The complex patterns of tropical forest structure demand more complex explanations
As global change accelerates, quantifying the role of forests in the carbon cycle becomes ever more urgent. Modelers seek simple predictors of forest biomass and carbon flux. Over the last decade, the theory of metabolic ecology generated testable explanations, derived from physical and biochemical principles, for a wide range of ecological patterns. However, in two Ecology Letters articles, Hele
An unprecedented marsh gardening project, spanning two states and utilizing the talents of many agencies, is ready to begin this spring. Headed by Dr. Just Cebrian, Senior Marine Scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, this ambitious “greening of the estuaries” seeks to establish new, or rehabilitate existing, marsh sites.
In 2002, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Thi
Latest study documents sixth species found in two-year period
Frogs and lots of them are being discovered in the Southeast Asia nation of Lao PDR, according to the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which says that six new frog species have been found by scientists over a two-year period.
Working in conjunction with the WCS Laos Program, scientists describe the latest three species in the recent issue of Copeia, the journal of the American Society of Herpetol
Scientist divers to investigate coral reefs for impact of global warming, pollution and population growth in and around Farasan Islands
Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation will lead an all-star team of scientist divers on an expedition to study the “rainforests” of the Red Sea. State-of-the-art technology will enable the team to complete years of coral reef research in just three weeks. The research will focus on threats to coral health such as global climate change, ecoto
Chernobyl, the most significant accident in nuclear history, took place on 26 April 1986. Even 20 years later, the accident has left the world with many unanswered questions about its impact on human health, the environment, and the socio-economic sector.
To provide some answers, GreenFacts has released a Three-Level Summary of Chernobyl’s Legacy, a report published in March 2006 by the Chernobyl Forum. This forum included hundreds of experts from, e.g., the International Atomic Energy A
Cider making, as with any similar process, involves the production of leftover “waste” such as the apple pulp, discarded apples and liquid residue, for example.
AZTI-Tecnalia Technological Centre, given its intention to improve and innovate the production process of natural cider, is undertaking a number of studies of the management, the reduction and the re-evaluation of waste residue from cider making. The aim is twin-fold: the gains from eliminating the waste generated in this
According to Dutch researchers, if you want to know what the average citizen thinks about new energy options then make sure you inform them properly first. Respondents who are not well informed, only give ’pseudo opinions’ which are too fickle to base policy on. This emerges from psychological research into what the Dutch think about various forms of energy generation from fossil fuels in combination with CO2 storage.
When energy is generated from fossil fuels, the greenhous
Dutch researcher Phil Ham has developed mathematical models to calculate the natural degradation capacity of polluted groundwater. As a result of this, it can now be predicted whether a polluted area will become larger or smaller. In the latter case, expensive remediation methods can be avoided.
Groundwater under contaminated sites, such as waste disposal sites and industrial areas, is often polluted. Such a polluted groundwater plume can grow, shrink or remain stable due to an interpla
Dutch researcher Yvonne van Breugel analysed rocks from seabeds millions of years old. Carbon occurs naturally in two stable forms; atomic mass 12 (99 percent) and atomic mass 13 (1 percent). Episodes in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods were characterised by a relatively strong increase in 12C. The analyses have shown that this was caused by a sudden large-scale release of carbon from stocks stored in the ocean floor or peats and bogs.
The atmospheric carbon dioxide concentratio
The first MetOp meteorological satellite arrived yesterday at its launch site, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, following shipment from the industrial prime contractor, EADS Astrium in Toulouse, on board an Antonov-124 transport plane.
MetOp-A is the first in a series of three EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.
After undergoing a mecha
Millions of Britons may be reeling from hosepipe bans this summer, but one UK university has come up with a novel way to help plug the water crisis – by recycling plastic milk cartons.
Energy savers at Sheffield Hallam University have won a national award for their innovative and low-cost method of conserving water, in the same week it was revealed insufficient amounts of water were being collected and used in Britain.
The University took first spot in the energy and wat
Scientists have reported an unprecedented number of unaccompanied and possibly abandoned walrus calves in the Arctic Ocean, where melting sea ice may be forcing mothers to abandon their pups as the mothers follow the rapidly retreating ice edge north.
Nine lone walrus calves were reported swimming in deep waters far from shore by researchers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy during a cruise in the Canada Basin in the summer of 2004. Unable to forage for themselves, th
Study says standing forest is the best rat control in Fiji Islands
The most cost-effective way to stop non-native rats and mongoose from decimating highly endangered species on larger tropical islands is not by intensive trapping, but instead by preserving the forest blocks where wildlife live, according to a study by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other groups.
The study, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology
Just as baby mammals depend on their mothers ’ milk, the young of the African amphibian Boulengerula taitanus nourish themselves by stripping off and eating the fat-rich outer layer of their mothers ’ skin, according to an international team of researchers that includes University of Michigan biologist Ronald Nussbaum.
The findings are reported in today ’s issue (April 13) of the journal Nature.
Hatchlings of B. taitanus—a legless amphibian that looks someth
Parts of the Caribbean and Central America are likely to experience a significant summer drying trend by the middle of this century, UCLA atmospheric scientists will report in the April 18 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Their research is based on an analysis of 10 global climate computer simulations, from the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laborator
Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have completed two extensive survey and mapping efforts to better understand why the 2005 New England red tide was so severe and to suggest what might lie ahead. WHOI Senior Scientist Don Anderson and colleagues mapped the distribution of Alexandrium fundyense cysts in seafloor sediments immediately before and after the historic harmful algal bloom of 2005.
The first of these analyses shows unusually large numbers of cysts o
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