Feature Article

The probability of crop-to-wild gene flow depends on the geographic distribution of crops and their wild relatives. In this context, caution has been advised in relation to the release of transgenic crops into their centres of origin, i.e. the geographical regions in which they were domesticated, and where wild relatives and/or weedy forms persist. In countries with high plant biodiversity like India, where almost 400 species of crop wild
relatives are found, this is a relevant approach. (Correspondence)

Decomposition of monsoon rainfall time series into mutually uncorrelated intrinsic mode functions (IMF) has distinct advantages in empirical forecasting of rainfall quantity ahead of the season. The attractive feature of this approach is its ability to separate out the nonlinear (non-Gaussian) and the linear (Gaussian) parts of the data as uncorrelated narrow-band processes for further modelling. (Correspondence)

The projections of climate change-induced decline in food production have become a matter of grave concern for food security across the world. Experimental evidences of elevated CO2-induced reduction in grain micronutrients content, particularly Zn and Fe, further add to the problem. (Correspondence)

It has been proposed that changes in global climate have been responsible for episodes of widespread violence and even the collapse of civilizations. Yet previous studies have not shown that violence can be attributed to the global climate, only that random weather events might be correlated with conflict in some cases. Here we directly associate planetary-scale climate changes with global patterns of civil conflict by examining the dominant interannual mode of the modern climate, the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

The idea that climate influences the onset of wars is enticing, but controversial. A study now finds a convincing correlation between global climate and civil conflict in countries affected by the El Niño/Southern Oscillation.

Concerns about antibiotics focus on bacterial resistance — but permanent changes to our protective flora could have more serious consequences, says Martin Blaser.

Conflict poisons both land and sea, and lost natural resources lead to more violence. Ecology is an unlikely objective during wartime, but one that can help to secure peace. (Editorial)

Leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) containing gasoline represent a significant public health hazard. Virtually undetectable to the UST owner, gasoline leaks can contaminate groundwater supplies. In order to develop remediation plans one must know the extent of gasoline contamination. Centrifugal simulations showed that in silty and sandy soils gasoline moved due to the physical process of advection and was retained as a pool of free products above the water table.

Studies to understand the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance mechanism in European corn borer (ECB, Ostrinia nubilalis) suggest that resistance may be due to changes in the midgut-specific Bt toxin receptor. In this study, we identified 10 aminopeptidase-like genes, which have previously been identified as putative Bt toxin receptors in other insects and examined their expression in relation to Cry1Ab toxicity and resistance.

Predicting species range shifts in response to climatic change is a central aspect of global change studies. An ever growing number of species have been modeled using a variety of species distribution models (SDMs). However, quantitative studies of the characteristics of range shifts are rare, predictions of range changes are hard to interpret, analyze and summarize, and comparisons between the various models are difficult to make when the number of species modeled is large. Maxent was used to model the distribution of 12 Abies spp.