Growing food with less water: Chilean research team finds solutions in extreme environments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Webb
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Water Stress ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Desert Plants ◽  
Survival And Growth

Droughts pose a growing risk to food security. Glasshouse experiments show that tomatoes inoculated with rhizobacteria from ephemeral flowering desert plants exhibit greater rates of survival and growth when subjected to periods of water stress.

The Extreme Environment of High Altitude Gas Ballooning

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1409-1413
Author(s):  
Nathan J. McNeese ◽  
Nancy J. Cooke ◽  
Steven Shope ◽  
Ashley Knobloch
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Extreme Environment ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Team Cognition ◽  
World Records

Extreme environments often profoundly impact one’s cognition and subsequently the ability to make accurate and correct decisions. Although we are beginning to understand how these environments impact individual and team cognition, more specific work conducted in real extreme environments is needed to further understand this relationship. In this paper, we present data collected in the extreme environment of gas ballooning. Recently, the Two Eagles gas ballooning project set two absolute world records: longest duration in a gas balloon and longest distance in a gas balloon. During this project, our research team was able to collect cognitive abilities data and data on the effects of multiple stressors in the environment. We present the overall project along with some insights from the data. We also highlight lessons learned from attempting to collect data in an extreme environment.

scholarly journals Moving beyond the Mirage: Water Scarcity and Agricultural Use Inefficiency in USA

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2290
Author(s):  
Jenny Kehl
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information System ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Efficiency ◽  
Agricultural Use ◽  
Water Scarce ◽  
Analyze Data

The purpose of this article is to examine water scarcity and food security in the United States, the world’s largest grain producer, and to provide empirical evidence that high volumes of water-intensive crops are grown in water-scarce regions. The primary methodology is to analyze data using Geographic Information System (GIS) and to visually represent the results through statistical mapping of water stress overlaid with the amount of production of different commodities. The article concludes by discussing strategies to restructure agriculture to improve water efficiency and to maintain regional agricultural economies that depend on the sustainability of water resources.

scholarly journals Portrayal of Camel Production in The Desert Ecosystem of Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asim Faraz
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Domestic Animals ◽  
Desert Ecosystem ◽  
Gobi Desert ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Pastoral Economy ◽  
Better Than

Camel plays a pivotal role in the subsistence pastoral economy of diverse ecozones extending from Gobi Desert and India in central Asia to Somalia and Ethiopia in the horn of Africa. Camel has special attributes including its appearance and ability to survive in hot, harsh and versatile arid environments. Camel has fascinated mankind as it can tolerate many stresses like heat; scarcity of water; water with high salinity and shortage of feed. Camel can digest dry matter and coarse crude fiber better than any other ruminants. Among domestic animals, the dromedary is most important animal being survive in hot, arid and semi-arid regions and has potential to produce higher quality foods (meat and milk) under extreme environments at lower costs. Camel can tolerate solar radiations, higher temperatures and water scarcity. Camel consume those feed materials which remains un-utilized by other domestic animals, thus thrive well on sandy deserts with poor vegetation. Adaptation of Camelids in Pakistan is very well to their native environment as they are performing and well sustaining a life in hostile deserts. The dromedaries provide milk and meat to the pastorals and herders in those areas where the survival of other livestock species is very tough. So, camels equilibrate the food security chain in the deep deserts and provide nourishment to its keepers; proving it to be a good candidate of food security and sovereignty in the desert ecosystem.

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