News by Subject Agriculture

A new study has demonstrated how video games can be used as a citizen science approach to train artificial intelligence tools, with data contributing towards coral reef conservation efforts. The NeMO-Net video game, designed by researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and led by principal investigator Dr Ved Chirayath, provides an educational and intuitive tool for players to learn about and explore coral reef ecosystems, whilst also bringing marine conservation research to wider audiences.

Microplastics--small plastic pieces less than 5 millimeters in length--are ubiquitous in the environment, and they can have significant effects on wildlife. A new study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry reveals that there are multiple impacts of different microplastics--with varying sizes, shapes, and chemical makeup--to the survival, growth, and development of larval fathead minnows, an important prey species in lakes and rivers in North America.

A new study led by University of Washington researchers borrowed image-analysis methods from engineering to spot the minute movements of a stony coral.

Real-world disease and parasite monitoring is often hampered by the inability of traditional approaches to easily sample broad geographical areas and large numbers of individuals. This can result in patchy data that fall short of what researchers need to anticipate and address outbreaks. Writing in BioScience (https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/biosci/biab027), Jessica Farrell, Liam Whitmore, and David Duffy describe the promise of novel molecular techniques to overcome these shortcomings.

An international group of scientific experts co-directed by CNRS oceanographer Jean-Pierre Gattuso has stated the requirements for coral reef survival in an article published in Biological Conservation. Over 500 million people rely on coral reefs.

The worldwide adoption of biotechnologies to improve crop production has stalled, putting global food security at risk, according to an international team of researchers led by the University of Birmingham.