April 23, 2007, 10:17 PM CT

How much nitrogen is too much for corn?

North Carolina State scientists recently discovered a test that quickly predicts nitrogen levels in the humid soil conditions of the southeastern United States. These researchers report that the Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test (ISNT) can assess the nitrogen levels in soil with more accuracy than current soil-based tests. This test will allow growers to cut back on the amount of nitrogen-based fertilizer added to soil, leading to economic and environmental benefits.

The proper management of nitrogen is critical to the success of a number of crop systems. Based on an assessment of the natural amount of nitrogen in soil, growers calculate their optimum nitrogen rates, the concentration of nitrogen that must be present in fertilizer in order to achieve expected crop yields. Under- and over-applying nitrogen fertilizer to corn crops often leads to adverse economic consequences for corn producers. Excess levels of nitrogen in nature also pose serious threats to environment. Agricultural application of nitrogen has been associated with rising nitrate levels and subsequent death of fish in the Gulf of Mexico and North Carolinas Neuse River.

"Eventhough offsite nitrogen contamination of ground and surface waters could be reduced if nitrogen rates were adjusted based on actual field conditions, there is currently no effective soil nitrogen test for the humid southeastern U.S.," said Jared Williams, lead author of the North Carolina State study that was reported in the March-April 2007 issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal. This research was supported in part by USDA Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems (IFAFS) grant......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:45:16 GMT

Tulipa 'Ile de France'

A change of plans on the weekend yielded an opportunity to attend the 24th Annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near the Mount Vernon / Burlington area of Washington. Fortune favoured me for once, and I toured while the flowers were at their peak. Tulipa 'Ile de France' was one of about four dozen cultivars of tulips that could be seen in the fields, bordered by hundreds of people. Though I didn't photograph during my preferred times of the day (i.e., early morning and late evening), the weather was in my favour – cloudy with sunny breaks provided light that was suitable for midday photography as it gave a changing environment of soft diffuse light and harsh direct light. The latter is usually not so desirable, but with tulips, it is an opportunity to take photographs with backlighting. Today's photograph is one of 381 that survived my first round of discarding lower-quality shots.

'Ile de France' is a multi-use tulip; it is suitable for cut flowers, bedding plantings or container plantings. It was my favourite of the day; since the bulbs can be planted close together, the effect of the mass planting was a solid ribbon of red which I found very appealing (other cultivars require more space between individuals, so the en masse colouration was not as dense).

Although some of the tulips in the fields are sold as cut flowers, much of the field production of tulips in this instance are sold as bulbs. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:55:15 GMT

Solanum quitoense

Andreas of Bogotá, Colombia, aka Quimbaya@Flickr, is the photographer of today's images (original 1 | original 2 | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Thank you once again, Andreas!

Andreas shares his observations along with his photographs: “Very aromatic fruit; the pulp is used to prepare a delicious juice. In Colombia it is known as ‘lulo’, in Ecuador as ‘naranjilla’.”.

Learning or knowing that the species is named after Quito, Ecuador (the second-highest capital city in the world) gives you an idea of its native distribution range: higher elevations in subtropical South America and Central America.

Julia Morton's Fruits of Warm Climates provides a detailed account of the horticulture and botany of Solanum quitoense, including accounts of a few (sadly) abandoned attempts to expand the commercial production of this fruit. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

April 11, 2007, 9:19 PM CT

Nongreen Plants On Other Planets

NASA researchers believe they have found a way to predict the color of plants on planets in other solar systems.

Green, yellow or even red-dominant plants may live on extra-solar planets, as per researchers whose two scientific papers appear in the recent issue of the journal, Astrobiology. The researchers studied light absorbed and reflected by organisms on Earth, and determined that if astronomers were to look at the light given off by planets circling distant stars, they might predict that some planets have mostly non-green plants.

"We can identify the strongest candidate wavelengths of light for the dominant color of photosynthesis on another planet," said Nancy Kiang, lead author of the study and a biometeorologist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York. Kiang worked with a team of researchers from the Virtual Planetary Laboratory (VPL) at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. VPL was formed as part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), based at the NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.

"This work broadens our understanding of how life may be detected on Earth-like planets around other stars, while simultaneously improving our understanding of life on Earth," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NAI at NASA Ames. "This approach -- studying Earth life to guide our search for life on other worlds -- is the essence of astrobiology"......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:49:05 GMT

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

The marine wilderness of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve includes tidewater glaciers, snow-capped mountain ranges, ocean coastlines, deep fjords, and freshwater rivers and lakes. This diverse land and seascape hosts a mosaic of plant communities and a variety of marine and terrestrial wildlife and presents many opportunities for adventuring and learning about this unique and powerful place.

 
Dynamic Change
Glacier Bay's story is one of dynamic change in the wake of dramatic glacial movements.

• Glacier Bay collects many glaciers flowing from the tall surrounding mountains with abundant snowfall.
• As recently as 1750 a single glacier thousands of feet thick filled what is now a 65-mile long fjord.
• This glacial retreat has exposed a resilient land that hosts a succession of marine and terrestrial life.
• Here is an opportunity to see how the physical world shapes the biological.

 
Natural Laboratory
Botanist William Cooper spearheaded efforts to preserve not only a place to view glaciers, wildlife, and grandeur, but also a living laboratory to study and enjoy through the ages.

• Glacier Bay offers unexcelled opportunities to study earth's most fundamental geologic processes.
• A center where researchers from multiple disciplines collaborate to conduct management and ecosystem directed research.
• What scientists learn at Glacier Bay may one day foretell changes to the region and the world.

 
Place of Hope
Glacier Bay is a globally significant marine and terrestrial wilderness sanctuary.

• A place that offers human solitude and a remote wildness that is rapidly disappearing in today's world.
• A place of hope--for the continued wisdom, restraint, and humility to preserve a sample of wild America, the world as it was.
• It is part of one of the largest internationally protected Biosphere Reserves in the world, and it is recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site.

 
Place of Inspiration
Long before there were written records of Glacier Bay, there were stories.

• Tlingit elders told of an ancestral homeland covered by advancing ice. For the Tlingit, Glacier Bay is woven into the tapestry of their lives.
• Glacier Bay is a powerful place that also inspires cultural expression in the scientist, the artist, the resident, the traveler, and those who make their livelihood from the sea.
• Glacier Bay continues to offer inspiration as we each endeavor to explore our connections to this dynamic landscape.

 
Write to
PO Box 140
Gustavus, AK 99826-E-mail Us

Phone
Headquarters, General Information
(907) 697-2230

Recreational Permit Information
(907) 697-2627
Fax
(907) 697-2654

Climate
Summer temperatures average 50 to 60 degrees F (10 to 15 degrees C). Winter temperatures rarely drop into the single digits, with average nighttime lows of 25 to 40 degrees F (-2 to 5 degrees C). Rain is the norm in southeast Alaska. April, May and June are usually the driest months of the year. September and October tend to be the wettest.
 Did You Know?
Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, opened its doors to the first students in July 1881, only four months after Booker T. Washington first arrived in Tuskegee. Posted by: Gracy      Read more     Source

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:43:13 GMT

Pima Pineapple Cactus to Remain in Endangered Species List

A review of the status of the Pima pineapple cactus reit requires a return on the federal endangered species list, as decided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This means that new developments are needed that will save open space for it in the fast-growing Tucson suburbs. The Pima pineapple cactus is far more common compared to what was previously estimated, and it should be lumped with other more common pineapple cacti varieties, as been argued by some private biologists.

But, two studies from a private consulting firm that are questioning the listing were faulted by the scientists of the federal agency, including one of 14 outside scientists, wildlife service officials informed.

Defending both the WestLand Resources’ studies, Bob Schmalzel, a biologist for the private firm says that the population data provided by them

constitutes the best scientific and commercial data currently available.

Schmalzel claims that t

he population data provides substantially more information than was available at the time of its listing in 1993. The Center for Biological Diversitys Greta Anderson said that the threats to the cactus survival are increasing, with the science supporting its uniqueness as a species. Posted by: Irani      Read more     Source

March 25, 2007, 6:58 PM CT

Excess nutrients or water limit biodiversity

Too much of a good thing (nutrients or water) actually decreases the diversity of species in an ecosystem while it increases the productivity of a few species, as per a grassland experiment conducted by University of Minnesota researchers.

The reduction in species diversity occurs because increasing the amounts of limiting resources, such as nitrogen and water, makes an ecosystem more homogeneous and consequently reduces the number of opportunities for competing species to coexist. Put another way, it reduces the number of niches, allowing a few species to dominate.

The study, conducted by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology, and Stanley Harpole will be published March 25 in the online version of the journal Nature. Harpole, who is now a postdoctoral associate at the University of California, Irvine, was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota when the research was carried out.

"In essence, the data in the article strongly supports a new explanation for why the world contains so a number of species," said Tilman. "It shows that plant diversity is directly correlation to the number of limiting factors (such as soil moisture, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and water)."

It also helps explain why grasslands, lakes and rivers that are polluted with nitrogen and phosphorous (commonly from agriculture) have fewer species. The reduction of species where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico is one of the best known examples of this phenomenon......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

March 21, 2007, 8:27 PM CT

Ponderosa Pine

The ponderosa pine is the most widely distributed species of its genus in North America. It is generally found in a sub-humid area deficient in summer rainfall. The tree reproduces through seeds produced in cones, which require 2 years to mature.

The Black Hills forest is dominated by the ponderosa pine tree. Where conditions permit, other trees such as the birch, white spruce, quaking aspen, and elm also grow.

Wind Cave National Park can be divided into two major vegetation types: the ponderosa pine forest and the mixed grass prairie. Twenty-five percent of the park is tree covered. The forested area includes ponderosa pine forests and scattered groves of elm, aspen, bur oak, boxelder, and birch. These scattered groves are generally found along drainage areas. The ponderosa pine forest occupies the higher elevations in the park.

The ponderosa is an extravagant user of readily available moisture. It sends down a fast growing taproot which enables it to obtain moisture from a number of levels. As a seedling it also possesses the ability to withstand prolonged drought. The trees are capable of growing exceptionally fast if conditions are good for them. Because of the taproot, the trees can generally withstand high winds. When "wind throw" does occur it is often because the tree has root rot or the root systems are shallow because of the rock on which the tree is growing......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

March 20, 2007, 10:05 PM CT

Global Map of Plant Biodiversity

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Bonn in Gera number of have produced a global map of estimated plant species richness. Covering several hundred thousand species, the researchers say their global map is the most extensive map of the distribution of biodiversity on Earth to date.

The map, which accompanies a study published in this week's early online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights areas of particular concern for conservation. It also, the researchers say, provides much needed assistance in gauging the likely impact of climate change on the services plants provide to humans.

Walter Jetz of UCSD and Holger Kreft of the University of Bonn sought in their study to determine how well the diversity, or the "richness," of plant species could be predicted from environmental conditions alone.

"Plants provide important services to humans-such as ornaments, structure, food and bio-molecules that can be used for the development of drugs or alternative fuels-that increase in value with their richness," says Jetz, an assistant professor of biology at UCSD and the senior author of the paper. "Tropical countries such as Ecuador or Colombia harbor by a factor 10 to 100 higher plant species richness than most parts of the United States or Europe. The question is, Why?"......... Posted by: Erica      Read more         Source

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:37:04 GMT

Anigozanthos flavidus

Thank you to Andreas of Bogotá aka Quimbaya@Flickr for sharing today's images of an Australian species cultivated in Colombia (original image 1 | original image 2). As noted by Andreas in the comments to his photographs on Flickr, the palms in the background are Ceroxylon quindiuense (if you're curious – they're not part of this series on Australian plants). Thanks again, Andreas!

Tall kangaroo paw or evergreen kangaroo paw is native to southwestern Western Australia, with a distribution range that only overlaps the range of yesterday's Calothamnus villosus near Albany.

The worldwide distribution of the Haemodoraceae, with representatives in Australia, Africa, Indonesia (east of the Wallace Line), South America and North America suggests a Gondwanan origin (Gondwana animation) for the plant family, with subsequent migration to North America.

The Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants and Australian National Botanic Gardens – Growing Native Plants both provide more information on tall kangaroo-paw in its native environment and in cultivation.

Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source