Currently Browsing: Environment
When It Comes To Seeds, New is Gold
Revegetation, currently a global concept, restores environmental niches destroyed by pollution or over-grazing. Although the type of area, body of water, forest, or environmental region may differ, the techniques used to revive natural life have consistently been the same. Biologists and scientists...
Failing to see the Forest for the Trees
A 2006 issue of Nature named global warming to be a significant cause of the extinction of the Harlequin frogs. The study stated that rising atmospheric temperatures cause an increase in a specific species of fungus, the chytrid fungus, known to be deadly to amphibians. Today’s “amphibian crisis”...
Coming soon: Sugarcane Plastic Bags
The search for a replacement for oil-based plastics has unearthed a competitive alternative: sugarcane ethanol. Formally known as polyethylene it was first accidentally synthesized by German chemist, Hans von Pechmann in 1898. This malleable but incredibly strong polymer is found in everything from grocery...
Moving to Higher Ground
AgroParis Tech, a collection of French academic institutions, recently conducted a study looking at plant migration data from six major regions across Europe. The findings were that a whopping 118 out of the 171 plant species tracked have migrated northward and will probably continue to do so. As a result...
Global Warming, Acid Rain, and Pollution: How They Can Help
You may take a look at this title and see three horrendous things staring back at you. However, to the plant world, and partially our world, they might not actually be the worst things on the planet. As it turns out, global warming increases the length of the growth season of hardwood forests by about...
CO2 update: rising further still and now destroying Peat Bogs
We’ve all woken up in the morning having gotten more than the recommended 8 hours and yet somehow we feel more tired than the night before. The solution we often choose is more sleep, which sadly only perpetuates the cycle of grogginess. The environment suffers a similar issue, only instead of lethargy...
Intruder Alert: harmful algal blooms
Harmful Algal Blooms are wreaking environmental havoc at an alarmingly high rate, costing the per annum loss of tens of millions of American dollars invested in fisheries, aquaculture sites and other bio-dependent industries. As a result, Professor Sinjie Lin, an Associate Professor of Molecular Ecology...
Eat your veggies, wash behind your ears and…inhale your limonene?
With their age-old abilities to clean pollutants and particles from our air, soil and water, trees with medicinal, environmental and nutritional benefits may be mother nature’s newest pitch for keeping families healthy and thriving. Sixty-three year old botanist Ms. Beresford-Kroeger introduces...
Tel-Aviv aeroponics lab introduces Eco-Furniture
Professors Yoav Waisel and Amram Eshel from the University of Tel-Aviv discovered, along with their collaborative research partner Plantware, a specific species of trees that when grown in air, rather than soil and water, retain a soft root structure.
The lab, conducted at the Sarah Racine Root Research...
Plant News Stories March 13, 2008
Gene that controls ozone resistance of plants could lead to drought-resistant crops - One of today’s top environmental concerns is how global warming effects the environment. Researchers from the University of California - San Diego and the University of Helsinki in Finland have now shed some light...
Plant News Stories Jan 30, 2008
Nitrogen Fixation Process in Plants to Combat Drought in Various Species of Legumes - Although nitrogen is abundant in soil, it is useless to plants unless it is first reduced to other chemical forms like nitrate or ammonium. Organisms like soil bacteria are able to reduce atmospheric nitrogen to ammonium...
Plant News Stories Jan 23, 2008
New Genus of Self-Destructive Palm Found in Madagascar - Scientists have discovered a new genus of palm trees in Madagascar that comes with a surprising twist. What’s the twist? Well, there’s two, actually. One, these palm trees are very large (5m palm, 18m high - they can be seen from Google...
Plant News Stories Nov. 26
Top Stories:
Illuminating Study Reveals How Plants Respond to Light -
Plants need sunlight to grow and flower. New research from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research shows that the process of taking in light is very complex. Proteins within the plant’s cells prepare to respond to light...
Plant News Stories Nov 12, 2007
Top Stories:
Could ‘Hairy Roots’ Become Biofactories? - “Hairy roots” found on the roots of some plants are a type of tumor caused by a bacterial infection. The tumor results in a mass of fuzzy-looking roots near the site of infection. While a nuisance for plants, researchers...
Plant News Stories Oct 21, 2007
Top stories
Genetically Engineered Plants Could Clean Humanity’s Messes - Toxic waste management is a challenging environmental problem. Some plants are very good at breaking down toxins into harmless products. Researchers are working on developing plants that can more efficiently absorb and...
Plant News Stories Oct 15, 2007
Top stories:
Biologists uncover top wetland plant’s hidden weapon - It isn’t uncommon to find plants “fighting” for soil and nutrients. The more plants that inhabit a certain area, the tougher the competition grows. The weaker plants eventually die and the stronger ones continue...
Plant News Stories Oct 8, 2007
Top Stories
Cycads plants use scent to lure insects - Most people think of pistils, stamens, and perhaps bees when plant pollination and reproduction is mentioned. But, in cycad plants, the reality is far from the preconceived notion most people hold. Cycad plants release an odor that attracts small...
Plant News Stories Oct 1, 2007
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Plants can be used to study how and why people respond differently to drugs - Why do some people respond to drug treatments while others suffer severe side effects or show no response? Sean Cutler of UC Riverside believes the answer may lie in plants. “The genetics behind variable...
Plant News Stories Sept 24, 2007
Top News Stories:
Brazil: Amazon Forests Resilient to Drought - Recent analysis of satellite readings shows that despite heavy droughts, the Amazon Basin grew greener in 2005. This phenomena over time could lead to the basin becoming more savanna-like.
Vitamin C Is Essential For Plant Growth - Vitamin...
Plant News Stories Sept 17, 2007
Beginning this week we have a new contributor to GreenSeedling, Houdah Abualtin! More information in the About page.
Top News Stories:
Auto Immune Response Creates Barrier To Fertility; Could Be A Step In Speciation - Jeff Dangl and Kirsten Bomblies have discovered, quite by accident, a lethal auto-immune...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of May 14
Plants tag insect herbivores with an alarm - In response to insects chewing on their leaves, plants can emit airborne chemicals to ramp up defenses or attract the insect’s predators. In a recent issue of Plant Physiology, researchers report a new class of small proteins that are involved in this...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of May 7
Update from last week:
Ban on Monsanto genetically modified alfalfa upheld
World’s First Tree Reconstructed - The oldest tree fossil ever discovered has been used to reconstruct what the tree may have looked like. The 385 million year old tree was 30 ft tall topped with a very palm-like canopy...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of April 30
U.S. Judge considers making GM alfalfa ban permanent - Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) alfalfa has been under scrutiny as there is some suggestion that the pollen from these plants may spread and contaminate unmodified alfalfa. Although there is currently a ban on growing the genetically modified...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of April 2
The arctic tree invasion - Spruce trees are popping up in the tundra, a region that by definition is too cold to support trees. Global warming is the likely culprit, extending the tree line to the north. While the appearance of trees is normally beneficial, in this case the tree invasion is putting ecological...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of March 12
Vanishing bee syndrome threatens U.S. crops - Honeybees are dying off in record numbers - some farmers report losses of up to 95% - and no one knows why. Because bees pollinate many agriculturally important crops, Colony Collapse Disorder as it’s officially called, could result in billons of...
Highlighted Stories for the Week of Dec. 11
An apple a day - The gene that turns some apples red has been discovered by group at CSIRO, an Australian research facility. In response to light, the gene controls the formation of anthocyanins, or red pigments, in the skin of apples. Anthocyanins are rich in antioxidants, so scientists hope to produce...
Farmers in the midwest go green
Posted by Jen in Environment on 10 20th, 2006 | No Comments
Some farmers in the midwest are adjusting their practices to adapt for global warming, for example using no-till farming methods to reduce greenhouse emissions. Of particular interest, there is a reference in this article to DuPont’s advances in developing crops that can tolerate hot, dry weather....
In the spirit of the season
Short article about why tree leaves turn colors, particularly the vibrant reds seen in maple trees in autumn. Unlike the yellow and orange colors, which arise from carotenoids and are present year-round, the red pigments result from a build up of anthocyanins produced in response to stress. Guess students...
Aspen die-off
Apparently, aspen trees in the western states have been dying off mysteriously according to scientists at the United States Forest Service. Compounding the problem, aspen trees normally reproduce through vegatative regeneration (e.g. tree roots ’spout’ little tree clones), so once the tree...
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