Drought in the West linked to warmer temperatures
... R. Cook of the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory's tree ring laboratory. The study revealed that a 400-yea...author Dr. David Meko of the University of Arizona tree ring lab notes that the drought that has gripped the western United States for the past four years "...How to use math and a CT scanner to see how trees intercept light
...ed a computed tomography (CT) scanner to study how tree branching affects light interception. "We collect CT scan data, which basically measures of density in 3D, to quantify the complexity of plant branching patterns," he explains. "This will lead to a more complete and accurate model providing a better ...Arctic mystery no longer: Dinosaurs walked Canada's great north
...s. "We found dinosaur remains, as well as fern and tree fossils," continues Larsson, who walked up to 25 kilometres per day for one month with his research team to locate bones during the summer of 2003 and 2004. "You wouldn't expect it, yet dinosaurs and a great variety of plants lived in the High Arctic...Multi-species herbivore outbreak follows El Nio drought in Panama
...etimes their numbers explode, resulting in massive tree defoliation. In the October issue of the Journal o...ol to monitor herbivores and leaf damage on twenty tree species reachable from the gondola on the arm of a 42 m tall modified construction crane in Panama C...Researchers redrawing the Tree of Life
...ven labs will be combined and computer analyzed, a tree of life for flowering plants developed based on mo...om fossils, anatomy, and morphology imposed on the tree to confirm the relationships and come up with reliable groupings that will be used as the basis for ...For inferring the biological tree of life, simple is better
...t the most widely used method for constructing the tree of life from DNA sequences is prone to error. Howe... historical relationships correctly recovered that tree from the simulated data. They found that a simple logical method known as maximum parsimony is far m...Hurricane damage creates pecan shortage
...twisted limbs and limb breakage, as well as severe tree leaning and loss of entire trees. Approximately 15-20 percent of all pecan trees in the state of Alabama were destroyed. "We aren't yet certain of the full effect the damage has had on the remaining trees," said Brenneman. "There's evidence that som...Plentiful fossils of dinosaur contemporary allow population study
...s. As a contribution to efforts to create a family tree for all protosaurs, a Virginia Tech graduate student is taking advantage of the plentiful and nearby collection of Tanytrachelos fossils to study their preservation and population dynamics. Michelle Casey of Elk River, Minn., a master's degree studen...Building a tree of life needs less 'wood'
...rs published in the journal Science Nov. 12. A tree of life shows how living things have evolved since the origins of life billions of years ago, grouping related organisms on the same branch. Such trees provide an organizing framework for biology. They can be used for predicting the properties of poo...US trees affected by growing number of health concerns
...ate geospatial patterns of disease development and tree mortality on the landscape. SUDDEN O...ogen, they may help the disease to spread. Another tree that has recently been seriously harmed by a Phytophthora in Northeastern U.S. is European Beech. Th...Computer analysis shows scientists could reconstruct the genome of the mammalian common ancestor
... the paper, generated this artificial evolutionary tree by creating a massive software program to simulate all the known processes that modify DNA as it evolves. The program was based on a huge amount of data from Green's research at NHGRI, where scientists are doing comparative analyses of genomic sequen...Stanford biologist working to restore native forests to Hawaii
...aii is the restoration of koa, a species of acacia tree native to the islands. A cornerstone of the forest ecosystem, the tree also is highly valued for its deep golden-red, shimmering hardwood. But koa has become increasingly ...Wolves gone, western ecosystems suffer
...y to the collapsing health of aspen and some other tree species and vegetation. Two recent studies by forestry scientists from Oregon State University, published in the journals BioScience and Forest Ecology and Management, outline a role for the gray wolf that is complex and rarely understood...Chicken genome will help our understanding of humans and improve agriculture
...s located part way between mammals and fish in the tree of life and the sequenced genome will help us to understand the function of human genes and the way that they have evolved in vertebrates. Scientists at the BBSRC-sponsored Institute for Animal Health (IAH) in Compton, Berkshire, have analysed the pa...UCSD researchers derive lessons about human evolution from chicken genome
...ence point and allows us to split the evolutionary tree and look for what features are in common in the DNA sequence," said Department of Mathematics professor Glenn Tesler, who led the work on genome rearrangements with scientists from Germany and Singapore, as well as UCSD computer scientist Pavel Pevzn...Carbon sink or carbon source? Aerosols play role in shifts
...n be attributed to the amount of shade provided by tree and plant leaves in forests and croplands. The lack of shading in grasslands changes the ground surface temperature, which alters the rate of photosynthesis in plants and the CO2 emissions by soil. Since plants want to take in CO2 but also preserve w...Researchers compare chicken, human genomes
...knowledge. Located between mammals and fish on the tree of life, the chicken is well positioned to provide us with new insights into genome evolution and human biology," said NHGRI Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "By comparing the genomes of a wide range of animals, we can better understand the s...Chicken genome analysis will benefit human health and agriculture
... project. "Located between mammals and fish on the tree of life, the chicken is well positioned to provide us with new insights into genome evolution and human biology. By comparing the genomes of a wide range of animals, we can better understand the structure and function of human genes and, ultimately, ......of microbial activity in a rock glacier high above tree line in the Rocky Mountains, a barren environment previously thought to be devoid of life. Found in an intermittent stream draining from the glacier, the evidence includes traces of dissolved organic material and high levels of nitrates, said Mark ...