroid soil to grow crops

Jul 2022

News Story
Birds fed a common pesticide lost weight rapidly and had migration delays

Sep 2019

News Story
Do gophers farm roots? It’s not as clear as viral articles claim

Jul 2022

News Story
How to build better ice towers for drinking water and irrigation

Jul 2022

News Story
Prosecco production takes a toll on northeast Italy’s environment

Jan 2019

Editorial Briefing
Artificial seed coating boosts seeds' resilience to drought

Jul 2021

Artificial seed coating boosts seeds' resilience to drought

To bolster food security in a warming world, engineers are developing a coating that could better protect seeds, such as beans, from drought in semiarid regions. The coating mimics a mucilage-based hydrogel produced naturally by some seeds, such as basil and chia. The hydrogel traps moisture, regulates nutrient retention, and creates an environment around the seed which promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms. The artificial coating is accordingly tailored to help protect seeds during germination and early seedling growth. In semiarid regions, water stress caused by a lack of available moisture during these sensitive periods of a plant's development is the highest cause of crop loss worldwide. This water stress on agricultural crops in drought-prone, marginal lands is expected to substantially increase in coming decades because of global climate change. See also: Agricultural engineering; Drought; Farm crops; Global climate change; Mucilage; Seed

Editorial Briefing
Biocontrol of pests by species importation

Oct 2017

Biocontrol of pests by species importation

Biocontrol, or biological control, is the natural or applied regulation of populations of pest organisms—especially insects—through the role or use of natural enemies. In other words, biocontrol uses living organisms to reduce and eliminate pest abundance and damage. The agents through which biocontrol is accomplished are varied. For example, biocontrol agents can be consumers of pests; thus, herbivores are used to reduce weeds, whereas predators or parasites are employed to diminish the number of insect and other animal pests. In addition, pathogens and competitors that interact with pests are often utilized in biocontrol. Typically, agricultural and forest pests are the major targets of biocontrol. Notably, biocontrol operates as an alternative to the use of pesticides that may be harmful to the environment. See also: Agricultural science (animal); Agricultural science (plant); Agricultural soil and crop practices; Agriculture; Biological insect control; Forest; Forestry; Insecta; Parasitology; Pathogen; Predator-prey interactions; Weeds

Editorial Briefing
Caution urged in replacing neonicotinoid insecticides with sulfoximines

Aug 2018

Caution urged in replacing neonicotinoid insecticides with sulfoximines

Neonicotinoid insecticides are the most used insecticide worldwide and have been linked to the decline of pollinator insects. In 2018, the European Union banned the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam. A new sulfoximine-based insecticide, called sulfoxaflor, is coming to market worldwide as a neonicotinoid replacement. Sulfoxaflor acts on the central nervous system of insects, just as neonicotinoids do, and, surprisingly (or not), it has similar harmful effects on wild bumble bees, researchers reported in Nature (August 2018). See also: Die-off of bees; Hymenoptera; Insecta; Insecticide; Neonicotinoid insecticides banned in Europe; Pesticide; Pollination

Editorial Briefing
Epigenetic mechanisms underlying plant alarm signaling

Mar 2022

Epigenetic mechanisms underlying plant alarm signaling

Researchers are learning more about how plants respond to "alarm signals" released by other plants that are under attack by herbivores. To warn conspecifics about predators, many animals issue alarms by vocalizing or emitting odors. In the case of plants, warnings come in the form of volatile organic compounds emitted when an herbivore causes damage to a plant by eating a portion of the plant. Prior research has established that nearby plants can detect these volatiles and subsequently activate herbivore defense systems. Those systems produce chemicals that protect the warned plants from potential predators. A new study based on experiments involving the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana, commonly known as thale cress, has now shed light on the poorly understood mechanisms underlying this defense activation. The study shows that the volatiles induce specific epigenetic changes in the plant, meaning changes in the levels of genes that are expressed, or "switched on," due to an external environmental influence. The findings could help agriculturalists devise ways to boost plant's natural herbivory resistance and thus reduce farmers’ use of pesticides. See also: Agricultural science (plant); Agriculture; Epigenetics; Pesticide; Plant-animal interactions; Plant communication; Volatilization

Editorial Briefing
Green water scarcity and sustainability

Mar 2019

Green water scarcity and sustainability

All freshwater comes from precipitation over land, which is distributed on Earth as blue and green water. Blue water—that is, surface and groundwater—is stored as freshwater in lakes, streams, ice, and snow, as well as below ground. Green water is soil moisture. It is used by plants and returned to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, whereby water is lost to the atmosphere by evaporation from the ground and by transpiration from vegetation. See also: Hydrology; Soil; Water resources

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