Private woodland owners provide the majority of timber harvested in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and most owners choose to selectively cut, rather than clearcut, their woodlands, according to a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State University.

Ants that tend and harvest gardens of fungus have a secret weapon against the parasites that invade their crops: antibiotic-producing bacteria that the insects harbor on their bodies.

Too much phosphorus fed to dairy cows creates pollution, costs producers, and provides no benefit to cows. Likewise for too much protein in dairy diets, says a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher. Keeping tabs on milk urea nitrogen can help farmers optimize the amount of protein they feed – with benefits for both the bottom line and the environment, says Michel Wattiaux, a dairy nutritionist at the UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Joseph Buongiorno, a professor of forest ecology and management with an appointment in the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.

When it comes to energy metabolism, hummingbirds are the heavyweight champions of vertebrates. Pound for pound, the thumb-sized birds have higher energy demands than elephants.

When wildlife researchers and students from around the world converged on Madison in September, several of them made a point to stop by campus to take a look at some of the Aldo Leopold memorabilia on display in the library of the Department of Wildlife Ecology.

Humans have cultivated potatoes for millennia, but there has been great controversy about the ubiquitous vegetable’s origins. This week a team led by a USDA potato taxonomist stationed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has for the first time demonstrated a single origin in southern Peru for the cultivated potato.

Vibrantly colored creatures from the depths of the South Pacific harbor toxins that have the potential to act as powerful cancer drugs–and CALS biochemists have defined the structure of the toxins and provided basic understanding that can be used to synthesize pharmaceuticals.

Dane County, Wisconsin is home to more than 120,000 dairy cows and some of the most productive farmland in the state. It’s also home to some of the hottest house-building in the state, thanks to a thriving job market in and around Madison, the capital city. And it’s home to some thorny urban/rural problems, as dairy farmers try to manage manure in a countryside that’s filling up with houses and commuters.

The UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems has been selected by the EPA as a Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program Champion for 2005. This designation honors CIAS for its efforts to reduce pesticide risk through sustainable agricultural practices such as Integrated Pest Management and organic farming. CIAS also received this national honor in 2003.