Ask our invasive expert a question today
Arne Witt is the coordinator for Invasive Species at CABI Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya. Arne is responsible for coordinating all CABI activities associated with Invasive Alien Species (IAS) on the African continent. He is also the current International Project Coordinator for the UNEP-GEF project, “Removing Barriers to Invasive Plant Management in Africa”. You can…
Express Yourself Genetically: Say It With Flowers
Is it a plant or is it animal? Is it an artwork or is it a science project? Is it a profound statement or just messing about? These are just some of the questions unlikely to be answered by Edunia, a transgenic flower with artist Eduardo Kac's own DNA expressed in the red veins. …
CABI caught on camera – natural pesticides and Himalayan balsam
CABI has produced two YouTube videos highlighting the work of our scientists: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3viXZSvd84&hl=nl&fs=1] Following in Darwin’s footsteps: unearthing Chile’s hidden worldTwo crop protection scientists from CABI embark upon a journey to extreme environments in Chile. They are on a mission to find fungi and nematodes that could be used to make natural pesticides. [youtube…
Environmental impacts of Bt crops – on target or non-target?
Genetically modified crops containing a toxin gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis have been used by farmers for 11 years now. These Bt crops were designed to give the plants resistance to important pests. But might they also be harming non-target invertebrates? A study by Steven Naranjo of the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research…
Sri Lankan coconut farmers predict yields for future climates
Millions of people in the tropics depend on coconuts for food, raw materials and livelihood. Coconuts are also a high value commercial crop. But like any crop, coconuts are at risk of drought and other prolonged events. By using climate science and better agricultural forecast models, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)…
Hygienic Honeybees to Save Hives
Back in November 2008, avid followers of hand picked……..and carefully sorted will remember my blog about how Rowse Honey were investing £100,000 in honeybee (Apis mellifera) health research, to be undertaken by Britain’s only professor of apiculture, Francis Ratnieks. Well, after months of research it seems that significant headway has been made to breed hygienic…
How can plant scientists change the world?
By identifying the top 100 questions facing plant science and addressing them. Inspired by a study which identified 100 ecological questions of high policy relevance in the UK, experts at the University of Bristol launched a website to identify the most important and urgent questions in global plant science. Plant science is helping to address…
The UN ask an expert programme – Invasive Species Q&A transcript
I was catching up on my reading of invasive species blogs during my coffee-break this morning, so unfortunately this is now a historical post, but still worth checking out. Jennifer Forman Orth over at the Invasive Species Weblog noticed that it was "Ask an Expert" Invasives Day on the 4th and 5th March over at…
Hot Potatoes
With advancing climate change have potatoes had their chips?Looking back over the International Year of the Potato, Marco Bindi (University of Florence) answers the question "What effect will global warming have on the potato?" "Since potato's tuberization rate declines above a temperature of 17°C, increasing temperatures may lead to reduced yields in potato varieties now…
Medicinal plants threatened by changing climates
An article (full text here) warning that climate change is affecting medicinal and aromatic plants around the world and could ultimately lead to losses of some key species, was recently published in HerbalGram the journal of the American Botanical Council. The authors note that species endemic to regions or ecosystems that are especially vulnerable to…