Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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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.

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A new study, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, reveals that the wealthiest Americans, those whose income places them in the top 10% of earners, are responsible for 40% of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

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Environmental regulators and other organizations should do more scientific experimentation to inform natural resource policy, according to an international group of economists that includes University of Wyoming researchers.

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Bias in the collection of data on which Artificial Intelligence (AI) computer programmes depend can limit the usefulness of this rapidly growing tool for climate scientists predicting future scenarios and guiding global action.

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Climate change discussions often overlook the central role played by the excessive extraction and use of natural resources. The topic, however, will be the central focus of two events being hosted back-to-back in Geneva in September: The World Resources Forum 2023 with Empa, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the International Resource Panel, and the UNEP Global Intergovernmental Meeting on Minerals and Metals.

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In a world first experiment, Australian researchers have played a very clever trick on red foxes that could help curb millions of wildlife deaths every year.

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Though cars are the biggest threat to coyotes taking up residence in U.S. cities, a new study suggests urban living poses a different kind of hazard to coyote health – in the form of chronic stress.

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Conventional wisdom among ecologists holds that the more species there are inhabiting an ecosystem, the less vulnerable any one species will be to a threat like a parasite. A new study of tadpoles at the University of Wisconsin–Madison illustrates how overlapping biological and environmental factors can complicate how we value protecting diverse animal communities. The researchers found that environmental pollutants like road salt influence whether increased biodiversity helps or hinders disease outbreaks in wildlife, which can complicate how we value protecting diverse animal communities.

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An extremely rare collection of 160-million-year-old sea spider fossils from Southern France are closely related to living species, unlike older fossils of their kind.

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A team of researchers have found a shared penchant for sewing reflective shell beds onto clothing and other items across three Indonesian islands that dates back to at least 12,000 years ago.

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Bats gather to feast as nocturnal insects fly through mountain passes in the Pyrenees each autumn, new research shows.

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Human-caused climate change is shortening the snow cover period in the Arctic.

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A Cornell research team has developed a new way to design complex microscale machines, one that draws inspiration from the operation of proteins and hummingbird beaks.

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Pouring flecks of rust into water usually makes it dirtier. Now, researchers have developed special iron oxide nanoparticles called “smart rust” to trap estrogen hormones that are potentially harmful to aquatic life. They will present their results at ACS Fall 2023.

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As Labor Day approaches, many people will go tubing and swimming, but do these delightful summertime activities impact streams and rivers? Today, scientists report that recreation can alter the chemical and microbial fingerprint of waterways. They will present their results at ACS Fall 2023.

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EMSL user Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede discusses how artificial intelligence is helping her understand the process of protein folding within cells.

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In a new study, scientists Stewart Edie of the Smithsonian, Shan Huang of the University of Birmingham and colleagues drastically expanded the list of bivalve species, such as clams, oysters, mussels, scallops and their relatives, that humans are known to harvest and identified the traits that make these species prime targets for harvesting.