Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the ubiquitous energy currency of all living organisms. Without it there would be no metabolic processes or growth possible – for animal cells as well as plant cells. Headed by the University Bonn an international team of researchers was able to visualise the ATP distribution and utilisation during stressful phases in living plant seedlings.
What do Antarctica and space have in common? Nothing can grow there. Except, that is exactly the goal of a new long-term experiment as part of the EDEN-ISS project. The EDEN-ISS project aims to develop plant cultivation technologies that can be used for safe food production in space in so-called closed-loop systems or closed greenhouses.
Wild Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) is the wild form of nearly all the domesticated wheat in the world, including both durum (pasta) and bread wheat. Wild emmer is too low-yielding to be of use to farmers today but it contains several attractive characteristics that could be used by plant breeders.
Bayer aims to further grow its Animal Health Business. Until the year 2021, the company will invest an estimated €92 million into the further development of the production site in Kiel, where some of the most important products for the global market are being manufactured.
20% of bee colonies in Germany did not survive the winter – a high toll: the average loss per winter is about 10%. Since the turn of the millennia there have been several waves of widespread bee death with detrimental consequences for the agricultural industry. However, the reasons behind these disappearances are not entirely resolved yet. Nonetheless, it seems very likely that global climate change, as well as the use of pesticides, especially neonicotinoids, play an important role regarding these disappearances.
The majority of Central European forests such as the German Black Forest are characterised by spruce. The Norway spruce is Germany’s most important commercial tree. Due to climate change droughts are expected to become more and more common and intense in Europe. However, not every plant species has adapted to this. Researchers of the University of Freiburg (Breisgau) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) investigated conifers in the Black Forest.
The rainforest in Brazil with its famous Amazon basin is home to countless animals and plants that function as earth’s green lungs and play an important part for the global climate. However, deforestation and developing new and more sources for raw material severely endangers the biodiversity of that area. Marcello Tabarelli has been investigating for years, exactly how mankind affects the biodiversity within the rainforest.
Different habitats require different ways of life. Throughout evolution and over the course of millions of years a multitude of animal species have adapted to their respective homes. Even honey bees differ from one another in their behaviour. East African honey bees, for instance, live either in the dry savannahs or in the darker and damper mountain forests – each environment requires their own skill set. Researcher at the universities of Hohenheim and Uppsala, and the Institute for Bee Research Hohen Neuendorf e.V.
From ship machinery to tractors and drones, Cornelia Weltzien has always considered herself an enthusiast of technology. Today, the graduate agricultural engineer feels most at home in the fields of mechanics, hydraulics or electronics. As the daughter of an immunobiologist, a sense of curiosity is part of the family tradition. Weltzien thinks she may have inherited her affinity for technology from her grandfather. “It was always like this. I was the one repairing my brothers’ bikes – not the other way round!”
European agricultural policies will have to change. That is the main message of the “LivingLand”-initiative that came to a close on May 2. Throughout the initiative, a public consultation on future common agricultural policies (CAP) in the EU, lay-citizens, farmers, and companies alike were asked to voice their opinions and suggestions in order to transform today’s agriculture into a more sustainable industry for tomorrow.