When researchers and policymakers consider the best ways to protect an endangered species, the phrase “best available science” is frequently used to describe the scientific basis behind decisions that are aimed at preserving natural habitat and preventing further decline in species population.

However, the “best available science” has been shortchanging the Florida panther, according to an article by Liza Gross in the Pulbic Library of Science Biology (Aug. 23, 2005) and a repo

New evidence from climate records of the past provides some of the strongest indications yet of a direct link between tropical warmth and higher greenhouse gas levels, say scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The present steady rise in tropical temperatures due to global warming will have a major impact on global climate and could intensify destructive hurricanes like Katrina and Rita.

The new evidence linking past tropical ocean temperatures to level

Much has been made of the economic impacts of recent biological invasions, but what are the implications of invasions in deep time? Luiz Rocha leads geneticists who time travel through ocean environments. The results of their travels, published online in Molecular Ecology, tell us that during warm, interglacial periods, reef-associated fish (goby genus Gnatholepis), leapt around the horn of Africa into the Atlantic, where their range expanded as the world warmed.

“We found that

Ground left fallow in the High Plains to store soil moisture between crops may be better off with a legume crop such as cowpeas, according to a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researcher.

Dr. Bill Payne of Amarillo said he is trying to make the region’s wheat-sorghum-fallow cropping system more sustainable by getting rid of the fallow component.

Leaving the land idle for one cropping season is a way to retain soil moisture for the following crop. However,

The goal: Control toxin mobility

If you have pathogenic bacteria in the groundwater, flowing through the soil, are those bacteria going to attach to a mineral surface or are they going to reach your well?

Virginia Tech researchers are looking at the mobility of bacteria and of heavy metals in surface and ground water. Geosciences professor Michael Hochella Jr. will present recent findings at the Geological Sciences of America national meeting in Salt Lake City Oct. 16-19

What happened to the chicken when she crossed the road is less important that what happens to what she eats when it is used as fertilizer.

Organic arsenic is fed to poultry to prevent bacterial infections and improve weight gain. A little bit of arsenic is taken up by the tissue and the majority of it is excreted in urine. Poultry litter — the wood chips, feathers, droppings, and urine from under poultry houses — is rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, so is a logical fertilizer. But

Virginia Tech biology researchers have applied tools from geology, geography, and hydrologic modeling to determine the effect of different land uses on stream quality across 10 watersheds of the French Broad River in the North Carolina mountains. The result is a new protocol for determining the health or condition of huge land-water systems. The research has also resulted in a set of tools for predicting the effect of development decisions in the watersheds studied, which are near Ashville, N.C

Fluid inclusions – tiny bubbles of fluid or vapor trapped inside rock as it forms – are clues to the location of ores and even petroleum; and they are time capsules that contain insights on the power of volcanoes and hints of life in the universe.

But the realization of the scientific value of fluid inclusions is relatively recent. At the Centennial Celebration Symposia for the Society of Economic Geologists, Virginia Tech Distinguished Professor of Geosciences Robert Bodnar wil

Hurricane Charley came ashore on the southwest coast of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, and changed the look of North Captiva Island.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are studying the effects of Charley as part of a cooperative research project investigating coastal change.

The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program investigates the extent and causes of coastal impacts of hurricanes and extreme

Expedition to help protect Florida’s unique oculina deepwater reefs

On Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005, scientists will begin a six-day expedition to explore one of Florida’s most vital but least familiar marine resources–the spectacular deepwater coral reefs of the Oculina Bank–some 30 years after their discovery. Among the team’s goals is the start of a sustained and critically needed monitoring program to complement , and evaluate the effectiveness of, stricter regul

The extinction of the great apes — gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) and orangutans — is imminent if strict conservation practices are not implemented in the immediate future. Once these practices have been initially implemented, ape populations must be monitored to evaluate their success and to create incentives for effective protection. Dr. Nadine Laporte, an assistant scientist with the Woods Hole Research Center, is involved in international initiatives working to assess

What had been thought to be a minor source of Southern California’s beach sand – erosion from coastal bluffs and cliffs – could account for half of the sand on the region’s beaches.

Coastal geologists have assumed for years that sediment-laden rivers that enter the Pacific Ocean along the Central and Southern California coast supply up to 90 percent of the sand on the region’s beaches. However, new research by two independent groups of UCSD scientists indicates that what had bee

Tribological properties of magnesium matrix composite alloys dispersed with Mg2Si particles

The use of magnesium alloys in engineering applications is becoming increasingly important as a relatively low density allows savings in energy consumption and therefore reduction in air pollution.

An associated reduction in inertia also makes these alloys potential candidates for friction components. Magnesium alloys, however, have low wear resistance and low hardness and sticking o

Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, Reef Check and World Conservation Union to examine damage to tsunami-affected coral reefs; mission set to start next week

Three leading marine conservation organizations will complete an extensive survey next week along the west coast of Aceh Province, Indonesia, to determine the impact of last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami on the region’s coral reefs.

The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, Reef

While we generally think of water in nature as a cool liquid that we can see — streams, lakes, oceans — there is a great deal of “hot fluid” activity taking place far out of sight, deep within the earth, that influences what ultimately takes place on the surface, including the amount of rainfall and the buildup of new land mass.

What exactly is the nature of that hidden fluid deep beneath the surface and what changes does it undergo as it seeks an ever-deeper venue?

Answ

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Durham University (UK) have discovered that a million years ago, global climate changes occurred due to changes in tropical circulation in the Pacific similar to those caused by El Niño today. Changes in atmospheric circulation caused variations in heat fluxes and moisture transport, triggering a large expansion of the polar ice sheets and a reorganisation of the Earth’s climate. The discovery, published in Geology, shows that local climate