Low elevations hold climate surprises

Unexpected effects seen on mountain plants

2010-10-29

(Press-News.org) Contrary to expectations, climate change has had a significant effect on mountain plants at low elevations, says a new study led by a UC Davis researcher.

The information could guide future conservation efforts at local scales by helping decision makers anticipate biological responses to climate changes, said lead author Susan Harrison, a UC Davis professor of environmental science and policy.

Harrison and scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the U.S. Geological Survey examined vegetation changes during the past 60 years in the Siskiyou Mountains of Oregon.

They found signs of increased drought stress in the low-elevation forests (1,650 to 4,000 feet), but not at high elevations (4,100 to 6,900 feet). Climate change appeared to affect both logged and unlogged forests at low elevations similarly.

"We were surprised to find such clear signals of climate change in these plant communities, given all the other ecological changes that may be going on in the region, such as logging and fire suppression," Harrison said.

INFORMATION:

The study was published online Monday (Oct. 25) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the U.S. Geological Survey Global Climate Change Program.

Additional information:
* Report abstract

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

The quest of tracking human mutation in the 1000 genomes project: Human mutation repertoire revealed

2010-10-29

Montreal, October 27, 2010 – Mutations in DNA are a normal part of life. Sometimes these variations give rise to unique and beneficial traits including the creation of a new species, other times they cause devastating diseases. We are now another step closer to capturing most of the DNA mutations in humans thanks to an international study cataloging all forms of DNA variation from five populations from Europe, East Asia, South Asia, West Africa and the Americas, in the "1000 Genomes Project". Findings from the first phase of this study have been published in this week's ...

Telomere length affects colorectal cancer risk

2010-10-29

PHILADELPHIA — For the first time, researchers have found a link between long telomeres and an increased risk for colorectal cancer, according to research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research special conference on Colorectal Cancer: Biology to Therapy, held here Oct. 27-30, 2010. Telomeres are small strips of DNA that cover the ends of chromosomes — they are similar to the plastic coverings on shoelace tips. They prevent chromosome tips from fraying during cell division. If the telomeres shorten, then cells age. Shortened telomeres have been associated ...

FAK inhibitor effectively blocked colon cancer cell growth and viability

2010-10-29

PHILADELPHIA — Researchers are one step closer to providing a new therapy for colon cancer, after findings revealed that a small molecule focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor known as Y15 effectively blocked cell viability, promoted detachment and apoptosis, and decreased tumor growth in mice. These findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research special conference on Colorectal Cancer: Biology to Therapy, held Oct. 27-30, 2010. "We believe that these types of novel small molecule inhibitors may be the future direction for cancer therapy," said ...

Jekyll-Hyde microRNA binding variant linked to improved outcome in early-stage colorectal cancer

2010-10-29

PHILADELPHIA — A variant site linked to poor outcome in advanced colorectal cancer has now been found to predict improved prognosis in early stages of cancer, according to research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research special conference on Colorectal Cancer: Biology to Therapy, held Oct. 27-30, 2010. Researchers said they don't know why this variant site, a microRNA binding site that should allow appropriate regulation of the KRAS gene, exhibited a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde duality. Further study could show that patients with this miRNA variant might ...

Small-molecule inhibitors effectively targeted active colon cancer enzyme

2010-10-29

PHILADELPHIA — Researchers have identified two small-molecule inhibitors that effectively targeted the focal adhesion kinase (FAK), an enzyme present in certain cancers that helps tumors thrive and survive. If the drugs are developed into oral therapeutic agents in the future, they could open up the potential for more effective and less toxic cancer therapies, according to research presented at The American Association for Cancer Research special conference on Colorectal Cancer: Biology to Therapy, held Oct. 27-30, 2010. "It is well known that FAK is overexpressed ...

Researchers build colony of colon cancer stem cells to test new approach to therapy

2010-10-29

PHILADELPHIA — University of Pittsburgh researchers have devised a three-dimensional system in laboratory culture that mimics the growth patterns of colon cancer stem cells in patients. Their findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research special conference on Colorectal Cancer: Biology to Therapy, held Oct. 27-30, 2010. The assay, which uses green fluorescent "reporter" proteins to watch the process of stem cell differentiation, is designed to understand how these cancer stem cells behave, and to identify and test therapies that could halt production ...

Origin of skillful stone-tool-sharpening method pushed back more than 50,000 years

2010-10-29

A highly skillful and delicate method of sharpening and retouching stone artifacts by prehistoric people appears to have been developed at least 75,000 years ago, more than 50,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. The new findings show that the technique, known as pressure flaking, took place at Blombos Cave in South Africa during the Middle Stone Age by anatomically modern humans and involved the heating of silcrete -- quartz grains cemented by silica -- used to make tools. Pressure flaking ...

Study says solar systems like ours may be common

2010-10-29

Nearly one in four stars like the sun could have Earth-size planets, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study of nearby solar-mass stars. UC Berkeley astronomers Andrew Howard and Geoffrey Marcy chose 166 G and K stars within 80 light years of Earth and observed them with the powerful Keck telescope for five years in order to determine the number, mass and orbital distance of any of the stars' planets. The sun is the best known of the G stars, which are yellow, while K-type dwarfs are slightly smaller, orange-red stars. The researchers found increasing ...

Size of protein aggregates, not abundance, drives spread of prion-based disease

2010-10-29

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Mad Cow disease and its human variant Creutzfeldt—Jakob disease, which are incurable and fatal, have been on a welcome hiatus from the news for years, but because mammals remain as vulnerable as ever to infectious diseases caused by enigmatic proteins called prions, scientists have taken no respite of their own. In the Oct. 29 edition of the journal Science, researchers at Brown University report a key new insight into how prion proteins — the infectious agents — become transmissible: In yeast at least, it is the size of prion complexes, ...

Kidney transplant numbers increase for elderly patients

2010-10-29

Elderly patients with kidney failure get kidney transplants more often than they did a decade ago, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that the chances of receiving a kidney transplant are better than ever for an older patient who needs one. Kidney failure afflicts nearly half a million individuals in the United States, and 48% of sufferers are 60 years of age or older. Kidney disease patients who obtain a transplant live longer than those that remain on dialysis. ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Red light linked to lowered risk of blood clots

Menarini Group and Insilico Medicine enter a second exclusive global license agreement for an AI discovered preclinical asset targeting high unmet needs in oncology