Echo
Oilseeds could help farmers and soil alike
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The lifecycle of microbes and plants creates a system that can filter and hold more water and nutrients, which provides a buffer against drought and unpredictable rain.
Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/Plants/)
The lifecycle of microbes and plants creates a system that can filter and hold more water and nutrients, which provides a buffer against drought and unpredictable rain.
A scientist may have found a native aquatic plant in Ohio that was once thought to be wiped out in the state. The watermilfoil species has not been seen in Ohio in at least 20 years.
Disease and a newly identified fungus have been killing Michigan’s blue spruce population for roughly a decade, and the dangers show no signs of slowing.
The Traverse City-based Go Beyond Beauty program has received funding through two projects from the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program to tackle such plants as Japanese Barberry, baby’s breath and blue lyme grass that are spread by people putting them in gardens.
The finding may lead to better conservation of a largely unprotected ecosystem and one that can help mitigate climate change by capturing carbon.
It’s a value increasingly recognized by the public.
Bill Schneider grows native Michigan plants and also designs ecologically focused projects such as prairie and wetland mitigation, and storm water recovery works.
During the month of May, a different type of hunter takes to the Michigan woods. Their prey, the low-lying honeycomb shaped fungi, morels.
Nearly a quarter of foodborne illnesses in the United States are cause by fresh produce, according to Ohio State University researchers. Research shows that leafy greens and sprouts cause the most illnesses, said Sarah Klein, senior attorney in Food Safety Program at the Center of Science and Public Interest in Washington D.C. Leafy greens and sprouts cause the most illnesses. She explained that leafy greens are grown in soil where manure can be used and it is fertilized with irrigation water. Sprouts can carry bacteria in their seed. Sprouts are normally grown in warm and moist conditions that cause the bacteria to grow.
Here’s a reminder of Great Lakes beaches in warmer times. This plant is the federally and state-protected Pitcher’s thistle, which is also known as a dune thistle. The photo was taken last summer by habitat restoration specialist Terry Heatlie at Bois Blanc Island in north Lake Huron between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The Pitcher’s thistle is native exclusively to the Great Lakes region, according to the National Fish and Wildlife Service. It was added to the government’s list of threatened species back in 1988.