Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Scientists show that grasslands are more sensitive to changes in the amount of moisture in the air than to changes in precipitation.

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Oceanographers from the University of Rhode Island will once again present their research and posters during an international Earth science meeting this month.

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The fresh, unmistakable scent of a pine forest comes from a medley of chemicals produced by its trees. Researchers have now accurately determined the chemical structure of one of these compounds in its gas phase, a molecule called alpha-pinene. The new analysis can help scientists better detect and understand how alpha-pinene reacts with other gases in the atmosphere, a process which produces pollutants and particles called aerosols that affect health and climate. The researchers describe their analysis this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics.

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Imagine spending several weeks aboard a ship traversing the stormiest ocean on Earth, climbing each day to the highest deck to check on scientific instruments mounted inside a windowless, 20-foot shipping container. As you steady yourself against the rolling seas by wedging your body between instrument racks, you might wonder why you’re not sitting poolside on a tropical cruise instead.

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Highest concentration and yield of valuable chemicals reported in industrial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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In Churchill today, the federal government, through Western Economic Diversification Canada, announced a significant investment to assist Canadians with the cost of food and to generate economic growth, particularly in northern Manitoba.

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Logging of the largest trees in the Sierra Nevada’s national forests ended in the early 1990s after agreements were struck to protect species’ habitat. But new research reported Dec. 6 in the journal Diversity and Distributions by University of Wisconsin–Madison ecologists shows that spotted owls, one of the iconic species logging restrictions were meant to protect, have continued to experience population declines in the forests.

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Two Vanderbilt experts show evidence that progress can continue to be made on climate change and other environmental issues regardless of what the government is doing.

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Wildfires, cigarette smoking and vehicles all emit a potentially harmful compound called isocyanic acid. The substance has been linked to several health conditions, including heart disease and cataracts. Scientists investigating sources of the compound have now identified off-road diesel vehicles in oil sands production in Alberta, Canada, as a major contributor to regional levels of the pollutant. Their report appears in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology.

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Ice storms can wreak havoc on communities. Frozen limbs, dragged down by the weight of the ice, can snap off and fall on cars, homes, and power lines. But scientists aren’t sure how ice storms affect long-term forest health. Researchers are changing that.

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Marine invertebrates are impacted by the rising levels of underwater noise produced by humans, but the production of underwater noise is not only difficult to control, but the direct effect on marine invertebrates can be challenging to observe or measure. Researchers will present results on the use of a standing wave tube to simulate and measure the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine invertebrates at the 174th ASA Meeting, Dec. 4-8, 2017, in New Orleans.

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A senior research project on parasitic wasps that feed on aphids led to a summer internship at the Smithsonian Institute that was a dream come true for an entomology graduate student.

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GOMA announces 11 recipients receiving a combined total of over $666,000 dollars in the 2017 Gulf Star Program.

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Global temperatures drop; November still warm

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Composting food scraps can prompt people to make other earth-friendly choices, new research has found. When one California city started a composting program to keep food waste out of its landfill, residents began to pay more attention to other environmentally sound practices, such as taking shorter showers.

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A team of researchers from Environment Canada and Climate Change Canada and McMaster University have found that fish living downstream from a wastewater treatment plant showed changes to their normal behaviour—ones that made them vulnerable to predators—when exposed to elevated levels of antidepressant drugs in the water.

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An interdisciplinary team is using a covert sound-based approach, worthy of an avian CSI, to study the link between crows' calls and their behavior.

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Low-emission vehicles are considered too quiet for hearing-impaired pedestrians, so the European Union is mandating that they be equipped with acoustic vehicle alerting systems. With these alert systems would come a marked increase in the amount of noise on the roads across Europe. During the 174th ASA Meeting, Dec. 4-8, 2017, in New Orleans, researchers will present their work assessing the effectiveness of acoustic vehicle alerting systems and their downsides.

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Arctic sea ice loss of the magnitude expected in the next few decades could impact California’s rainfall and exacerbate future droughts, according to new research led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists

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U.S. cities could save billions with ORNL’s precise approach to de-icing wintry roads; discovery of overlooked function of certain microbes could boost environmental clean-up strategies; novel tools can “see” atomic structures of aluminum-cerium alloys for automotive and aerospace applications.

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Cornell University engineering students are creating a state-of-the-art computer model to strategically place trees on highways near residential areas to mitigate pollution particles and improve human health.

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Major clusters of summertime thunderstorms in North America will grow larger, more intense, and more frequent later this century in a changing climate

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Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified a common set of genes that enable different drought-resistant plants to survive in semi-arid conditions, which could play a significant role in bioengineering and creating energy crops that are tolerant to water deficits.

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The Giant Sequoya? Nope. The African elephant? Not even close. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) December 1 Soils Matter blog post shares that the largest land organism is—a fungus!

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A geologist for the state of Delaware and a climate scientist unpack the results of a recent report on sea level rise and talk about how projected increases may affect the First State and other areas on the Atlantic Seaboard.

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Despite some forest loss, Mozambique’s sprawling Niassa National Reserve has the potential to support tens of thousands of elephants and 1,000 lions according to a new land-use study published in the journal Parks.

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Slowly but steadily, an enormous mass of warm rock is rising beneath part of New England, although a major volcanic eruption isn’t likely for millions of years, a Rutgers University-led study suggests. The research is unprecedented in its scope and challenges textbook concepts of geology.

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A Tulane University researcher has found that a decline in the number of wood thrushes is probably due to deforestation in Central America.

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Cattle, swine and poultry contribute a hefty portion to the average American’s diet, but raising all this livestock comes at a cost to the environment: The industry produces a lot of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Just how much gas the animals release, however, is the subject of debate. Now, one group reports in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology that a new approach could shed light on how accurate current data are.

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A new fish species, the deepest in the ocean, was discovered and named by an international team of researchers. The team published a paper describing the Mariana snailfish this week in the journal Zootaxa.

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Termites that feed on a well-known bait for one day are eventually doomed, which is good news for those who want to protect their property from the destructive pest, a University of Florida entomologist says.

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A decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels led to a fundamental shift in the behaviour of the Earth’s climate system around one million years ago, according to new research led by the University of Southampton.

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Efforts to battle an invasive forest pest just got a boost from a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation grant that enables Cornell Botanic Gardens to continue – and expand – its work to conserve hemlock trees

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The amount of biomass – life – in Earth's ancient oceans may have been limited due to low recycling of the key nutrient phosphorus, according to new research by the University of Washington and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

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Dr. Ralph D. Nyland was the recipient of the 2017 Barrington Moore Memorial Award from the Society of American Foresters (SAF).

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Three new studies by University of Maryland School of Medicine scientists have identified key factors that help microbes survive in harsh environments.

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More than 20 leaders at Rutgers University, including Rutgers University–New Brunswick Chancellor Deba Dutta, will join Governor-elect Philip D. Murphy’s Transition2018 committees to undertake policy analysis and recommendations on a host of state issues and new initiatives as the new gubernatorial administration prepares to take office.

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Understanding the climate context is important is determining how to best respond to food insecurity, according to a study of nearly 2,000 smallholder farms in Africa and Asia. Rainfall patterns determined whether financial supports or agricultural inputs or practices were the most effective intervention.

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The smallest microplastics in our oceans – which go largely undetected and are potentially harmful – could be more effectively identified using an innovative and inexpensive new method, developed by researchers at the University of Warwick.

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Through its award-winning Climate Adaptation Fund, WCS has announced 12 new grants to nonprofit organizations exploring and implementing new methods for helping America’s wildlife and people adapt to rapidly shifting environmental conditions brought about by climate change.