Terrestrial ecosystems are offsetting a marine decline. Thus, indicating key implications for climate and planetary health A recent study published on August 1 in Nature Climate Change indicates that global photosynthesis rose from 2003 to 2021, chiefly attributed to enhanced carbon absorption by terrestrial vegetation. This increase is largely counterbalanced by a concurrent reduction in photosynthetic activity among marine phytoplankton, especially in tropical and subtropical waters. The research conducted by scholars at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment underscores…

Recent research conducted by the University of Southampton suggests that a substantial area of exceptionally hot rock beneath the Appalachian Mountains may be associated not with the recognised separation of North America from Northwest Africa 180 million years ago, but with a more recent continental rifting event. The research suggests that the Northern Appalachian Anomaly (NAA) – a 350-kilometer-wide region of unusually heated rock situated around 200 km beneath New England — began far further north. Researchers currently assert that…

Investigating plant vegetative reproduction is essential for enhancing crop yield and advancing bioengineering. Kobe University research is advancing in the investigation of genetic regulation in liverworts, which serve as exemplary model plants and potential candidates for space agriculture. Potatoes are tubers, while ginger is a rhizome; both represent modes of vegetative plant reproduction, wherein plants produce structures that can give rise to genetically identical individuals. This reproductive mode is crucial for agriculture and horticulture; nevertheless, research on the underlying genetic…

A frog vocalises from a footpath. A hiker captures an image and uploads it to iNaturalist. This solitary action — one individual, one amphibian, and one click — contributes to an expanding worldwide dataset utilised by scientists to delineate changing species distributions, identify invasive concerns, and perhaps uncover new species. A global study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) demonstrates that iNaturalist, the worldwide technology platform enabling individuals to share wildlife…

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, employed artificial intelligence to enhance plants’ ability to identify a broader spectrum of bacterial dangers, perhaps resulting in novel methods to safeguard crops such as tomatoes and potatoes against severe diseases. The research was published in Nature Plants. Plants possess immune systems analogous to those of animals. Their defence arsenal include immunological receptors that enable the detection and defence against germs. One receptor, known as FLS2, assists plants in identifying flagellin – a…

At the onset of the millennium, a consortium of distinguished scientists commenced the compilation of a list of risks they deemed most probable to affect the world’s rocky shorelines in the ensuing twenty-five years. Published in 2002, it contained predictions that, among other aspects, pollution from oil spills would diminish, the prevalence of invasive species worldwide would increase, genetically-modified organisms would adversely affect the ocean, and the repercussions of global climate change would intensify. After 25 years, the original academics,…

People’s intuitive assessments of biodiversity based on visual and auditory stimuli are very accurate and closely match science assessments of biodiversity. Based on a new study from the British Ecological Society that came out in the magazine People and Nature. Researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), and Friedrich Schiller University Jena recently did a study where people who had never studied ecology had to sort pictures and sounds of…

The forecast is bright for future, long-term multiband monitoring of planets Imaging data from Japan’s Himawari-8 and -9 meteorological satellites have been successfully used to monitor temporal changes in Venus’ cloud-top temperature, revealing unseen patterns in the temperature structure of various waves. A team led by the University of Tokyo collated infrared images from 2015–25 to estimate brightness temperatures on day to year scales. The results demonstrate that meteorological satellites can serve as additional eyes to access the Venusian atmosphere…

Chipmunk and vole skulls from over 125 years reflect changes in diet and noise exposure In general, evolution is a long, slow process of tiny changes passed down over generations, resulting in new adaptations and even new species over thousands or millions of years. But when living things are faced with dramatic shifts in the world around them, they sometimes rapidly adapt to better survive. Scientists recently found an example of evolution in real time, tucked away in the collection…

Trees can offer up to 30 degrees of shade relief from the blistering desert sun, but don’t cool the city’s air temperature as much as trees in less dry environments. Earth is hotter than it has been in 125,000 years, scientists say, and Las Vegas continues to break temperature records. The extreme heat claimed more than 500 lives in southern Nevada last year alone, and scientists and city officials are clamoring for solutions. Planting and preserving the city’s street trees…

Discovery reveals pulsing mantle plume beneath Ethiopia, where a new ocean is forming Research led by Earth scientists at the University of Southampton has uncovered evidence of rhythmic surges of molten mantle rock rising from deep within the Earth beneath Africa. These pulses are gradually tearing the continent apart and forming a new ocean. The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, reveal that the Afar region in Ethiopia is underlain by a plume of hot mantle that pulses upward like a…

Research shows these channels allow seawater and nutrients to flow in and out, helping to maintain reef health over millions of years. Volcanic islands, such as the islands of Hawaii and the Caribbean, are surrounded by coral reefs that encircle an island in a labyrinthine, living ring. A coral reef is punctured at points by reef passes — wide channels that cut through the coral and serve as conduits for ocean water and nutrients to filter in and out. These…

The decrease growed in magnitude over time, with no evidence of the rates rebounding Among the biggest culprits of plastic pollution in the ocean and along shorelines are thin plastic shopping bags, which have low recycling rates and often become litter when they blow away in the wind. Once there, they can entangle animals and break down into harmful microplastics. As awareness of this problem has grown, more than 100 countries have instituted bans or fees on plastic bags. But…

A research team from the Alfred Wegener Institute has for the first time gained insights into a current in the Barents Sea which affects Arctic sea ice In the last few decades, the Arctic sea ice has receded ever further, including increasingly in winter when the extent of sea ice is at its most prominent. One of the main drivers of this development is thought to be the warming of Atlantic water that flows from Europe’s Norwegian Sea into the…

In a world-first discovery, researchers have shown that Australia’s iconic Bogong moth uses constellations of stars and the Milky Way to navigate hundreds of kilometres across the country during its annual migration – making it the first known invertebrate to rely on a stellar compass for long-distance travel. The landmark study, published today (Thursday 19 June) in Nature, reveals how this unassuming nocturnal moth combines celestial navigation with Earth’s magnetic field to pinpoint a specific destination it has never visited…

New research reveals the importance of winter sea ice in the year-to-year variability of the amount of atmospheric CO2 absorbed by a region of the Southern Ocean. In years when sea ice lasts longer in winter, the ocean will overall absorb 20% more CO2 from the atmosphere than in years when sea ice forms late or disappears early. This is because sea ice protects the ocean from strong winter winds that drive mixing between the surface of the ocean and…