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New Kind of Rice Emits Nearly Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The creation of a new kind of rice which gives off nearly zero greenhouse gas emissions during its growth has earned kudos for a team of scientists from three continents, including the lead investigator at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

26 Nov 2015

Unpredictable Weather Patterns Lead to Decline in Ecosystem Productivity

Fluctuations in extreme weather events, such as heavy rains and droughts, are affecting ecosystems in unexpected ways -- creating "winners and losers" among plant species that humans depend upon for food.

29 Sep 2015

Rice Could be Cultivated to Emit Virtually no Methane with Addition of a Single Gene

Rice serves as the staple food for more than half of the world's population, but it's also the one of the largest manmade sources of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Now, with the addition of a single gene, rice can be cultivated to emit virtually no methane from its paddies during growth. It also packs much more of the plant's desired properties, such as starch for a richer food source and biomass for energy production, according to a study in Nature.

31 Jul 2015

Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Lead to Low Nitrogen Content in Crops

The rapidly rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affect plants’ absorption of nitrogen, which is the nutrient that restricts crop growth in most terrestrial ecosystems. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have now revealed that the concentration of nitrogen in plants’ tissue is lower in air with high levels of carbon dioxide, regardless of whether or not the plants’ growth is stimulated. The study has been published in the journal Global Change Biology.

15 Jun 2015

New Sustainable Strategies Can Help Farming Adapt to Hotter Conditions

Agriculture can be both a victim and a cause of climate change, say global warming experts. But new sustainable strategies that can help farming adapt to hotter conditions may help reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint too.

24 Apr 2015

Climate Change Eats Into Profits of Soybean Farmers

Even during a good year, soybean farmers nationwide are, in essence, taking a loss. That's because changes in weather patterns have been eating into their profits and taking quite a bite: $11 billion over the past 20 years.

1 Apr 2015

Light Pollution Affects Wildlife and Ecosystems

Artificial night time light from sources such as street lamps affects the growth and flowering of plants and even the number of insects that depend on those plants for food, a study published today confirms.

17 Mar 2015

CSRS, WPI-ITbM Partner to Promote Interdisciplinary Research Focusing on Synthetic Chemistry, Plant Biology

The RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) and Nagoya University’s Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) have announced that the research centers have entered a collaborative agreement to promote interdisciplinary research, particularly focusing on synthetic chemistry and plant biology. The joint research agreement was signed on January 2015 and is expected to increase the collaboration and accelerate the research between both institutes.

16 Mar 2015

Extreme Weather from Climate Change will Affect World's Wheat Production

A recent study involving Kansas State University researchers finds that in the coming decades at least one-quarter of the world's wheat production will be lost to extreme weather from climate change if no adaptive measures are taken.

23 Feb 2015

Major Transformations of Global Agriculture Systems Needed to Address Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change impacts will require major but very uncertain transformations of global agriculture systems by mid-century, according to new research from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.

19 Dec 2014