Average desktop system requires 10 times its weight in fossil fuels and chemicals to make; authors call for governments worldwide to help slow growth of high-tech trash
Government incentives are quickly needed worldwide to extend the life of personal computers and slow the growth of high-tech trash, according to a new United Nations University (UNU) report into the environmental consequences of the information technology revolution.
The average 24 kg (53 lbs) desktop compute
Mt Gambier’s Blue Lake will be the Australian focus of an international study to ensure future drinking water for towns and cities dependent on ground water. As well as Mt Gambier, the study will include Doncaster in England, Rastatt in Germany, and Ljubljana in Slovenia.
In Australia, the AISUWRS (Assessing and Improving the Sustainability of Urban Water Resources and Systems) project is expected to have immediate benefits for other towns and cities such as Perth, Newcastle and Wagga
Salmon farms in British Columbia may pose a threat to wild salmon stocks, a paper published today in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences claims. The paper presents evidence that native fish sampled near the farms are more heavily infected with parasitic sea lice. Lead author Alexandra Morton, a registered professional biologist and private researcher, believes the parasites multiply on the farms and are then transmitted to juvenile native salmon, causing recent drastic declines in
Despite responses to wildfires as being disasters that require human care, these natural disturbances are important ecosystem processes that should be left alone-a move that will increase the area’s recovery chances, says a University of Alberta researcher.
Following a forest fire, there is typically an attempt to recoup economic losses by salvage harvesting large volumes of timber in the affected area, but this philosophy needs to be reexamined, said Dr. Fiona Schmiegelow, who co-authored
Australia’s air pollution death toll is higher than fatalities from road accidents. So air quality scientists, medical researchers and Government agency representatives from around Australia are meeting in Melbourne this week to tackle the health problems associated with air pollution.
“Mortality due to air pollution in Australia is higher than the road toll,” says Dr Tom Beer from CSIRO Atmospheric Research, one of the organisers of the two-day course. “Each year on average, 2400 of th
The knowledge of local fishermen is just as important as that of scientists when it comes to assessing the health of the marine environment, according to a team of researchers from Newcastle University’s Dove Marine Laboratory, who have been studying the future of the North Sea.
The team has spent the past three months carrying out a survey among fishermen, yachtsmen and boat operators based at the Northumberland (UK) ports of Blyth and North Shields, as part of a project entitled: 
Scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups have developed a high-tech map that predicts where wolves will prey on livestock, which in turn may allow wildlife managers and ranchers to prevent attacks in the first place. The groups, which also included authors from the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources and University of Wisconsin in Madison, published their results in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology.
Using geographic information sy
Scientists at international conference release strategy to save them
The leatherback turtle, a gentle giant weighing close to a ton (907 kg) and measuring eight feet (2.4 meters) in length, may be extinct within a decade in the Pacific Ocean.
The news was released at the 24th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology, a weeklong conference in San Jose, Costa Rica attended by more than 1,000 experts from 70 countries.
Named for its smooth, leathery ski
Partners to invest $3.1-mln in marine initiative that encompasses five protected areas & safeguards threatened species in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia & Ecuador
In one of the most ambitious marine conservation initiatives in the western hemisphere, four Latin American nations, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation), Conservation International (CI) and others are consolidating a marine protected area that stretches from Costa Rica to Ecuador and
Even though many sea turtle populations are declining, quantifying factors that contribute to declines has been challenging. Mortality occurs on nesting beaches due to habitat loss, egg poaching, and predation. But turtles also die at sea due to accidental catches in fishing gear.
In the March issue of Ecology Letters, Duke University researchers quantify incidental catch of loggerheads (Caretta caretta) and leatherbacks (Dermochelys coricea) in the global pelagic longline fishery.
Global temperatures have increased dramatically over the past century, which is causing major impacts on climate patterns, ocean circulation and wildlife preservation. The increase in temperature is largely due to a rise of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, of which CO2 is one of the most important.
To understand the capacity of ecosystems to sequester excesses of atmospheric CO2 and improve our ability to predict future climate change scenarios, we must first improve our knowled
One of the world’s largest freshwater fish, an Asian catfish as big as a bear, may disappear in the near future, warns a UC Davis conservation biologist from his research base in Cambodia.
The giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), which grows to 10 feet long and 650 pounds, is a migratory species in the rivers of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It has been a mainstay for local fishers for centuries.
Now very few fish are being caught. At one typical traditional fishing spot on th
The genetic modifications that improve animals for human consumption also could doom populations if released into the wild, according to a Purdue University research team.
Biologist Rick Howard and his colleagues have discovered a paradox that crops up when new genes are deliberately inserted into a fish’s chromosomes to make the animal grow larger. While the genetically modified fish will be bigger and have more success at attracting mates, they may also produce offspring that are less like
Trophy hunters prize the regal lion above virtually all other animals, but shooting lions without overhunting is tricky. Excessive trophy hunting could open the door for too many young males to invade prides and kill all the cubs, causing a population decline. On the other hand, income from trophy hunting helps sustain African game reserves, which might otherwise be converted to small-scale agriculture. In an effort to reconcile the needs of lions and of people who manage their populations, Universit
Exploring the role of predators in keeping pathogens at bay
Lyme disease, bubonic plague, and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome–all potentially serious disease threats to people–are carried by non-human vertebrates, most often rodents, who are the host species for a plethora of pathogens. Recent outbreaks of Monkeypox and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome have generated fresh concern about how pathogens move from non-human carriers to people. The paper, “Are predators good for your heal
Increased levels of water temperature can have critical effects on predator-prey interactions in the marine environment. Increased water temperature, for example, could be beneficial to a predator if the primary effect were to accelerate its level of metabolism, and thus enhance foraging activity. On the other hand, warm temperatures could also enhance the metabolism of the prey, increasing its activity, mobility, and ability to escape from predators.
In a recent issue of the Marine Ecology
Feedback
