Simple measurements of these obscure organisms can help predict future CO2 emissions for warming ecosystems, study finds. It’s hard to know what climate change will mean for Earth’s interconnected and interdependent webs of life. But one team of researchers at Duke University says we might begin to get a glimpse of the future from just a few ounces of microbial soup. Every drop of pond water and teaspoon of soil is teeming with tens of thousands of tiny unicellular creatures…
Remoteness does not enhance coral reef resilience, according to marine ecologists. There’s a widespread hypothesis that links the resilience of coral reefs with their remoteness from human activities — the farther away they are from people, the more likely corals are to bounce back from disturbances. “The idea is that these coral reefs might serve as arks, that they could harbor biodiversity and intact ecosystems,” said UC Santa Barbara marine ecologist Adrian Stier of these ancient and fragile colonial organisms, most of…
Jellyfish have voracious appetites, and they aren’t considered the most selective eaters. Almost anything that gets stuck to their tentacles winds up in the gelatinous sack that they use to digest their food. This “take what comes” feeding strategy has clouded our understanding of which foods jellyfish survive on and how they fit in food webs. However, new research from the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) used two biochemical tools, stable isotopes and fatty acids, to begin unlocking…
Bayreuth researchers investigate consequences of urbanisation and tourism. Tourism and urban settlement are directly linked to a massive decline in insect species on oceanic islands. Scientists from the University of Bayreuth recently discovered this through research on the Maldives. On urban islands, they documented on average 48 percent fewer insect species than on uninhabited islands, on tourist islands even 66 percent fewer insect species. The research team led by Prof. Dr. Christian Laforsch at the University of Bayreuth reports on…
… developed by international collaboration. Marine heatwaves, driven by climate change, are becoming more frequent and intense worldwide. Although we know that heatwaves kill marine organisms and have devastating effects on ecosystems, there is currently no way to predict these effects or help ecosystems adapt. An international team of marine scientists from Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada, led by Dr Bayden D RUSSELL (Associate Director of the Swire Institute of Marine Science and Associate Professor from the School of Biological…
We regularly hear warnings that climate change may lead to ‘tipping points’: irreversible situations where savanna can quickly change into desert, or the warm gulf stream current can simply stop flowing. These cautions often refer to spatial patterns as early-warning signals of tipping points. An international team of ecologists and mathematicians has studied these patterns and come to a surprising conclusion. “Yes, we need to do everything we can to stop climate change”, the authors said in full agreement with…
A warming Arctic presents potential new threats to humans and marine wildlife in the fast-changing region. Changes in the northern Alaskan Arctic ocean environment have reached a point at which a previously rare phenomenon—widespread blooms of toxic algae—could become more commonplace, potentially threatening a wide range of marine wildlife and the people who rely on local marine resources for food. That is the conclusion of a new study about harmful algal blooms (HABs) of the toxic algae Alexandrium catenella being published in…
Manufacture, wear, wash, incinerate: This typical life cycle of garments, which pollutes the environment, is to be changed in the future – towards principles of circular economy with recycling at its core. Using an outdoor jacket made from PET bottles and recycled materials, Empa researchers have investigated whether the product actually delivers what the idea promises. At first glance, it’s a normal rain jacket: three layers of polyester, a lining on the inside, a water vapor-permeable membrane on top and…
Researchers have developed a clean and cost-effective way to upcycle used plastic, transforming it into valuable nanomaterials and high-quality fuel. Key points New tech produces carbon nanotubes and clean liquid fuel from used plastic Smart solution for upcycling plastic and agricultural waste simultaneously Circular economy approach to help turn two massive waste streams into genuine revenue Globally only about 20% of waste plastics are recycled. Boosting that figure remains a challenge as recycling plastic cleanly can be expensive and usually…
Mercury is released by coal combustion and mining activities to the atmosphere as a gaseous pollutant. Following global dispersal, mercury deposits partly to the ocean where it accumulates within the marine food chain—with grave consequences for human health and nutrition. A new study published in Nature on 29 September 2021 reveals that, contrary to earlier hypotheses, rainwater is not the primary deposition vector of this mercury; rather, the ocean breathes mercury, so to speak.1 This research also suggests that the…
The “North Sea Wrecks” team from the German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven was on another research trip in the North Sea. Thanks to technical support from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), detailed images of four wrecks were obtained. They were at sea again: the researchers from the North Sea Wrecks (NSW) project, who are investigating the dangers posed by old World War II munitions at the bottom of the North Sea and the…
Researchers found that salinity changes as a result of water cycle changes lead to less surface warming. A new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, in collaboration with scientists at Princeton University, shows that the intensification of global hydrological cycle drives more ocean heat uptake into the deep ocean and moderates the pace of global warming. As a result of a warming climate, the global water cycle becomes more…
Rhogostoma minus is the most common amoeba in wastewater treatment plants worldwide. It can serve as a host for bacteria of the order Legionellales, which includes pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila, the cause of Legionnaires’ disease. Researchers from Professor Michael Bonkowski’s working group at the University of Cologne’s Institute of Zoology have found that Rhogostoma minus is the most common amoeba in wastewater treatment plants worldwide and also serves as a host for Legionellales. The Legionellales identified in the amoebae…
… climate change will impact Antarctic seals differently. A New Zealand-led international study published today in Global Change Biology, reveals how climate change may impact seals in one of the most remote ocean regions in the world, the Weddell Sea. With funding from Pew Charitable Trusts, the University of Canterbury-based team engaged thousands of citizen scientists over a few years to search for Southern Ocean seals– crabeater and Weddell seals – using satellite images. “We found that Weddell and crabeater…
The importance of insects in the decomposition of wood. Living trees absorb a considerable amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and therefore play an important role in the protection of our climate. Little is known about the role of dead trees in the global carbon cycle, though. The decomposition of wood and the recycling of the nutrients it contains are among the most important processes to take place in forests. How much carbon is released from decaying wood worldwide?…
… pushes restoration towards large-scale implementation. Coral reefs’ dire status has become more and more apparent to the wider public via reports of re-occurring global bleaching and disease events and subsequent mass die-offs of corals during the last decade. In their recently published policy paper, the International Coral Reef Society urges politicians and decision makers to take immediate action. “The next ten years offer the last chance to change the trajectory of coral reefs from heading towards world-wide collapse to…
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