Reliance on just one model no better than flipping a coin!

A new study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography represents the first real test of the performance of models used to forecast how species will change their geographic ranges in response to the Earth’s changing climate

Despite the weight of scientific evidence that the Earth is warming and that this is already affecting wildlife, many people – and a few scientists – still refuse to believe it

Chesapeake Bay Restoration

The Chesapeake Bay has been the focus of one of the most high-profile restoration programs ever undertaken in North America. With some 250 types of fish, crabs, clams, and oysters, the Bay is rich in species and also represents a commercial value of more than $1 billion annually. In “Restoring watersheds project by project: trends in Chesapeake Bay tributary restoration,” Brooke Hassett (University of Maryland, College Park) and colleagues compiled t

Reveal Hidden Dangers to Passing Ships

Using inflatable boats, a portable depth sounder with GPS, and a REMUS autonomous underwater vehicle, a team of scientists and engineers has created the first detailed, comprehensive chart of the ocean floor around Palmer Station in Antarctica, revealing previously unknown submerged rocks.

The new chart, the first in 50 years, was made by a research team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of

Follow the carbon – this is the mantra of researchers seeking to understand climate change and forecast its likely extent. A workshop heard how improved detection of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from space promises to revolutionise carbon cycle understanding.

This week saw more than 60 researchers from Europe, the United States and Japan gather at ESRIN, ESA’s establishment in Italy, for the three-day Carbon from Space workshop, jointly organised by ESA, the Internationa

Volcanic eruptions may be an agent of rapid and long-term climate change, according to new research by British scientists. Vincent Gauci and co-authors Nancy Dise and Steve Blake of the Open University simulated the volcanic acid rain from one of Europe’s largest historical eruptions, the Icelandic Laki eruption of 1783, which caused widespread crop damage and deaths around Europe. Their finding are scheduled for publication in the American Geophysical Union journal, Geophysical Research

The influence of biodiversity on the functioning of ecosystems has been a focus for extensive research over the last decade. Most studies have, however, examined the effects of diversity changes within only one level of the food chain (e.g. plants), while the consequences of losing links across levels are unknown.

In the July issue of Ecology Letters, Gamfeldt, Hillebrand and Jonsson show that changes in consumer species richness within a simple food chain of microbial organisms affect

If you see men crawling around in the neighbour’s garden at dusk wearing headlights, it may well be that they are researchers hunting for Spanish slugs.

Spanish slugs were previously seen as a garden nuisance, but now they have started to become a serious problem also for commercial horticulture, affecting strawberries and cabbage. A glaring example is garden owners in Hordaland county, who has had up to hundred thousand slugs in their garden, while a lot of strawberry and cabbage

Last December’s tsunami was a destructive force of nature that swept entire villages away and resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 people. Now, a team of researchers including Arizona State University’s Harinda Joseph Fernando reports that some areas of Sri Lanka were devastated more than others and that the increased destruction follows human development along coastal regions.

Fernando, director of ASU’s environmental fluid dynamics program and a nativ

Highlights from final report on December 26, 2004 tsunami’s impact in Banda Aceh

Waves more than 15 meters (49 feet) high. Flooding of 25 square miles of land. A coastline moved a mile. In a brief report in the June 9, 2005 issue of Science, University of Southern California tsunami expert Jose Borerro presents the results of the detailed survey he made on the scene at Banda Aceh, Indonesia following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami

Banda Aceh and the nearby area of

Scientists at the University of York are warning that dramatic changes may soon occur in Africa’s vegetation in response to global warming.

They believe the effect may be on a similar scale to the climatic disruption in the last Ice Age and the African forest decline 2,500 years ago.

Scientists in the University’s Environment Department studied the likely impact of future climate fluctuations on the continent by modelling the responses of more than 5000 plant species to

Western corn rootworm can chew through as much as $1 billion yearly due to lost production and treatment costs across the corn belt.

But two Texas Agricultural Experiment Station entomologists think they can reduce these losses with a new model to predict and better target the pests.

The model developed by Dr. Jerry Michels, Experiment Station entomologist in Bushland, and Dr. Marvin Harris, Experiment Station entomologist in College Station, is based on temperature an

Research at the University of Leicester Department of Geology is confirming how a plume of hot mantle rock rising beneath Africa is splitting the continental crust apart and driving a plate tectonic sequence that could eventually form a new ocean in Ethiopia.

The extending East African Rift is a 3,000 kilometre crack in the Earth’s surface, stretching from Malawi in the south, through Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, connecting with the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The c

Researchers at the University of Leicester have developed a cloud detection system which will lead to them gaining a better understanding of greenhouse gases.

The team in the Earth Observation Science Group have identified a method that eliminates inaccuracies in monitoring how dynamics, radiation and chemical processes interact and control greenhouse gas distributions, and how industrial and human activities affect them.

The UK has invested £300 million in instruments

Scientists are continually exploring different aspects of hurricanes to increase the understanding of how they behave. Recently, two NASA-funded scientists from Florida State University analyzed ozone levels surrounding hurricanes. Their work could lead to better methods of forecasting the paths of the deadly storms.

In their study, FSU meteorologists Xiaolei Zou and Yonghui Wu found that variations of ozone levels from the surface of the ocean to the upper atmosphere are close

Earth’s oceans are what make this a Blue Planet. Our seas influence the climate, produce most of the oxygen we breathe, serve as a means of transport and a major source of food and resources. Today’s World Ocean Day is a chance to learn more about the seas that surround us – and how satellite monitoring helps protect them.

Wednesday 8 June is the 13th annual World Ocean Day. Created in 1992 at the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, World Ocean Day is an opportunity to c

Vast genetic treasure on sea beds

Vast genetic resources – “blue gold” on the international deep sea floor – need protection from unfettered commercial exploitation, warns a new report from the Japan-based United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Increasingly recognized as important to humankind for their potential medical and other uses, deep sea resources are now more accessible and vulnerable than ever because of rapid advances in exploration technolo