Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Biodiversity crusaders Peter H. Raven and Edward O. Wilson received Linnaean Legacy Awards Nov. 6 for their extraordinary contributions to taxonomy and the exploration and classification of species. They used the occasion to call on individuals and taxonomists alike to do their part to sustain the biodiversity of Earth, which includes identifying millions of species before they become extinct.

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The Fall 2010 issue of the quarterly print and online publication - Imaging Notes magazine -- reviews the satellite monitoring of vanishing glaciers to the accounting of forestry, hydropower and mining assets as steps to boost sustainable development here on Earth.

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Interactive web-based map highlights dozens of university sustainability measures.

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How warm has 2010 been? So warm that although October was the coolest month so far this year year (compared to seasonal norms), it tied October 2006 as the second warmest October in the 32-year satellite climate record.

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Report estimates the level of oil production subsidies in Canada under a WTO definition that allows comparison with other countries. It also forecasts the fiscal, economic and environmental trade-offs of those subsidies.

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The Missouri River needs a flow of sediment, not just water, to stay healthy, and regulatory agencies and scientists need to do a better job of gathering and understanding information about that process.

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Nature’s capacity to store carbon, the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the world’s farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests. A group of universities is releasing a study on the topic.

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Arthur Wheaton, senior extension associate at Cornell University’s ILR School, comments on the recent J.D. Power & Associates report concluding that battery-powered cars are “overhyped.”

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Noble metals such as platinum and palladium are becoming increasingly important because of growth in environmentally friendly applications such as fuel cells. A new solvent system could improve the recycling of these metals.

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MTSU agriscience professor will drive 500 miles across Tennessee on from Bristol, Va., to West Memphis, Ark., in a Toyota fueled by sun and water. His goal for 2011 is to go coast to coast using just 10 gallons of gas.

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Algae could make the perfect renewable fuel.

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John D. Graham, dean of the Indiana U. School of Public and Environmental Affairs and an expert on federal fuel policy, discusses proposed fuel efficiency standards for medium- to heavy-duty trucks and buses.

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Even "green" fragranced products give off many chemicals that are not listed on the label, including some that are classified as toxic. A study of 25 of the most popular scented products showed they emit 133 different chemicals, of which only two are listed anywhere.

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Scientists studying disease and climate change as part of a special multidisciplinary team at Cornell University are heading to the mountains of Puerto Rico – hoping to learn what a struggling frog species can tell us about the danger changing weather patterns present to ecosystems around the globe.

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As the ice-capped Arctic Ocean warms, ship traffic will increase at the top of the world. And if the sea ice continues to decline, a new route connecting international trading partners may emerge -- but not without significant repercussions to climate, according to a U.S. and Canadian research team that includes a University of Delaware scientist.

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Breeding populations of piping plovers , shorebirds that have been listed as threatened since 1986, exist in three distinct locations — the Atlantic Coast, the American and Canadian Great Plains, and the Great Lakes — but birds from all three populations use the Gulf shore as overwintering habitat.

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Researchers at the University of Florida have published a report regarding the trends in water quality feeding into Everglades National Park. The report can be found in the September-October 2010 Journal of Environmental Quality.

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While swimmers and boaters along any shore consider the slimy green film that coats everything from rocks to docks as a nuisance, University of New Haven (UNH) chemical engineering student Nicole Reardon and Assistant Professor Shannon Ciston, Ph.D. think otherwise. They view the slime, or biofilm, as a complex community that may hold the key to informing humanity of the true environmental impact of the chemical nanoparticles that find their way from area kitchens, baths and garages into Long Island Sound.

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Researchers in Washington State have developed a way to study the effects of supercritical carbon dioxide on minerals commonly found in potential underground storage sites, helping to evaluate one strategy for minimizing the impacts of greenhouse gases on global warming.

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In remote, rural areas of southwestern China, villagers cook and dry their clothes by burning pieces of coal they pick up off the ground. This fuel releases a toxin that may be poisoning millions of people, according to an ongoing investigation by researchers in New York and China.