Ecology, The Environment and Conservation
This complex theme deals primarily with interactions between organisms and the environmental factors that impact them, but to a greater extent between individual inanimate environmental factors.
innovations-report offers informative reports and articles on topics such as climate protection, landscape conservation, ecological systems, wildlife and nature parks and ecosystem efficiency and balance.
NASA scientists use satellites to distinguish human pollution from other atmospheric particles
Driven by precise new satellite measurements and sophisticated new computer models, a team of NASA researchers is now routinely producing the first global maps of fine aerosols that distinguish plumes of human-produced particulate pollution from natural aerosols.
In the current issue of the journal Nature, atmospheric scientists Yoram Kaufman, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., Didier Tanré and Olivier Boucher from CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
PEOPLE project: Population Exposure to Air Pollutants in Europe
Project Synopsis:
The PEOPLE project involves the monitoring of ambient outdoor and indoor levels of air pollutants as well as measuring population exposure in European capitals. With the selection of benzene as a first pollutant to be measured, EC directive 2000/69/EC is also supported. Benzene is a carcinogenic pollutant to which exposure is associated with the risk of the development of leukaemia.
Brussels and Lisbon have been selected as the first cities for the PEOPLE
After massive experiment, results favor wildlife corridors
To combat urban sprawl and protect wildlife, many communities have set aside land for wildlife corridors linking natural areas to one another.
Public support for these greenways, however, has overshadowed a long-running debate among ecologists about whether they actually achieve their presumed benefits. The debate has been hobbled by a lack of definitive data, with many studies based solely on observations and others only on small-scale experiments, scientists say.
A University of
New mathematical method allows scientists to better predict the effects of global warming
Scientists may soon have a better idea of the potential effects of global warming thanks to the work of Tony O’Hagan, Professor of Statistics at the University of Sheffield.
Scientists already know that global warming will have consequences for the earth but are unsure how mild or severe these effects may be, due to the inaccuracies in their prediction models. Professor O’Hagan’s method will allow scientists to better determine these inaccuracies and has major significance in the world of
Invasive species: Those who live together invade better
While the spread of imported fire ants has received much public attention, another invader has been quietly sucking the juices from plants in our lawns and fields: a legless mealybug. In a recent study published in the September issue of the peer-reviewed journal Ecology, scientists have discovered that these bugs may be a possible key to the success of the infamous invasive fire ants.
“Widespread association of the invasive ant Solenopsis invicta with an invasive mealybug,” a study by Ken
Billions of insects join the “mile high club”
Entomologists have discovered that there are far more insects flying around above our heads than previously thought. Speaking at the Royal Entomological Society’s national meeting Entomology 2002, which will take place at Cardiff University on 12–13 September 2002, Dr Jason Chapman will say that in a typical summer month, around 3.5 billion insects fly over a square kilometre. This equates to one tonne of insects flying over Hyde Park in London, or Trelai Park in Cardiff, every four weeks in summer.