Invasive species may cause severe economic losses. Thus the hot debate regarding the ecological mechanisms determining the outcome of biological invasions is of equal interest to scientific and business communities. Do invaders bump residents out by competing with them for scarce resources, or do they merely move in without causing harm to their neighbors?

In one of the first environmental impact studies ever, the Smithsonian Institution’s 1910 Panama Biological Survey provided ba

Study findings could have major impact on wildlife control and agriculture production

One of the most debated hypotheses in evolutionary biology received new support today, thanks to a study by a scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno. Elissa Cameron, a mammal ecologist in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, has helped to disprove critics of a scientific theory developed in 1973.

At that time, ecologist Bob Trivers and mathematician Dan

Grape pomace extract can be used as an effective anti-microbial agent to destroy pathogens and help preserve food, according to new research by Turkish scientists published in the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture.

Grape pomace

Pomace consists of grape seeds, skin and stems, and is a rich source of polyphenols. Phenolic substances are known to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer by inhibiting human low-density lipoproteins. Pomace is already used as an

Coiled baskets made from sweetgrass have been an important source of income for the Gullah community around Charleston, South Carolina for over a century. Descendants of West Africans brought in as slaves, Gullah artisans now find a comfortable livelihood threatened by dwindling supplies of the native grass they have long used to make baskets.

In 2002, the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and the College of Charleston, with funding from the South Carolina Sea Grant

A better understanding of the ground beneath our feet may be the key to improved seasonal weather forecasts, say an international team of environmental scientists in the journal Science today.

Researchers investigating the impact of soil moisture on rainfall have found that, across the globe, there are at least three hotspots where rainfall seems to be directly influenced by the amount of moisture in the soil, leading to the tantalising possibility of more accurate long-term weat

NASA, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientists have assembled in the Arabian Desert to study tiny airborne particles called aerosols and their effect on weather and climate. The scientists are collaborating with researchers from the United Arab Emirates Department of Water Resources Studies and 20 other U.S., European and South African research laboratories to decipher the complex processes controlling the area’s climate.

The United Arab Emirates Un

Ents, orcs and hobbits may have trod upon New Zealand soils, but beneath the Southern Island lies a giant earthquake fault that may help seismologists understand how the Earth moves and bends, according to a Penn State seismologist.

“One of the issues that makes the Alpine fault interesting is that while it is a strike slip fault for most of its length, it begins in a transition from a subduction zone to a strike slip fault,” says Dr. Kevin Furlong, professor of geosciences. “Most o

More frequent and more economically costly storms, floods, droughts and other extreme weather. Wetter conditions in northern Europe but drier weather in the south that could threaten agriculture in some areas. More frequent and more intense heatwaves, posing a lethal threat to the elderly and frail. Melting glaciers, with three-quarters of those in the Swiss Alps likely to disappear by 2050. Rising sea levels for centuries to come.

These are among the impacts of global climate

Deep-sea ecosystems (at depths of >1000 m) comprise more than 60% of the Earth surface, and are the main reservoirs of global biodiversity.

Climate changes are expected to induce significant modifications in biodiversity on the global scale, yet little is known on the impact of recent climate changes on the deep-sea biodiversity. In the forthcoming issue of Ecology Letters, Danovaro, Dell’Anno and Pusceddu demonstrate that an extensive climate anomaly, which occurred in the Easter

A toxic chemical used in hand soaps, cleaners and other personal care products to kill germs is deposited and remains in the environment long after the products are used, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The chemical—3,4,4’-trichlorocarbanilide (triclocarban), marketed under the trademark TCC™—is a non-agricultural polychlorinated phenyl urea pesticide that has been widely used for decades to kill bacteria. The researchers were among the first to d

In 1991, an exotic bivalve called the zebra mussel moved into the Hudson River. Over the past two decades, the prolific species has colonized habitats with hard sediments, becoming the most abundant animal in the river’s freshwater reaches. As competitors in the aquatic food chain, scientists have long speculated that zebra mussels may impact fish. A recent Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences article, written by Dr. David L. Strayer of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) and

The Finnish-Swedish Wood Material Science Research Programme (2003-2006) has opened its homepage in the Internet. The web pages contain general information about the co-financed research programme, about its objectives and projects. There are also current information about the research programme and related events.

The Wood Material Science web pages are mainly focused to the researchers, companies, financing organisations and decision makers interested in wood material science and

Our desire for safe, affordable and nutritious food that can be produced without damaging the environment looks set to become a reality thanks to an €18 million grant under the ’Food Quality and Safety’ area of the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6)
The cash will be used over the next five years as part of an Integrated Project called ’QualityLowInputFood’. The 31 project partners across Europe will examine consumer attitudes and expectations across the food chain and develop new technologie

Mercury is a toxic trace metal and its presence in the environment has been linked to human illness and ecological damage.

A 1997 Congressional report, which provided a quantitative human health risk assessment of mercury, estimated that between one and three percent of women of childbearing age in the United States eat sufficient amounts of fish for their fetuses to be at risk from mercury exposure.

“Over the last two decades, industrial activities have resulted in subs

Professor John Raven of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee has just been appointed chair of the Royal Society’s working group on ocean acidification. The task of the working group is to assess the available evidence on the extent of acidification in oceans and its impact on marine life.

The Royal Society, the UK’s academy of science is launching the working group and study because of concerns that the world’s oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, due to

Smoke from giant Siberian forest fires pushed one measure of Seattle’s air quality past federal environmental limits on at least one day in 2003, new research shows.

And the rapidly changing climate in northern latitudes makes it likely such fires will have increasingly serious ramifications for air quality all along the West Coast of North America, said Dan Jaffe, an environmental scientist at the University of Washington, Bothell.

“In the past, we haven’t considered tha