Research Roundup at Montana State University (#274), From Israel to Montana, Polar-Palooza, Birds and fire, Bees love it
| February 15, 2008 |  View for printing |
From Israel to Montana
Researchers from the United States, Israel, Germany and Australia worked together to study bacterial communities in the "Evolution Canyons" of Israel. The canyons have extremely different levels of isolation, so they house diverse groups of bacteria, according to a recent paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. One of the paper's coauthors was Dave Ward, a Montana State University professor who received attention last year for his part in discovering heat-loving bacterium that reveal a new way to harvest light energy. The bacterium was discovered in the colorful microbial mats around the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park. Israel's Evolution Canyons run east and west and have north- and south-facing slopes. They usually have a dry streambed at the bottom.
Polar-Palooza
Christine Foreman, a polar biologist at MSU, traveled to Antarctica every year from 1999 through 2006. This year, she is traveling to various U.S. cities as part of the Polar-Palooza Tour. The tour is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and NASA to explain the importance of the polar regions and clear up misconceptions about them. Foreman already went to New Mexico, where she gave an overview of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and talked about bacteria found in Antarctic ice. Later this year, she will travel to Cleveland and Texas. The Polar-Palooza Tour is one of many educational and outreach efforts planned during the International Polar Year. The "year" actually runs from March 2007 through March 2009 to cover full seasons in Antarctica and the Arctic.
Birds and fire
Fire can be good for wildlife, or it can be bad. To find out more, research biologist Victoria Saab and MSU have been collecting information since 2002 to see how fire management affects wildlife in dry coniferous forests containing ponderosa pine. The project covers seven states in the interior West. The researchers want to know how fire affects certain species so they can advise forest managers, Saab said. Songbirds are one concern. Another are birds that nest inside tree cavities. The scientists might learn, for example, that woodpeckers nest in certain areas of burned forests. Based on that information, the scientists can recommend areas that will most likely protect the nesting birds and suggest different locations for harvesting trees. Saab works at the Rocky Mountain Research Station based at MSU.
Bees love it
Montanans fight spotted knapweed with sheep, insects and chemicals and by yanking it out by hand. Bees, on the other hand, seem to love it. They make a lot of high-quality honey out of the noxious weed that threatens native plants, reduces biodiversity and decreases wildlife habitat, said Jim Story, research entomologist at MSU's Western Ag Research Center. Spotted knapweed is so abundant and widespread that Montanans don't need or want to plant it, Story added. But years ago, a man told Story that he tried to help the honey industry in the 1950s by flying over Ravalli County and tossing out spotted knapweed. Story has a different goal for the weed. He wants to get rid of it with a root-eating weevil called cyphocleonus.
Evelyn Boswell, (406) 994-5135 or evelynb@montana.edu
http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwvi ... rticle=5600
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