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Tag: "drought" at biology news

Underlying cause of massive pinyon pine die-off revealed

The high heat that accompanied the recent drought was the underlying cause of death for millions of ...stem for decades. Hotter temperatures coupled with drought are the type of event predicted by global climate change models. The new finding suggests big, fast ...

GM crop that holds on to its seeds offers higher yields

...varieties. Østergaard says that combining the new drought resistant varieties with his teams' plants that do not shatter their seeds could yield crops that are well suited for the warmer climates of most developing countries. Link to abstract of paper in Plant Biotechnology Journal Reference: Plant Bi...

NC State researchers redesign life for Mars and beyond

...lants more resistant to extreme conditions such as drought and extreme temperatures that we have on Earth, but also to the extreme conditions that one might find on Mars." Now that the concept of inserting a single gene from an extremophile into a plant has been proven, the researchers are working to insert...

Research team receives $7.5 million to study cassava

...n the tropics, and it's relatively easy to grow in drought conditions. Fully grown cassava roots can stay in the ground for up to two years and needs relatively little water to survive. The roots are a key source of carbohydrates for subsistence farmers in Africa . The researchers will work on developing ne...

Newly recognized gene mutation may reduce seeds, resurrect plants

... flora protect their progeny during yield-limiting drought and other stresses, according to Purdue University... divert resources to the remaining seeds. So, in a drought situation, for example, plants will get rid of some seeds so that they can support growth of at leas...

Elusive salamanders have role in developing new sampling models

...s was not totally unexpected because of a 100-year drought event that dried ponds and halted reproduction from 1999 through 2002. Since the first salamander was found six weeks ago, 36 more have been found in one pond, but none in 11 others that have supported them in the past. In the United States, flatwoo...

High carbon dioxide levels spur Southern pines to grow more needles

...se absorbing today's levels of the gas, even under drought conditions. However, the study also found that lac...s leaf growth. "This would imply that, even under drought conditions, there would probably be an enhancement with elevated CO2," McCarthy said in an interview...

York scientists warn of dramatic impact of climate change on Africa

...nforests and there is a massive intensification of drought in the Sahel. Other areas particularly hard hit are eastern Africa and the south-west coast." Because of a scarcity of hard data, the team used a computer programme written by Dr Colin McClean, of York's Environment Department to study the response ...

Organic farms produce same yields as conventional farms

...c systems produced higher yields, especially under drought conditions. The reason was that wind and water ero...e air. Among the study's other findings: # In the drought years, 1988 to 1998, corn yields in the legume-based system were 22 percent higher than yields in th...

Past droughts geographically widespread in the West, according to tree-ring data

... For the Salt/Verde river basin, the recent drought is similar to that experienced in the 1950s; ...initiatives taken by SRP in response to an ongoing drought that is in its 10th year. Even counting this past winter when 2,017,580 acre-feet of runoff ?the fir...

MERIS monitoring tracks planetary photosynthesis levels

...fying areas under stress and assessing damage from drought or fires. An algorithm developed by the European ...ress. In the past the effects of the 2003 European drought were detected in a similar way, but in the absence of any long-term continental-scale perspective on...

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Many of 2 billion dryland dwellers at risk as land degrades

...ertification Desertification is not the result of drought alone, as often believed, says co-author Gregoire de Kalbermatten, of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. "Drylands experience frequent droughts without harm. However dryland ecosystems are fragile and human activity can increase their vulne...

Wild grasses and man-made wheats advance research capabilities

... Russian wheat aphid, as well as the need for more drought tolerance present challenges, he said. Progress in traditional breeding has been slow due to limited genetic variability for these traits. Two projects growing in the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station greenhouses in Vernon and Bushland are desig...

Six million Africans face famine because of locusts, drought

With locusts and drought having destroyed crops and stripped grazing land f...ffairs (OCHA) said today. "The combined effect of drought and locust attack, particularly in the more northerly districts of the counties affected has led to ...

Africa to take it on chin again with climate change

...t the Sahel region, which experienced catastrophic drought until rains returned in the 1990s, could experience wetter monsoons for decades to come. However, drought across southern Africa is projected to intensify further. Oceanic warming consistent with an increas...

No relief for Pacific Northwest drought

...Pacific Northwest, according to new projections of drought severity and fire risk that are based on "general ...r a period from now to August show some pockets of drought severity and associated fire risks in southern Florida, Maine and southeastern Arizona. And there is...

World's largest rainforest drying experiment completes first phase

...at this forest presented in the face of the severe drought that was created. As the moisture stored in the so... systems, avoiding most of the visible symptoms of drought stress. By the end of the five-year period of exclusion, many trees in the forest were drawing in wa...

Poplar trees redirect resources in response to simulated attack

...disease, elevated carbon dioxide, soil toxins, and drought on vital plant processes." Ferrieri says scientists trying to improve plants' resistance to environmental challenges -- or their ability to perform useful tasks such as carbon sequestration, phytoremediation, or the production of bio-fuels -- could ...

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