Press releases

Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland work together to explore the possibilities of realizing a Nordic E-Science Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research.

Codling moth (Cydia pomonella) is a major pest insect of apples worldwide; the larvae mine and destroy the fruit.

The study of “sexual conflict” between males and females helps us to understand why sexual reproduction persists given that it can be costly, especially to females. One aspect of this conflict concerns how females respond to increased mating events that are of more benefit to males than to themselves. This work on traumatic insemination was conducted by Umeå university researcher Tom Cameron together with colleagues at the University of Leeds. The results have been published in Biology Letters.

A new investigation put in evidence the key role of cod as regulator of the whole Baltic Sea ecosystem. The study shows that when the cod population in the central Baltic increases, it spreads into larger areas and spills over into adjacent marginal systems where it usually does not occur, as for example the Gulf of Riga.

The Department of Forest Resource Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has received EU funding of 3.3 million euro for the project “The Baltic Landscape in change – innovative approaches towards sustainable forested landscapes”. The project will run until the end of June 2014.

In June 2011, a team of Chinese and Swedish researchers rediscovered the breeding area for the poorly known Blackthroat Luscinia obscura, in the Qinling mountains, Shaanxi province, north central China.

In her dissertation Environmental effects of agricultural expansion in the upper Amazon – a study of river basin geochemistry, hydrochemistry, and farmers´ perceptions, Lina Lindell, a researcher in environmental science at Linnaeus University in Sweden, examines the geochemical status of the natural environment in the Amazonas Region, and to what extent it has been impacted by deforestation and altered land use.

Late last week, an international group of scientists took a step closer to their goal to produce cultured meat. They agreed on important common positions about how to bring the research forward during a workshop in Gothenburg, Sweden, arranged by Chalmers University of Technology and the European Science Foundation.

Researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden, have cultivated and classified fungi that had previously been known only through DNA sequences. The fungi, which have lived hidden underground for millions of years, represent a class of fungi that is new to scientists, Archaeorhizomycetes. The findings are being published in the scientific journal Science on August 12.

Oat is the sixth most important cereal in the world. Traditionally it has been used for feed, but it’s importance as a food crop is steadily growing due to it’s unique health beneficial properties. Unfortunately, oat cannot be grown as a winter crop in Sweden. To remedy this, researchers at the University of Gothenburg are now in the process to develop new, more cold-tolerant winter oat varieties.