The English Channel prevents many rockpool species “making the jump” from Europe to the UK, new research shows. With sea temperatures expected to rise due to climate change, many rockpool species in south-west England are threatened. Creatures from warmer waters to the south could replace them – but the study, by the University of Exeter, suggests Channel currents mean many animals and plants cannot survive the crossing. The study focussed on the St Piran’s hermit crab, which appeared in Cornwall…

In a new article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, scientists from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) investigate the question of which genetic mechanisms underlie the rapid diversification of a group of coral reef fishes. The evolutionary process through which animals diversify into different species within a short period of time often occurs in newly formed or geographically isolated habitats such as islands. In such habitats, founder species encounter…

Despite efforts to promote recycling and reuse of plastic materials, the plastic problem continues to be a global problem. West Virginia University engineers hope to debottleneck the remaining challenges for recycling of single-use plastic packaging by upcycling them into petrochemicals. “Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags annually, that’s about 307 bags per person,” said Yuxin Wang, research assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering and principal investigator of the project. “Single-use plastic waste ends up in landfills or the water, harming the…

Water dynamics can trap lightweight microplastics that otherwise might float. Microplastics can deposit and linger within riverbeds for as long as seven years before washing into the ocean, a new study has found. Because rivers are in near-constant motion, researchers previously assumed lightweight microplastics quickly flowed through rivers, rarely interacting with riverbed sediments. Now, researchers led by Northwestern University and the University of Birmingham in England, have found hyporheic exchange — a process in which surface water mixes with water…

Through interactions with planetary boundary layer development and monsoon circulation, biomass burning aerosols from wildfire are leading to a strong enhancement of cloud formation in southeastern Asia and have important climate effects. Clouds have significant impact on the energy balance of the Earth system. Low clouds such as Stratocumulus, Cumulus and Stratus cover about 30 percent of the Earth surface and have a net cooling effect on our climate. What counteracts global warming, can have economic consequences: a persistently dense…

Researchers detect around 60 million nests of Antarctic icefish over a 240 square kilometres area in the Weddell Sea. Near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea, a research team has found the world’s largest fish breeding area known to date. A towed camera system photographed and filmed thousands of nests of icefish of the species Neopagetopsis ionah on the seabed. The density of the nests and the size of the entire breeding area suggest…

Northern and Western Europe are characterized by hedge landscapes. A Europe-wide study, in which the University of Bremen is involved, has investigated the effect of the climate and care on biodiversity in said hedges. The result: Climate change has an effect here too. In Northern and Western Europe, hedges often cover landscapes that are lacking forests like a tight net. Otherwise isolated habitats, such as forests, are connected to each other by the hedges. Many forest plant types, such as…

Study reveals why some attempts to convert the greenhouse gas into fuel have failed, and offers possible solutions. If researchers could find a way to chemically convert carbon dioxide into fuels or other products, they might make a major dent in greenhouse gas emissions. But many such processes that have seemed promising in the lab haven’t performed as expected in scaled-up formats that would be suitable for use with a power plant or other emissions sources. Now, researchers at MIT…

Polarstern expedition explores the Earth’s history of Antarctica; the expedition launches the new Polarstern app. On 6 January, the research vessel Polarstern set off from Cape Town in South Africa for an expedition of around eight weeks to the Antarctic. Extensive preventive measures allow the Alfred Wegener Institute to tackle the important research on former instabilities of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet despite the Corona pandemic, which will be continued on two further planned expeditions in the coming years. Interested…

For the first time, the Amazon basin could be identified as dominant source region for water precipitating in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. From the rainforest, elevated water vapour travels more than 2000 km westwards, crosses the Andes, and turns southeast over the Pacific to form precipitation over the Atacama Desert. Dr Christoph Böhm from the University of Cologne’s Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology has identified moisture conveyor belts (MCBs) as the main mechanism for precipitation. They account for…

… dramatic, negative effects on sea anemone’s survival. Stationary marine organisms that don’t ply the ocean, but spend their lives rooted in one spot, have evolved impressive ways to capture prey. The sea anemone Nematostella, for instance, burrows into salt marsh sediments and stays there for life. But it has specialized ‘stinging cells’ that hurl toxins into passing prey, immobilizing the morsel so the anemone can snatch it with its tentacles. New research from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), however,…

… get into deeper soil layers and onto adjacent areas. The fact that sewage sludge from municipal waste water treatment plants contains a high proportion of microplastics has already been shown in earlier studies. It was suspected that the use of such sludge for fertilising fields could also promote the uncontrolled input of microplastics into the wider environment. Now, studies conducted as part of the project MicroCatch_Balt funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research confirm this assumption….

Empa and Lidl Switzerland have jointly developed a cellulose protective coating for fruit and vegetables. The novel coating is made from so-called pomace – squeezed fruit and vegetable peels. The innovative project can reduce packaging and prevent food waste. Plastic packaging in grocery stores protects fruits and vegetables from spoilage, but also creates significant amounts of waste. Together with the retailer Lidl Switzerland, Empa researchers have now developed a protective cover for fruit and vegetables based on renewable raw materials….

Steroid hormones contribute to the heat stress resistance of plants. Plants, like other organisms, can be severely affected by heat stress. To increase their chances of survival, they activate the heat shock response, a molecular pathway also employed by human and animal cells for stress protection. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now discovered that plant steroid hormones can promote this response in plants. It may be hard to remember in winter, but July 2021 was the…

Detergent bottles are frequently manufactured using recycled plastic; however, as far as higher value-added applications are concerned, these recyclates have yet to be deployed on a large scale. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF, working together with partner companies, have demonstrated that recycled plastic performs similarly to virgin plastic – not only that, it is also a suitable material for dishwasher case bottoms. Recycling plastic plays a key role in climate and environmental protection….

The Matterhorn appears as an immovable, massive mountain that has towered over the landscape near Zermatt for thousands of years. A study just published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117295) now shows that this impression is wrong. An international research team has proven that the Matterhorn is instead constantly in motion, swaying gently back and forth about once every two seconds. This subtle vibration with normally imperceptible amplitudes is stimulated by seismic energy in the Earth originating from…