Agriculture

Not just CO2: Rising temperatures also alter photosynthesis in a changing climate

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Agricultural scientists who study climate change often focus on how increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will affect crop yields. But rising temperatures are likely to complicate the picture, researchers report in a new review of the topic. Published in the Journal of Experimental Botany, the review explores how higher temperatures influence plant […]

Life sciences Cartoon of a honey bee with a QR code on its back.

Brain gene expression patterns predict behavior of individual honey bees

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — An unusual study that involved bar coding and tracking the behavior of thousands of individual honey bees in six queenless bee hives and analyzing gene expression in their brains offers new insights into how gene regulation contributes to social behavior. The study, reported in the journal eLife, reveals that the activity profile […]

Expert viewpoints Photo of Craig Gundersen, the ACES Distinguished Professor in the department of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Photo of Craig Gundersen, the ACES Distinguished Professor in the department of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

How has COVID-19 affected food insecurity in the US?

Craig Gundersen is the ACES Distinguished Professor in the department of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Gundersen, who studies the impact of food assistance programs on public health, spoke with News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about COVID-19-related food insecurity. How much has COVID-19 affected food insecurity in […]

Announcements Individual photos of each of the three researchers described in this release.

Three Illinois scientists rank among world’s most influential

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Three faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2020 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list. The list recognizes leading researchers in the sciences and social sciences from around the world. It is based on an analysis of journal article publication and citation data, an objective […]

Life sciences Photo of banyan fig tree with large roots connecting upper branches to the ground. The aerial roots look like mini tree trunks.

Genomic study reveals evolutionary secrets of banyan tree

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The banyan fig tree Ficus microcarpa is famous for its aerial roots, which sprout from branches and eventually reach the soil. The tree also has a unique relationship with a wasp that has coevolved with it and is the only insect that can pollinate it. In a new study, researchers identify regions […]

Physical sciences Aerial view of the U. of I. campus.

U of I to lead two of seven new national artificial intelligence institutes

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture are announcing an investment of more than $140 million to establish seven artificial intelligence institutes in the U.S. Two of the seven will be led by teams at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. They will support […]

Agriculture Image shows a few Africanized honey bees in a hive.

Group genomics drive aggression in honey bees

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers often study the genomes of individual organisms to try to tease out the relationship between genes and behavior. A new study of Africanized honey bees reveals, however, that the genetic inheritance of individual bees has little influence on their propensity for aggression. Instead, the genomic traits of the hive as a […]

Physical sciences Professor Jim Best led a review of the health and resiliency of the world’s largest river systems and calls for multinational governance and scientific collaboration to confront the mounting effects of human activity and climate change faced by rivers.

Professor Jim Best led a review of the health and resiliency of the world’s largest river systems and calls for multinational governance and scientific collaboration to confront the mounting effects of human activity and climate change faced by rivers.

Human activity on rivers outpaces, compounds effects of climate change

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The livelihoods of millions of people living along the world’s biggest river systems are under threat by a range of stressors caused by the daily economic, societal and political activity of humans – in addition to the long-term effects of climate change, researchers report. A new paper by University of Illinois at […]

Physical sciences Atul Jain led a study that used a combination of satellite and census data to identify deforestation and expanding saltwater farming as the key physical and socioeconomic drivers of climate change in Bangladesh.

Atul Jain led a study that used a combination of satellite and census data to identify deforestation and expanding saltwater farming as the key physical and socioeconomic drivers of climate change in Bangladesh.

Study: Integrating satellite and socioeconomic data to improve climate change policy

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bangladesh is on track to lose all of its forestland in the next 35-40 years, leading to a rise in CO2 emissions and subsequent climate change, researchers said. However, that is just one of the significant land-use changes that the country is experiencing. A new study uses satellite and census data to […]

Life sciences Esther Ngumbi, a U. of I. professor of entomology and of African American studies, speaks and writes about global food security.

How do we combat global food insecurity during pandemics?

Editor’s note: The World Food Programme recently warned that the COVID-19 pandemic could double the number of people facing extreme food shortages, bringing the number of those in crisis to about 265 million worldwide. Esther Ngumbi, a professor of entomology and of African American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who writes and […]

Physical sciences Researchers Bin Peng, left, and Kaiyu Guan led a large, multi-institutional study that calls for a better representation of plant genetics data in the models used to understand crop adaptation and food security during climate change.

Researchers Bin Peng, left, and Kaiyu Guan led a large, multi-institutional study that calls for a better representation of plant genetics data in the models used to understand crop adaptation and food security during climate change.

Study: Multiscale crop modeling effort required to assess climate change adaptation

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Crop modeling is essential for understanding how to secure the food supply as the planet adapts to climate change. Many current crop models focus on simulating crop growth and yield at the field scale, but lack genetic and physiological data, which may hamper accurate production and environmental impact assessment at larger scales. […]

Life sciences Two Indian corn plants standing in the sun.

Cahokia’s rise parallels onset of corn agriculture

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Corn cultivation spread from Mesoamerica to what is now the American Southwest by about 4000 B.C., but how and when the crop made it to other parts of North America is still a subject of debate. In a new study, scientists report that corn was not grown in the ancient metropolis of […]

Agriculture

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