Making the Nature Conservancy’s list of Last Great Places doesn’t guarantee a safe habitat. The osprey, a fish-feeding bird, nests along the Delaware River and Bay and continues to face contaminated living conditions. Although stable, osprey reproduction is stressed, according to an article published in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Ospreys and other wildlife share the Delaware River and Bay area with factories, manufacturers and water traffic using
The Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) of the University of Stanford has announced that it will be investing 9 million Dollars in seven research proposals. Over a period of three years, The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) and TU Delft together will receive 2,3 million Dollars for innovative research in the field of energy related technology, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gasses.
The research projects selected by the GCEP cover a number of different proce
The Chemical Industries Association (CIA) today expressed concern that the UK’s allocation of greenhouse gas emissions is still not finally decided, but applauded the UK Government’s decision to press the European Commission for approval of the revised limits.
“The changes the UK Government has now suggested still leave industry in a more difficult position than with the original targets. It is vital that the UK secures the amendment to the current emissions cap; otherwise we risk further
Europe’s airplane engine manufacturers are now pooling their resources to make flying more environmentally friendly. In collaboration with some select universities and university colleges they are using millions in financial support from the EU to set up a major research project aiming to reduce noise, fuel use, and emissions. University of Trollhättan/Uddevalla, HTU is one of the project participants in Sweden.
This is the first time the university college has taken part as a f
In close co-operation with the Directorates General for External Relations, Development and the EuropAid and Co-operation Office, the European Commission’s Directorate General, Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) is contributing to European Union initiatives in Africa by developing a dedicated Environmental Information System based on satellite and computermapping technologies.
This provides information on food needs, helps the European Commission Humanitarian Office provide aid in the
Keeping watch on the world from orbit is helping to make it a safer place to live, heard European journalists visiting the Earth and Space Week in Brussels. Experts recounted how Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative is already delivering operational information services and it is set for further expansion.
A day-long series of press briefings at the Earth and Space Expo focused on the joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and ESA known as G
Farmers, hydroelectric power producers, shippers and wildlife managers remember the Columbia River Basin drought of 1992-1993 as a year of misery.
Now researchers using tree-ring data have determined six multiyear droughts between 1750 and 1950 that were much more severe than anything in recent memory because they persisted for years, including one that stretched for 12 years. “Imagine what a drought lasting that long would do to the resources and economy of the region today,” says D
Awareness and wildlife health monitoring is key to preventing future fatalities
All recent Ebola virus outbreaks in humans in forests between Gabon and the Republic of Congo were the result of handling infected wild animal carcasses, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its regional partners. Appearing in the February edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the study found that many animal carcasses tested for Ebola between 2001 and 2003
How will rising levels of carbon dioxide influence ecosystems? Scientists have tackled this question numerous times, but none have tested the assumption that a single-abrupt increase in CO2 concentrations will produce changes similar to gradual increases over several decades. UCR scientist part of research team published in the journal Nature.
A paper in the Feb. 10 issue of the journal Nature titled Abrupt Rise in Atmospheric CO2 Overestimates Community Response in a Model Pla
People and farm animals are helping an invisible pollutant to change the types of plants that grow in Britain, particularly in remote and rural regions such as the Lake District.
Nitrogen deposits are the cause of the problem. The dung from farm animals produces vast quantities of ammonia. Since the industrial revolution, burning fuels (coal, gas, petrol) has lead to massive emissions of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. These practices lead to ammonia and nitrates being depo
In January 2005, FOI (Swedish Defense Research Agency) and Ericsson Microwave Systems mapped storm-damaged areas in southern Sweden using military airborne radar technology mounted in a test aircraft operated by FMV (Swedish Defense Materiel Agency). The trial shows that the technology can cover large land areas as well as identify individual trees including those damaged by winds.
“The results are very promising,” says Lars Ulander at FOI. “This technology enables us to get an o
An experiment at the Institut Laue-Langevin raises great hopes.
The health of millions of people is threatened by the presence of arsenic in their drinking water. In countries such as India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Taiwan and Argentina, tens of millions of people drink untreated water containing levels of arsenic between ten and one hundred times higher than that recommended by the World Health Organisation ! Even in France, many sources of water, including mineral waters, will
Chemicals found in whale blubber, and initially suspected of being from industrial sources, have turned out to be naturally occurring, raising questions about the accumulation of both natural and industrial compounds in marine life.
A new study in the journal Science by researchers Emma Teuten, Li Xu, and Christopher Reddy at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is causing researchers to rethink the sources and fates of many chemical compounds in the environment.
CSIRO Petroleum and German-based research centre Laser Zentrum Hannover eV (LZH) are collaborating in a project that could save millions of dollars in oil exploration and introduce new Australian geochemical and petroleum analysis techniques to Europe.
Researchers from the two organisations are six months into a three year project working to enhance the capabilities of the on-line laser micropyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LaPy-GC/MS) technique for quality control
Recent Southern Research Station (SRS) research demonstrates how models can be used to forecast future forest conditions in areas of rapid development. In a report published this last fall in Ecology and Society, FS Southern Research Station (SRS) researchers David Wear, John Pye, and Kurt Riitters provide a visual forecast of the effects of population and economic growth on interior forest habitat in the Southeast over the next 40 years.
“Almost 90 percent of the land in the sout
Few studies quantify evolutionary processes in populations of domesticated plants in traditional farming systems. In February’s Ecology Letters, Pujol, David and McKey show that these systems offer unusual opportunities for studying microevolution. Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is clonally propagated, but Amerindian cassava farmers also regularly incorporate volunteer plants from sexually produced seeds into their clonal stocks (cuttings) at harvest time.
These new genotypes re
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