Even small increases in temperature from global warming are causing climatology shifts harmful to ocean life, a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science shows.
A new study co-authored by the Wildlife Conservation Society identifies countries most vulnerable to declining coral reef fisheries from a food-security perspective while providing a framework to plan for alternative protein sources needed to replace declining fisheries.
A new study, published online today in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, reviewed 136 case studies to determine the underlying causes of why many populations have gone extinct due to changing climate.
Reports of declining ice coverage and drowning polar bears in the Arctic illustrate dramatic ecosystem responses to global climate change in Earth’s polar regions. But in this first-ever account of a long-term project in the southern Caribbean, a Stony Brook professor and his colleagues report in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. that tropical ecosystems are also affected by global climatic trends - and with accompanying economic impacts.
On October 23 at 1pm, top USDA and academic researchers will address agriculture and climate in a special session of the Soil Science Society of America’s annual meeting. And they’ll take on a third, largely new aspect of climate change and agriculture: how nitrogen pollution compounds climate change, and vice versa. The work draws from a new special report to the United States’ National Climate Assessment published in the journal Biogeochemistry.
The Physical Internet – a concept in which goods are handled, stored and transported in a shared network of manufacturers, retailers and the transportation industry – would benefit the U.S. economy and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by engineers at the University of Arkansas and Virginia Tech University.
Large industrial firms aren’t typically known for embracing eco-friendly policies. But lately they’ve recognized that going green at the factory is one way of adding green to the bottom line.
Evidence uncovered by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, geography professor suggests recent droughts could be the new normal. This is especially bad news for our nation's forests.
The University of Michigan and 20 other U.S. and Canadian universities will join forces to propose a set of long-term research and policy priorities to help protect and restore the Great Lakes and to train the next generation of scientists, attorneys, planners and policy specialists who will study them.
A new computer analysis of future climate change that considers emissions reductions together with sunlight reduction shows that such drastic steps to cool the earth would only be necessary if the planet heats up easily with added greenhouse gases.
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have used 20 years of satellite data to reveal a geological oddity unlike any seen on Earth.
A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and James Cook University says that coral reefs in Aceh, Indonesia are benefiting from a decidedly low-tech, traditional management system that dates back to the 17th century.
Efforts to enhance wildlife habitat by controlling vegetation could actually cause more harm than good. Wyoming big sagebrush is often manipulated to decrease its density and encourage the growth of herbaceous plants. However, this may bring about declines in the population of birds, elk, and other animals.
On the heels of one the worst U.S. droughts in more than half a century, a new study raises questions about the future of one of the most integral members of stream ecosystems throughout the Southeast – the salamander. Research from Wake Forest University shows how salamanders react to drought, shedding light on the impact of climate change and increased urbanization.
Arizona State University researchers have developed a new software system capable of estimating greenhouse gas emissions across entire urban landscapes, all the way down to roads and individual buildings.
Warming temperatures in Ohio are a key driver behind changes in the state’s landscape, and non-native plant species appear to be responding more strongly than native wildflowers to the changing climate, new research suggests.
Weed scientists in Oregon have found that the timing of herbicide application along with reseeding of native grasses offers the best recipe for restoring native grasslands while controlling invasive weeds. Grasslands are a valuable resource for ecosystems, providing soil conservation, food and fiber production, and wildlife habitat. When threatened by invading exotic species, the quality and quantity of forage for wildlife can be reduced, fire frequencies can be altered, soil moisture and nutrients can be depleted, and the costs of land management can increase.
A new study reveals that a significant amount of carbon released into the atmosphere from lakes and rivers in Southern Québec, Canada, is very old – approximately 1,000 to 3,000 years old – challenging the current models of long-term carbon storage in lakes and rivers.
For some people, scientific facts help determine what they believe about an issue. But for others, political views trump scientific facts and determine what information they will accept as true. It’s a phenomenon that is particularly prevalent on the issue of climate change.
Coral reefs – ecosystems of incredible environmental and economic value – are showing evidence of significant degradation, but do not have to be doomed. We can make a difference.
Transportation practices tend to be more environmentally friendly in wealthier metropolitan areas located within states that mandate comprehensive planning, new research suggests.
University of Washington scientists are teaming with the U.S. Coast Guard to study the new frontier in the Arctic Ocean opened up with the melting ice.
Iowa State University's Alan Wanamaker studies the growth increments in clam shells to learn about past ocean conditions. He says a better understanding of the ocean's past can help researchers understand today's climate trends and changes.
Cheating. Conflict. Competition. It may sound like a soap opera but this is the complex life of the despised ragweed plant. And in the highly competitive fight for nutrients, researchers have found ragweed will behave altruistically with its siblings, investing precious resources for the benefit of the group.
The same “green revolution” concepts that have revolutionized crop agriculture and helped to feed billions of people around the world may now offer similar potential in forestry, scientists say, with benefits for wood, biomass production, drought stress and even greenhouse gas mitigation.
A warming climate and rising seas will enable salt marshes to more rapidly capture and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, possibly playing a role in slowing the rate of climate change, according to a new study published in the Sept. 27 issue of the journal Nature.
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry has a new role as host of the New York Natural Heritage Program, a project worth $6.3 million to support a cadre of biologists who assess the state of biodiversity in New York.
New University of Washington research suggests that early microbes might have been widespread on land, producing oxygen and weathering pyrite, an iron sulfide mineral, which released sulfur and molybdenum into the oceans.
A University of Utah study suggests something amazing: Periodic changes in winds high in the stratosphere influence the seas by striking a vulnerable “Achilles heel” in the North Atlantic and changing mile-deep ocean circulation patterns, which in turn affect Earth’s climate.
For most of the past decade, Dr. Wan Yang has spent his summers in the Bogda Mountains in northwest China, collecting rock samples that predate dinosaurs by millions of years in an effort to better understand the history of the earth’s climate and perhaps gain clues about future climate change.
Global climate change means that recently discovered ancient forests in Canada’s extreme north could one day return, according to Alexandre Guertin-Pasquier of the University of Montreal’s Department of Geography, who is presenting his findings at the Canadian Paleontology Conference in Toronto today
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry is harvesting a unique stand of white pine, part of an effort to restore the economically valuable tree.
A solid majority of Indiana residents think it's a good idea to address concerns about climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants and storing it underground, according to a recent study from Indiana University researchers.
A brief window of opportunity exists to shape the development of cities globally before a boom in infrastructure construction transforms urban land cover, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
University of Washington scientists found that the habitat required for ringed seals -- animals under consideration for the threatened species list -- to rear their young will drastically shrink this century.
A new Arctic study in the journal Science is helping to unravel an important mystery surrounding climate change: How quickly glaciers can melt and grow in response to shifts in temperature.
The shores of Appledore Island, Maine – just six miles from the New Hampshire coast – are being invaded by an aggressive red algae that can foul popular tourist beaches and damage vital local fisheries, according to researchers at the Cornell-UNH Shoals Marine Lab.
Researchers from the University of Rochester and Texas A&M University have found that bacteria consumed and removed 200,000 tons of oil and natural gas following Deepwater Horizon.
University of Adelaide researchers say a small native wasp that scientists had forgotten about for more than 200 years is now making a name for itself – as a predator of Australia's most common dangerous spider, the redback.
A strip of glass covered in hairy nanoparticles can cheaply and conveniently measure mercury, which attacks the nervous system, and other toxic metals in fluids.
A little-studied mass of ice in South America is undergoing some big changes: The Southern Patagonian Ice Field lost ice volume at a 50 percent faster rate between 2000-12 than it did between 1975-2000, according to new analysis of digital elevation models performed by Cornell University researchers.
Jonathon Schuldt, assistant professor of communication at Cornell University, discusses how attitudes toward climate change relate to political party registration and educational attainment. Schuldt is the lead author of a study comparing Americans’ belief in “global warming” versus “climate change.”
Nearly 239 million hectares of land in the United States are devoted to pastures and rangeland. Worldwide, rangelands cover about 3.6 billion hectares. Harnessing the potential for carbon sequestration from these lands could have a global impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
North Carolina State University researchers have shown that certain underground organisms thought to promote chemical interactions that make the soil a carbon sink actually play a more complex, dual role when atmospheric carbon levels rise.
Michigan Technological University leads a team of scientists from four countries in an NSF-funded study of the social and environmental impacts of biofuel production. They hope to help countries develop policies to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative effects.