Vanilla cultivation on fallow land promotes biodiversity
University of GöttingenHow can biodiversity be preserved whilst securing the economic livelihood of smallholder farmers growing vanilla in Madagascar?
How can biodiversity be preserved whilst securing the economic livelihood of smallholder farmers growing vanilla in Madagascar?
The university is home to the world’s largest occupied bat houses, a trio of raised structures located on campus across from Lake Alice on Museum Road. Together, two of these houses shelter an estimated 500,000 bats — possibly the biggest bat colony east of the Mississippi River. Crowds gather regularly to watch the twilight spectacle of bats streaming from the houses to hunt insects under the cover of darkness. Now, with the oldest and most densely occupied bat house dilapidated beyond repair, UF staff will attempt to woo its residents into the newest bat barn, which has remained devoid of bats since its construction in 2017.
Insects are the world’s smallest flying migrants, but they can maintain perfectly straight flight paths even in unfavorable wind conditions, according to a new study from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB) and the University of Konstanz.
During 13–16 March 2021, an extremely strong dust storm struck Mongolia and northern China successively, causing 590 herdsmen to disappear and 16 people to die in Mongolia.
Wood is infinitely useful. Critically important for our changing climate, trees store carbon.
Symbiotic relationships between legumes and the bacteria that grow in their roots are critical for plant survival. Without those bacteria, the plants would have no source of nitrogen, an element that is essential for building proteins and other biomolecules, and they would be dependent on nitrogen fertilizer in the soil.
Researchers at NSU’s Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) used high-tech sensors to track billfish – and now we now have, for the first time, a detailed view of exactly how these fish behave after they are caught and released.
For birds that inhabit developed areas of the Pacific Northwest, the reduction in noise and commotion from COVID-19 lockdowns may have allowed them to use a wider range of habitats in cities, a new study finds.
By comparing geographic patterns of nonhuman primate biodiversity and human land-use, researchers discovered that areas managed or controlled by Indigenous peoples tend to have significantly more primate biodiversity than nearby regions.
Simultaneous extreme heat and drought events have consequences in a variety of areas – for example the economy, health and food production.
Researchers have identified a new species of Bathonymus, the famed genera of deep-sea isopods whose viral internet fame has made them the most famous aquatic crustaceans since Sebastian of The Little Mermaid.
In heatwaves where heat and drought combine, effects can destabilize interlinked sectors, including health, energy and food production systems.
Researchers use motion-activated cameras to document when hares are most likely to be struck by aircraft at Dublin Airport
Without bumble bees, a flowering plant that can self-pollinate lost substantial genetic variation within only nine generations, an experimental study found.
Researchers at Aalto University have developed a bio-based adhesive that can replace formaldehyde-containing adhesives in wood construction.
A new study examines how the geographic characteristics of the world's islands influence seasonal variation in the number of bird species. The study determines how seasonal species richness of birds is affected by the size of the island, how isolated it is from the mainland and other islands, and the latitude in which it lies.
Climate change has led to warming temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, leading some insect species to expand their range into more northerly oak savannas, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Phytoplankton is the foundation of all life on the planet. Understanding how these photosynthetic organisms react to their ocean environment is important to understanding the rest of the food web.
British Columbia’s ocean contributed almost $5 billion to provincial gross domestic product in 2015, a sum that is likely an underestimate, a new UBC study has found.
As the effects of climate change mount, ecosystem restoration in the US West has garnered significant public attention, bolstered by President Joe Biden's America the Beautiful plan to conserve 30% of US land and water by 2030. Writing in BioScience, William J. Ripple and 19 colleagues follow up on the Biden plan with a proposal for a "Western Rewilding Network," comprising 11 large reserve areas already owned by the federal government.
Dust from all over the world is landing in the Sierra Nevada mountains carrying microbes that are toxic to both plants and humans.
Plants and algae use green-tinted chlorophyll to convert high-energy sunlight into food via photosynthesis. Some cyanobacteria can survive in deep shade by using infra-red and other low-energy light to photosynthesize. They accomplish this by re-equipping their photosynthetic protein complexes with different kinds of chlorophyll that absorb lower-energy light. Researchers have now determined the molecular structures of these photosynthetic systems to understand how cyanobacteria can use low-energy light.
An online database developed at the University of Sussex which documents pollinator-plant interactions, could help the public understand how to plant for pollinators and support biodiversity.
Paul Salem, a leader in private equity and non-profit board service, has been named Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s new Chair of the Board of Trustees. Salem will transition into the role officially on January 1, 2023, taking over for David Scully, who has served as the Board Chair for the past seven years.
Scientists have developed a small robot to understand how ants teach one another.
A new study has found dry lightning outbreaks are the leading cause of some of the largest wildfire outbreaks in modern California history. Despite this, dry lightning has remained largely understudied across this region – until now.
Scientists at Newcastle University have uncovered a source of oxygen that may have influenced the evolution of life before the advent of photosynthesis.
As the world grapples with the cataclysmic events associated with climate change, it is increasingly important to have accurate climate models that can help predict what might lie ahead.
Rapid 20th century warming in the Gulf of Maine has reversed long-term cooling that occurred there during the previous 900 years, according to new research that combines an examination of shells from long-lived ocean quahogs and climate model simulations.
Students sponsored by Soil Science Society of America participate in skills test to build field experience; learn about soils of Scotland
In an effort to understand how climate changes will affect many species at once, PhD candidate Guillermo Garcia Costoya created simulations that can predict how likely animals are to go extinct in different climatic conditions.
A study published recently in the prestigious journal Nature Ecology and Evolution has unveiled some of the key processes in marine microbial evolution.
A new study measured 38 years of change for glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park, which lies south of Anchorage, and found that 13 of 19 glaciers show substantial retreat, four are relatively stable, and two have advanced. It also finds trends in which glacier types are disappearing fastest.
A new study analyses human impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in 72 lakes distributed across four large neotropical wetlands of Brazil – Amazon, Araguaia, Pantanal and Paraná. The research spans a 3.7million km gradient of human activities in Brazil.
Journalists who register for the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society will have access to nearly 11,000 presentations on topics including food, energy, pollution mitigation, health and more. ACS Fall 2022 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person in Chicago on Aug. 21–25.
Excessive carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption lead to serious climate and environmental problems, such as increasing global average temperature and sea-level rise.
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 4, 2022 — A cross-disciplinary team of engineering, biological sciences, public health and anthropology graduate students from the University of California, Irvine took first place in Phase 1 of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Video Challenge for Students for their “Unearthing Lead: The Power of Historical Maps” entry, which reveals the dangerous levels of lead in soils in Santa Ana.
New climate models of the Great Lakes region reveal that warming water temperatures will have a significant impact on summer climate. Understanding these risks could help the region predict extreme weather and prepare to become climate resilient.
The work, which was conducted over a 15-year period (2005-2019) through a partnership between scientists from the UPV/EHU and the Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive in Montpellier (CEFE-CNRS), focused on two populations of blue tits in the south of France, one located on the outskirts of Montpellier and the other in the northwest of the island of Corsica.
The Antarctic region is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and studies have shown that the melting of Antarctic ice sheets has accelerated considerably in recent years.
Northumbria University’s Dr Shafeer Kalathil is among a team of esteemed academics behind the project, which uses a chemical process that converts sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into acetate and oxygen to produce high-value fuels and chemicals powered by renewable energy.
The effects of increased sediment load in rivers during the recovery phase after a nuclear accident are a key consideration in decontamination efforts. Researchers from Japan have discovered that with some planning, unsustainable effects from these efforts could be mitigated.
Bioscientists from Durham University, UK and Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Germany have predicted in their latest research that bird communities will change worldwide in 2080 due to climate change, largely as result of shifting their ranges.
The North Pacific Blob, was the largest and longest-lasting marine heatwave on record. A new study using data collected by elephant seals reveals that in addition to the well documented surface warming, deeper warm-water anomalies associated with the Blob were much more extensive than previously reported.