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Sustainable Bioenergy Cropping Systems

When it comes to biodiversity, some biofuel crops are better than others

The type of bioenergy crops we plant – as well as where and how we plant them – could have huge impacts on biodiversity. A new study finds some ‘next generation’ solutions aren’t much better than the first.

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| Emilie Lorditch

An integrated approach to land management practices in the U.S. can reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere far more than earlier estimates based on separate approaches, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) researchers say. Their research was published May 31 in the journal Global Change Biology.

| GLBRC Staff

The Outreach and Service Awards are given annually to members of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) who have made significant contributions to the Center’s outreach and service mission.

| Mark E. Griffin

“We know more about Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or brewer’s yeast, than just about any other organism,” says Francesca Gambacorta, a graduate student in Brian Pfleger’s lab at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. 

| Jill Sakai
A new study from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center describes a complete lignin-to-bioproduct pipeline that could produce high yields of a target chemical with high potential value as a platform chemical to make adhesives, plastics, and other biopolymers.
| Molly A. Seltzer

Biomass can be used to sustainably produce common chemicals instead of oil, but it is unclear which chemicals are most crucial to replace. Now, a Princeton researcher has created a way to rank the chemicals based on the carbon emissions of their production processes.

| Jill Sakai
An analysis of the environmental impacts of producing corn ethanol reveals that carbon emissions from using land to grow corn can offset or even negate the potential climate advantages of corn ethanol relative to gasoline. The results add urgency to the work at GLBRC and other bioenergy research centers to develop next-generation biofuels from perennial, non-food crops, grown on land less suited for conventional agriculture.
| Mary Riker
This week we spoke with Amy Enright, a graduate student in Jason Peters' lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, to talk about why she came to UW-Madison, her research on the microbe Zymomonas mobilis, and her advice for interested graduate students.
| Chris Barncard

Thirteen University of Wisconsin­–Madison scholars have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

| Igor Houwat and Kara Headley

MSU scientists have developed a new gene discovery method that is helping them to understand how plants recover from stressful situations in their environments. The approach, which covers big data sets spanning thousands of genes and hundreds of interactions between DNA and proteins, has long-term implications for agricultural productivity and the breeding of more resilient crops.

| Olga Kuchment

The world faces an increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a shortage of carbon in the soil. However, bioenergy sorghum can provide meaningful relief from both problems, according to a new study by Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists.

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