Whitefly and Virus Team Tactics
The notorius ‘B’-biotype whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, can act as a vector for viruses, transmitting them between plants as it feeds. Nothing new there? Yes actually, in an interesting twist, researchers at Zhejiang University, China have found that certain viruses repay the favour by increasing whitefly performance on the infected plant. Comparisons of B whitefly fecundity…
Slick seabirds
Since the MSC Napoli ran into difficulties two weeks ago, it’s not only the coastguard and Swedish emigrants who are having to repair the damage done. One RSPCA centre had received more than 420 birds by Wednesday morning and up to 10,000 are expected. Rescued guillemots are being given specialist care although many have been…
Goodbye Barbaro
Champion U.S. racehorse Barbaro has been euthanized this week following a battle to recover from injuries sustained last May. The Thoroughbred fractured his leg in three places in a race shortly after a stunning victory at the Kentucky Derby, which he won by the biggest margin in 60 years. Barbaro’s progress following surgery has captured…
Why salt?
Those of you who were paying attention yesterday will already be aware that I have been doing a bit of salt mining. This is fairly easy to get away with when, like me, you’re new to the database and thus ‘have to get to grips with it’. So I have been plugging in various ‘preferred’…
Creating the Perfect Catfish
The search is on for the perfect catfish and scientists at the USDA have come up with the answer – fingerprinting fish! The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) is the most commonly cultured fish in the US accounting for more than half of the nation’s total aquaculture output; catfish production and associated industries are now worth…
Be (a)ware…
This week in the UK is National Salt Awareness Week 2007! Not that you’d notice it. Compared to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) high-profile campaigns of recent years that have included billboards and TV advertising, the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), who organised this initiative, seem to be playing it fairly low key.…
Maryland at Risk of Losing Millions of Trees
The Maryland Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources are cutting down hundreds of ash trees (genus Fraxinus) in parks and forests this week in Prince George’s County, as a strategy to stop an outbreak of the invasive beetle, emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis, Fairmaire). Since being discovered in the US, in 2003, possibly arriving in…
Successful seed storage
For all you keen gardeners looking for novel ways to preserve your seed harvest this year, there’s no need to worry about not having special cryopreservation equipment or a ready supply of liquid nitrogen. You can draw on the wisdom of indigenous cultures for some methods to extend storage life. Take a look at the…
Troubled times ahead for tuna
The World Wide Fund for Nature has warned that tuna stocks are disappearing at an alarming rate. The depletion is thought to be due to a combination of poor management of existing stocks and high levels of illegal, unreported fishing. According to WWF, Atlantic bluefin tuna used for high value sushi and sashimi are "massively…
Trees for flights?
It’s been difficult to avoid the current debate about carbon offsetting in the news recently and one topic that comes up again and again is planting trees. In a world where people are flying shorter distances more frequently can we really make up for this by planting a few trees here and there? A number…