Agriculture

Virus-infected honey bees more likely to gain entrance to healthy hives

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Honey bees that guard hive entrances are twice as likely to allow in trespassers from other hives if the intruders are infected with the Israeli acute paralysis virus, a deadly pathogen of bees, researchers report. Their new study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, strongly suggests that IAPV […]

Agriculture The soybean cyst nematode is a major pathogen of soybeans. A juvenile nematode is pictured here with an egg.

Fungus application thwarts major soybean pest, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The soybean cyst nematode sucks the nutrients out of soybean roots, causing more than $1 billion in soybean yield losses in the U.S. each year. A new study finds that one type of fungi can cut the nematodes’ reproductive success by more than half. The researchers report their findings in the journal […]

Agriculture Photo of Yilan Xu, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Paper: Disposal of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing poses dangers to drivers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Environmental concerns about hydraulic fracturing – aka “fracking,” the process by which oil and gas are extracted from rock by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water and chemicals – are well documented, but according to a paper co-written by a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign environmental economics expert, the technique also poses a […]

Veterinary medicine U. of I. veterinary clinical medicine professor Dr. Leyi Wang led the team that detected bovine kobuvirus in the U.S.

Team finds bovine kobuvirus in US

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A virus that afflicts cattle that was first discovered in Japan in 2003 has made its way to the U.S., researchers report in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Bovine kobuvirus is fairly new to science, so its ill effects are not fully understood. It belongs to a family of viruses known as […]

Agriculture Honey bee hives placed near flowering prairies in late summer and early fall were much healthier than those left near soybean fields after August, the researchers found.

Honey bee hives placed near flowering prairies in late summer and early fall were much healthier than those left near soybean fields after August, the researchers found.

A little prairie can rescue honey bees from famine on the farm, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists placed honey bee hives next to soybean fields in Iowa and tracked how the bees fared over the growing season. To the researchers’ surprise, the bees did well for much of the summer. The colonies thrived and gained weight, building up their honey stores. But in August, the trend reversed. By […]

Agriculture A new study reveals genetic differences that influence how corn responds to higher concentrations of ground-level ozone.

Study finds rising ozone a hidden threat to corn

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide, ground-level ozone is on the rise. But ozone, a noxious chemical byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, has received relatively little attention as a potential threat to corn agriculture. A new study begins to address this lapse by exposing a genetically diverse group of corn plants in […]

Life sciences Auriel Fournier, the director of the Forbes Biological Station at the Illinois Natural History Survey, studies the migratory behavior of purple martins.

Auriel Fournier, the director of the Forbes Biological Station at the Illinois Natural History Survey, studies the migratory behavior of purple martins.

Purple martin migration behavior perplexes researchers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Purple martins will soon migrate south for their usual wintertime retreat, but this time the birds will be wearing what look like little backpacks, as scientists plan to track their roosting sites along the way. The researchers recently discovered that purple martins are roosting in small forest patches as they migrate from […]

Engineering University of Illinois researchers Jeremy Guest, left, John Trimmer and Daniel Miller have developed a conceptual roadmap to help guide others through the unexplored environmental and economic aspects of sanitation.

University of Illinois researchers Jeremy Guest, left, John Trimmer and Daniel Miller have developed a conceptual roadmap to help guide others through the unexplored environmental and economic aspects of sanitation.

Human waste an asset to economy, environment, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Human waste might be an unpleasant public health burden, but scientists at the University of Illinois see sanitation as a valuable facet of global ecosystems and an overlooked source of nutrients, organic material and water. Their research, directed by civil and environmental engineering professor Jeremy Guest, is reported in the journal Nature […]

Physical sciences Illinois Sustainable Technology Center researchers Elizabeth Meschewski, left, and Nancy Holm and collaborators developed a systematic study to test the effectiveness of the soil additive biochar and found that it may not be as effective as previously thought.

Illinois Sustainable Technology Center researchers Elizabeth Meschewski, left, and Nancy Holm and collaborators developed a systematic study to test the effectiveness of the soil additive biochar and found that it may not be as effective as previously thought.

Biochar may boost carbon storage, but benefits to germination and growth appear scant

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Biochar may not be the miracle soil additive that many farmers and researchers hoped it to be, according to a new University of Illinois study. Biochar may boost the agricultural yield of some soils – especially poor quality ones – but there is no consensus on its effectiveness. Researchers tested different soils’ […]

Agriculture Plant biology professor Evan DeLucia and his colleagues found that hotter conditions expected by midcentury will lead to a need for crop irrigation in the Midwest, a region that relies primarily on rainfall to grow crops.

Plant biology professor Evan DeLucia and his colleagues found that hotter conditions expected by midcentury will lead to a need for crop irrigation in the Midwest, a region that relies primarily on rainfall to grow crops.

A warming Midwest increases likelihood that farmers will need to irrigate

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — If current climate and crop-improvement trends continue into the future, Midwestern corn growers who today rely on rainfall to water their crops will need to irrigate their fields, a new study finds. This could draw down aquifers, disrupt streams and rivers, and set up conflicts between agricultural and other human and ecological […]

Agriculture Photo of food science professor Soo-Yeun Lee and alumna Lauren Killian

Study: Irritable bowel syndrome may be underdiagnosed in athletes

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For some athletes, intense workouts can send them running to the bathroom rather than the finish line – if they’re able to exercise at all, that is. A recent study by researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that many of these athletes may have undiagnosed irritable bowel syndrome. About half of […]

Agriculture U. of I. crop sciences professor Patrick Tranel and his colleagues are working to understand the processes that lead to herbicide resistance in plants.

U. of I. crop sciences professor Patrick Tranel and his colleagues are working to understand the processes that lead to herbicide resistance in plants.

New mutations for herbicide resistance rarer than expected, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — After exposing more than 70 million grain amaranth seeds to a soil-based herbicide, researchers were not able to find a single herbicide-resistant mutant. Though preliminary, the findings suggest that the mutation rate in amaranth is very low, and that low-level herbicide application contributes little – if anything – to the onset of […]

Agriculture

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