Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Eighty percent of the world’s population live in cities. Helping those soils stay healthy helps keep the water clean and provides green spaces for people to get exercise, among other benefits. The “Sustainable Soils in Urban Environments” symposium planned at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.

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Beavers have probably been more influential than humans in altering the ecosystem of the Kabetogama Peninsula which is home to Voyageurs National Park near International Falls, Minnesota.

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GCOOS collects data from more than 2,000 ocean sensors that play a critical role in hurricane forecasting and ensures that the information is timely, reliable, accurate and -- above all -- available to those working to understand ocean systems and subsequently provide better forecast data to save lives and protect coastal economies during hurricanes.

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A team of scientists has found new evidence that the Great Permian Extinction, which occurred approximately 250 million years ago, was caused by massive volcanic eruptions that led to significant environmental changes.

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This project aims to deliver stress-tolerant sorghum lines, addressing DOE's mission in the generation of renewable energy resources.

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Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture and forestry sectors could lead to increased food prices—but new research identifies strategies that could help mitigate climate change while avoiding steep hikes in food prices.

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The Ph.D. candidate in UTEP’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program has discovered three new species of chameleons. The reptile trio, historically thought to be a single species, was found in different parts of the Albertine Rift in Central Africa.

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Every year around this time, nature puts her greens to bed and awakens her autumn colors. That palette of reds, yellows and oranges painting the landscape is part of a very important ecological process.

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New research from a team of Florida State University scientists and their collaborators is helping to explain the link between a changing global climate and a dramatic decline in bumble bee populations worldwide.

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In a step toward bridging the gap between fungal taxonomy and molecular ecology, scientists from several institutions including Los Alamos National Laboratory have characterized a sample of “mystery” fungus collected in North Carolina and found its home in the fungal tree of life.

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The stability of nanobubbles is well understood, but the mechanisms causing their eventual destabilization are still in question. Using molecular dynamics simulations, researchers in China explored the effect of surfactants -- components that lower surface tension -- on the stabilization of nanobubbles. They report their findings on the surprising mechanisms of destabilization for both soluble and insoluble surfactants this week in Applied Physics Letters.

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West Virginia University geology researchers are measuring the quantity and quality of the water along Peters Mountain in collaboration with the Indian Creek Watershed Association.

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University of Delaware researchers are studying microbes called Parcubacteria that were found by James Cameron (director of "Terminator") during a recent deep sea expedition. They want to study the microbes' lifestyle and see how similar they are to those found on land.

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Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) biologically filter the water flowing into the Everglades' protected area, reduce phosphorus and improve the ecosystem services of the soil and plant life. The “Soil Processes and Performance in Constructed Wetlands” symposium at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, will address this important topic.

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A growing international movement called “Half Earth” calls for preserving 50 percent of the world’s biodiversity. In today’s Nature News and Views, conservationists pose three questions that need to be answered to make this bold vision a reality.

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In a new study, researchers have identified nitrate removal hotspots in landscapes around agricultural streams.

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A new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program, the Centre for Wildlife Studies, and the University of Florida-Gainesville, shows that cost-effective “sign surveys” can be used to reliably monitor animal distributions in the wild.

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Many of the DOE Joint Genome Institute’s selected 2018 Community Science Program proposals aim to utilize multiple genomic and analytical capabilities, along with scientific expertise, to users focused on the underlying mechanisms involved in bioenergy generation and biogeochemical processes.

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Students and a scientist at the University of Vermont have discovered 15 new species of 'smiley-faced' spiders--and named them after, among others, Barack Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Bernie Sanders.

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West Virginia University professors Paul Ziemkiewicz, Shikha Sharma and Tim Carr will present research on technology in the shale industry at the Shale Insight Conference on Wednesday, Sept. 27 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

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Sea Grant is helping lobstermen by quickly locating the traps lost during Hurricane Irma -- a move that will help an industry worth $150 million in the Keys.

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Work to restore the endangered Chittenango ovate amber snail, found only in one location inside a Central New York state park, continued this month with the release of tagged adult snails raised in a laboratory at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

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.With so many hurricanes ravaging the Caribbean and the southern U.S., it has become clear that addressing threats to infrastructure is critical to keeping our communities safe, functional, and healthy. Storm surge has emerged as one of the most destructive forces on infrastructure, especially interconnected structures in cities. To address this issue, Columbia Engineering researchers recently won a NSF grant to study storm surge threats to New York City infrastructure.

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A Texas A&M University research team has examined a 100,000-year-old ocean core and found that there have been at least eight occurrences of iron penetrating the Pacific Ocean, each likely associated with abrupt global climate change over thousands of years.

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Satellite data shows underground water reserves in California’s Silicon Valley rebounded quickly after the recent severe drought. The research points to the success of aggressive conservation measures and lays the groundwork for low-cost monitoring of subterranean water reserves around the world.

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Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis are challenging the notion that environment drives the evolution of brain size. A new study was released Sept. 25 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

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A group of UK scientists, co-ordinated by the University of Southampton, has published extensive research into how industry and environmental change are affecting our seafloors, but say more work is needed to help safeguard these complex ecosystems and the benefits they provide to people for the future.

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Researchers at the University of Georgia in partnership with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center have been awarded a grant to study how wet soils may strengthen tropical storms over land.

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Picture teams of smartphone-toting citizen scientists, poised to collect water samples and test for contaminants thanks to a user-friendly app that can crowdsource rapid responders to mobilize the next time a public water system is at risk. Researchers from Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of South Florida are tapping National Science Foundation seed money set aside for “potentially transformative research” to advance the technology and hone the social mobilization efforts needed to summon trained, trusted teams of everyday water watchers.

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A new high-performance computing initiative announced this week by the U.S. Department of Energy will help U.S. industry accelerate the development of new or improved materials for use in severe environments.

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The Northwestern Institute of Science and Engineering this summer offered its inaugural summer research program for 12 undergraduate science and engineering majors. During the 10-week program, the students worked on projects of mutual strategic importance to Argonne and the university in machine learning, environmental sensing, synthetic biology, materials synthesis and characterization, and energy storage.

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Wetlands, including the Everglades, are important to the health of the environment. Restoring their ability to process water is the topic of several talks at a scientific meeting.

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Some big plant-eating dinosaurs roaming present-day Utah some 75 million years ago were slurping up crustaceans on the side, a behavior that may have been tied to reproductive activities, says a new University of Colorado Boulder study.  

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In an effort to settle the debate about the origin of dog domestication, a technique that uses 3-D scans of fossils is helping researchers determine the difference between dogs and wolves.

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A hardy ocean drone made a first-ever attempt to surf across Antarctica’s stormy Drake Passage gathering data about ocean mixing.

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Biology students at West Virginia University are studying the impact of climate change on the forests of the Appalachian Mountains.

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When the government gives citizens a personal stake in forested land, trees don’t disappear as quickly and environmental harm slows down.

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Biology students at West Virginia University are studying the impact of climate change on the forests of the Appalachian Mountains. Justin Mathias and Nanette Raczka, Ph.D. students in the Department of Biology, have received Smithsonian Center for Tropical Forest Science-ForestGEO grants to support their research.

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