Naturally, the closer a resistant waterhemp plant is to a non-resistant plant, the higher the chances of the resistant gene spreading. Jhala and Sarangi found that non-resistant waterhemp plants within 4 inches of a resistant plant had a 38% to 54% chance of receiving pollen with the resistant trait. But the waterhemp pollen proved a decent long-distance traveler, as well. Even non-resistant plants located approximately half of a football field length away still had a 5% to 9% chance of getting the gene.

The researchers hope this study will inform resistant weed management practices in the future, as well as risk assessments of commercial crops. See the university press release here: http://bit.ly/… and the study here: http://go.nature.com/….

SOME (MIGHT) LIKE IT HOT

Much of the research on plants' future under climate change tends toward the gloomy. But a new Purdue study suggests that plants might be tougher than we think.

Nick Smith, a Purdue professor of forestry and natural resources, worked with a postdoctoral fellow to measure how plants would deal with carbon uptake in a warmer climate. They observed how 22 different plant species adapted in a range of temperatures from 59 degrees to 95 degrees over seven days. Then the researchers turned up the heat. For a few minutes at a time, the plants were blasted with temperatures as high as 122 degrees. The findings were surprisingly positive. The plants that had acclimated to higher temperatures in the initial week were able to increase their carbon uptake for longer before dropping off compared to their cool weather colleagues.

Although other factors will be at play in a warmer world, such as water availability, the study has valuable insights for climate change models, the researchers concluded. "In general, across all plant types ... plants generally acclimated in a way that would suggest that as plants adjust to warmer temperatures, they increase their capacity to take up carbon from the atmosphere," Smith said in a university press release. "Our study suggests that...we shouldn't expect a decrease in photosynthesis or uptake of carbon based on temperature alone."

See the press release here: http://bit.ly/….

Emily Unglesbee can be reached at emily.unglesbee@dtn.com

Follow Emily Unglesbee on Twitter @Emily_Unglesbee

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