Rust resistance genes added to beans
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says new cultivars of a common bean might defend the legume against the fungal disease common bean rust.
The new cultivars were developed by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and university scientists. Talo Pastor-Corrales, an ARS plant pathologist in Beltsville, Md., said the new cultivars possess two or more genes for resistance to the rust fungi. Most of the cultivars also harbor Ur-11, which is considered the most effective rust-resistance gene in the world.
Giant crocodiles surf to far-flung habitats
The estuarine crocodile is a bad swimmer. So how has it managed to colonize northern Australia, eastern India, part of southeast Asia and multiple South-east Pacific islands separated by enormous swaths of ocean?
Easy, a team of researchers in Australia has found. They surf.
Using acoustic telemetry and satellite positioning or tagged crocodiles, the researchers found that both male and female crocodiles regularly traveled more than 30 miles by ‘surfing’ river and ocean currents. They always began their voyages within an hour of the river’s tides changing, so they could take advantage of the current. When the tide turned against them they pulled up onto the riverbank to wait for the next day’s tide.
They also analyzed data showing that one satellite-tagged crocodile traveled 360 miles over 25 days. A second male, went 255 miles in 20 days.
The paper is in this month’s edition of the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Animal Ecology.
The estuarine crocodile is the world’s largest living reptile. Males can weigh up to 2,900 pounds and reach up to 20 feet long. Crocodylus porosus lives mostly in rivers, mangrove swamps and estuaries and cannot survive long-term away from land, where it gets its food and water.
Battle to bring BP to account for oil spill intensifies
Senior politicians in the US gather to co-ordinate their approach to oil spill, while embattled chief executive Tony Hayward has been summoned to Washington.
Saving California’s bees one hive at a time
A huge colony of feral bees had set up home in the loft of a house on the outskirts of Los Angeles and they had to be removed.
A previous attempt to kill the nest failed because the honeycomb, which contains honey and bee larvae, was left intact.
But Keith Roberts had no intention of exterminating the colony. Like many beekeepers, he is battling the worst crisis to hit the beekeeping world in decades.
For the fourth year in a row, about a third of honeybee hives in the United States died off during the past winter. Worker bees are succumbing to a mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which scientists are still struggling to understand.
Continue reading the main story Beekeeper Keith Roberts removing feral bees from a loftThese bees might very well hold the key to healthier bees in the general pool
So when Mr Roberts comes across a thriving nest of feral bees, his company views it as an opportunity to replenish the dwindling populations of commercial honeybees.
Our mission statement is: “Save the buzz, one hive at a time,” he explains.
“We are passionate about bee relocation and the importance of identifying hives and their colonies that are located in structures.
“Instead of having the owner eliminate them, exterminate them, we take the time to put them into proper hives and take them out to the orchards where they can work properly and still continue on their happy lives.”
There is evidence that despite CCD, there are thriving colonies of feral honeybees still intact in the wild. Enthusiasts believe that they could play a pivotal role in developing disease resistant stocks.
“My experience has been that the feral colonies are survivors,” explains Mr Roberts.
He says that because the bees have not been “pampered in apiaries and given the best of the best” they have more hygienic hives
“And they’re exposed to a natural selection that enables them to be stronger,” Mr Roberts continues.
“They may be the solution to the crisis because we’re able to get those genetics and save them, hopefully utilise them and try to isolate why they are so much better, why they are stronger and increase their lineage to other hives.”
Many of the feral bees in California are thought to be Africanised honeybees which are the result of breeding between European and African bees. They have become common in southern California. Further breeding by beekeepers may result in a hybrid which produces more honey and also be resistant to the parasites and pesticides contributing to the deaths of domestic bee colonies.
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