PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

The future of global agriculture may include new land, fewer harvests

Cropland may expand in the Northern latitudes

2014-09-17
(Press-News.org) Climate change may expand suitable cropland, particularly in the Northern high latitudes, but tropical regions may becoming decreasingly suitable, according to a study published September 17, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Florian Zabel from Ludwig Maximilians University, Germany and colleagues.

Most of the Earth's accessible agricultural land are already under cultivation. Ecological factors such as climate, soil quality, water supply and topography determine the suitability of land for agriculture. Climate change may impact global agriculture, but some regions may benefit from it. In a new study, researchers focused on the probable impact of climate change on the supply of land suitable for the cultivation of the 16 major food and energy crops worldwide, including staples such as maize, rice, soybeans and wheat. They simulated the impact of climate change on agricultural production over the course of the 21st century and found that two-thirds of all land potentially suitable for agricultural use is already under cultivation.

The results indicate that climate change may expand the supply of cropland in the high latitudes of the Northern hemisphere, including Canada, Russia, China, over the next 100 years. However, in the absence of adaptation measures such as increased irrigation, the simulation projects a significant loss of suitable agricultural land in Mediterranean regions and in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The land suitable for agricultural would be about 54 million km2 – and of this, 91% is already under cultivation. "Much of the additional area is, however, at best only moderately suited to agricultural use, so the proportion of highly fertile land used for crop production will decrease," says Zabel. Moreover, in the tropical regions of Brazil, Asia and Central Africa, climate change will significantly reduce the chance of obtaining multiple harvests per year.

"In the context of current projections, which predict that the demand for food will double by the year 2050 as the result of population increase, our results are quite alarming. In addition, one must consider the prospect of increased pressure on land resources for the cultivation of forage crops and animal feed owing to rising demand for meat, and the expansion of land use for the production of bioenergy," says Zabel.

INFORMATION: Adapted by PLOS ONE from release provided by the authors

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107522


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Nemo's epic journey to find a new home

2014-09-17
New research has found clownfish larvae can swim up to 400 kilometres in search of a home, which makes them better able to cope with environmental change. Clownfish spend their entire adult lives under the protection of their host anemone but as babies they must wander the open ocean, says study co-author, Dr Hugo Harrison from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University. "In the past we haven't known where they go, but now we've been given a rare glimpse into how far they can swim, crossing large tracts of ocean to find ...

Blood test could identify when cancer treatment has become detrimental

2014-09-17
Some treatments for prostate cancer, while initially effective at controlling the disease, not only stop working over time but actually start driving tumour growth, a major new study shows. Researchers identified the emergence of drug-resistant cancer cells by testing repeated blood samples from patients with advanced prostate cancer. They set out a new 'treatment paradigm' – the constant monitoring of patients using a blood test for signs that therapy is becoming counter-productive. The study was conducted at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, The Royal Marsden ...

Expedition finds Nemo can travel great distances to connect populations

Expedition finds Nemo can travel great distances to connect populations
2014-09-17
Clownfish spend their entire lives nestling in the protective tentacles of host anemones, but new research shows that as babies they sometimes travel hundreds of kilometres across the open ocean. Although the process of long-distance dispersal by reef fish has been predicted, this is the first time that the high level exchange of offspring between distant populations has been observed. Dr Steve Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology and Global Change at the University of Exeter, and colleagues from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef ...

Study links physical activity in older adults to brain white-matter integrity

Study links physical activity in older adults to brain white-matter integrity
2014-09-17
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like everything else in the body, the white-matter fibers that allow communication between brain regions also decline with age. In a new study, researchers found a strong association between the structural integrity of these white-matter tracts and an older person's level of daily activity – not just the degree to which the person engaged in moderate or vigorous exercise, but also whether he or she was sedentary the rest of the time. The study, reported in the journal PLOS ONE, tracked physical activity in 88 healthy but "low-fit" participants aged 60 ...

Targeted radiation, drug therapy combo less toxic for recurrent head, neck cancers

2014-09-17
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17, 2014 – Patients with a recurrence of head and neck cancer who have previously received radiation treatment can be treated more quickly, safely and with fewer side effects with high doses of targeted radiation known as Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) in combination with a drug that also carefully targets cancerous tumors. These findings from a UPMC CancerCenter study were presented today at the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting in San Francisco. SBRT uses concentrated radiation beams in high doses to destroy ...

Nature's designs inspire research into new light-based technologies

Natures designs inspire research into new light-based technologies
2014-09-17
BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA -- "Nature has developed, very cleverly, some lessons on how to create the features that we desire in optical design," said Joseph Shaw, director of the Optical Technology Center at Montana State University. "As we explore surfaces and structures at the nanoscale, we'll discover them." Some of those lessons were presented in San Diego in August during a conference called "The Nature of Light: Light in Nature" chaired by Shaw and Rongguang Liang of the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. The conference was part of SPIE Optics ...

In Joslin trial, Asian Americans lower insulin resistance on traditional diet

In Joslin trial, Asian Americans lower insulin resistance on traditional diet
2014-09-17
BOSTON – September 17, 2014 – Why are Asian Americans at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than Caucasian Americans, and prone to develop the disease at lower body weights? One part of this puzzle may lie in the transition from traditional high-fiber, low-fat Asian diets to current westernized diets, which may pose extra risks for those of Asian heritage, says George King, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Joslin Diabetes Center and the senior author of the study. A Joslin randomized clinical trial now has demonstrated that both Asian ...

Fighting parents hurt children's ability to recognize and regulate emotions

2014-09-17
Exposure to verbal and physical aggression between parents may hurt a child's ability to identify and control emotions, according to a longitudinal study led by NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The findings, which appear in the journal Development and Psychopathology, also suggest that household chaos and prolonged periods of poverty during early childhood may take a substantial toll on the emotional adjustment of young children. "Our study points to ways in which aggression between parents may powerfully shape children's emotional ...

Persian Gulf states have new role to play in Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution

2014-09-17
HOUSTON – (Sept. 17, 2014) – The shifting regional geopolitics of the Middle East have created new opportunities for the Persian Gulf states to engage in Arab-Israeli conflict resolution, according to a new paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. "The Gulf States and Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Resolution," authored by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, proposes a set of policy recommendations on how the Gulf states can engage with regional and international partners to create new pathways for action and cooperation. Ulrichsen is the fellow for the Middle ...

Why bioethics literacy matters

2014-09-17
From accessible and affordable health care to reproductive technologies, the justice and well-being of our society depend on the ability of people to identify key issues, articulate their values and concerns, deliberate openly and respectfully, and find the most defensible ways forward. But what are the best educational practices to support these societal conversations? The Hastings Center and the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues have teamed up to publish a series of essays to highlight the best practices in teaching bioethics and to identify ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet

Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy

Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab

Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy

Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity

Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change

Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses

Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal

Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer

Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines

Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease

[Press-News.org] The future of global agriculture may include new land, fewer harvests
Cropland may expand in the Northern latitudes