December 11, 2007, 10:31 PM CT

New carbon calculator conserves forests

A quick and cool way to help combat climate change is now available at www.conservation.org/carboncalculator.

Lively videos and stunning images are featured in Conservation Internationals (CI) new online carbon calculator, which helps people easily calculate how much they are adding to global greenhouse gases. The CI carbon calculator offers a way to offset those emissions by helping protect tropical forests from being burned and cleared.

Tropical deforestation emits at least 20 percent of total greenhouse gases that cause climate change -- more than all the worlds cars, SUVs, trucks, trains and airplanes combined. Sporting a novel, upbeat design, CIs user friendly calculator determines personal or family carbon emissions from home energy, vehicle, travel and diet behaviors, or from an individual event or travel.

Most people dont realize that the meat and food items they eat, the soaps and shampoos they use, even some of the biodiesel and ethanol biofuels powering their cars come from cleared tropical forests, said Michael Totten, CIs Chief Adviser for Climate, Water and Ecosystem Services. This calculator shows them how big of an impact they are making, and how to offset the damage by protecting tropical forests that contain some of the worlds richest biological diversity and life-sustaining benefits critical to the wellbeing of local populations......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

December 11, 2007, 8:33 PM CT

Scat sniffing dogs detecting rare California carnivores

Researchers at the U.S. Forest Service Redwood Sciences Lab and University of Vermont found scat sniffing dogs might be the best way to confirm the presence of rare carnivores in forested areas like the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In 2003 and 2004, they compared the ability of dogs, remote cameras and hair snares to detect fishers, bobcats and black bears at 168 sites throughout Vermont. Dogs had the highest detection rate for targeted species and were the most cost-effective, as per findings published last summer in The Journal of Wildlife Management.

U.S. Forest Service researchers with the Pacific Southwest Research Station used detection dog teams from the University of Washingtons Center for Conservation Biology last summer to study a Pacific fisher population in the Sierra National Forest. The study will help determine how efforts to reduce wildland fire risks there might affect the animal.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ruled the fishers listing under the Endangered Species Act as warranted, but precluded because of other priorities and a lack of funds.

Land managers often have difficulty detecting forest carnivores because they tend to be elusive, solitary and on the go. Common methods for confirming a species at a site include using remotely-triggered cameras and barbed wire snares that snag hair. Both methods require the use of bait that can lure animals away from their typical range......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

December 6, 2007, 3:25 PM CT

Strawberry fields ripe for the picking

A number of fruit farmers in the United States rely heavily on "pick-your-own" (PYO) operations to realize profits and create repeat business. Pick-your-own fruit farms are an important market segment, and consumer satisfaction with the experience is critical to farmers eager to increase seasonal revenues.

A team of scientists from the University of Maryland, Utah State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture compared three different strawberry production systems over a two-year period (2003-2004) to determine which system was preferred by consumers who frequented pick-your-own farms. Scientists also examined each production system to compare the quality of strawberries produced and attempted to determine how consumer preference affected the price customers would pay for fresh berries.

Matthew Stevens, a graduate student at the University of Maryland, undertook the research project as part of his Master's thesis. Stevens reported that consumers surveyed in the first year of his study preferred picking fruit from the cold-climate "plasticulture" system. Plasticulture strawberries are grown on raised beds using black plastic mulch and a trickle irrigation system. Farmers use plasticulture because it can extend the growing season and improve crop health and growth. Interestingly, Stevens' team observed that consumers surveyed during the second year of the study preferred PYO strawberries grown in the "advanced matted row" system, which features raised beds covered with a cover crop mulch instead of plastic mulch and a subsurface drip irrigation system......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:43:13 GMT

Ephedra chilensis

Today''s photograph is courtesy of Douglas Justice, who captured this image a couple weeks ago in the Alpine Garden.

I''m fairly certain there isn''t an English common name for this species. While researching this species yesterday due to some confusion over its scientific name and description, we (Douglas, Eric and myself) learned that little work had been done on the taxonomy of the genus Ephedra since the late 19th century. Some modern work has occurred in the past fifteen years or so, but it certainly hasn''t trickled into the horticultural literature yet. Of the older horticultural texts we examined, it seemed like the descriptions of Ephedra were all slight variations from the late 19th century work. Ephedra has often been regarded as having little ornamental value, though perhaps that will no longer be true with changing tastes or the propagation of exemplary species.

This plant is presently labelled in the garden as Ephedra americana var. andina. Most information in books (what little there is) will be under that name, though it is now treated as a synonym of Ephedra chilensis. Both names, however, hint at the current distribution of the species: the Andean (andina) mountains of Argentina and Chile (chilensis).

If you''d like to read more about Ephedra, you''ll likely find search engine results filled with commercial sites. Instead, I suggest visiting a previous entry on BPotD, Ephedra frustillata. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

November 27, 2007, 10:04 PM CT

Image mosaic that will strengthen global forest monitoring

Much of the discussion at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, will focus on.

monitoring tropical deforestation and the critical role that remote sensing systems will play in the development of REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) mechanisms policies designed to compensate rainforest nations for avoiding deforestation. Using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data acquired over a six-week period by the Japanese Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), researchers at the Woods Hole Research Center have just completed the first-of-its-kind, large-scale, wall-to-wall image mosaic at 25 m resolution for a portion of the Amazon basin.

spanning some 400,000 square kilometers. Images acquired globally over narrow timeframes provide for true snapshots of deforestation activities, giving leverage to monitoring programs that hinge on timely and accurate observations of forests throughout the world.

Dr. Josef Kellndorfer, who is leading the project for the Center, says, The Japanese Space Agency JAXA has launched an amazing sensor which exhibits unprecedented geometric and radiometric accuracies allowing us to generate high quality cloud free radar image mosaics with nearly no user interaction required. The ALOS observation plan will ensure,......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

November 26, 2007, 3:24 PM CT

Summer-dormant tall fescue grass shows promise

A pasture improvement research program by Dr. Dariusz Malinowski has him looking at summer-dormant tall fescue grasses as an alternative to winter wheat pastures.

But these arent the typical tall fescue grasses grown in a number of parts of the nation, said Malinowski, a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station forage agronomist in Vernon. They are from the Mediterranean Basin of southern Europe and northern Africa.

Our climate is changing here, he said. Its been getting warmer and drier since the mid-90s.

This climate change has made wheat-grasses and wheat pasture a less-viable option than in the past, Malinowski said. In his search for a replacement option, summer-dormant cool-season perennial grasses that start turning green and grow with the first rains in September are showing the most promise.

The Mediterranean summer-dormant cool-season perennial grasses such as tall fescue, orchardgrass, ryegrass and hardinggrass grow under conditions of mild winters and hot, dry and long summers, he said.

At one time, the southern Great Plains had its peak rainfalls in May and September, but that precipitation pattern doesnt exist now, Malinowski said.

This year is one of the a number of examples, he said. Wheat is not growing because there has been no moisture. So we think these perennial summer-dormant grasses are a viable option......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

November 21, 2007, 4:45 AM CT

Ripening secrets of the vine

Whether you prefer a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Pinot Noir grape variety, two new research articles reported in the online open access journal, BMC Genomics, offer a host of new genetic information on fruit ripening for this economically important fruit crop.

The grapevine's gene expression analysis reveals two distinct molecular and functional phases that correspond with the green and red grape stages. And scientists have reported the first biochemical evidence that reactive oxygen species accumulate during the colour transition. Stefania Pilati and fellow scientists from the IASMA Research Center, San Michele all'Adige, Italy, investigated ripening Pinot Noir grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) to identify fruit ripening genes and investigate seasonal influences. They found a core set of more than 1,400 ripening-specific genes that fluctuated similarly across three growing seasons and a smaller gene group strongly influenced by climatic conditions.

During the green berry (pre-vraison) phase, numerous genes involved in hormonal signalling and transcriptional regulation were modulated, suggesting large-scale cellular metabolism reprogramming. Auxin, ethylene and light played pivotal roles. During the following ripening (post-vraison) phase, genes for cell-wall organization and biogenesis, carbohydrate and secondary metabolisms, and stress response came into play, whereas photosynthesis was strongly repressed. These transcriptional events tally with the processes of berry softening and accumulation of sugar, colour and aroma compounds, which ultimately determine berry and wine quality. At vraison, the intervening point when grapes slow down their growth and change colour, this study highlighted an oxidative burst involving hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and an extensive modulation of the enzymatic anti-oxidative network......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:48:35 GMT

Begonia prismatocarpa

Let''s see if we can get a small series on plants of Africa going. Thanks again to Eric in SF@Flickr for sharing yet more photographs with BPotD (original 1 | original 2 | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). If you didn''t visit Eric''s site a few days ago when linked via the Deppea splendens entry, consider doing it now: PlantWorld. Thanks, Eric!

Eric notes that this is one of the smallest-growing Begonia species – the plant in the first photograph is 12cm (5 in.) across, to give an idea of scale.

The genus Begonia is distributed throughout most tropical areas of the world. Like Euphorbia, it is a large genus, consisting of over 1000 different species (to see the diversity of form (particularly in leaf shapes), visit this Begonia photo gallery). Begonia prismatocarpa is native to western tropical Africa, namely Cote d''Ivoire, Cameroon and the Equatorial Guinean island of Bioko, where the species was first encountered by Western explorers. Online scans of herbarium specimens and associated data are available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

The epithet prismatocarpa refers to “prism-shaped fruit”. I haven''t been able to find an image of the fruit for this species, but perhaps the fruit of Burdachia prismatocarpa (illustrations m and n) will be sufficiently demonstrative of what is meant by the term. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

November 15, 2007, 10:15 PM CT

Plant Shows Significance of Maternal Effects

When habitat changes, animals migrate. But how do immobile organisms like plants cope when faced with alterations to their environment? This is an increasingly important question in light of new environmental conditions brought on by global climate change.

A University of Virginia study, reported in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Science, demonstrates that plants grown in the same setting as their maternal plant performed almost 3½ times better than those raised in a different environment - indicating that maternal plants give cues to their offspring that help them adapt to their environmental conditions.

Evolutionary biologist Laura Galloway, an associate professor of biology at the University of Virginia, recently completed a study of the American bellflower, a native wildflower that usually grows in both shaded areas and areas that receive full sunlight for at least part of the day. She focused on the transmission of environmental information between maternal plants and their offspring.

Galloway planted some seeds in light conditions similar to their maternal plants and some in different light. She observed that plants growing in the same setting as their maternal plant outperformed those planted in a different environment. The work was conducted in a natural habitat at the University of Virginia's Mountain Lake Biological Station in Southwest Virginia......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

November 14, 2007, 9:36 PM CT

Primary rain forest is irreplaceable

As world leaders prepare to discuss conservation-friendly carbon credits in Bali and a regional initiative threatens a new wave of deforestation in the South American tropics, new research from the University of East Anglia and Brazil's Goeldi Museum highlights once again the irreplaceable importance of primary rain forest.

Working in the north-eastern Brazilian Amazon the international team of researchers undertook the single-largest assessment of the biodiversity conservation value of primary, secondary and plantation forests ever conducted in the humid tropics. The study was partly funded by the UK Government's Darwin Initiative and their findings are published in the latest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Over an area larger than Wales, the UEA and museum scientists surveyed five primary rain forest sites, five areas of natural secondary forest and five areas planted with fast-growing exotic trees (Eucalyptus), to evaluate patterns of biodiversity.

Following an intensive effort of more than 20,000 scientist hours in the field and laboratory, they collected data on the distribution of 15 different groups of animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) and woody plants, including well-studied groups such as monkeys, butterflies and amphibians and also more obscure species such as fruit flies, orchid bees and grasshoppers......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source