News by Subject Agriculture

Princeton University researchers have found that nature has developed a backup method for converting atmospheric nitrogen into the nutrient form critical to plant growth and soil fertility. The researchers report that the process known as nitrogen fixation can be carried out by the metal vanadium in ecosystems where the primary catalyst molybdenum is scarce. The study suggests that nature's capacity to restore ecosystems in the wake of human-made disturbances or fertilize agricultural land is more resilient than previously thought.

A Dartmouth study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that artisanal-scale gold mining is altering water clarity and dynamics in the Madre de Dios River watershed in Peru, a tropical biodiversity hotspot. Higher levels of suspended sediment were found in rivers near the mining sites. The elevated sediment levels contain mercury and other contaminants, which can pose human health risks and have a detrimental impact on fish and other aquatic life.

A recently published study, completed by researchers from the University of Helsinki together with Dr Katerina Machacova, a visiting scholar, demonstrates that boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere are sources of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). The study provides new information on the significance of trees as sinks and sources of greenhouse gases, proving that forests have relevance not only in the absorption of carbon, but also as a source of other greenhouse gases.

An international team of researchers have revealed for the first time that Amazon forests with the greatest evolutionary diversity are the most productive.

Plants make sugars to form leaves to grow and produce grains and fruits through the process of photosynthesis, but sugar accumulation can also slow down photosynthesis. Researching how sugars in plants control photosynthesis is therefore an important part of finding new ways of improving crop production. Recent research into highly productive turbocharged crops such as maize and sorghum, show the secret to their productivity could lie in their sugar-sensing responses which regulate photosynthesis inside their leaves.

A new study by researchers at Arizona State University's Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science (GDCS) and NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center has revealed that larval fish species from various ocean habitats are now being threatened by plastic pollution that infects their nursery habitats---at levels on average, eight times higher than those recently found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The frequent presence of leeches with a hidden lifestyle in the mantle cavity of freshwater mussels has been recorded since the second half of the 19th century. Yet this was, until now, regarded as an accidental phenomenon. Recent research not only reveals seven mussel-associated leech species new to science, but also shows that their association evolved over millions of years.

The first appearance of bright green leaves heralds the start of spring. But a new study shows that urbanization shifts this seasonal cue in nuanced ways, with cities in cold climates triggering earlier spring plant growth and cities in warm climates delaying it.