Study shows unexpected negative impact by CO2 on important plankton group. While calcifying organisms like oysters and corals have difficulty forming their shells and skeletons in more acidic seawater, diatoms have been considered less susceptible to the effects of ocean acidification – a chemical change triggered by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2). The globally widespread tiny diatoms use silica, a compound of silicon, oxygen and hydrogen, as a building material for their shells. That diatoms are nevertheless under threat…

– which is better for bees? How effective environmental measures in agriculture are for biodiversity and wild bee populations depends on various factors and your perspective. This is shown by agroecologists from the University of Göttingen, Germany and the Centre for Ecological Research in Vácrátót, Hungary. The research team found that when assessing the effectiveness of different measures, whether in the field (organic farming) or next to the field (flower strips in conventional farming), biodiversity benefits should be evaluated differently….

Coral reef fish breed more successfully if motorboat noise is reduced, new research shows. Scientists introduced “traffic calming” on three reefs for an entire breeding season – cutting the number of boats within 100m, and reducing the speed of those within that distance. They then tracked the breeding of fish called spiny chromis – and found 65% of nests on quieter reefs still contained offspring at the end of the season, compared to 40% on reefs with busy motorboat traffic….

Satellites and drones can provide key information to protect pollinators, researchers say. Their study examines new ways of using these technologies to track the availability of flowers, and says this could be combined with behavioural studies to see the world through the eyes of insects. The flowers available to insects vary from day to day and place to place, and human activity is changing landscapes in ways that affect all pollinators. The University of Exeter research team, supported by the…

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have developed several new varieties of wheat that tolerate soils with higher salt concentrations. After having mutated a wheat variety from Bangladesh, they now have a wheat with seeds that weigh three times more and that germinate almost twice as often as the original variety. The wheat, which grows in fields near the coast in Bangladesh, has a certain tolerance to salt in soils, which is important when more and more farmland around the…

MBARI’s autonomous technology uses eDNA to survey biodiversity. In a major step forward for monitoring the biodiversity of marine systems, a new study published today in Environmental DNA details how MBARI researchers are using autonomous underwater robots to sample environmental DNA (eDNA). eDNA allows scientists to detect the presence of aquatic species from the tiny bits of genetic material they leave behind. This DNA soup offers clues about biodiversity changes in sensitive areas, the presence of rare or endangered species,…

The drought event from 2018 to 2020 was the most intense in over 250 years. Withered meadows and fields, dry stream beds, dead forests, and reduced power plant outputs – the drought years of 2018, 2019 and 2020 were exceptional and had substantial impacts on nature and the economy. Previously it was not clear where they should be classified in their historical dimension. Now we know: “The 2018 to 2020 drought sets a new benchmark for droughts in Europe”, says…

Despite the rapid melting of ice in many parts of Antarctica during the second half of the 20th century, researchers have found that the floating ice shelves which skirt the eastern Antarctic Peninsula have undergone sustained advance over the past 20 years. Ice shelves – floating sections of ice which are attached to land-based ice sheets – serve the vital purpose of buttressing against the uncontrolled release of inland ice to the ocean. During the late 20th century, high levels…

A team of international researchers has discovered a way to produce higher quality wheat. The scientists from the University of Adelaide and the UK’s John Innes Centre have identified a genetic driver that improves yield traits in wheat, which unexpectedly can also lead to increasing protein content by up to 25 per cent. “Little is known about the mechanism behind drivers of yields and protein content in wheat production,” said the University of Adelaide’s Dr Scott Boden, School of Agriculture,…

A big success for Oldenburg’s environmental and marine research: the DFG approves funding for new research group on exchange processes in the microlayer between oceans and atmosphere. The uppermost layer of the oceans is a very special but as yet little explored part of the planet. Less than a millimetre thick, this surface layer functions like a skin, regulating the exchange of gases, energy and momentum between the ocean and the atmosphere. To study the complex biological, chemical and physical…

An extensive metagenomic study provides detailed insights into the composition and ecological functioning of the microbial communities of the Atlantic Ocean. At first glance, the open ocean seems to be a uniform habitat: Water as far as the eye can see. A research team from the universities of Oldenburg and Göttingen has now been able to show on the basis of extensive data that communities of microbes, so-called prokaryotes, nevertheless differ regionally in the Atlantic Ocean from the Southern Ocean…

Fraunhofer IOF contributed mirrors for the first German hyperspectral satellite. Recently, the first hyperspectral satellite developed and built in Germany was launched into space. Its name: EnMAP. In the future, it will analyze Earth’s environment from space, making visible not only the consequences of climate change but also potential natural hazards. A total of eleven mirrors and various optical layers for telescope and spectrometer optics were manufactured for this mission at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering…

Biological invasions interact with changing climate in unpredictable ways. Native species in California’s estuaries are expected to experience greater declines as invasive species interact with climate change, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. The study, published in the Ecological Society of America’s journal, Ecology, said these declines are expected not only because of climate-related stressors, but also because of the expanding influence of new invasive predators whose impacts are occurring much farther up the estuary. “Our…

Using future projections from the latest generation of Earth System Models, a recent study published in Science Advances found that most of the world’s ocean is steadily losing its year-to-year memory under global warming. Compared with the fast weather fluctuations of the atmosphere, the slowly varying ocean exhibits strong persistence, or “memory”, meaning the ocean temperature tomorrow is likely to look a lot like it does today, with only slight changes. As a result, ocean memory is often used for…

Study proves value of electromagnetic techniques in a new polar environment. Scientists have made the first detection of groundwater beneath an Antarctic ice stream. The discovery confirms what researchers had already suspected but had been unable to verify until now. Researchers need data from all parts of the Antarctic ice sheet to understand how the system works and how it changes over time in response to climate. The study provides a glimpse of a previously inaccessible and unexplored part of…

Meltwater seeping beneath Arctic glaciers puts thickest and fastest at risk of sudden collapse. As climate change warms the planet, glaciers are melting faster, and scientists fear that many will collapse by the end of the century, drastically raising sea level and inundating coastal cities and island nations. A University of California, Berkeley, scientist has now created an improved model of glacial movement that could help pinpoint those glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic most likely to rapidly slide downhill…