Participants of the ongoing international biodiversity meeting have learned from local Balinese that local traditions can play a significant role in maintaining natural biodiversity.

The digestibility of the cell wall plays a crucial role in feed utilisation. Scientists are therefore looking for ways of increasing the digestibility of animal feed, and of utilising plant cell walls to generate energy.

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a $4.6 million U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant for the expansion of the Danforth facility. The money will be used to build a new greenhouse and a pre-incubation feeder facility.

By imaging the cell walls of a zinnia leaf down to the nanometer scale, energy researchers have a better idea about how to turn plants into biofuels. In a paper appearing online in the journal Plant Physiology, a team from Lawrence Livermore led by Michael Thelen has used four different imaging techniques to systematically drill down deep into the cells of Zinnia elegans.

Those who suffer from konzo are often subsisting on little other than cassava and may also not be processing the root properly, since detoxification requires an abundant water supply.

"The reason Indonesia is going through such a major crisis is because the biodiversity of Indonesia is extremely rich. It's probably the second most important country after Brazil in terms of biodiversity," said senior scientist Terry Sunderland.

The fruit fly parasite referred to as Fopius arisanus was brought into the country from Hawaii after a new fruit fly species from Sri Lanka invaded the country accidentally, destroying all the other pest control practices that had been implemented since the species proved to be very aggressive.

Dr. Rodante Tabien, plant breeder and geneticist, said the Texas rice breeding program is producing "new and valuable breeding material for genetics studies and new variety releases." He said the program has "greatly increased genetic stock to include a diverse collection of accessions, mutants, and elite lines."

Johns Hopkins University researchers are part of a team that will study how the BP oil spill will affect aquatic life off the coast of Florida. The university said today that it is part of a group of many institutions that will join in the research led by the National Aquarium and Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. The Johns Hopkins University Center for Contaminant Transport, Fate and Remediation is also a major player in the research. The center will use mathematical models to show how contaminants in oil move through the food chain and accumulate in marine plant and animal tissues.

The authors write that "some researchers report that down-regulation of photosynthesis under elevated CO2 is strongly linked to an increased carbon:nitrogen ratio of the photosynthesizing leaves, when the increased uptake of CO2 cannot be matched by a sufficient nutrient supply," which is the crux of the progressive nitrogen limitation hypothesis. But is this concept correct?

Hugh Grant, the CEO of agricultural giant Monsanto, often cites the world's booming population as the core reason global citizens should embrace the genetic engineering of plants to make them resistant to herbicides, pesticides or bestow them with other traits that theoretically permit higher crop yields. Upon closer inspection however, this 'get-on-board-or-perish' position is not as solid as it might seem. The Union of Concerned Scientists reminds us that there exist traditional ways to boost crop yield,

Better known as a former Democratic state senator from a prominent political family, Karcher now is focused on the timeless challenges of raising a marketable crop. Three years after the first tiny lavender sprigs went into the ground, Pleasant Valley is making a modest debut this season as New Jersey's first commercial lavender farm.

With anticipated devastation of plant life in the wetlands along the coast from the spill, there is anxiety that land loss will increase in the future. The group of slim barrier islands that Grand Isle is a member of help protect the coast from storm surges during hurricanes and are replete with bird life. There are efforts to conserve and restore the barrier islands because of the increased recognition of their role in the complex ecosystem.

Socotra's dragon blood tree (Dracaena cinnabaribe) grows only on the plateau. The crimson sap that gives this tree its name was once believed by traders to be actual dragon's blood, with powerful medicinal purposes. The trees, which stand scattered across the highlands, resemble giant umbrellas blown inside out by the wind. Their branches intertwine before thinning into thick, pointed leaves.

As curator of the Neil A. Harriman Herbarium at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Thomas Lammers keeps current by reading an array of botany journals. Usually he makes note of anything that might enhance the herbarium's collection of more than 115,000 prepared plant specimens from around the world. And as a recognized expert in the flowering plant family Campanulaceae, Lammers is attuned to articles about bellflowers.

Two University of Iowa students curious about how the Gulf Coast oil spill is affecting plant life are eagerly working to figure out a way to help the plants survive the exposure to oil. They will also plant 100 plugs of the smooth cord grass into test tubes. During the plant's growth, Beenk and Gwinnup will contaminate the test tubes with oil, and then observe the plants to see how they can break down the oil. Beenk references past research that concluded that plants can process environments of oil up to sixty percent.

Teemu Teeri, from the University of Helsinki, Finland, worked with a team of researchers to carry out the studies. He said, "Gerbera, a member of the sunflower family, bears compressed inflorescence heads with three different flower types characterized by differences in both sex and floral symmetry. To understand how such a complex inflorescence structure is achieved at the molecular level, we have characterized the array of Gerbera MADS box genes".

Science Daily has reported that nepetalactone, an essential oil in catnip, is ten times more effective than DEET, based on a study by researchers from Iowa State University. more...

...like most farmers markets, (ours) features smaller farmers interested in selling directly to consumers. They do not necessarily have to sell in large quantities at low margins to stay in business. They do not have to contract to grow 200 acres of one peach variety for a processor that must be harvested all within the same week. They can grow 2 acres each of 20 different unusual varieties that ripen over several months and sell them directly to you and me. In this model, they do what large scale growers don't. They help preserve the biodiversity of our food crops.

Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC), will receive the American Society of Pharmacognosy's (ASP) Varro E. Tyler Prize during the 51st meeting of ASP. This annual event will take place July 10 -14, 2010, in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, and will be held in conjunction with the Phytochemical Society of North America.