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IN THIS NEWSLINE ISSUED June 6, 2008:
- NEW GUIDE FOR WELL OWNERS IN YAVAPAI COUNTY
- CLIMATE CHANGE IS BAD NEWS FOR U.S. AGRICULTURE
- PLANT SCIENTISTS DEVELOP NEW CELL SORTING TECHNIQUE
- UA EXTENSION MASTER GARDENER FOSTERS EDIBLE MOJAVE CACTUS
- STUDENTS EXPLORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY WAY TO EXTRACT OIL FROM ALGAE
- NEW PUBLICATION: EVAPORATIVE COOLING IN SEMI-ARID CLIMATES
- CREATING A SHADE GARDEN
- CALS PROFESSOR TO EXPLORE LGBT SUICIDE RISK
- UA STUDENTS LEAVE A LEGACY ON CAMPUS AND IN NIGERIA
- UA STUDY: TUCSONANS FAVOR LONG-RANGE PLANNING FOR WATER USE
- CALS IN THE NEWS
1 NEW GUIDE FOR WELL OWNERS IN YAVAPAI COUNTY
The arid climate in Yavapai County, coupled with increasing demands on water supply and the over-allocation of surface water resources, forces much of the county to rely on ground water wells for potable use. A new Arizona Cooperative Extension publication provides homeowners with a basic understanding of where water comes from in Yavapai County, and explains for the owners of well-based water-supply systems the vulnerabilities of their water supply.
The seven-page guide, available online at the url below, covers the Groundwater Management Act, public water providers in Yavapai County, groundwater quality, shared and exempt wells, and concerns about radon, nitrates and arsenic. The primer concludes with a set of simple steps to help homeowners protect their well systems and water quality.
Kristine Uhlman, Water Resources Research Center, kuhlman@ag.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/water/az1451.pdf
2 CLIMATE CHANGE IS BAD NEWS FOR U.S. AGRICULTURE
A landmark review of over 1000 papers documenting ecological change in the United States has found that a shifting climate is affecting agriculture, biodiversity, and land and water resources from the mountains of Alaska to the sands of Death Valley. Among the findings of the report: Forest fires are becoming more frequent and numerous, streams are warming, and the Mountain West is seeing much less snow. More changes may be coming, especially for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
"The West and Southwest are likely to become drier, while the eastern United States is likely to experience increased rainfall," says the report, which was put out by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, coordinated by the White House. "We risk losing iconic charismatic megaflora such as saguaro cactus and joshua trees," co-author Steven Archer of the University of Arizona, Tucson, said at a press conference.
Previous efforts to quantify the effect of climate change on U.S. ecosystems have generally focused on particular areas or industries. An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report last year--which came to similar conclusions as the new report--did include the United States, but it focused more on North America as a whole. Ecologist David Breshears of the University of Arizona, Tucson, says the report is "an important step forward," especially because of its unique emphasis on how abrupt climate changes could upset fragile ecosystems.
To read the rest of this article that appeared in the ScienceNOW Daily News on May 28, see the link below.
For further information on the report, go to:
http://www.usda.gov/oce/newsroom/news_releases/52208OCE.doc
http://www.sap43.ucar.edu/
Steven Archer, School of Natural Resources, sarcher@ag.arizona.edu
David Breshears, School of Natural Resources, daveb@email.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/528/5
3 PLANT SCIENTISTS DEVELOP NEW CELL SORTING TECHNIQUE
A new cell-sorting technique developed by University of Arizona plant scientists has the potential to enhance our understanding of how cells of all types work--or, in the case of diseases such as cancer, how they fail to work.
Living organisms, including plants and animals, are made up of recognizable structures called organs that have specific functions. Plant organs include leaves, roots, flowers and fruit, for example, while animals have kidneys, livers, hearts, brains and so on. Each of these organs in turn is made up of a complex mix of different cell types, each having different functions.
One of the challenges in understanding how organs function is the need to separate out these different cell types in order to analyze them. Other cell-sorting methods often rely on using a machine that recognizes the differences in the optical properties of the different cell types. However, it is difficult, and in some cases impossible, to separate the different cells within organs by this method.
UA plant sciences professor and BIO5 Institute member David Galbraith explains that instead of focusing on the cell as a whole, the technique his lab has developed focuses on cell nuclei. Other methods of teasing different cell types apart require that the cell remain intact--a challenge when working with plants that have rigid cell walls--and also when working with brain and other animal cells, which can be connected in intricate ways. "We thought it'd be a lot easier if we could take a razor and chop up the cells and then sort their nuclei," Galbraith said.
Read the rest of this June 4 UANews story at the link below.
David Galbraith, BIO5 Institute, galbraith@arizona.edu
To learn more: http://uanews.org/node/19973
4 UA EXTENSION MASTER GARDENER FOSTERS EDIBLE MOJAVE CACTUS
Standing on a bed of mulch in his backyard, Bill Stillman examines the small green pads sprouting in clusters from the nopal cactus.
"So what I'll do is, I'll cut right here," the gardener said as he began to trim off the excess growth, a gradual process that'll eventually give his cactus a Mickey Mouse shape. "The rest I'll leave alone for right now."
Stillman, a master gardener with the University of Arizona's Mohave County Cooperative Extension, is participating in a pilot gardening project through the University of Nevada-Reno, to determine whether the edible plant will take to the Mojave Desert's arid climate.
Read the rest of this story that appeared in the Arizona Daily Star (reprinted from the Mohave Daily News) on June 3 at the link below.
Rob Grumbles, Mohave County Cooperative Extension, grumbles@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/241940
5 STUDENTS EXPLORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY WAY TO EXTRACT OIL FROM ALGAE
Most of us don't intentionally cultivate algae--that green slime that grows in stagnant ponds, and, if we're unlucky, our swimming pools. But these single-celled plants are more useful than you might think--they can help in creating renewable fuels and plastics.
Several companies are doing research on algae-to-biofuels technologies, and a team of agricultural and biosystems engineering students at The University of Arizona also studied the process for a senior design project this year. The students focused on using supercritical CO2 as an alternative to harsher solvents for extracting oils from algae.
They grew Botryococcus braunii in a photo-bioreactor, pumped the algae into a pressure vessel and then used supercritical CO2 to extract the lipids. The oil floated to the top and the dead plant material sank to the bottom.
"We got the oil to separate, but the problem is that we had too much water content and we ended up with an oil slick that would have required another component to complete the separation," said Sean Henry, an agriculture and biosystems engineering student. Unfortunately, that would have required some kind of solvent--just what the students were trying to avoid. But their experiment did succeed as a proof-of-concept. The next step is to refine the process.
To read more of this May 28 UANews article, go to the link below.
Don Slack, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, dslack@email.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://uanews.org/node/19902
6 NEW PUBLICATION: EVAPORATIVE COOLING IN SEMI-ARID CLIMATES
Does your water bill skyrocket during the summer months when your evaporative cooler is running? Do you really understand how your cooler works?
A new publication from Arizona Cooperative Extension can help. "Evaporative Cooling in Semi-Arid Climates" explains how homeowners and horticulture/agriculture users can improve performance and save water.
Swamp coolers, pad-and-fan systems, outdoor misters and high-pressure foggers are covered in the guide, including principles of operation and specific suggestions for improving performance and saving water. The advantages and disadvantages of forcing air through a wet pad, and forcing water into dry air are included, along with a chart outlining expected results for operating various cooling systems for a 1,500 square foot area under both monsoon and non-monsoon summer conditions.
The two-page guide folds up into a convenient brochure for quick reference. Download a copy now at the link below.
Gene Giacomelli, Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, giacomel@ag.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/water/az1444.pdf
Desert shade gardens offer a cool and inviting oasis away from our blistering summer sun and heat. They also allow us to tap into a wide variety of interesting and appealing shade-loving plants. Even many sun-tolerant plants grow, flower and fruit better with protection from intense midday sun. Shade gardens aren't difficult to create. In fact, you probably have a spot under a broad spreading mesquite or sweet acacia that would be the perfect spot for your shade garden.
Light shade allows you to grow a great number of plants. But if you want to grow the full variety of shade plants, consider a spot on the east side of your home. Even plants that require full shade tolerate a few hours of morning sun. North sides of homes provide winter shade, but at our low latitude, the sun's high position in the summer sky casts only a sliver of shade to the north.
To read more of this story from the May 18 Arizona Daily Star, see the link below.
John Begeman, Pima County Cooperative Extension, jbegeman@ag.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/239021.php
8 CALS PROFESSOR TO EXPLORE LGBT SUICIDE RISK
It is widely known that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)youth face discrimination, but less is known about the factors that make them twice as likely to attempt suicide.
University of Arizona professor Stephen T. Russell is determined to find out using a study that gathered information about students from their teenage years through young adulthood. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has just provided Russell with a two-year "distinguished investigor" grant totaling nearly $100,000 that will allow him to study suicide risk among LGBT youth.
Russell, a John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences professor, is one of the few researchers who has studied the experience of LGBT youth in school. He published the first national results showing LGBT youth are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide.
Stephen Russell, Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, srussell@email.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://uanews.org/node/19578
9 UA STUDENTS LEAVE A LEGACY ON CAMPUS AND IN NIGERIA
Four students from The University of Arizona are heading to Africa next week for the trip of their dreams. For a group of Nigerian villagers, the UA visit may open up their dreams of a lifetime.
The students, all members of the UA chapter of Students in Free Enterprise, or SIFE, have been collaborating with UA law professor Leslye Obiora for the past two years to introduce entrepreneurship and business practices to women in the town of Oguta in southeast Nigeria. The project also provides the women with microloans of $50 to $150 to finance their business startups.
The SIFE team includes Jacqueline Lemieux and Lauren Quigley, who graduated this spring, and doctoral student Taryn Kong and first-year student Melissa Seifert.
SIFE is an international nonprofit organization that promotes leadership through entrepreneurial projects. The 10-year-old UA chapter is housed in the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
To read more of this article that appeared May 23 in UANews, see the link below.
Melinda Burke, Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, mburke@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://uanews.org/node/19818
10 UA STUDY: TUCSONANS FAVOR LONG-RANGE PLANNING FOR WATER USE
The protracted drought in the Southwest has focused just about everyone's attention in Tucson about the notion of water as a scarce resource. How much of it is there? Where does it come from? Will there be enough for me?
The Water Resources Research Center (WRRC)at The University of Arizona recently surveyed a range of stakeholders in the community for their perspectives on water planning issues. WRRC has just released their report, the "Tucson Regional Water Planning Perspectives Study."
The survey queried 49 stakeholders, from elected officials and local water managers to people with business, environmental and other interests. They were given a set of open-ended questions about how they would envision a regional water management process, including goals and outcomes; participation, public involvement and structure; assumptions and the region of focus; and concerns about engaging in a regional process.
To read the rest of this story that appeared in UANews on May 20, see the link below.
Sharon Megdal, Water Resources Research Center, smegdal@cals.arizona.edu
To learn more: http://uanews.org/node/19781
GROWING CROPS IN SPACE
Crops need a sheltered environment, protected from the extreme temperatures and frightening levels of radiation found on the moon's surface, with water, carbon dioxide and light. Researchers at the University of Arizona's Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC), in collaboration with Sadler Machine Company (SMC), have come up with one solution: to house plants and astronauts in an inflatable habitat. They are working on a full-scale prototype Mars Inflatable Greenhouse.
Space-worthy inflatable structures have been around since the 1960s and are lightweight, compact in transit and easy to assemble on landing. But what's novel about the CEAC design is that it incorporates a bio-regenerative life-support system, the kind of technology that could one day not only feed an outpost on the moon or Mars, but also provide it with oxygen and recycle its water.
See the rest of this article that appeared in the May 22 issue of CNN.com/technology at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/05/20/ceac.wheeler/index.html
Gene Giacomelli, Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, giacomel@ag.arizona.edu
CITRUS OUTLOOK IN YUMA
A growing sense of normalcy is generating sighs of relief for citrus grower Jerry Driedger this spring. [And]Glenn Wright, citrus specialist, University of Arizona (UA), concurs this year should be a good citrus-making one in Arizona.
"The majority of the lemon trees in Yuma this spring had a tremendous bloom that suggests most of the damage from the 2007 freeze has been repaired," stated Wright. "Some of the Navels and Minneolas frankly weren't damaged much by the freeze and came back with a bloom last year that created a good Minneola crop. That helped growers partially offset their lemon losses."
Wright is based at the UA's Yuma Agriculture Center in Somerton, Ariz., located two miles from Driedger's operation.
To read more from this article that appeared in the May 22 edition of the Western Farm Press, go to http://westernfarmpress.com/citrus/lemon-crop-0522/.
Glenn Wright, Yuma Agricultural Center, gwright@ag.arizona.edu
FIELD TRIALS GRADE HERBICIDES ON WEED CONTROL IN ALFALFA, WHEAT IN LOW DESERT
An impressive arsenal loaded with effective weapons is key to winning a war, and that's exactly the artillery power that low desert alfalfa and wheat growers in California and Arizona have through a wide array of effective herbicides in the war against weeds.
"Growers have herbicides that will control almost any weed out there, annual or perennial," said Barry Tickes, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension area agent in Yuma, La Paz, and Mohave counties in Arizona. "In most areas of the low desert, 20 herbicides are registered for use in alfalfa for weed control, and 15 herbicides for weeds in wheat."
Tickes has conducted research on herbicide effectiveness on weeds for almost 30 years. Most recently he's conducted 15 to 20 trials annually in California's Imperial Valley and Riverside County, and Arizona's Yuma and La Paz counties.
To learn more about Tickes' research results, read the rest of this May 22 Western Farm Press article at http://westernfarmpress.com/alfalfa/weed-control-0523/
THERE'S LOTS TO DO IN YOUR YARD
June is our hottest and driest month. It's a time that requires special attention to watering. If a drip emitter gets plugged, if an irrigation valve doesn't open due to a failed solenoid, or if a leak causes a drop in irrigation pressure, plants can die in a matter of days.
Take a look around your yard on a daily basis. If plants look off-color, dull, limp and/or wilted, revive them with a cool shower of water and a good soaking of the soil. Check the irrigation valves and emitters by turning your system on manually. Make sure water is flowing through the lines and coming out of all drip emitters.
To find out more, see the article that appeared in the June 1 issue of the Arizona Daily Star: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/241188.php
John Begeman, Pima County Cooperative Extension, jbegeman@ag.arizona.edu
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