Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Traditional methods cannot give us the insights we need to understand changing ecosystems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

If we want to face up to the challenges posed by climate change and other global environmental changes, we need to bring complexity science into the mix with ecology and biodiversity conservation.

Biology: Biochemistry Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Rain gardens could save salmon from toxic tire chemicals      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Specially designed gardens could reduce the amount of a toxic chemical associated with tires entering our waterways by more than 90 per cent, new research shows.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

'Shoebox' satellites help scientists understand trees and global warming      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

As scientists try to understand the effect of climate on trees, advances in imaging technology are helping them see both the whole forest and every individual tree. High-resolution images taken by cubesats, small, shoebox-sized devices launched into low Earth orbit, are helping environmental scientists make more precise measurements about trees' response to a warming climate.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Caribbean seagrasses provide services worth $255B annually, including vast carbon storage, study shows      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Caribbean seagrasses provide about $255 billion in services to society annually, including $88.3 billion in carbon storage, according to a new study. The study has put a dollar value on the many services -- from storm protection to fish habitat to carbon storage -- provided by seagrasses across the Caribbean, which holds up to half the world's seagrass meadows by surface area and contains about one-third of the carbon stored in seagrasses worldwide.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

New research reveals the impact of different species and their traits on human wellbeing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has revealed that well-functioning ecosystems are crucial to human health and wellbeing, with human-biodiversity interactions delivering wellbeing gains equating to substantial healthcare cost-savings, when scaled-up across populations.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Supersized fruit eater database on climate change frontline      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To conserve precious and fragile biodiversity hotspots, a crucial step is knowing how the fruit eaters are doing. To assist in that, scientists and students have supersized a database to keep track of such animals and birds.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers
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Open-source software to speed up quantum research      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Quantum technology is expected to fundamentally change many key areas of society. Researchers are convinced that there are many more useful quantum properties and applications to explore than those we know today. A team of researchers has now developed open-source, freely available software that will pave the way for new discoveries in the field and accelerate quantum research significantly.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

How fungus farming ants keep their gardens healthy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

'Weed early and often' is the key to a productive garden. Interestingly, certain species of ants are also avid gardeners, a practice they've refined over 50 million years. They too weed their underground fungus gardens, but how they know what to weed out has been a mystery. Now, a multidisciplinary team of scientists report how ants distinguish the good fungus from the bad.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Nature Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

How will a warming world impact the Earth's ability to offset our carbon emissions?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New work deploys a bold new approach for inferring the temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration -- which represents one side of the equation balancing carbon dioxide uptake and carbon dioxide output in terrestrial environments. This will improve scientists' models for climate change scenarios.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

This salty gel could harvest water from desert air      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers synthesized a superabsorbent material that can soak up a record amount of moisture from the air, even in desert-like conditions.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

The life below our feet: Team discovers microbes thriving in groundwater and producing oxygen in the dark      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A survey of groundwater samples drawn from aquifers beneath more than 80,000 square miles of Canadian prairie reveals ancient groundwaters harbor not only diverse and active microbial communities, but also unexpectedly large numbers of microbial cells. Strikingly, some of these microbes seem to produce 'dark oxygen' (in the absence of sunlight) in such abundance that the oxygen may nourish not only those microbes, but may leak into the environment and support other oxygen-reliant microbes that can't produce it themselves.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

New technique in error-prone quantum computing makes classical computers sweat      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Today's quantum computers often calculate the wrong answer because of noisy environments that interfere with the quantum entanglement of qubits. IBM Quantum has pioneered a technique that accounts for the noise to achieve reliable results. They tested this error mitigation strategy against supercomputer simulations run by physicists, and for the hardest calculations, the quantum computer bested the supercomputer. This is evidence for the utility of today's noisy quantum computers for performing real-world calculations.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Preserving forests to protect deep soil from warming      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An innovative, decade-long experiment in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada mountains shows carbon stocks buried deep underground are vulnerable to climate change. The findings have implications for mitigating global warming through the natural carbon sinks provided by soil and forests which capture 25% of all carbon emissions.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Hotter sand from microplastics could affect sea turtle development      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has found that extreme concentrations of microplastics could increase the temperature of beach sand enough to threaten the development of incubating sea turtles.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Plant remediation effects on petroleum contamination      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Initial choices about fertilization and grass seeding could have a long-lasting effect on how plants and their associated microbes break down pollution in petroleum-contaminated soils.