137 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures in Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Search the index →
WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.
Eduardo A. Cavallo, Sebastián Galiani, Ilan Noy et al. · 2013 · The Review of Economics and Statistics
Abstract We examine the average causal impact of catastrophic natural disasters on economic growth by combining information from comparative case studies. For each country affected by a large disaster, we compute the counterfactual by…
View details →Virginia Rauh, Frederica P. Perera, Megan K. Horton et al. · 2012 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphate insecticide, is associated with neurobehavioral deficits in humans and animal models. We investigated associations between CPF exposure and brain morphology using magnetic…
View details →Michael G. Branstetter, Bryan N. Danforth, James P. Pitts et al. · 2017 · Current Biology
The stinging wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) are an extremely diverse lineage of hymenopteran insects, encompassing over 70,000 described species and a diversity of life history traits, including ectoparasitism, cleptoparasitism, predation, pollen feeding (bees [Anthophila] and Masarinae), and eusociality (social vespid wasps, ants, and some bees) [1]. The most well-studied lineages of Aculeata are the ants, which are ecologically dominant in most terrestrial ecosystems [2], and the bees, the most important lineage of angiosperm-pollinating insects [3]. Establishing the phylogenetic affinities o
View details →Kevin Gross, Bradley J. Cardinale, Jeremy W. Fox et al. · 2013 · The American Naturalist
The relationship between biological diversity and ecological stability has fascinated ecologists for decades. Determining the generality of this relationship, and discovering the mechanisms that underlie it, are vitally important for…
View details →Amandine Cornille, Pierre Gladieux, M.J.M. Smulders et al. · 2012 · PLoS Genetics
The apple is the most common and culturally important fruit crop of temperate areas. The elucidation of its origin and domestication history is therefore of great interest. The wild Central Asian species Malus sieversii has previously been identified as the main contributor to the genome of the cultivated apple (Malus domestica), on the basis of morphological, molecular, and historical evidence. The possible contribution of other wild species present along the Silk Route running from Asia to Western Europe remains a matter of debate, particularly with respect to the contribution of the Europea
View details →Amélie C. M. Gaudin, Tor N. Tolhurst, Alan P. Ker et al. · 2015 · PLoS ONE
Cropping sequence diversification provides a systems approach to reduce yield variations and improve resilience to multiple environmental stresses. Yield advantages of more diverse crop rotations and their synergistic effects with reduced tillage are well documented, but few studies have quantified the impact of these management practices on yields and their stability when soil moisture is limiting or in excess. Using yield and weather data obtained from a 31-year long term rotation and tillage trial in Ontario, we tested whether crop rotation diversity is associated with greater yield stabili
View details →Humira Sonah, Louise S. O’Donoughue, Elroy R. Cober et al. · 2014 · Plant Biotechnology Journal
Soya bean is a major source of edible oil and protein for human consumption as well as animal feed. Understanding the genetic basis of different traits in soya bean will provide important insights for improving breeding strategies for this…
View details →Joel Atallah, Lisa Teixeira, Raul Salazar et al. · 2014 · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Evolutionary innovation can allow a species access to a new ecological niche, potentially reducing competition with closely related species. While the vast majority of Drosophila flies feed on rotting fruit and other decaying matter, and…
View details →Achille Schiavone, Michele De Marco, Silvia Martínez-Miró et al. · 2017 · Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology/Journal of animal science and biotechnology
The study aimed to determine the apparent total tract digestibility coefficients (ATTDC) of nutrients, the apparent metabolizable energy (AME and AMEn) and the amino acid (AA) apparent ileal digestibility coefficients (AIDC) of a partially defatted (BSFp) and a highly defatted (BSFh) black soldier fly larvae meal. The experimental diets were: a basal diet and two diets prepared by substituting 250 g/kg (w/w) of the basal diet with BSFp or BSFh, respectively. Significant differences were found between BSFp and BSFh meals for ATTDC of the nutrients: BSFp resulted more digestible than BSFh, excep
View details →Thomas Wicker, Heidrun Gundlach, M. Spannagl et al. · 2018 · Genome biology
BACKGROUND: Transposable elements (TEs) are major components of large plant genomes and main drivers of genome evolution. The most recent assembly of hexaploid bread wheat recovered the highly repetitive TE space in an almost complete chromosomal context and enabled a detailed view into the dynamics of TEs in the A, B, and D subgenomes. RESULTS: The overall TE content is very similar between the A, B, and D subgenomes, although we find no evidence for bursts of TE amplification after the polyploidization events. Despite the near-complete turnover of TEs since the subgenome lineages diverged fr
View details →Adam J. Bewick, Lexiang Ji, Chad E. Niederhuth et al. · 2016 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
In plants, CG DNA methylation is prevalent in the transcribed regions of many constitutively expressed genes (gene body methylation; gbM), but the origin and function of gbM remain unknown. Here we report the discovery that Eutrema…
View details →A. M. S. A. Qados · 2011 · Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences
The effect of sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations (0.0, 60, 120, 240 mM) on growth, osmotic potential, chlorophyll content, protein content of (Vicia faba L.) seedlings was investigated. NaCl caused an increase in plant height with low…
View details →Richard P. Phillips, Ina C. Meier, Emily S. Bernhardt et al. · 2012 · Ecology Letters
A common finding in multiple CO(2) enrichment experiments in forests is the lack of soil carbon (C) accumulation owing to microbial priming of 'old' soil organic matter (SOM). However, soil C losses may also result from the accelerated…
View details →Katherine A. Orford, Ian P. Vaughan, Jane Memmott · 2015 · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Bees, hoverflies and butterflies are taxa frequently studied as pollinators in agricultural and conservation contexts. Although there are many records of non-syrphid Diptera visiting flowers, they are generally not regarded as important…
View details →Ji Chen, Lars Elsgaard, Kees Jan van Groenigen et al. · 2020 · Global Change Biology
concentrations. However, the mechanisms underlying changes in soil C storage are not well understood, hampering long-term predictions of climate C-feedbacks. The activity of the extracellular enzymes ligninase and cellulase can be used to…
View details →Fabian Staubach, John F. Baines, Sven Künzel et al. · 2013 · PLoS ONE
The fruit fly Drosophila is a classic model organism to study adaptation as well as the relationship between genetic variation and phenotypes. Although associated bacterial communities might be important for many aspects of Drosophila biology, knowledge about their diversity, composition, and factors shaping them is limited. We used 454-based sequencing of a variable region of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene to characterize the bacterial communities associated with wild and laboratory Drosophila isolates. In order to specifically investigate effects of food source and host species on bact
View details →Davey L. Jones, Emily C. Cooledge, Frances C. Hoyle et al. · 2019 · Soil Biology and Biochemistry
The microbial partitioning of organic carbon (C) into either anabolic (i.e. growth) or catabolic (i.e. respiration) metabolic pathways represents a key process regulating the amount of added C that is retained in soil. The factors regulating C use efficiency (CUE) in agricultural soils, however, remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate substrate CUE from a wide range of soils (n = 970) and geographical area (200,000 km2) to determine which soil properties most influenced C retention within the microbial community. Using a 14C-labeling approach, we showed that the aver
View details →S.P. Syswerda, Andrew Corbin, D. L. Mokma et al. · 2010 · Soil Science Society of America Journal
Soil C sequestration research has historically focused on the top 0 to 30 cm of the soil profile, ignoring deeper portions that might also respond to management. In this study we sampled soils along a 10‐treatment management intensity…
View details →Matt C. Estep, Michael R. McKain, Dilys M. Vela Díaz et al. · 2014 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The role of polyploidy, particularly allopolyploidy, in plant diversification is a subject of debate. Whole-genome duplications precede the origins of many major clades (e.g., angiosperms, Brassicaceae, Poaceae), suggesting that polyploidy…
View details →Qingxin Meng, Wei Yang, Mengqi Men et al. · 2019 · Frontiers in Microbiology
In composting system, the composition of microbial communities is determined by the constant change in the physicochemical parameters. This study explored the dynamics of bacterial and fungal communities during cow manure and corn straw composting using high throughput sequencing technology. The relationships between physicochemical parameters and microbial community composition and abundance were also evaluated. The sequencing results revealed the major phyla included Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi and Actinobacteria, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Linear discriminant a
View details →Gracious Diiro, Greg Seymour, Menale Kassie et al. · 2018 · PLoS ONE
This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women's empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women's empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indicators of women's empowerment significantly increase productivity, there is no significant association between the women
View details →Nathalie Seddon, Carlos A. Botero, Joseph A. Tobias et al. · 2013 · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Sexual selection is proposed to be an important driver of diversification in animal systems, yet previous tests of this hypothesis have produced mixed results and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. Here, we use a novel phylogenetic approach to assess the influence of sexual selection on patterns of evolutionary change during 84 recent speciation events across 23 passerine bird families. We show that elevated levels of sexual selection are associated with more rapid phenotypic divergence between related lineages, and that this effect is restricted to male plumage traits proposed to functio
View details →Taraka Davies‐Barnard, Pierre Friedlingstein · 2020 · Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Abstract Biological nitrogen fixation is a key contributor to sustaining the terrestrial carbon cycle, providing nitrogen input that plants require. However, the amount and global distribution of this fixation is highly disputed. Using a…
View details →Candida P. Shirima, Martin Kimanya, Michael N. Routledge et al. · 2014 · Environmental Health Perspectives
BACKGROUND: Aflatoxin and fumonisin are toxic food contaminants. Knowledge about effects of their exposure and coexposure on child growth is inadequate. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association between child growth and aflatoxin and fumonisin exposure in Tanzania. METHODS: A total of 166 children were recruited at 6-14 months of age and studied at recruitment, and at the 6th and 12th month following recruitment. Blood and urine samples were collected and analyzed for plasma aflatoxin-albumin adducts (AF-alb) using ELISA, and urinary fumonisin B1 (UFB1) using liquid chromatography-mass spectr
View details →Jacob Ricker‐Gilbert, Charles Jumbe, Jordan Chamberlin · 2014 · Food Policy
This article uses nationally representative household-level panel data from Malawi to estimate how rural population density impacts agricultural intensification and household well-being. We find that areas of higher population density are…
View details →Aaron J. Lorenz, Timothy J. Gustafson, J. G. Coors et al. · 2010 · Crop Science
ABSTRACT The use of maize ( Zea mays L.) stover as a feedstock for cellulosic biofuels production will create demand for maize hybrids with greater stover yield. It is expected that grain yield will remain the most critical trait and…
View details →Hojun Song, Olivier Béthoux, Seunggwan Shin et al. · 2020 · Nature Communications
Acoustic communication is enabled by the evolution of specialised hearing and sound producing organs. In this study, we performed a large-scale macroevolutionary study to understand how both hearing and sound production evolved and affected diversification in the insect order Orthoptera, which includes many familiar singing insects, such as crickets, katydids, and grasshoppers. Using phylogenomic data, we firmly establish phylogenetic relationships among the major lineages and divergence time estimates within Orthoptera, as well as the lineage-specific and dynamic patterns of evolution for hea
View details →Nicholas J. Sitko, Thomas S. Jayne · 2014 · Food Policy
Over the last decade, Zambia has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of medium-scale “emergent farms” cultivating 5–20 ha of land. This study analyzes the factors underpinning this growth. We find that the growth of emergent farmers…
View details →Julie Morand‐Ferron, Ella F. Cole, James E.C. Rawles et al. · 2011 · Behavioral Ecology
Ecological and evolutionary drivers of innovativeness among species are relatively well studied, but the significance of similar variation within species is much less well understood. Using automated foraging devices, we conducted the…
View details →Mohammad Houshmand, K. Azhar, I. Zulkifli et al. · 2012 · Poultry Science
An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of period on the performance, immunity, and some stress indicators of broilers fed 2 levels of protein and stocked at a normal or high stocking density. Experimental treatments consisted…
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