Scientists have reported an unprecedented number of unaccompanied and possibly abandoned walrus calves in the Arctic Ocean, where melting sea ice may be forcing mothers to abandon their pups as the mothers follow the rapidly retreating ice edge north.

Nine lone walrus calves were reported swimming in deep waters far from shore by researchers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy during a cruise in the Canada Basin in the summer of 2004. Unable to forage for themselves, th

Study says standing forest is the best rat control in Fiji Islands

The most cost-effective way to stop non-native rats and mongoose from decimating highly endangered species on larger tropical islands is not by intensive trapping, but instead by preserving the forest blocks where wildlife live, according to a study by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other groups.

The study, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology

Just as baby mammals depend on their mothers ’ milk, the young of the African amphibian Boulengerula taitanus nourish themselves by stripping off and eating the fat-rich outer layer of their mothers ’ skin, according to an international team of researchers that includes University of Michigan biologist Ronald Nussbaum.

The findings are reported in today ’s issue (April 13) of the journal Nature.

Hatchlings of B. taitanus—a legless amphibian that looks someth

Parts of the Caribbean and Central America are likely to experience a significant summer drying trend by the middle of this century, UCLA atmospheric scientists will report in the April 18 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Their research is based on an analysis of 10 global climate computer simulations, from the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laborator

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have completed two extensive survey and mapping efforts to better understand why the 2005 New England red tide was so severe and to suggest what might lie ahead. WHOI Senior Scientist Don Anderson and colleagues mapped the distribution of Alexandrium fundyense cysts in seafloor sediments immediately before and after the historic harmful algal bloom of 2005.

The first of these analyses shows unusually large numbers of cysts o

The biologist Gorka Erice Soreasu, a researcher in the Department of Plant Biology of the University of Navarra, has studied the effects of climate change on the physiology of alfalfa. This study, which forms part of his doctoral thesis, demonstrates that this plant, frequently used as feed for farm animals, adapts to increases in carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature and dryness, protecting itself in this way from the effects of climate change.

His research, which focused on the regrowth o

Torrential rain and melting snow caused Germany’s Elbe River to rise to a record high level in northern parts of the country over the weekend, flooding cities and damaging historic town centres. ESA’s ERS-2 satellite has been monitoring the situation from space.

The medieval city of Hitzacker, located in Lower Saxony about 100 kilometres from the Baltic Sea, was one of the hardest-hit areas with the Elbe reaching 7.63 metres – almost three times its normal level – on Sunday, threat

A paper published today in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans shows a method to recover valuable data from the primary tool used for measuring global sea level – satellite radar altimetry. Altimeter data are used, among other benefits, to monitor and predict the occurrence of events such as El Niño and La Niña – a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomena that can alter global weather patterns.

Some six percent of global altimetry measurements are

Scientists have found that organic nitrogen is more important for plant growth than previously thought and could contribute to maintaining diversity in grasslands.

Until recently it was generally believed that the most important source of nitrogen for plants was inorganic nitrogen. However, researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) from the University of Lancaster and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) have

For decades the study of fish bones was considered one of the most esoteric branches of archaeology, but now it is helping to reveal the massive significance of the fishing trade in the Middle Ages.

New research co-ordinated by archaeologists at the University of York will spotlight the earliest development of Europe’s sea fisheries and, given the continuous expansion of sea fishing since the Middle Ages, the ultimate origin of today’s fishing crisis.

The three-year p

These insects, now dominant in terrestrial ecosystems, flourished with the rise of flowering plants

Ants are considerably older than previously believed, having originated 140 to 168 million years ago, according to new Harvard University research published in the journal Science. But these resilient insects, now found in terrestrial ecosystems the world over, apparently only began to diversify about 100 million years ago in concert with the flowering plants, the Harvard scienti

Environmental arsenic pollution is a serious and growing environmental problem, especially on the Indian subcontinent. Researchers at the University of Georgia had, several years ago, used genetic techniques to create “arsenic-eating” plants that could be planted on polluted sites.

There was a problem, however. The arsenic sequestered from soil remained largely in the roots of the plant, making it difficult to harvest for safe disposal. Now, the research team, led by geneticis

New initiative is an alternative to destruction of their forests in order to develop economically

In an article this Friday (April 14) in the international magazine New Scientist, a leading rainforest biologist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama argues that a new initiative by developing nations offers great promise to help reduce the rampant rate of tropical forest destruction.

William Laurance, a Smithsonian scientist who is also president of t

The way in which buildings, roads, parking lots and other components of the built environment are integrated into communities impact a wide range of biogeochemical and hydrological processes. Among other effects, increased pollution discharge into streams has significant implications for the health of ecosystems. Scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center have developed new high resolution maps of the built environment , expressed in terms of impervious surface cover, for the 168,000-square

Over half of all plant species in Europe are at serious risk because of climate change. This is the finding of an international team of scientists working on the ALARM project led by the Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig-Halle (UFZ). Preliminary findings have recently been presented in connection with the UN Conference on Biological Diversity in Curitiba, Brazil.

The situation is expected to become particularly dramatic at middle to high altitudes in mountainous area

Dauphin Island Sea Lab scientists seek to restore Robinson Island grassbeds by utilizing sea birds’ ’natural functions’

Although most people consider bird droppings a nuisance, scientists at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab see them as a rich source of phosphorus, a natural fertilizer for grassbeds which have been destroyed by boat propellers. Over the next couple of months, Sea Lab scientists Dr. Ken Heck and Dr. John Dindo will be setting out bird stakes in an effort t