ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• E. coli adapts to colonize plants
• Agriculture and food production contribute up to 29 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions
• Import of proteins into chloroplasts is differentially regulated by age
• Sizing up biomass from space
• Animals learn to fine-tune their sniffs
• Ozone's impact on soybean yield: Reducing future losses
• New cat breed, Selkirk Rex, genetically different from other curly-haired cats
• Nine colorful and endangered tree-dwelling tarantulas discovered in Brazil
• Mars like Hawaii? NASA rover's first soil studies help fingerprint Martian minerals
• NASA satellites capture Hurricane Sandy's massive size
• Monkeys put off sex by bystanders
• Ash dieback in UK forests: Promising new research
• New England poultry producers may see effects from Sandy
• Grey Friars female skeleton is possibly of founder
• Honeybees harbor antibiotic-resistance genes

E. coli adapts to colonize plants Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:03 PM PDT New research has given new clues as to how some E. coli strains, normally at home in mammalian gastrointestinal tracts, have adopted slightly different transmission strategies, with some being better adapted to live on plants than others.

Agriculture and food production contribute up to 29 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:03 PM PDT Feeding the world releases up to 17,000 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, according to a new analysis. But while the emissions "footprint" of food production needs to be reduced, a companion policy brief lays out how climate change will require a complete recalibration of where specific crops are grown and livestock are raised.

Import of proteins into chloroplasts is differentially regulated by age Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:03 PM PDT New research has found that the transport of proteins into chloroplasts in plants is differentially regulated by the age of the chloroplast; upturning the previously accepted notion that this process is age-independent or only globally up- or down- regulated for all proteins.

Sizing up biomass from space Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:00 PM PDT The biomass stored in forests is thought to play a critical role in mitigating the catastrophic effects of global climate change. New research has used Lidar data to accurately measure the biomass of California.

Animals learn to fine-tune their sniffs Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:00 PM PDT Animals use their noses to focus their sense of smell, much the same way that humans focus their eyes. Researchers found that rats adjust their sense of smell through sniffing techniques that bring scents to receptors in different parts of the nose. The sniffing patterns changed according to what kind of substance the rats were attempting to detect.

Ozone's impact on soybean yield: Reducing future losses Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:15 PM PDT Ozone is a pollutant that damages crops, particularly soybean. Researchers have investigated the responses of seven different soybean genotypes to eight ozone concentrations. The plants were exposed to ozone concentrations ranging from ambient levels of 38 parts per billion up to 200 parts per billion. They found that any increase above the ambient concentration was enough to reduce seed yield: roughly half a bushel per acre for each additional part per billion.

New cat breed, Selkirk Rex, genetically different from other curly-haired cats Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:14 PM PDT Pet owners and animal breeders are frequently attracted by curly-haired animals. Indeed, three curly-haired varieties of cat are already recognized and have been developed into competitive breeds. Serina Filler at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna now shows that a fourth curly-haired breed, Selkirk Rex, is genetically distinct from previously known breeds and presents a genetic analysis of the new cats.

Nine colorful and endangered tree-dwelling tarantulas discovered in Brazil Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:14 PM PDT A Brazilian arachnologist described nine new species of arboreal tarantulas endemic to Central and Eastern Brazil. Four of these colorful species are among the smallest arboreal tarantulas ever recorded and can be considered relicts. Two other new species live inside bromeliads, one of which in the top of table mountains. The species were discovered out of the Amazon region, where arboreal tarantulas are better known.

Mars like Hawaii? NASA rover's first soil studies help fingerprint Martian minerals Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:42 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed initial experiments showing the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii. The minerals were identified in the first sample of Martian soil ingested recently by the rover. Curiosity used its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) to obtain the results, which are filling gaps and adding confidence to earlier estimates of the mineralogical makeup of the dust and fine soil widespread on the Red Planet.

NASA satellites capture Hurricane Sandy's massive size Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:32 AM PDT NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image Sandy's massive circulation. Sandy covers 1.8 million square miles, from the Mid-Atlantic to the Ohio Valley, into Canada and New England.

Monkeys put off sex by bystanders Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:28 AM PDT Monkeys shy away from bystanders during copulation, irrespective of the bystanders' gender or rank. The new study also suggests that sneaky sex is opportunistic rather than a tactical deception i.e. intentional hiding of sexual behavior.

Ash dieback in UK forests: Promising new research Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:27 AM PDT A recent, Swedish study has revealed crucial information for horticulturalists in the UK, and in Northern and Central Europe, in their battles against the aggressive attacks of the Chalara fraxineafungus (otherwise known as ash dieback disease) on mature forest areas.  Results from the study are far reaching, encouraging governments to invest in ash breeding programs that will all but eliminate the disease.

New England poultry producers may see effects from Sandy Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:22 AM PDT Instead of an early snowfall this time of year, farmers along the eastern seaboard are dealing with flood waters and wind damage from Superstorm Sandy, which is expected to affect everything from poultry production to grocery prices.

Grey Friars female skeleton is possibly of founder Posted: 30 Oct 2012 07:14 AM PDT Archaeologists leading the analysis of human remains found in the search for Richard III have commented on the second skeleton found at the Church of Grey Friars in Leicester.

Honeybees harbor antibiotic-resistance genes Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:24 AM PDT Bacteria in the guts of honeybees are highly resistant to the antibiotic tetracycline, probably as a result of decades of preventive antibiotic use in domesticated hives. Researchers have identified eight different tetracycline resistance genes among US honeybees that were exposed to the antibiotic, but the genes were largely absent in bees from countries where such antibiotic use is banned.

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