Recent comments in /f/askscience

IsraelinSF t1_j1vlumg wrote

Reply to comment by JennaSais in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

Water is a big concern for desert plants. The challenges they encounter include lack of water and nutrients, but also high temperatures. This is addressed in three manners: agrotech, genetics of the crop, and knowledge that has been gathered over years. Plants won’t grow without water, so water-use efficiency is crucial. However, some plants require a lot of water. One glass of wine needs 40L of water. One date needs 20 to 40L. In Israel today with desalination and intelligent water use, lack of water is no longer a big problem, but we still must think about these factors. These are challenges we face and think about on a daily basis.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vlesw wrote

Reply to comment by YoungLadHuckleberry in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

Research positions are accessible both in industry and in academics. In Israel the academics is relatively limited, but you can find positions worldwide. From my experience, my students (I have had over 50) have found positions in agrotech and biotech industries. As long as you’re doing what you love, you will find something worthwhile.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vl5fm wrote

Reply to comment by TheGnarWall in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

Desert plants, like all plants, can use storage compounds but without photosynthesizing they will not continue to grow. Many plants can change from sinks to sources of CO2 depending on their physiological state. This is not specific to desert plants, but rather all plants.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vkb6r wrote

Reply to comment by SalmonHustlerTerry in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

It all depends on which desert. In many cases if you want intense agriculture it is better to use a detached platform. It also depends on the species. Some species such as date palms can be grown directly in the soil. Feeding with nutrients is important but you can also put legumes between rows of crops that will help enrich the soil with nitrogen and other nutrients, since legumes are symbiotic with bacteria that fix nitrogen from the atmosphere.

In regards to mycelium, it depends on the fungi species and the specifics of the soil and climate.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vjrz5 wrote

Reply to comment by hari2897 in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

The plants that grow back may be similar to cacti, but many plants with many adaptations can exist in the desert. See CAM, C4, and C3 plants above. Deforestation enhances desertification. How long it takes for things to spring back depends on many factors, so it cannot easily be predicted.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vjbwr wrote

Reply to comment by bornswift in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

Yes, there are many attempts to genetically engineer plants in this way. Today, the science is moving to Crisp R, which is gene editing involving targeted mutations. The attempts are very diverse, and success until now has been relatively small. The main attempts are in trying to create plants that are water-use efficient, as explained in my response about C4 plants, and that are high-temperature tolerant. There are also attempts using conventional breeding. In my opinion, what we call Crisp R or GMO is the same as using breeding. It is just a fast way of breeding that needs to be done carefully, but it is necessary in a changing environment. With conventional breeding, every plant or fruit we eat today has been modified. In my opinion, GMO relates to all food we eat today, so whether we do it faster or slower has no effect, but it must be done in a careful and controlled way.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vin6n wrote

Reply to comment by Ironhyde36 in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

I have not studied specifically the cacti in Montana. The adaptations that enable cacti to grow in the desert are the same that enable them to grow in extreme cold. The common factor between extreme cold and desert is drought. In the desert there is less water, and in freezing areas there is less water in liquid-form. The cacti are part of the CAM plant family, which open their stomata at night, thereby minimising water loss.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vibi6 wrote

Reply to comment by TeeTaylor in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

Plants absorb different nutrients depending on the chemical and physical composition of the soil. Desert soils are usually lower in all nutrients, and therefore desert plants are usually efficient in their nutrient use. Measuring the nutrient use is a very important tool for sustainable agriculture, and is at the forefront of today’s research. We can measure online in order to provide the farmer with accurate data, so he can use exact amounts of nutrients. This creates a sustainable practice - maximizing yield with minimal waste. Nutrients can be absorbed, assimilated, or stored depending on the specifics of the species and the conditions.

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IsraelinSF t1_j1vhsmg wrote

Reply to comment by iSoinic in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Here to Talk About Roots and Shoots: How Plants Prosper in the Desert and What it Means for Agriculture and Biodiversity, AMA! by AskScienceModerator

One great method is drip irrigation. These days we can even go further, and say drip fertigation, which is the combination of irrigation and fertilizer. Drip fertigation is spoon-feeding an individual plant and can be used to minimize water loss and fertilizer contamination of the soil. In addition, in many areas the soil can be too harsh to grow plants, and in such cases we can grow the plants in a detached platform. This enables us to control exactly what is given to the plants without contaminating the soil. In general, we need to do three things. The first is agrotechnology, such as drip irrigation and the platform. The second is genetics - using species and cultivars that are efficient in their water and nutrient use. The third is recruiting the knowledge that has been gathered over the past 20 to 40 years in arid regions.

We work closely with farmers in order to maintain economic agriculture which is also sustainable in the desert.

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