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Archive for October 16th, 2011
Climate change spawns the incredible shrinking ant
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2011
Reuters: Plants and animals are shrinking because of warmer temperatures and lack of water, researchers said on Monday, warning it could have profound implications for food production in years ahead.
"The worst-case scenarios ... are that food crops and animals will shrink enough to have real implications for food security," Assistant Professor David Bickford, of the National University of Singapore's biological sciences department, said.
Bickford and colleague Jennifer Sheridan trawled through fossil...
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Bangkok braces but safe so far from floods
Posted by Reuters: Viparat Jantraprap on October 16th, 2011
Reuters: Relief workers reinforced barriers on Sunday to help defend Thailand's capital, Bangkok, from the country's worst floods in half a century and efforts were stepped up to protect a huge industrial estate to the city's north.
Despite heavy rain in parts of Bangkok late on Saturday, areas inside the defensive system of dikes and canals have so far been spared the flooding that has devastated a third of the country, killing at least 297 people and causing about $3 billion in damage.
The north,...
Trees ‘boost African crop yields’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2011
BBC: Planting trees that improve soil quality can help boost crop yields for African farmers, an assessment shows.
Fertiliser tree systems (FTS) also help boost food security and play a role in "climate proofing" the region's arable land, the paper adds.
Researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre say poor soil fertility is one of the main obstacles to improving food production in Africa.
The results appear in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability.
"In Africa, it is generally...