Hedges on farms that are part of an agri-environment scheme contain more berry-producing species than those not in schemes, ecologists have found. Speaking at the British Ecological Society’s Annual Meeting taking place at Lancaster University on 7-9 September 2004, ecologists from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Lancaster will report that fruit from certain hedgerow species can remain an important food source for birds until Christmas if hedges remain unmanaged, and that agri-enviro

A new Envisat viewing mode means that icebergs can be routinely tracked on their long trek around Antarctica, with regularly updated images of polar regions now available to highlight ice movements.

The Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument on ESA’s Envisat can see through the polar storms and winter darkness that keep Antarctica hidden from optical satellite sensors. ASAR works in a variety of different modes: its latest, operational since February, is called Glo

Dark-colored river runoff includes nitrogen and phosphorus, which are used as fertilizers in agriculture. These nutrients cause blooms of marine algae called phytoplankton. During extremely large phytoplankton blooms where the algae is so concentrated the water may appear black, some phytoplankton die, sink to the ocean bottom and are eaten by bacteria. The bacteria consume the algae and deplete oxygen from the water that leads to fish kills.

For the first time, scientists may now de

Conservationists follow six-weeks old wild tigers for first time

Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and their Russian colleagues from the Sikhote-Alin Reserve have fitted three wild Siberian tiger cubs under six weeks old with tiny radio-collars, marking the youngest wild tigers to be tracked by scientists. The collars-made with an elastic designed to expand and eventually break and fall off of the growing cubs-weigh just over five ounces and would fit well on a

Although the world in which we live in is non-linear, or multi-dimensional, engineers and scientists have long used linear mathematical formulas to create models to predict physical phenomena such as the infiltration of water through soils or flooding.

But existing theories based on linear models do not accurately portray what actually occurs in nature, claims Temple University civil and environmental engineering professor Sergio Serrano, Ph.D.

In the September issue o

Materials made from particles one-millionth the size of a fine-point pen tip are touted daily for their current uses and dreamed of possibilities, but a pressing question remains as to the environmental impact of manufactured nano-sized materials.

Purdue University scientists are investigating the interactions between these tiny, many-sided structures and the environment. To further this research, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have

A breakthrough in sustainable office and house design – invented in Sydney.

“Silenceair looks like a transparent brick but it’s a high-tech solution to one of the biggest problems of city living,” says Dr Chris Field, one of 16 early-career innovators who have presented their work to the Australian public and media as part of Fresh Innovators. The winner will win a study tour to the UK courtesy of British Council.

“Cities are noisy. When we block the noise from our offices

More than 20,000 Western lowland gorillas could die within months if outbreak confirmed

Scientists fear that emerging evidence may suggest a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, which, in addition to threatening human lives, would threaten tens of thousands of great apes – in this case gorillas and chimpanzees – in the Republic of Congo. The announcement was made by the International Primatological Society (IPS) and Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP) at the IPS’s 20th Congress, being

A few NASA satellites designed to study heights of Earth’s ocean surfaces are now also coming in handy for tracking water levels of inland lakes and reservoirs.

When analysts at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) learned that NASA satellites could be used for measuring lake water heights, they saw a chance to get vital information for managing irrigation and forecasting crop production in out-of-the way places.

Since early

Over the past six weeks, scientists aboard the research vessel “Polarstern” of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research have been investigating changes in ocean temperature and sea ice cover in the area of Fram Strait between Spitsbergen and Greenland.

In this area significant exchange of water masses between the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean takes place. The ongoing process of global warming throughout the past years has also altered conditions in Fram Stra

Earth has entered the “Anthropocene”, a new geological era in which humans rival nature in their impact on the global environment, say scientists speaking at the EuroScience Forum in Stockholm today.

“Mankind’s use of Earth’s resources has grown so much that it seems justified to denominate the past two centuries and into the future as a new geological era,” says Professor Paul Crutzen, the Nobel prize-winning atmospheric chemist who first coined the term.

Speaking at a Eur

Large, nutrient-poor expanses of the open ocean are getting a substantial nitrogen influx from an abundant group of unicellular organisms that “fix,” or chemically alter, nitrogen into a form usable for biological productivity.

First identified about five years ago, these organisms – about 7 microns in diameter – are fixing nitrogen at rates up to three times higher than previously reported for the Pacific Ocean, according to research published in the Aug. 26, 2004 edition of the jo

Equation could help decide future of land tainted with pesticides, pharmaceuticals

Building on an idea developed by medicinal chemists, Johns Hopkins researchers have devised a new mathematical tool that accurately predicts how long certain pollutants — including pesticides and pharmaceuticals — will remain in soil.
The work is timely because researchers and public officials have become increasingly concerned about pharmaceuticals and personal care products that have been de

Scientists leading an international effort to safeguard the future of endangered loggerhead turtles have this week watched the capture and demise of one of their turtles being tracked by satellite.

“Sodade”, a loggerhead sea turtle from the republic of Cabo Verde, an island archipelago off the coast of Western Africa, appears to have been captured by fishermen.

She is one of 9 turtles being tracked by satellite from the recently discovered loggerhead nesting population i

What do the Amazon Basin and Sahara Desert have in common? They are intricately linked by dust and climate and both belong to a family of hotspots or “Achilles’ heels” that have a profound impact on the global environment, says Professor John Schellnhuber, speaking at the EuroScience Forum in Stockholm today.

Dust from the Sahara Desert fertilises the Amazon, increasing the abundance of life there, says Professor Schellnhuber, IGBP* Science Ambassador and Director of the UK-based

Scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory are developing new methods to rapidly assess the biodiversity of living organisms on beaches and other marine environments. They have already found many new creatures which have not been classified in previous studies.

The research is part of a programme called RAMBLERS (Rapid Assessment of Marine Biodiversity Linked to Environmental Remediation Studies.)

One of the objectives is to create a comprehensive inventory of marine plants