Interior and Agriculture Departments Announce Joint New Climate Change Research Projects on SE and NW Freshwater Systems

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today(July 27) announced joint scientific research projects that address the effects of climate change on freshwater systems and sensitive aquatic species in the northwestern and southeastern United States.

"Addressing the challenges of climate change will require new tools that enable our leaders to develop successful strategies," said Vilsack. "This research will provide tools and information to help ensure that aquatic ecosystems in the Northwest and Southeast remain healthy in the face of climate change."

"Conserving our nation's fisheries and aquatic ecosystems will be a challenge as climate change continues," said Salazar. "These collaborative research projects will provide the science and technology needed by the Interior Department and other natural resource managers to plan for coping with these challenges, especially in sensitive aquatic environments."

Salazar noted that these projects are an early indication of the kind of science and management support that will be generated by the Interior Department's regional climate science centers, which will be established in the Northwest and Southeast later this year. "Collaborative science targeted at managers needs is our agenda," Salazar said.

The multi-year $500,000 joint USDA-DOI projects, which will be carried out by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) scientists, will make use of existing data, field studies and modeling to better understand the effects of climate change on aquatic ecosystems. Information from the project will help guide science-based land-use decisions by federal agencies and others engaged in long-term planning for climate adaptation.

In the Northwest, a region known for its abundant supply of cold and clean fresh water, the project's goal is to identify how climate change will affect water temperature, quality and quantity, as well as the likely effects of increasing and more fluctuating water temperatures on coldwater-dependent fish such as trout and salmon.

Regional climate change will likely cause altered hydrology and water temperatures, vital components of water quality and healthy life cycles for species such as Pacific salmon, trout and chars, which depend on coldwater habitats. At the same time, little is known about existing and potential impacts of climate change for stream temperature in the Pacific Northwest. With a better understanding these factors – temperature and altered water flows – experts will be able to help guide land-use decisions by federal and state agencies planning for climate adaptation in the area.

In the Southeast, the project's goal is to develop tools managers can use to minimize the effects of climate change on aquatic ecosystems and the coldwater-dependent species in them, as well as on related ecosystem service such as drinking water quality and wildlife-based recreation. The scientists will refine and combine climate and hydrologic models for the region that will help resource professionals assess how land-use and water-management decisions will affect coldwater fish species such as brook trout, and the transition from coldwater fisheries in the mountains to warm water fisheries in the lower-lying Piedmont area.
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Water-saving technology focus of new grant

Many ornamental nursery growers test to see if their plants need water by sticking a finger in the soil to see if it’s dry. Or, they just water them whether they need it or not. University of Georgia horticulturists have found a better way, one that requires less water, less fertilizer, less money and fewer dirty fingers.

Now they have the funds and collaborations to study more water-saving technologies. UGA is part of a national team that received a five-year $5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative Grant. The goal is to save water, increase efficiency and reduce the environmental impacts of ornamental plant production.

To do that, they’re developing “the next generation of tools to precisely monitor plant water use, allow for better control of irrigation water applications, increase the efficiency of water and nutrient use by ornamental growers,” said UGA horticulturist Marc van Iersel.

Water moisture sensors

UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences faculty will use $520,000 of the grant to study affordable soil moisture sensors that can be used easily in greenhouses and nurseries.

Van Iersel has been working with sensors for six years. He’s shown that they work in his greenhouse and at test nurseries. And now he can make them feasible for growers.

He, along with UGA professors John Ruter, Matthew Chappell and Paul Thomas, will work in their greenhouses, nurseries and at test sites at Evergreen Nursery in Statham, Ga., and McCorkle Nurseries in Dearing, Ga.

McCorkle saw the impact of using soil moisture sensors in a study UGA did last year.

“They were watering the plants using normal practices, and we were using soil moisture sensors to irrigate the plants,” van Iersel said. “We reduced water use by 83 percent.

“There’s definitely the potential for drastic water savings. How much probably depends on a particular greenhouse or nursery, but throughout the U.S., it has the potential to save huge amounts of water,” he said.

Plant models

UGA faculty will also study the water needs of different plants, such as petunia, poinsettia, hibiscus and hydrangea. Cooperators from other institutions will then develop software that will predict how much water these plants use.

Growers will be able to enter information like plant type and age, greenhouse light levels and temperatures to tailor the software. They will be able to estimate how much water they will need for their plants.

“Hydrangeas will definitely be one of the plants,” van Iersel said, “because that is such an important crop, and it’s a plant that seems to need a lot of water. Growers have trouble keeping hydrangeas well-watered, and they’re often over-watered.”

Group effort

John Lea-Cox from the University of Maryland is leading the overall project, which includes engineers, plant scientists, economists and Extension specialists.

In addition to determining water needs, they will construct watering systems that greenhouse managers can use, understand and install themselves. By combining their expertise, this group aims to develop a commercially-available, affordable product within the next five years.

Other universities and research centers on the grant are Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, Colorado State University, Cornell University and the UM Center for Environmental Science. Commercial partners are Decagon Devices in Pullman, Wash., and Antir Software in Jarrettsville, Md. The grant will be combined with an additional $5.2 million in matching funding from various sources.

Economists will look at whether the system is effective and economical for growers, van Iersel said. The questions they hope to answer are how much water, fertilizer and labor are saved, is there less runoff, less water to treat? And how about labor savings?

Environmental impact

Van Iersel sees the project as more than just a way for the plant industry to save money by reducing water and fertilizer.

“It can be a way to decrease their environmental impact,” he said. “And that would benefit society at large.

“If we reduce water use in these greenhouses and nurseries by X number of gallons per year, what is that value to society? If we can reduce runoff from greenhouses and nurseries, how much money is society saving by not having to clean up that water?”

For more details of the project goals, the university teams and the commercial partners, visit www.smart-farms.net.

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia

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Soybean Grant Gives Researchers Tools to Unravel Better Bean

For millennia, people have grown soybeans and turned them into many useful products. But when it comes to understanding why a soybean grows, blooms or produces like it does, researchers are left with unanswered questions.

University of Georgia professor Wayne Parrott aims to find the answers with a three-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation and a jumping gene in rice found by a UGA colleague.

"I'm convinced that soybeans would be so much more useful and flexible if we knew what genes we need to be working with," said Parrott, a crop and soil sciences professor in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The soybean's genome was sequenced, or mapped, earlier this year. Now Parrott and his colleagues from the universities of Nebraska, Missouri-Columbia and Minnesota are taking soybean's genetic map and translating it so that soybean breeders can use it to produce a better bean.

Parrott is using a jumping rice gene for his part of the research. His counterparts are using radiation.

UGA plant biology professor Sue Wessler found the jumping gene in rice. Her discovery is unique. The gene is one of only a few with the ability to cut themselves out of and move to another location in the genome, altering it, Parrott said.

She shared the technology. Parrott's lab will insert the jumping rice gene into soybean plants. When something changes in a plant with the added jumping gene - such as how fast it flowers - they will then search the plant genetically. When they find the jumping gene - presumably in a new location in the genome - they can identify the modified gene there and, in this example, know what caused the plant to bloom faster.

The more genes they identify using the jumping gene technique, the more they'll know about the soybean and what they can do to improve it. The soybean has a few issues that could stand modifying, Parrott said.

On grocery store shelves, soybeans may seem like the perfect plant. It can be made into tofu and its synthetic meat products. However, the bean's protein is not balanced to the 21 amino acids humans need for a healthy diet. In addition, soybean oil contains trans fats after it's processed.

On the agricultural side, an improved soybean variety would allow farmers to plant a crop that produces more soybeans using the same amount of land. And with soybean plants that are disease and insect resistant, farmers wouldn't have to apply as much money - draining pesticides.

Farmers could also grow varieties that produce more oil or more protein.

"Genome sequencing and gene discovery is starting to open a new, exciting era for us," Parrott said.

It's a good time for soybeans. Since 1982, the U.S. has had a 15 percent increase in total soybean production.

"Acreage-wise, soybeans are among the top three crops in the United States," Parrott said. "It's the No. 1 source of vegetable oil and vegetable protein. In that regard, it's the most important of the crops."

Soybeans are used for adhesives, alternative fuels, disinfectants, plastics, salad dressings, particleboard, candy, cookies and swine feed, to name a few. "It just boggles the mind that it lends itself to so many different uses," Parrott said. "It's even in furniture care products."

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Blueberry Grant Focuses Research on Significant Georgia Fruit

Blueberries are becoming big business in Georgia. University of Georgia experts plan to use a $1.7 million U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant to lead an effort to make the Southeast the leading producer of the fruit.

The U.S. has 75,000 acres of cultivated blueberries. A third of that is grown in the South. The region is on track to become the hub of U.S. blueberry production within the next five years, said Harald Scherm, a plant pathologist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

A spring freeze severely damaged Georgia’s blueberry crop in 2007. But the 2006 crop was worth $75.8 million. The berry has the potential to add millions of dollars more to rural economies, said Gerard Krewer, a UGA Cooperative Extension fruit crop horticulturalist.

“Blueberries are grown in rural areas, areas that really need economic boosting,” Krewer said. “Blueberries are becoming a major horticultural commodity in southeast Georgia.”

Scherm will lead a team that includes Krewer and CAES horticulturists Dan MacLean and Anish Malladi, plant pathologist Phil Brannen, food scientist Rob Shewfelt and engineer Changying Li. The team will collaborate with colleagues in Florida, North Carolina, West Virginia and Mississippi.

The grant will be used to develop a way to harvest the berries mechanically while not damaging or dropping a majority of the fruit. The research team will also use the grant funds to genetically improve fruit quality and to fight diseases that are just starting to plague blueberry bushes.

Georgia producers predominately grow two types of blueberries – rabbiteye and southern highbush.

Rabbiteye – the variety traditionally grown in Georgia – has a thicker skin and is generally harvested in June and July. The development of the southern highbush variety allows growers to start harvesting blueberries in April and May, a period when berries are in short supply and prices are much higher.

But with the extra profits came new problems. The southern highbush has thin skin and bruises easily. Because of this, most are currently harvested by hand. Competition for farm workers and tighter immigration restrictions could cause the cost of harvesting to skyrocket for the crop in coming years. Hand-harvesting now cost farmers as much as 70 cents per pound.

Farmers now need machines that better harvest their crop. Current harvesting machinery drops too many blueberries – as much as 25 percent of the crop and can bruise delicate berries. Damaged berries are only good for the frozen market, and producers get much lower prices for frozen berries than they do for fresh.

Besides coming up with a better harvesting method, another way to deal with the thin skins of southern highbush is to breed new varieties with thicker skins, or with a crispy flesh.

Crispy flesh varieties are currently being developed by university breeding programs in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. After narrowing down the varieties, UGA food scientists will use taste panels to determine which type of new southern highbush blueberry consumers would most likely buy.

“With so much blueberry acreage going in the last few years, there’s not been enough new plants to go around,” Scherm said.

New plants are propagated through cuttings, and he thinks this may help spread debilitating diseases not seen before. These diseases include blueberry red ringspot virus, bacterial leaf scorch and Botryosphaeria stem blight. Leaf scorch and stem blight have killed many southern highbush blueberry plantings in recent years.

Bacterial leaf scorch was first documented in 2006. Very little is known about how to control it. Scherm hopes to find answers to these questions primarily by studying disease epidemiology, transmission modes and cultivar resistance.

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Fayette County Students Inventors Win $10,000 MIT Grant

NF Note: Congratulations to the Whitewater High School students who will be working on this grant to purify water. We'll be anxious to hear the results next spring!

A group of high school students might have the solution to end the world’s shortage of clean drinking water. So impressed with their idea was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that it awarded them a $10,000 grant to develop a prototype.

Five students who make up the InvenTeam at Whitewater High are one of only 16 teams throughout the US and Canada to receive a Lemelson-MIT grant for the 2008-2009 school year. The students are Kavita Singh, Chris Sandwich, Jacob Cotton, Andrew Barth and Hendri deBeer.

InvenTeams are composed of high school students, teachers and mentors who collaboratively identify a problem that they want to solve, research the problem and then develop a prototype invention as an in-class or extracurricular project.

The Whitewater team decided to create a combination dehydrator and condenser that will preserve food while purifying the water that results from the dehydration process.

This team is the first in Fayette to win a grant. InvenTeam is expected to release a final list of grant winners later this month, but so far only one other Georgia team has won a grant since the program began in 2003.

Whitewater submitted an initial application for the grant last spring and received an Excite Award, an invitation to complete a final, more detailed application of the idea. The selection of the finalist teams is based on the inventiveness and feasibility of the proposed idea. A panel of MIT professors, staff and alumni, inventors, researchers, entrepreneurs and high school educators assess the applications.

The team will use the grant money to purchase materials and supplies needed to develop a prototype of their invention. They will have all school year to complete the prototype. The team will display and discuss their invention at the MIT EurekaFest this spring.

Whitewater teachers working with the InvenTeam students are Carolyn Smith, engineering and technology, and Dr. Ted Wansley, science.

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UGA Gets $2.5 Million in Grants to Study Plants to Make Biofuels

University of Georgia researchers were recently awarded two grants totaling $2.5 million to help find better ways to produce biofuels from switchgrass and sunflowers.

UGA was one of eight universities to receive grants from a program jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. The program aims to accelerate research in biomass genomics and further the use of cellulosic plant material for bioenergy and biofuels.

“Developing cost-effective means of producing cellulosic biofuels on a national scale poses major scientific challenges,” said Raymond Orbach, a DOE undersecretary. “These grants will help in developing the type of transformational breakthroughs needed in basic science to make this happen.

“The USDA is committed to fostering a sustainable domestic biofuels industry at home in rural America,” said Gale Buchanan, a USDA undersecretary. “These grants will broaden the sources of energy from many crops as well as improve the efficiency and options among renewable fuels.”

The UGA grants were awarded to scientists in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Steven Knapp, CAES professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Jeff Dean and Joe Nairn, UGA researchers, Mark Davis, DOE researcher, and Laura Marek, USDA researcher, received $1.2 million to study the genomics of sunflower.

“Certain wild species of sunflower produce woody stems and high biomass yields, often reaching heights of 18 to 21 feet,” Knapp said. “Our grant focuses on understanding genetic mechanisms underlying wood production and biomass accumulation in sunflower.”

In addition, Knapp is working with Mark Davis at the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado to study the biofuel properties of sunflower.

“They will be providing us with state-of-the-art chemical measurements which are needed to identify genetic factors affecting wood formation and cellulosic biomass accumulation,” Knapp said.

Jeffrey Bennetzen, the Norman and Doris Giles/Georgia Research Alliance professor of molecular genetics in Franklin College, received the second grant for $1.295 million. It will fund a cooperative project with Katrien Devos, a CAES professor of crop and soil science and plant biology. They hope to develop genetic and genomic tools to study foxtail millet, a close relative of switchgrass.

Switchgrass is an excellent source of biomass for producing ethanol. Unlike corn, which is used now to make most U.S. ethanol, switchgrass is a perennial that grows on poor soil with little water, fertilizer or pesticides.

“Ethanol from switchgrass is a very different story from ethanol from maize grain,” Bennetzen said. “Ethanol from maize grain requires large inputs and produces no net carbon capture to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Switchgrass captures carbon dioxide very effectively and will not lead to increased food costs because it does not take acreage away from food production.”

But switchgrass has limitations, he said. Researchers need to find more efficient ways to convert lignocellulose—the material that makes up wood, leaves, stems—into ethanol.

Learning more about foxtail millet, he said, will help. It’s easier to study than switchgrass.

“Once the foxtail millet genome is sequenced, we will be able to quickly find the genes involved in making lignocellulose in foxtail millet, and this will make them easy to find in switchgrass as well,” Bennetzen said.“We can then study these genes and find ways to improve this performance so that switchgrass is easier to convert to ethanol.”

Improving this process is part of another project at UGA called the BioEnergy Science Center.

“For the average Georgian, the outcome of the research in this project will be less expensive liquid fuels, less dependence on foreign oil, lower food costs and less release of carbon dioxide into the environment,” Bennetzen said. “We won’t see these outcomes in the next year or two, but there is every reason to believe that they will come into effect over the next five to 10 years.”

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