Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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For the first time, researchers have estimated the Spotted Owl population across the entire Sierra Nevada ecosystem.

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White-tailed deer across Ohio have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, new research has found – and the results also show that viral variants evolve about three times faster in deer than in humans.

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Researchers at the University of New Hampshire, along with other regional partners, have been monitoring the development of an expansive algal bloom that has formed in the Gulf of Maine—stretching more than a hundred miles from Massachusetts to Maine.

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The ivory palm tree, also known as tagua, is endemic to the Chocó-Darien region on the Pacific coast of South America. Two studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) explore the ecosystem services provided by tagua in coastal Ecuador.

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Study analyses 18 major carbon offset projects, and compares their conservation claims with matched sites that offer a real-world benchmark for deforestation levels.

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Scientific exploration of the deep ocean has largely remained inaccessible to most people because of barriers to access due to infrastructure, training, and physical ability requirements for at-sea oceanographic research.

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Fungi-eating orchids were found for the first time to offer their flowers to fungi-eating fruit flies in exchange for pollination, which is the first evidence for nursery pollination in orchids.

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Past winners include Fortune 500 companies, Department of Energy national laboratories, academic institutions and smaller companies.

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A new review in Pathogens suggests micro- and nanoplastics in agricultural soil could contribute to antibiotic-resistant bacteria with a ready route into our food supply.

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Tropical Storm Hilary packed a punch but wasn’t nearly as devastating as it could have been. Meanwhile Tropical Storm Franklin is battering the Caribbean. As we enter the height of hurricane season, Virginia Tech has a team of coastal experts available who can provide insight about hurricanes, flash flooding, storm surge, sea-level rise and emergency response.

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Three University of California, Irvine researchers will receive more than $8 million in climate action grants to support projects that will help advance progress toward California’s climate goals.

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New research from Michigan State University suggests that natural selection, famous for rewarding advantageous differences in organisms, can also preserve similarities.

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A study published in Nature found that, while protected areas in Southeast Asia were shown to be good for animals inside their borders, as expected, that protection also extended to nearby unprotected areas, which was a surprise.

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A new study in Nature has revealed that the Pacific Walker Circulation has changed its behavior over the industrial era in ways that weren’t expected.

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A new study, which combines satellite thermal and in situ warming experiment data from across the world’s tropical forests, looks at the variation of leaf temperatures within forest canopies. The data collected revealed that a small percentage of tropical leaves are already reaching, and occasionally exceeding, the temperatures at which they can no longer function—suggesting that as climate change continues, entire canopies could die, eliminating a key regulator of Earth’s climate and putting the world’s biodiversity at risk.

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A new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, finds that standalone solar photovoltaic irrigation systems have the potential to meet more than a third of the water needs for crops in small-scale farms across sub-Saharan Africa.

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From covering windows and planting trees, to upgrading your air conditioning system—PNNL scientists offer tips to keep your home cool in extreme heat

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A global conveyor belt, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is a system of ocean currents that circulates water within the Atlantic Ocean.

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Wahoo Bay, a new marine park in northern Broward County, offers University of Miami researchers the first test case of an innovative way to combine natural and human-made solutions to improve coastal resilience.

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A Florida State University scientist has helped uncover through a multidecadal study how changing water chemistry in Arctic rivers could impact the entire planet.  

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Loss of habitat and human activities such as fishing and shipping pose a grave threat to wildlife but diseases driven by the smallest organisms in the ocean are a less understood side of marine conservation.

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Coral reefs in one part of the Pacific Ocean have likely adjusted to higher ocean temperatures which could reduce future bleaching impacts of climate change, new research reveals.

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Birds native to the tropical Andes, many of which cannot be found anywhere else, are threatened by increasing agricultural development in the region.

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One of the most feared effects of global warming is the rise in sea level caused by the melting of polar continental ice.

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Researchers at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Kim Byung-suk) published their findings on the drastic short-term alterations in rivers accompanied by shifts in vegetation and geomorphology drawn from actual on-site investigation and analyses and not from model simulations.

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The entire contiguous U.S. has experienced massive urban expansions and the Atlantic Coast shows outstandingly high rates. Urban expansion has substantially squeezed the space of tidal flats and affected surrounding environments. In new urban areas, tidal flats have undergone considerable degeneration with more significant patterns as they get closer to new urban locations. Tidal flats protect against the ocean’s destructive powers such as hurricanes. Without some inland spaces to move around, they will likely disappear, which will have dire consequences for beachfront communities.

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A study done on 336 cities in China concludes that heat-retaining buildings and paved surfaces are directly related to a loss in bird diversity. It is likely that the patterns documented in this study are occurring in other large cities across the globe that have abundant asphalt, steel, and concrete with little green vegetation

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Freshwater is vital for humans, ecosystems, and economies. However, climate and socio-economic changes are expected to substantially alter water availability. A pioneering study emphasizes considering future water withdrawals in low flow projections, highlighting the urgency of coordinated efforts to reduce excessive extraction in European rivers.

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New research has revealed that Australia's iconic grass trees - aka yaccas - play a critical role in protecting wildlife from deadly weather extremes, thereby ensuring their survival. But the grasses themselves are under threat due to back burning, clearing and disease.

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When a sabertooth tiger called out, what noise did it make – a mighty roar or a throaty purr? A new study from North Carolina State University examined the data behind the arguments for each vocalization and found that the answer was more nuanced than they thought – and that it could depend on the shape of a few small bones.

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A new study led by Georgia Tech shows that water underneath glaciers may surge due to thinning ice sheets — a dangerous feedback cycle that could increase glacial melt, sea level rise, and biological disturbances.

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A new tool, REBURN, can simulate large forest landscapes and wildfire dynamics over decades or centuries under different wildfire management strategies.

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Three years ago, administrative and faculty leaders at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station created a “beginner farmer” training program for people new to farming to address two related challenges: the aging of New Jersey farmers and the inexperience of many drawn to the profession.

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The discovery that birds evolved from small carnivorous dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic was made possible by recently discovered fossils of theropods such as Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller velociraptors. In a way, you could say that dinosaurs are still with us and seen tweeting from your own backyard! Below are the latest research headlines in the Birds channel on Newswise.

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Newly published research emphasizes the importance of understanding how to improve protection of the global soil organic matter balance.

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The end of the last Ice Age also marked the end for more than three dozen genera of large mammals in North America, from mammoths and mastodons to bison and saber-toothed cats. Details concerning the precise timing and circumstances, however, have remained murky ever since.

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Midwest researchers are working together to develop and promote a new green fertilizer that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The $4 million project is supported by a National Science Foundation program designed to build scientific infrastructure and capabilities across the country.

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Scientists in South America and Australia have discovered that environmental stresses, such as large variations in rainfall and floods in the rivers, tend to change the mating rituals of these semi-aquatic Neotropical spiders which live in riparian habitats in Uruguay and Brazil.

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Associate Professor Yoshi N. Sasaki, a specialist in Physical Oceanography, is involved in research into rising sea levels—particularly in coastal areas of Japan. He spoke about what he has learned so far about the relationship between ocean currents, sea level and climate change, what research he is currently focusing on, and the appeal of research that uses numerical modeling to uncover natural phenomena.

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Researchers at the University of Idaho have found a unique, non-invasive way to identify polar bears in the Arctic by scraping DNA from a bear’s paw print.