agriculture

Researchers explore algal biology for new strategies to help humans live more sustainably.

Abundant environmental CO₂ can increase plant biomass and photosynthesis, but it has downsides for agriculture and ecosystems, a growing body of research finds.

Polluted air impedes the trees’ ability to read one another’s signals, a study finds.

A chromosome-scale genome sequence for this infamous agricultural pest could help mitigate its plagues.

Insect populations and species diversity are drastically reduced in areas affected by both climate change and agriculture-related habitat destruction, according to a new study.

In Chapter 7, “Grow,” author Helen Anne Curry relays the story of Indigenous revolutionaries in Mexico who tapped into community-based methods to conserve traditional corn varieties.

Rethinking why and how we conserve crop genetic diversity

Comparing the genomes of modern pathogens with those of cryopreserved strains from several decades ago shed light on the evolution of coffee wilt disease outbreaks in Africa.

An analysis of more than half a million trees reveals that many species begin to taper off seed production once they hit a certain size.

Ethologist Jan Langbein and his team trained the cattle as a way to keep solid and liquid cattle waste separate—with the goal of reducing ammonia emissions coming from livestock.

A newly identified gene family named “parasitoid killing factor” is found in both insect-infecting viruses and their hosts, although researchers can’t yet tell where they originated.

The high-yield variety of rice he produced in the 1970s prevented countless people from dying of starvation.

TMAO appears to both stabilize other plant proteins and influence the expression of stress-response genes, researchers report.

Trofim Lysenko’s attacks on geneticists had long-term effects on Russian science and scientists, despite a lack of evidence to support his beliefs about biological inheritance.

Cultivating stenophylla, untapped by the coffee industry for the last century, could help farmers cope with the effects of climate change, researchers suggest.

The use of pesticides has decreased in the US by more than 40 percent since 1992, but the emergence of more-potent chemicals means that they are far more damaging to many species.

Whiteflies overcome a toxin in plants they eat through the use of the plant’s own genetic protection, likely ferried from plant to insect millions of years ago by a virus.