Ecology and environmental management is largely predicated on the view that ecosystems respond to environmental changes in a smooth and straightforward way. However, in Ecology Letters, May, Schmitz reports on a long-term field experiment that may prompt a hard, critical look at this reigning view. In the experimental system, top predators instrumentally control species diversity and productivity of the ecosystem. This control comes about by causing herbivores to feed on and suppress the abundance of
Technology reveals ’molecular map’ of organic matter
A new facility unveiled today at U of T at Scarborough provides an unprecedented view of the molecular secrets found in organic matter-shedding new light on fields such as climate change, environmental contamination and forensic science.
The Environmental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Centre is the first of its kind in Canada dedicated to research in environmental science. Husband-and-wife researchers Myrna Si
NASA scientists discovered pollution could catch an airborne “express train,” or wind current, from Asia all the way to the southern Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists believe during certain seasons, as much as half of the ozone pollution above the Atlantic Ocean may be speeding down a “train” track of air from the Indian Ocean. As it rolls along, it picks up more smog from air peppered with thunderstorms that bring it up from the Earth’s surface.
Bob Chatfield, a scientist at NASA
A groundbreaking initiative that could lead to the development of longer-lasting consumer goods is under way in the UK
The research network will focus on how cars, furniture, clothes, household appliances and other consumer products can be made more durable. Until now, little research has been carried out in this area, even though increased product durability would help to conserve the Earth’s resources and minimise waste.
The aim is to promote the exchange of ideas between
Small ant invaders put plants at peril
Not surprisingly, tiny ants just can’t tote seeds as far as their bigger cousins.
Because seeds are more likely to survive and sprout if they’re farther from the mother plant, it’s best for plants to form seed-moving partnerships with heftier ants.
Now ecologists have shown how much poorer small ants are at moving seeds.
The research suggests that plants that depend on ants for heavy lifting may be in
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the tens of millions of marine birds living in the “Bird Islands of Peru” became famous around the world. This was due to their appeal as a visual spectacle and because they became economically important as high producers of guano, droppings that the country mined and exported around the world for fertilizer.
A new study published in the current issue of the journal Fisheries Oceanography says the populations of these famous birds have declined dra
NASA scientists have found that cirrus clouds, formed by contrails from aircraft engine exhaust, are capable of increasing average surface temperatures enough to account for a warming trend in the United States that occurred between 1975 and 1994.
“This result shows the increased cirrus coverage, attributable to air traffic, could account for nearly all of the warming observed over the United States for nearly 20 years starting in 1975, but it is important to acknowledge contrails would ad
Among the most accomplished navigators in the animal kingdom, sea turtles often migrate across thousands of miles of open ocean to arrive at specific feeding and nesting sites. How they do so, however, has mystified biologists for over a century.
Now, new findings by a research team headed by Drs. Kenneth and Catherine Lohmann, marine biologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, indicate that the navigational ability of sea turtles is based at least partly on a “magnetic ma
A novel technique to combat the UK’s looming landfill crisis begins its first field trials in Yorkshire this week.
The technique known as Biostore combines stabilised sewage sludge with industrial waste such as coal shale and demolition waste to create solid building foundations. It has been developed by scientists at Imperial College London, and is funded by Yorkshire Water Services, the Institution of Civil Engineers R&D Enabling Fund, and a Biffaward.
With England and Wale
Unlike the traditional approach, the new policy marks out the product as a focal point of performance, its aim being to reduce the environmental impact of its performance throughout its life cycle. This is why, in the near future, design and manufacturing departments of companies will base their activities on the development of products with less environmental impact, that incorporate reusable elements and new electronic controls, intelligent materials, that have a longer life and a demise that will
Leading UK scientists fear that one of South America’s leading natural tourist destinations, the San Rafael Glacier in Patagonian Chile, which is renowned for the spectacular way in which it releases icebergs into the San Rafael Laguna, may soon retreat to a point where it no longer reaches the sea. This, they warn, might remove one of the main reasons why thousands of tourists travel to this remote corner of Chile every year.
The glaciologists have been studying the San Rafael Glacier, one
Cloning on a grand scale could spell the end of species as they become progressively nastier, warn researchers at the University of Sussex.
Evolutionary biologist Dr Joel Peck has produced a mathematical model that suggests that asexual reproduction –in which organisms are reproduced from a single parent without fertilisation – leads to antagonistic behaviour within species and, subsequently, population decline.
“For decades evolutionary biologists have wondered why sexual reproduct
Cornell’s Birdhouse Network Seeks Bird Enthusiasts to Help Monitor the Impact of Invasive Bird Species
In the mid-1800s, little brown birds called House Sparrows were introduced into the United States from Europe to alleviate homesickness for the Old World and because they were believed to control insect pests. Since then, these adaptable birds have made themselves quite comfortable here-spreading their wings across all of North America in vast numbers. Their surging populations have
Penn State acousticians put their new prototype for a compact chiller, based on “green” technology that substitutes sound waves for environment-damaging chemical refrigerants, on first public display in conjunction with Earth Day in New York City.
The roll-out took place at a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop in New York City where the chiller was hooked up to a standard ice cream sales freezer cabinet and successfully kept the creamy merchandise in delicious condition. Ben & Jerry’s partn
As the spring foliage grows, each plant, like an entrepreneur, builds its leaves according to an economic strategy. Some plants live like the proverbial hare, following a “live fast, die young” strategy; their leaves produce and consume energy quickly but soon “burn out” or fall victim to bad weather or hungry herbivores. Other leaves are more tortoiselike, taking a “live slowly and last long” approach. A new study has revealed the global continuum of leaf economics, documenting where 2,548 species g
Sea-level rise and changes to cyclone intensity under enhanced greenhouse conditions would pose a considerable increase in risk to coastal property and infrastructure, according to a recent CSIRO study.
Dr John Church, of CSIRO and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, said a recent study had confirmed that sea-level in the Australian region was rising at rates which would have a significant impact over decades to come.
Speaking at the Coast to Coast 04 conference in Hobart tod
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