Rare salamanders at a Georgia military base are the guinea pigs for Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers whose goal is to develop methods to better determine whether a species has vanished.
After not finding any flatwoods salamanders since 2001, Fort Stewart biologists were a bit concerned and were looking for a better survey method, said Mark Bevelhimer, an aquatic ecologist and member of ORNL’s Environmental Sciences Division. A Strategic Environmental Research and De
From the P&O Cruise Ferry, the Pride Of Bilbao, The Biscay Dolphin Research Programme (BDRP) has gathered a great deal of data on the distribution and abundance of whales & dolphins (collectively known as cetaceans). This wealth of data has demonstrated the importance of this area as a feeding and breeding ground for many different species with more than a quarter of all cetacean species being recorded in the area.
On a recent crossing of the Bay of Biscay in April 2005, Clive Ma
2 dead bottlenose dolphins seen near large fishing fleet off Spanish coast prompting fears that they were likely to have been incidentally caught in the fishing nets.
From the P&O Cruise Ferry, the Pride Of Bilbao, The Biscay Dolphin Research Programme (BDRP) has gathered a great deal of data on the distribution and abundance of whales & dolphins (collectively known as cetaceans) in the European Atlantic. This unique year round database has demonstrated the importance of this area
Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health cruise provided timely data for shellfish managers
With shellfish beds from Maine to the Cape Cod coast closed from the largest outbreak of red tide in 12 years in Massachusetts Bay, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are studying the algae that causes these “red tides” and providing information to coastal managers using new molecular techniques and oceanographic models.
After a recent research cr
Thinking small in a time when everything was big has helped Queensland researchers to unearth new evidence that climate change, instead of humans, was responsible for wiping out Australian giant marsupials or megafauna 40,000 years ago.
Instead of only excavating ’trophy specimens’ such as giant kangaroos and wombats, the researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Queensland Museum performed the first systematic analysis of a site in the fossil rich Darling
Catastrophic floods in Central Europe in the summer of 2002 killed 110 people and caused more than 15 billion euros of damage. A powerful Decision Support System (DSS) promises to minimise the impact of severe flooding in the future.
Developed under the IST programme-funded project Ramflood, which ended in March, the system to assess the risk of flooding and improve emergency management has continued to be used at its two trial sites in Spain and Greece amid plans to extend its imp
A new analysis of Africa’s past and future climate shows that the Sahel region, which experienced catastrophic drought until rains returned in the 1990s, could experience wetter monsoons for decades to come. However, drought across southern Africa is projected to intensify further. Oceanic warming consistent with an increase in greenhouse gases appears to be a factor in these expected 21st-century changes to Africa’s monsoons.
James Hurrell of the National Center for Atmos
Sacrificing one wetland for the sake of five others may be the way to go when planning constructed wetlands to replace those destroyed during road building, but a Penn State Erie biologist is monitoring the salinity of the wetlands to see how the salt affects animals and insects.
“I am currently doing research in wetlands that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation constructed as mitigation wetlands to replace all the ones that were destroyed by the new road,” says Dr
A new research radar based in Antarctica is giving scientists the chance to study the highest layer of the earth’s atmosphere at the very edge of space.
Using the new radar, scientists will be able to investigate climate change and explore the theory that while the lower atmosphere is warming, the upper atmosphere is cooling by as much as 1 degree Centigrade each year.
They will also be able to find out more about the complex waves, tides and other mechanisms that link th
The crucial role that Antarctica plays in global climate change and its future contribution to sea-level rise was highlighted today by Professor Chris Rapley, Director of British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Speaking at an international convention on climate change in Bonn, Germany* he presented a summary of the latest scientific results from Antarctica.
Professor Rapley said, “The issue of sea-level rise is of great concern to all of us – the contribution from Antarctica is the gre
Fossil Fish Challenge Gene Theory
New evidence from fossil fish, hundreds of millions of years old, casts doubt on current ideas about evolutionary theory.
The research, by palaeontologists Dr Philip Donoghue of the University of Bristol and Dr Mark Purnell of the University of Leicester, appears to have solved a scientific riddle by using the fossil record to explain evolutionary ‘leaps’ between species.
The scientists’ claim that these evolutionary ‘leaps
In the past 50 years, human activity has changed the diversity of life on Earth – our biodiversity – more than any other time in history. These changes include biodiversity loss that harms the natural systems, known as ecosystems, which sustain all life on the planet.
The loss of biodiversity is more harmful to some people than others. The rural poor in developing countries are often hit hardest, because they are more directly dependent on the resources and services that ecosystem
The colossal kauri trees prevent landslides on landslide-prone slopes. This is the conclusion of Dutch-funded researcher Lieven Claessens, who developed a model for predicting landslides in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park in New Zealand.
Claessens has discovered that the kauri trees in New Zealand prevent landslides. When these enormous conifers reached a certain age, they stabilise areas prone to landslides. This maximises the benefit the trees gain by living far longer than
CORAL reefs damaged in the Asian tsunami tragedy should be allowed to recover naturally before countries launch into expensive restoration plans, according to some of the world’s leading scientists.
The scientists, led by a researcher from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and who set out their views in an advisory brief for the World Bank, point to historical records of major coral reef devastation by cyclones and typhoons, which show that reefs recovered without human int
Engineers in Nottingham are developing ultra-clean coal that could make power generation 50% more efficient and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a third. A team at The University of Nottingham is one of only two in the world working on ground-breaking techniques to purify one of the world’s main energy sources.
They have been awarded £120,000 to help them develop the ultra-clean fuel for the power stations of the future. Dr Karen Steel, of the School of Chemical, Environmental and
The European Union, with the aim of conserving resources, protecting the environment and overseeing the health and welfare of their citizens, has been opting for some years now for sustainable development as one of its top priorities. The reduction of energy consumption has been identified as one of the aspects that can contribute most in this respect. This is why the EU has financed the Vacuum Insulating Panels (VIP) project, one in which GAIKER has participated in and the object of which is t
Feedback
