Study: Plants communicate with each other via underground fungi

A new study show mycorrhizal fungi can create a complex communication network between plants (Wikicommons)A new study has demonstrated that plants can use an underground network of fungi to warn each other about incoming insect attacks.

Carried out by researchers from the University of Aberdeen, the James Hutton Institute and Rothamsted Research, the study demonstrated that the plants are able to send warnings of incoming aphids to other plants connected to their network. The plants then send out a chemical signal that repels aphids and attracts wasps, a natural aphid predator.

The research follows previous findings that have shown plants can communicate similar chemical warnings through the air.

The new study says plants can connect with other via a common fungus known as mycorrhizae. "Mycorrhizal fungi need to get [products of photosynthesis] from the plant, and they have to do something for the plant," John Pickett of Rothamsted Research told the BBC.

"In the past, we thought of them making nutrients available from the [roots and soil], but now we see another evolutionary role for them in which they pay the plant back by transmitting the signal efficiently," he said.

University of Aberdeen’s Dr. David Johnson's added, "Our understanding of ecological systems has not considered the fact that plants are interconnected in this way. It could have major implications for our understanding of how one organism affects another."

Conversely, the plants in the study not connected to the fungal network did not send out warning signals to other plants after coming under attack. The in-network plants were also covered with bags to ensure that they were not actually sending the signals through the air.

Pickett said the discovery could lead to farms using the fungi as an advance warning system for their crops. In theory, one “sacrificial” plant would be kept at a distance from the crops. If it fell under attack from insects, it would warn the rest of the plants, giving them time to mount a viable defense.

View the original article here

Landlord mistakes tenant’s tomato plants for pot, calls cops

Does this tomato plant look like marijuana to you? (Reuters)You say “tomato”, I say, “illegal pot farm on a Brooklyn rooftop.”

A resident in a Brooklyn apartment building got an unexpected, and unmerited, visit from the police after his superintendent called the cops to report an illegal pot growing operation on the building’s roof.

There was just one small problem … the plant growing on the building’s roof were actually tomatoes.

“I don’t know much about plants. I’m not too good with that,” building superintendent Christian Delarosa told the New York Daily News. “When I saw them, the first thing I thought was ‘Oh, my God.’ Right there I looked it up on my phone and they looked close to marijuana plants, but I thought I should call someone who knew about plants, so I called police.”

After Delarosa put in the call, a lieutenant and two officers were sent to the scene to investigate the 15 Solo cups and the mysterious green seedlings contained within.

An unapologetic Delarosa, 34, says that while the plants turned out to be entirely legal, he wasn’t the only one fooled.

“When the police officer came he couldn't tell right away, either,” he said.

Obviously, tomato plants don't contain the psychoactive compound found in marijuana plants but they do contain nicotine.

As for the unnamed building resident? Well, he won’t be spending any time in jail. But Delarosa is still shutting down his rooftop grow operation. Even if the only thing being produced is perfectly healthy and legal produce.

“No one’s supposed to be there anyway,” Delarosa told the paper.

There are a number of plants that can be easily mistaken for cannabis, most commonly hemp, which is essentially the same plant minus the psychoactive chemicals. Other plants, like the Japanese Maple, or the false Aralia have similarly shaped leaves, minus the flowering bud.

But would someone really make the same mistake with a tomato plant? Delarosa says he looked at pictures of pot plants online before calling the police. The Daily News interviewed one plant expert who said that’s a little hard to believe.

“They’re not the same species; they’re not the same genus. I don’t even think they’re part of the same family,” said Mikeal Roose, chairman of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside. “It’s very hard for me to see that somebody could (confuse the two). If you put the leaves side by side, you wouldn’t be able to mistake them.”

View the original article here

Pennsylvanians complete 100 days of climate action to call for final EPA carbon pollution standards for power plants

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When President Obama stated at his second inauguration that we have a moral obligation to fight climate change, Pennsylvanians saw it as a call to action. Over the past 100 days, a coalition of environmental groups including PennFuture, National Wildlife Federation, Clean Air Council, PennEnvironment, and Sierra Club have joined with Pennsylvania citizens to help fulfill that obligation by holding events across the state and generating more than 6,200 grassroots activities directed toward policymakers. These actions highlighted the need for the President and his administration to follow through on his promises to limit industrial carbon pollution that causes climate change and endangers the health of our communities.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130211/DC57616LOGO)

"President Obama called climate action an 'obligation' and we spent the last 100 days showing the President we support his fulfillment of that obligation and look forward to his prioritizing American leadership on climate and clean energy during his second term," said Joy Bergey, federal policy director for PennFuture. "Right now, after the Obama Administration missed a recent court-ordered deadline, the EPA can finalize a Carbon Pollution Standard for power plants and then immediately turn its attention to curbing carbon pollution from existing power plants. These are the largest producer of dangerous carbon pollution, and a strong carbon pollution standard would be a major step forward in protecting public health, especially of our children and seniors."

In addition to the efforts in Pennsylvania, groups across the nation participated in many local actions over the last 100 days to highlight our climate action obligation that included:

1. 13,899 participants in climate change activities nationwide; and
2. 17,226 grassroots activities nationwide, such as climate change awareness events, letter writing, and phone calls to policy makers.

Those who participated say we've waited long enough for our leaders to act to protect our health and build our economy using cleaner, safer energy technology.

"People of faith recognize that we have a moral calling to care for each other and for Creation. Every year, power plants dump more than two billion tons of dangerous industrial carbon pollution into our shared air, impairing our children's health and their futures. We can work to make our lives as energy-efficient as we can, but neither individuals nor congregations can change the way power is generated," said Cricket Eccleston Hunter, executive director of PA Interfaith Power & Light. "The EPA should complete the final version of the proposed and reviewed new source standards without further delay."

There are also benefits to the economy of moving forward. "Just as the Obama administration's clean car standards are helping rebuild the American auto industry, these power plant standards to protect human health will promote the innovation and investment needed to create jobs," said Christina Simeone, director of the PennFuture Energy Center.

PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization, founded in 1998, with staff in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre. PennFuture's activities include litigating cases before regulatory bodies and in local, state, and federal courts; advocating and advancing legislative action on a state and federal level; public education; and assisting citizens in public advocacy.

The Philadelphia Inquirer called PennFuture the "state's leading environmental advocacy organization;" the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named the organization "one of the 10 most influential groups on the issue of natural gas drilling;" and StateImpact Pennsylvania, an online collaboration of NPR stations across the state, called PennFuture "the commonwealth's main environmental advocate."

Contact: Joy Bergey bergey@pennfuture.org, 215-313-1311

SOURCE Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture)

View the original article here