Poplar short rotation coppice (SRC) plantations have great potential for supplying environmentally friendly bio-based industries. However, little research has focussed on the linkages between SRC management regimes and the consumption of water for biomass production in the Mediterranean environment. Therefore, we compared six hybrid clones and four native black poplar genotypes with an aim to examine

In-field weed detection in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is challenging due to the occurrence of weeds in close proximity with the crop. The objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of using deep convolutional neural networks for detecting broadleaf weed seedlings growing in wheat.

Succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHIs) have been widely used to manage plant diseases caused by phytopathogenic fungi. Although attention to and use of SDHI fungicides has recently increased, molecular responses of fungal pathogens to SDHIs have often not been investigated. A SDHI fungicide, fluopyram, has been used as a soybean seed treatment and has displayed effective control of Fusarium virguliforme

In the arsenal of plant defense, protease inhibitors (PIs) are well-designed defensive products to counter field pests. PIs are produced in plant tissues by means of "stable defense metabolite" and triggered on demand as the perception of the signal and well established as a part of "plant active defense. PIs have been utilized for approximately four decades, initially as gene alone approach and later

Bio-oils are good substitutes for petrochemical oil, but their high oxygen contents result in poor oxidation stability. Therefore, anti-oxidants are essential to improve the oxidation stability of bio-oils. In this study, quantum chemistry has been used to analyze in detail the relationship between the structure and adsorption properties of bio-oils and silanol groups. A new type of rough-surface hollow

Increasing extreme climate conditions present significant threats to crop nitrogen (N) management and environmental conservation in the United States. Previous studies have examined the impacts of extreme climate on crop production but often overlooked its impacts on N loss from agricultural areas to the environment. Here we examined the relationship between county-level N surplus (the part of N that

Amaranthus retroflexus L. is a problematic weed in agricultural fields. In China, the repeated use of acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibiting herbicides has led to the evolution of many A. retroflexus resistant populations. The objective of this research was to investigate the physiological and molecular basis for resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides in A. retroflexus.

Management practices in paddy fields are changing in the Poyang Lake basin, southern China. Investigating CO2 fluxes in paddy fields under different management practices is essential for understanding regional carbon cycles affected by human activities. Two-year CO2 fluxes were collected from paired eddy covariance (EC) towers at two paddy fields in southern China. One site is under the traditional

Turfgrass managers reported poor Eleusine indica control following applications of the mitosis-inhibiting herbicide dithiopyr in cool-season turfgrass. Field, greenhouse, and laboratory experiments were conducted to understand the response of these biotypes to dithiopyr and prodiamine.

As the global population grows, large quantities of agrochemicals are used to secure food demand and there is an urgent need to develop efficient and environmentally friendly pesticides and fertilizers. Compared with traditional pesticides, nanopesticide formulations can achieve better foliar wettability, chemical stability, and water dispersibility without or with the minimal use of organic solvents

Use of parks is important for the healthy ageing of older adults as it is associated with substantial physical, mental and social health benefits. However, parks are generally underused by older adults, and we know little about which physical environmental factors influence their use of parks. This study aimed to use interviews to qualitatively explore the physical environmental factors of parks that

Urban green spaces (UGS) provide health benefits to city dwellers, which may be even more important during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, lack of access to UGS or important UGS features, in addition to concerns about UGS safety or maintenance, could prevent people from receiving these benefits. We designed an online survey to understand how people were using and perceiving

Stormwater control measures (SCMs) in the form of highly permeable tree pits can be useful in two ways. On one hand, they can help reduce surface runoff and on the other hand, the presence of trees in these pits can potentially help mitigate the urban heat island effect. Therefore, it is important to understand the pit designs that underpin tree health and growth performances. Here in this study, four

Urban nature has the capacity to enrich the lives of those experiencing it, yet research shows that fewer and fewer humans feel this connection. While experiences with nature continue to decline, engagement with personal technology is on the rise. To engage people with urban trees, we sought to apply this technology in a new way. Text-A-Tree served as a two-month engagement project in which visitors

There is a growing interest for the mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae using sustainable natural carbon sources. Chitin from shrimp waste was hydrolyzed using chitinase from Trichoderma asperellum and was exploited for the mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae. Chitin saccharification was optimized using Box-Behnken design to produce 50.41% (w/w) of reducing sugars using chitin, 0.83% (w/v), chitinase

A developed bioeconomy needs better storage methods for wood chips and forest industry by-products, since increasing demands for more assortments, more storage will be necessary Today, solutions for coping with storage-related problems, such as dry matter losses and risk of self-ignition, are based on separating assortments into smaller piles and avoiding large-scale long-term storage of chips. A safe

Simulating the impacts of future climate change on water footprints and crop production allows for selecting alternative crops for mitigating climate change effects. In this study, climate change impacts on irrigated grain corn, grain sorghum, winter wheat, and dryland (rainfed) winter wheat in the Palo Duro watershed of the Texas High Plains were assessed using an improved Soil and Water Assessment

Natural products (NPs) have long been an important source of, and inspiration for, developing novel compounds to control weeds, pathogens and insect pests. In this review, we use a dataset of 800 historic, current and emerging crop protection compounds to explore the influence of NPs on the introduction of new crop protection compounds (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides) as a function of time. NPs

Nearly 33 million tons of sugarcane bagasse are produced in China every year, and a large amount of this is wasted. Pelletization is an efficient method of utilizing excess bagasse. This study uses a specially designed pelletizing device to identify how process parameters and biomass characteristics affect the densification of sugarcane bagasse. We used four-factor Box-Behnken experimental design and

Mineral oil added to fungicide spray mixtures has been a frequently used strategy to control citrus black spot (CBS) worldwide. Although mineral oil may increase the efficacy of control, its use represents around 15% of the costs of CBS spray program. This study aimed to assess the performance of different mineral oil rates added to fungicide tank mixture for CBS control in young (<10-yr-old) and old

There is great interest in the ability of afforestation programs to sequester carbon, improve soil health, and provide other ecological benefits to urban areas. However, the capacity of urban soils to support successful afforestation and sequester carbon is poorly understood. This study quantified soil carbon in a series of experimental restoration sites established between 2009 and 2011 as part of

The residential forest provides many amenities to communities, including aesthetics, air quality improvement, and higher property values. However, the residential forest may also contribute human-perceived problems or disamenities including allergens, leaf debris, infrastructure damage, and maintenance costs. Vegetation management by utility companies along power lines is one process that shapes the

Association between green space and physical activity has ignored housing type, despite people in houses often having access to private green space, whereas their counterparts in apartments do not. Thus, access to green space may have contrasting influences on outdoor leisure time and how much of it is spent in the types of physical activity known to protect against chronic disease. Adjusted multilevel

Land-use changes can alter carbon cycling. Soil carbon loss resulting from the conversion of natural forests to rubber plantations (RP) may occur due to changes in litter inputs or in biotic and abiotic environmental conditions. In this study, we conducted a reciprocal soil and litter translocation mesocosm experiment for 15 months in a seasonal rainforest (SR) and RP to elucidate the effect of litter

Wireworms, the soil-dwelling larvae of click beetles, are a major threat to global agricultural production. This is largely due to their generalist polyphagous feeding capabilities, extended and cryptic life cycles, and limited management options available. Although wireworms are well-documented as economically important pests in the Canadian Prairies, including Manitoba, there are gaps in knowledge

Responses to sex pheromones are commonly antagonized by pheromone components of closely related species. Pheromone antagonism has not been widely explored for phylogenetically distant species that have completely different pheromone components. Yet, pheromone components of sympatrically occurring species may also interfere with each other even if these species are distantly related. Here, the effects

Biosolids can be incorporated as a water replacement into a two-stage thermal process for biofuel production from brown greases, significantly reducing the overall environmental impact of the process. Unfortunately, the use of biosolids resulted in an appreciable amount of sulphur in the pyrolytic oils produced in the final stage of the process. Here, we first evaluated the relationship between the

The tomato russet mite (TRM), Aculops lycopersici, and powdery mildew (PM), Oidium neolycopersici, are two major problems in tomato cultivation for which no effective biocontrol solutions exist to date. In a greenhouse compartment, we investigated the potential of preventatively establishing the iolinid omnivorous mite Pronematus ubiquitus on potted tomato plants to control both pest and pathogen simultaneously

Wolbachia are intracellular α-proteobacteria that have a wide distribution among various arthropods and nematodes. They affect the host reproduction favoring their maternal transmission, which sets up a potential conflict in inbreeding situations when the host avoids sexual reproduction preventing inbreeding depression, while Wolbachia pushes it. We used the wasp Habrobracon hebetor to test the hypothesis

Grain sorghum is a versatile crop, which can thrive under limited water and other inputs. However, crops loss from weed infestation continues to be a major constraint in grain sorghum production. Particularly, post-emergence grass weed control is a great challenge in grain sorghum due to the lack of herbicide options. Unlike in other major crops, such as maize or soybean, herbicide-resistance sorghum

Tanning is an important physiological process that play the critical roles in affecting cuticle pigmentation and sclerotization. Previous studies have showed that insect cuticle tanning was closely associated with tyrosine metabolism pathway that consisted of a series of enzymes.

Public spaces in cities of today are characterized by socio-spatial inequalities that often result in restricted mobility for, and exclusion of, marginalized populations—inequalities that have intensified due to COVID-19. In this exploratory study, we distributed a survey comprised of close- and open-ended questions through convenience sampling in late July 2020 with the aim of understanding (1) if

In eastern Canada, surveys of overwintering second-instar spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) larvae (‘L2s’) are carried out each fall to guide insecticide application decisions in the following spring. These surveys involve the collection of fir and spruce branches in selected stands, followed by the mechanical/chemical removal of larvae. The latter are then counted manually on filter papers