Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Led by SUNY-ESF researchers, efforts to restore the majestic American chestnut will focus next week on the spot where its decline was discovered.

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University of New Hampshire researchers have found that residents of Louisiana and Florida most acutely and directly affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster -- the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history -- said they have changed their views on other environmental issues as a result of the spill.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society launched a global effort today to take direct responsibility for the continued survival of some of the world’s most endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles.

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There have been many scientific studies looking at the levels of toxic mercury (Hg) in fish. After all, fish can end up directly on our plate. However, far fewer studies have examined Hg levels in aquatic insects. This is a significant oversight because aquatic insects are an important source of Hg to fish and even terrestrial wildlife.

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While many enjoyed a mild winter and an early spring with record-breaking temperatures, the warm weather also prompted many bugs to show up earlier than usual. The question is, will bug populations be larger this summer?

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Research to green alternative energy technologies has led to a dye-sensitized solar cell that uses a bacteria and dye to generate energy. It is also friendlier to the environment and living organisms.

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Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long, according to new research conducted at Northern Arizona University. The study, published this week in Nature Climate Change, shows that plants may thrive in the early stages of a warming environment but begin to deteriorate quickly

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In a new study reported in Nature, climate scientist Rob DeConto and colleagues propose a new mechanism, changes in the Earth’s tilt and orbit, to explain the source of carbon that fed extreme warming events about 55 million years ago and a sequence of similar, smaller warming events afterward.

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The U.S. National Research Council has released a synthesis of reports from thousands of scientists in 60 countries who took part in the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08, the first in over 50 years to offer a benchmark for environmental conditions and new discoveries in the polar regions.

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Compared to seasonal norms, March 2012 was the warmest month on record in the 48 contiguous U.S. states. Temperatures over the U.S. averaged 2.82 C (almost 5.1 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal in March.

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Conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Native groups, scientists, and agency staff from both the Russian Federation and United States met to address the need for effective responses to climate-driven increases in the numbers of Pacific walrus using land-based “haul-outs” during summer and fall months.

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New research from the University of Adelaide could help protect one of the world’s most globally threatened tree species - the big leaf mahogany - from extinction.

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Green plants produce oxygen from water using a catalytic technique powered by sunlight. Scientists have now shown the importance of a hydrogen-bonding water network to that process -- which is the major source of the Earth's oxygen.

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The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has joined other organizations to oppose S.J. Res. 37, a resolution by Sen. Inhofe (R-OK) that employs the Congressional Review Act to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants.

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An ambitious goal to describe 10 million species in less than 50 years is achievable and necessary to sustain Earth’s biodiversity, according to an international group of 39 scientists, scholars and engineers who provided a detailed plan, including measures to build public support, in the March 30 issue of the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.

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Fishing for herring, anchovy, and other “forage fish” in general should be cut in half globally to account for their critical role as food for larger species, recommends an expert group of marine scientists in a report released today.

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Recent research indicates advancing sustainability in the area of curriculum is falling behind other efforts to incorporate sustainability in the higher ed setting, such as in facilities planning. This two-part series will look at a few of WIU's curriculum-oriented and academic programs designed to help incorporate sustainability in formal instruction. Part 1 is available at http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/586292/

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Evidence from fossilized raindrop impressions from 2.7 billion years ago indicates that an abundance of greenhouse gases most likely caused the warm temperatures on ancient Earth.

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Delicate wetland ecosystems that offer important wildlife habitats are threatened from multiple sources. One is the rapid expansion of nonnative, invasive plants that choke out natural species and alter the wetlands. Perennial pepperweed poses such a threat to seasonal wetlands in California and other western states.

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Specialists agree that environmental intelligence must be a national priority, as it is essential to protecting our citizens, economy, and national security. Lack of information – particularly from Earth-orbiting sensors and systems -- could have devastating consequences, chiefly in the area of risk management.

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Wildlife does not respect property boundaries. Therefore, protecting endangered species cannot be accomplished on government-owned lands alone. The cooperation and assistance of private landowners is essential. However, some landowners see government biodiversity programs, such as the Endangered Species Act, as a threat to independent management of their property.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society and partners signed an agreement this month that will safeguard some 80,000 acres of intact forest in Guatemala in the heart of the sprawling Maya Biosphere Reserve.

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The Great Rift Valley of East Africa—the birthplace of the human species—may have taken much longer to develop than previously believed, according to a new study published this week in Nature Geoscience that was led by scientists from James Cook University and Ohio University.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, today documented significant progress toward conserving energy and water, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation at its internationally known annual meetings during 2011.

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A new method to make better use of vast amounts of data related to global geography, population and climate may help determine the relative importance of population increases vs. climate change.

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A PNNL biosensor made of fluorescent proteins embedded in the shell of microscopic marine algae called diatoms could help detect chemicals in water samples. The same research could also lead to new, diatom-inspired nanomaterials.

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UC Merced Professor Lara Kueppers is attempting to learn how tree species acclimated to cold weather will respond to the higher temperatures predicted by climate change experts

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Professor Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science is a co-editor of “Valuing the Ocean” a major new study by an international team of scientists and economists that attempts to measure the ocean’s monetary value and to tally the costs and savings associated with human decisions affecting ocean health.

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The water flowing through Venice’s famous canals laps at buildings a little higher every year – and not only because of a rising sea level. Although previous studies had found that Venice has stabilized, new measurements indicate that the historic city continues to slowly sink, and even to tilt slightly to the east.

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Three penguin species that share the Western Antarctic Peninsula for breeding grounds have been affected in different ways by the higher temperatures brought on by global warming, according to Stony Brook University Ecology and Evolution Assistant Professor Heather Lynch and colleagues.

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The future of the oceans, poverty alleviation, global trade, biodiversity and food security are among research areas that will be at the core of the “Planet under Pressure” (PUP) conference this month with more than 2,500 participants, including several scientists from Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability.

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A vulnerable ethic minority village in Cambodia received a collective land title today, which will help villagers fend off threats to their land and culture while also strengthening conservation goals.

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Reintroduction of the American Chestnut tree after billions died due to blight could be accomplished more effectively thanks to a software tool developed and recently tested by the University of Cincinnati.

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Some 32 social scientists and researchers from around the world, including a Senior Sustainability Scholar at Arizona State University, have concluded that fundamental reforms of global environmental governance are needed to avoid dangerous changes in the Earth system. The scientists argued in the March 16 edition of the journal Science that the time is now for a “constitutional moment” in world politics.

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Cleaner! Faster! Cheaper! is a rallying cry for chemists working to limit the impact of their work on the environment. Here are a few examples of how chemists funded by NIH are going green by improving the chemical processes used to make medicines, plastics and other products.

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Commencement at Michigan Technological University is going green. Michigan Tech will use caps and gowns made from recycled plastic water bottles at its April 28, 2012, commencement ceremony. Twenty-seven bottles make one gown.

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A rapid increase in shipping in the formerly ice-choked waterways of the Arctic poses a significant increase in risk to the region’s marine mammals and the local communities that rely on them for food security and cultural identity, according to an Alaska Native groups and the Wildlife Conservation Society who convened at a recent workshop.

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Wild orangutans that have come into contact with eco-tourists over a period of years show an immediate stress response but no signs of chronic stress, unlike other species in which permanent alterations in stress responses have been documented, new research from an Indiana University anthropologist has found.

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People in the US may be at higher risk for Chagas disease than previously understood. A new study finds that 38% of kissing bugs collected in Arizona and California contained human blood and that more than 50% of the bugs also carried the parasite that causes this life-threatening disease. This upends the view that US kissing bug species don’t regularly feed on people and suggests that Chagas could spread, driven north by climate change.

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New research has found that one type of pavement sealcoat, common on driveways and parking lots throughout the nation, has significant health and ecosystem implications.

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Researchers from the University of New Hampshire have found that many African farmers inaccurately perceive changes in climate and rainfall when compared with scientific data, highlighting the need for better climate information to assist them to improve farming practices.

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A team of researchers has just published a new paper, lead authored by Boston University Professor of Earth Sciences Richard W. Murray, that provides compelling evidence from marine sediment that supports the theory that iron in the Earth’s oceans has a direct impact on biological productivity, potentially affecting the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and, in turn, atmospheric temperature. These findings have been published in the March 11, 2012 online edition of the journal Nature Geoscience.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) joined officials from the Republic of South Sudan and U.S. Government on March 8th to inaugurate Boma National Park Headquarters in Jonglei State in South Sudan, home to some of the world’s most spectacular wildlife migrations and vast intact ecosystems.

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McGill engineering professor has been working for years on ways to better understand patterns in the seemingly chaotic motion of oceans and air. Working with geophysicist Josefina Olascoaga in Miami he has developed methods of predicting the movement of oil and ash following environmental disasters.

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During some winters a significant amount of snow falls on parts of California. During other winters — like this one (so far) — there is much less snow. But more than 130 years of snow data show that over time snowfall in California is neither increasing nor decreasing.

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A large band of cooler than normal air girdled the globe from South America across the Pacific and from South America northeast across North Africa, Europe and central Asia during February.

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Greenroads, a rating system developed at the University of Washington, has awarded the first official certification for a sustainably built road. It presented the award to a Washington project that incorporated porcelain from discarded toilets in its sidewalks.

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Among the many intriguing aspects of the deep sea, Earth’s largest ecosystem, exist environments known as hydrothermal vent systems where hot water surges out from the seafloor. On the flipside the deep sea also features cold areas where methane rises from “seeps” on the ocean bottom.

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Fifteen years of studying two experimental wetlands has convinced Bill Mitsch that turning the reins over to Mother Nature makes the most sense when it comes to this area of ecological restoration.

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Determining with precision the carbon balance of North America is complicated, but researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have devised a method that considerably advances the science.