Swarms of millions of locusts have, since Biblical times and until our very own day, been considered a “plague” of major proportions, with the creatures destroying every growing thing in their path.
Until now, it was thought that the directions of these swarms were predominantly directed by prevailing winds. Now, Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists have shown that a physiological trait of these grasshoppers – namely their polarization vision — provides them with a built-in
Researchers have urged policy makers to field test any new strategy to control the spread of TB between badgers and cattle. The recommendation comes in a new study published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology that reveals evidence of a close spatial association between bovine tuberculosis (TB) in badgers and cattle.
Using data from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial, Dr Rosie Woodroffe and colleagues from the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB l
As water becomes ever more scarce, quenching thirsty crops with wastewater may be OK if done right, researchers here say.
“Managing reclaimed water by pretreating before using it to irrigate, monitoring for viruses, choosing correct crops and periodically leaching the soils should be successful and safe,” said Dr. George Di Giovanni, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station environmental microbiologist.
Di Giovanni and his colleagues studied the movement of viruses carried
Aquapharm Bio – Discovery Ltd (Aquapharm), a leading UK marine biotechnology company developing, amongst other things, anti-infective drug candidates from marine natural products, is pleased to announce the completion this month of its latest round of financing.
The investment of £344000 by E-Synergy Ltd and the Scottish Enterprise Co-Investment Fund completed the £1.25 million package by adding to a recent earlier investment of £350000 (£175,000 each) by NESTA (the National Endow
Too little of the research being done on renewable energy options is taking potential ecological implications into account, a major new review of the ecological implications of offshore renewable energy published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology has found.
The review by Dr Andrew Gill of Cranfield University found that despite an explosion of academic interest in the subject – almost 400 papers on renewable energy were published in peer-reviewed
They are called “hellfire”, “smart bombs”, “advanced penetrators” or “bunker-busters”. They all have the component of depleted Uranium (DU) in common. DU remains after the fissile isotope 235U has been extracted from natural Uranium for the production of nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. However 235U only comes to 5% of the total Uranium content, so that DU consists of the isotope 238U almost entirely. Between DU and natural Uranium there are no chemical and toxicological differences, merely the ra
Accurately forecasting rain will be easier thanks to new insights into clouds from the University of Leeds, UCL (University College London) and others. Details of a new model for predicting cloud and rain-formation are published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (10 August 2005).
Existing forecasting models – including ones used by the UK’s Meteorological Office – assume rain droplets fall through still air within a cloud. However, there is turbulence within cl
Researchers report on the state of Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes
While much of the world has focused on the war in Iraq, a group of wetland ecologists has been busy collecting data on the Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq. Formerly the largest wetland in Southwest Asia, the marshes are home to the native Ma’dan marsh dwellers, as well as numerous species of migrating waterfowl and game fish. Drainage of the wetlands as well as toxic contamination over the last twenty years d
Think of it as a kind of chemical clothes wringer.
University of Florida engineers have developed a compound that forces clothes in the washer to shed 20 percent more water during the spin cycle than in normal conditions. The result: A load of clothes dries faster in the dryer, saving energy — and reducing homeowners’ electricity bills and time spent in the laundry room.
“We feel it’s very cost-effective research and convenient for consumers,” said Dinesh Shah, a professor
Buffer zones immediately surrounding refuges at great risk
Six of the nation’s 545 National Wildlife Refuges are at severe risk, according to the 2005 State of the System Report, released earlier today.
The six most threatened National Wildlife Refuges in the United States are: Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), North Carolina; Horicon NWR, Wisconsin; Stone Lakes NWR, California; White River NWR, Arkansas; Alaska Maritime NWR, Alaska; and Desert NWR, Neva
Because grasslands and forests operate in complex feedback loops with both the atmosphere and soil, understanding how ecosystems respond to global changes in climate and element cycling is critical to predicting the range of global environmental changes–and attendant ecosystem responses–likely to occur. In a new study in the premier open access journal PLoS Biology Jeffrey Dukes, Christopher Field, and colleagues treated grassland plots to every possible combination of current or increased levels
Even grizzly bears should watch what they eat. It turns out that grizzlies that gorge themselves on salmon during the summer spawning season have much higher levels of contaminants in their bodies than their cousins who rely more on berries, plants and insects, according to Peter Ross of Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Reporting in an article to be published Sept. 15 in the American Chemical Society journal, Environmental Science & Technology, Canadian researchers say
Southern pines appear to grow and conserve water somewhat better in the carbon-dioxide-enriched atmosphere expected by mid-century, a Duke University study has found. However, any growth spurts appear to diminish over time, due at least in part to the kind of hot and dry weather that likely may become more common in the future. Thus, the researchers concluded, enhanced growth of pines may not constitute a long-term sink for human-produced carbon dioxide which might ameliorate global warming.
The latest issue of Conservation Biology examines the viability of the Sinai baton blue and the results of human population pressures. The study predicts that in the absence of global warming, grazing, and plant collection (three activities directly linked to humans) the world’s smallest butterfly would persist for at least 200 years. The population could withstand small increases in grazing intensity that would decrease their climate, but not increases in temperature. As the level of global warmin
The tastiest root
There are many insects which spend part of their lives below ground, feeding on the roots of various plants. While much is known about their above-ground lives, less is known about what they do underground. Focusing on the clover root weevil (Sitona lepidus), an insect that attacks white clover (Trifolium repens) throughout Europe and the United States, Scott Johnson, Peter Gregory (Scottish Crop Research Institute, UK), and Xioxian Zhang (University of Abertay, UK) used
The damage done to Spain’s Guadalajara province by July’s fierce forest fire has been measured from space by Envisat.
The four-day blaze began on 16 July, when a barbecue in pine woodland went out of control, spread by strong winds across a very dry landscape. Eleven volunteer firefighters died tackling the blaze, which at its height threatened to engulf the nearby villages of Selas and Ablanque. Firefighters succeeded in creating a fire-break to stop its spread, backed up
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