Medicines released into the environment may be a risk to living species in the long term. Jeanne Garric’s ecotoxicology team at Cemagref Lyon has shown that certain molecules disrupt reproduction, embryo development and growth of representative organisms in aquatic environments. Toxicity tests have been conducted in the laboratory on Daphnia, Rotifera and zebra fish under standard protocols. Active pharmaceuticals ingredients (APIs) concentrations in the environment however are found to be 1000 to 10
If the world’s human population continues to rise at its current rate, the planet will increase the numbers of threatened species at least 7 percent worldwide in the next 20 years and twice that many by the year 2050.
In a recent model of the impact human population growth has on biological diversity, Ohio State University anthropologist Jeffrey McKee and his colleagues warn that the United States alone will add at least 10 additional species to the “threatened” list within 50 years.
A NASA-Department of Energy jointly funded study concludes the Earth has been greening over the past 20 years. As climate changed, plants found it easier to grow.
The globally comprehensive, multi-discipline study appears in this week’s Science magazine. The article states climate changes have provided extra doses of water, heat and sunlight in areas where one or more of those ingredients may have been lacking. Plants flourished in places where climatic conditions previously limited gro
By analyzing data on tree pollen extracted from ancient lake sediments, ecologists have sharpened the understanding of how forests can maintain a diversity of species. Their findings indicate that stabilizing processes have been more important than previously thought, and that the human-caused loss of species could upset that stability in ways that remain poorly understood.
“Quantifying the link between stability and diversity, and identifying the factors that promote species diversity, ha
Engineers at Cardiff University, UK, are using the latest technology to update a time-honoured practice – and turn a serious environmental problem into a valuable resource.
Modern industrial societies generate vast quantities of waste – the UK alone produces more than a million tonnes every day. A large proportion of it has traditionally been put into “landfill” – literally dumped into large holes in the land, but space is running out and the damage to the environment from landfill sites is
Defying ocean’s end offers global perspective on eve of pew report
For the first time ever, the world’s largest environmental organizations, working with scientists, the business community and international governments, met specifically to develop a comprehensive and achievable agenda to reverse the decline in health of the world’s ocean.
The five-day Defying Ocean’s End (DOE) conference marked the launch of a new, science-based international effort to restore and maintain
Fishy noises could be the answer for improved reef fisheries management according to an international team of researchers.
Some juvenile coral reef fish are attracted by sounds they would have heard while they were in the egg. By using these sounds, the fish can be led to artificial reefs where they will start new colonies. It may be possible in the future to lead young fish into overfished areas, and super-stock Marine Protected Areas.
Marine biologist Stephen Simpson of the Unive
The EU examines ways to reverse damage in the Mediterranean and Black Seas
Fifty years of intense development and exploitation have resulted in significant change to the fragile natural resources of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and their coastal areas. Agreeing ways to prevent further environmental degradation will be the focus of the “International Conference on the Sustainable Development of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Environment” (IASON), to be held from 28 May to 1June i
One barrier to protecting biodiversity is that there are no good ways of figuring out how many species there are in large areas. Now we may finally be able to find out: a new method accurately predicts the total number of North American butterfly species even when only a tenth of the ecoregions are sampled.
This could “at last enable ecology to estimate worldwide species diversity,” say Michael Rosenzweig, Will Turner and Jonathan Cox of the University of Arizona, Tucson, and Taylor Rickett
New research reveals a surprising risk factor for extinction: monogamy. Large mammals that live in pairs or have small harems are far more likely to die out than those with big harems in reserves in Ghana.
“In avoiding extinction, it pays to be promiscuous,” says Justin Brashares of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who presents this work in the June issue of Conservation Biology. “This study is the first to show a strong link between social behavior and risk of extinction in
Hydrothermal vents and cold seeps were discovered more than 20 years ago, yet remarkably little is known about the biodiversity of these chemosynthetic ecosystems. Deep-sea vents and seeps occur in very different geological settings, yet in both types of systems, microbial primary production supports an abundance of large invertebrates, such as giant tubeworms, clams, and mussels.
These animals in turn provide refuge for a diverse invertebrate fauna. Because seeps are considered to be more
China’s Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam project ever, has been seen by ecologists as an environmental disaster in the making. With construction scheduled to be completed later this year, little can be done to stop it, but some Chinese and American ecologists point out that the dark cloud of the environmental consequences does have a silver lining – an unprecedented opportunity to do environmental science.
In an article forthcoming in the May 23 issue of Science, Arizona State Univers
A crucial part in the battle to prevent outbreaks of deadly disease across the world lies with ecologists, an MSU professor says.
Preserving biodiversity and wildlife habitats are at the foundation of global health, says Jianguo “Jack” Liu, an ecologist who is the lead author for a Policy Forum in the May 23 issue of Science magazine.
The article outlines ways to protect biodiversity in China’s vast system of nature reserves. But Liu said the issues span farther than China, and
Penn State environmental engineers estimate, based on tests with wastewater from small Pennsylvania food processors, that typical large food manufacturers could use their starch-rich wastewater to produce hydrogen gas worth close to $5 million or more each year. They present their findings today at the 103rd General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Steven Van Ginkel, doctoral candidate, and Dr. Sang-Eun Oh, post-doctoral researcher in environmental engineering, conducted th
After almost 50 years of nuclear materials production at the 586-square-mile Hanford Site in southeastern Washington, there are more than 700 waste sites with the potential to release contaminants to the soil and groundwater. These sites vary significantly in their inventories of radioactive and chemical contaminants and potential for contaminants to migrate through the soil to the groundwater and the Columbia River. Understanding which waste sites have the most significant impact and the cumulative
In the same way dishwashing detergents clean greasy dishes, scientists are using detergent-like surfactants to clean contaminated regions underground.
Cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater is estimated to cost trillions of dollars in North America. The problem requires many different approaches because there are hundreds of different types of contaminants and the soils and geology differ from place to place. One approach that has shown promise for some situations can be viewed
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