Organic News

August 10, 2023

Top Headlines

Bats Struggle During Organic Farming Transition

July 20, 2023 —Bat activity falls as farms make the transition to organic agriculture, new research ...

Microbes Key to Sequestering Carbon in Soil

June 5, 2023 —Microbes are by far the most important factor in determining how much carbon is stored in the soil, according to a new study with implications for mitigating climate change and improving soil health for agriculture and food ...

Archaea in a Warming Climate Become Less Diverse, More Predictable

May 5, 2023 —Using a long-term multifactor experimental field site researchers showed that experimental warming of a tallgrass prairie ecosystem significantly altered the community structure of soil archaea and reduced their taxonomic and phylogenetic ...

Our Future Climate Depends Partly on Soil Microbes -- But How Are They Affected by Climate Change?

Jan. 17, 2023 —The largest terrestrial carbon sink on Earth is the planet's soil. One of the big fears is that a warming planet will liberate significant portions of the soil's carbon, turning it into carbon ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:07pm EDT

Moisture the Key to Soils' Ability to Sequester Carbon, Research Shows

Feb. 13, 2023 —Soil is the Earth's second-biggest carbon storage locker after the ocean, and a research collaboration has shown that it's moisture, not temperature or mineral content, that's the key to how well the ...

Researchers Discover Root Exudates Have Surprising and Counterintuitive Impact on Soil Carbon Storage

Nov. 28, 2022 —Researchers examined root exudates and their impact on soil carbon storage revealing surprising and counterintuitive ...

Soil Microbiota Can Boost the Growth of Invasive Plant Species and Provide Defense Against Herbivores

Sep. 8, 2022 —Soil microbes can have a great impact on the spread of harmful invasive species as they can either hinder or facilitate the plant's growth. ...

Soil Quality Critical to Help Some U.S. Crops Weather Heat Stress from Climate Change

July 12, 2022 —The results singled out growing-degree days as the most important climatic factor and water holding capacity as the most influential soil property ...

Organic Farming or Flower Strips: Which Is Better for Bees?

May 21, 2022 —如何有效的环保措施在agricultur吗e are for biodiversity and wild bee populations depends on various factors and your perspective. This is shown by agroecologists. The research team ...

Potential to Reduce Reliance on Non-Renewable Fertilizers in Agriculture

Apr. 12, 2022 —An enzyme that can help release phosphorus from its organic forms has been ...

New Protein Discovery Reveals the Mechanisms of Nitrogen Assimilation in Plants

Apr. 11, 2022 —Researchers recently discovered the protein inhibiting the formation of organic nitrogen compounds in plants. This protein, if manipulated, could ...

Soil Erosion and Wildfire Another Nail in Coffin for Triassic Era

Mar. 21, 2022 —New research has revealed that soil erosion and wildfires contributed to a mass extinction event 201 million years ago that ended the Triassic era and paved the way for the rise of dinosaurs in the ...

Farms Following Soil-Friendly Practices Grow Healthier Food, Study Suggests

Feb. 24, 2022 —An experiment conducted on 10 farms across the U.S. suggests that crops from farms following soil-friendly practices for at least five years have a healthier nutritional profile than the same crops ...

Risk of Soil Degradation and Desertification in Europe’s Mediterranean May Be More Serious Than Realized

Feb. 16, 2022 —Due to human-caused pressures and global warming, some soils in Europe's Mediterranean region are reaching what the researchers refer to as 'critical ...

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Summaries
Headlines

Spatial Distribution of Pores Helps Determine Where Carbon Is Stored in the Soil

Apr. 21, 2022 —Soils store more carbon than all the vegetation on the Earth's surface. However, there are still many unanswered questions about precisely which processes favor accumulation in the soil. Soil ...

Hyperspectral Sensing and AI Pave New Path for Monitoring Soil Carbon

Mar. 1, 2022 —Just how much carbon is in the soil? That's a tough question to answer at large spatial scales, but understanding soil organic carbon at regional, national, or global scales could help ...

Pharmaceutical Residues in Sewage Sludge and Cattle Manure Do Not Have the Feared Effect

Feb. 16, 2022 —Pharmaceutical residues and chemicals from personal care products in sewage sludge and cattle manure do not have a detectable toxic effect on nematodes living in agricultural fields, according to ...

Root Symbiosis Is Regulated Through Nutrient Status of Plants

Feb. 8, 2022 —Phosphorus is one of the most important nutrients for plants. Among other functions, it is needed to create substances for the plant's immune system, for the healthy development of seeds and for ...

控制燃烧的自然环境可以Help Offset Our Carbon Emissions

2021年12月23日Planting trees and suppressing wildfires do not necessarily maximize the carbon storage of natural ecosystems. A new study has found that prescribed burning can actually lock in or increase carbon in ...

Soils in Old-Growth Treetops Can Store More Carbon Than Soils Under Our Feet

Dec. 16, 2021 —Canopy soils that form on tree branches contain three times more carbon than soils on the ground in Costa Rica, potentially serving as an important carbon sink around the ...

Nitrogen’s Impact on Soil Carbon Sequestration

Dec. 15, 2021 —Soil organic carbon is a cornerstone of soil health. It improves soil structure while enhancing water- and nutrient-holding capacity, key factors for any agricultural production system. To build it ...

New Formula Provides Key to Predicting Microbial Growth

Nov. 23, 2021 —We know combustion engines, such as in cars or power plants, lose efficiency when they run faster -- similarly, a new publication reveals that microbes lose efficiency as their metabolic rates ...

Study Digs Up Roles Bacteria Play in Global Carbon Cycle

Nov. 22, 2021 —研究人员研制出了一种创新的技术to track microbes and understand the various ways they process soil carbon, findings that add to our knowledge of how bacteria contribute to the ...

Livestock Antibiotics and Rising Temperatures Disrupt Soil Microbial Communities

Nov. 8, 2021 —Community ecologists investigated the interactive effects of rising temperatures and a common livestock antibiotic on soil microbes. The research team found that heat and antibiotics disrupt soil ...

Upcycled Manure May Ignite New Sustainable Fertilizing Trend

Aug. 30, 2021 —Judiciously decomposing organic matter from 700 degrees Fahrenheit to 1,200 degrees F, without oxygen -- a process known as pyrolysis -- and retaining nutrients from dairy lagoons can transform ...

Comparing the Pathogen Numbers in Backyard and Commercial Composts

Aug. 26, 2021 —In a new study, researchers have measured the number of pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in backyard and commercial ...

Promoting Biodiversity-Friendly Landscapes Beyond Organic Farming

Aug. 4, 2021 —Is organic farming the only alternative to conventional agriculture to promote biodiversity in agricultural landscapes? An international research team questions this. According to the authors, a ...

Elevated Warming, Ozone Have Detrimental Effects on Plant Roots, Promote Soil Carbon Loss

July 9, 2021 —Two factors that play a key role in climate change - increased climate warming and elevated ozone levels - appear to have detrimental effects on soybean plant roots, their relationship with symbiotic ...

Why Scientists Want to Solve an Underground Mystery About Where Microbes Live

June 4, 2021 —A team of biologists revealed, for the first time, that it is possible to accurately predict the abundance of different species of soil microbes in different parts of the ...

How the Major Swedish Forest Fire of 2014 Affected the Ecosystem

June 1, 2021 —Researchers have spent four years gathering data from the areas affected by the major forest fire of 2014. In their study of how the ecosystem as a whole has been altered, they could see that water ...

Ghosts of Past Pesticide Use Can Haunt Organic Farms for Decades

2021年3月3日-Although the use of pesticides in agriculture is increasing, some farms have transitioned to organic practices and avoid applying them. But it's uncertain whether chemicals applied to land ...

Shrubs and Soils: A Hot Topic in the Cool Tundra

Feb. 16, 2021 —As the climate warms in the Arctic, shrubs expand towards higher latitudes and altitudes. Researchers investigated the impacts of dwarf shrubs on tundra soils in the sub-Arctic ...

Bacteria Release Climate-Damaging Carbon from Thawing Permafrost

Dec. 10, 2020 —Around a quarter of the ground in the northern hemisphere is permanently frozen. These areas are estimated to contain about twice as much carbon as the world's current atmosphere. New research ...

Symbiotic Relationship Between California Oaks and Mutualist Fungi as a Buffer for Climate Change

Dec. 9, 2020 —'Happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' So goes the first line of Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina.' Little did the Russian novelist know ...

Thursday, April 21, 2022