When it comes to restoring nature, some members of the natural world are shunned for good reason
Restoring wetlands has a foreseeable and inevitable downside: the creation of mosquito habitat.
Breeding disease-transmitting mosquitoes isn’t just a surprising side effect of creating wetlands, but an inevitable and foreseeable consequence that must be acknowledged when planning wetland restoration projects, said Elizabeth Willott, an assistant professor in the department o
A deadly combination of industry and human activity may soon wipe out Alberta’s grizzly bear population, but new University of Alberta research that identifies the province’s highest mortality spots.
Scott Nielsen, from the Department of Biological Sciences, has isolated specific spots where the bears are dying at the highest rates, all sites where grizzly habitats overlap areas that humans frequent regularly. Nielsen’s paper, published in the journal “Biological Conservation
In today’s issue of Science (21 May 2004), a team of U.S. and Brazilian scientists show that the rate of forest destruction has accelerated significantly in Brazilian Amazonia since 1990. The team asserts, moreover, that Amazonian deforestation will likely continue to increase unless the Brazilian government alters its aggressive plans for highway and infrastructure expansion.
“The recent deforestation numbers are just plain scary,” said William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Res
Studies of seabed algae and sandbanks have shown the potential of using autonomous sensors for environmental monitoring. SUMARE has proven them to be more efficient, cost-effective and accurate.
Led by the Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, one of the tasks of this IST programme-funded project was to map maerl, a calcareous alga which forms large deposits or ’beds’ on the seabed of Brittany, the North Sea and Ir
Of the four representative species of the Mediterranean climate – the holm oak ( Quercus ilex ), the kermes oak ( Quercus coccifera ), the Aleppo pine ( Pinus halepensis ), and the Phoenician juniper ( Juniperus phoenicea ) – the last is the one which best adapts to the adverse conditions of water stress. However, this does not mean the disappearance of the other three species that have been studied. This is the conclusion drawn from his PhD by Francisco Javier Baquedano, agricult
URI graduate student reports 50 percent reduction in populations of invertebrates on beaches where driving is permitted
When off-road vehicles drive on beaches, they can reduce the number of creatures living on the beach by as much as 50 percent, according to a recently completed three-year study by a University of Rhode Island graduate student.
“The effect of traffic on the beaches is significant,” said Jacqueline Steinback of East Falmouth, Mass., who studied the creatures
Data from NASA’s Terra satellite is adding to our understanding of how pollution spreads around the globe. The information will help scientists protect and understand the Earth.
NASA funded scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colo., will present two studies focusing on global air pollution. Their presentations are part of the 2004 Joint Assembly of the American and Canadian Geophysical Unions.
David Edwards will discuss “Observations
Russian scientists are investigating the opportunity to bring wisents (Bison bonasus) back to the forests of Central Russia. Their effort has been funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Federal Target Scientific and Technical Program called “Conservation of Rare Species”.
The story of rescuing wisents (Bison bonasus) which had been practically on the verge of extinction became classical and was included in schoolbooks. However, this does not mean that wisents are thrivin
Data gathered over seven years by a University of California, Berkeley, researcher have played a key role in convincing the National Park Service and the California Department of Fish and Game to remove trout from some high-altitude lakes in California’s Sierra Nevada to save the disappearing mountain yellow-legged frog.
UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Vance T. Vredenburg showed that introduced trout have devastated native frog populations over the past 50 years in formerly fish-free h
If you have spent time boating or fishing in freshwater, there is a good chance you have encountered a pearly mussel. Elliptical in shape, with iridescent inner shells, humans have appreciated the animals since prehistoric times. Coveted for their pearls and mother-of-pearl shells; their meat has been a resource for both humans and wildlife. In a BioScience paper published this week, a team of scientists report that something troubling has been happening in our nation’s freshwaters— once-abundant pe
New research shows that what was once considered a universal constant in oceanography could actually vary in the future – depending on the ecological scenarios that affect competition for resources among microscopic marine plants, which play a role in global climate.
The future of these plants, called phytoplankton, is important because they exist at the base of the marine food web and represent a large source of food for fish. Also, they affect global climate by using atmospheric carbon di
Extinction doesn’t just affect the species that disappears – it alters entire communities, changing both how the community as a whole and the individual species within it will respond to environmental degradation, according to results published in the May 13 issue of Nature.
With extinction continuously altering the fates of plants and animals, the researchers say it may be extremely difficult to predict which organisms will be the next to cease existing and that the wisest conservation
Browsing by mammals often has a serious impact on the growth of tree saplings and the regeneration of forests. However, there is much uncertainty with regard to effects on soil nutrient cycling and in turn, potential consequences for the growth of plants.
In a paper to be published in the June issue of Ecology Letters, researchers from Lancaster University and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology have demonstrated a direct link between above-ground herbivory and below-ground nutrient cyclin
Throughout Europe the recovery of abandoned land known as ‘brownfield sites’ is becoming increasingly important. Former industrial or commercial properties where operations may have resulted in environmental contamination, they often impose environmental, legal and financial burdens on the surrounding communities. Left vacant, contaminated sites can threaten the economic viability of adjoining properties.
One obstacle to their re-use is the uncertainty over how blighted the land is, and sta
Bolivia’s sprawling Kaa-Iya Gran Chaco National Park, known for some of the world’s highest densities of ticks, may now lay claim to another superlative: more jaguars than any protected area on earth. According to a recent study by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other groups, published in the Journal of Zoology, as many as 1,000 of these elusive big cats may call Kaa-Iya home.
Using methodologies developed by WCS to count tigers in India, the researchers employe
Remote sensing methods that could be used in future to monitor pollution from mining at less cost and to common standards across the EU were tested in six diverse sites across Europe by IST project MINEO.
Faced with increasing environmental pressure and regulatory controls due to surface and groundwater pollution, soil contamination, and terrain instability, the mining industry and decision makers need innovative and cost-effective tools for environmental data acquisition and processing that
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