Showing 20 articles starting at article 481

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Ecology: General, Geoscience: Geology

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Do whales increase the removal of carbon from the atmosphere? Despite some hope that this would be the case, a new study has found the amount of potential carbon capture by whales is too little to meaningfully alter the course of climate change. The team found the amount potentially sequestered by the whales was too minimal to make significant impact on the trajectory of climate change.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers show that an evolutionary change in the length of lizards' legs can have a significant impact on vegetation growth and spider populations on small islands in the Bahamas. This is one of the first times, the researchers say, that such dramatic evolution-to-environment effects have been documented in a natural setting.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A study suggests that the answers to how and why mountains form are buried deeper than once thought. Clues in the landscape of southern Italy allowed researchers to produce a long-term, continuous record of rock uplift, the longest and most complete record of its kind.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The seafloor is home to around one-third of all the microorganisms on the Earth and is inhabited even at a depth of several kilometers. Only when it becomes too hot does the abundance of microorganisms appear to decline. But how, and from what, do microorganisms in the deep seafloor live? How do their metabolic cycles work and how do the individual members of these buried communities interact? Researchers have now been able to demonstrate in laboratory cultures how small, liquid components of crude oil are broken down through a new mechanism by a group of microorganisms called archaea.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Underwater volcanism and its hydrothermal activity play an important role in marine biogeochemical cycles, especially the carbon cycle. But the nature of hydrothermal activity at 'petit-spot' volcanoes have not been revealed at all. Now, scientists reveal that petit-spot hydrothermal activity occurs on the deepest seafloor known to date and could release carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, which may have implications for the global carbon cycle.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A study has found that worldwide protected forests have an additional 9.65 billion metric tons of carbon stored in their above-ground biomass compared to ecologically similar unprotected areas.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Tropical forest birds, which tend to have wings that are short and round relative to their body length and shape, are more sensitive to habitat fragmentation than the long-, slender-winged species common in temperate forests.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The endangered Antillean manatee faces a growing threat from boat strikes in Belize, according to a new study that raises concerns about the survival of what had been considered a relatively healthy population. Belize hosts a population of around 1,000 manatees. With the growth of tourism in recent decades, however, Belize has seen a substantial increase in boat traffic, making boat strikes an increasingly important cause of manatee deaths and injuries.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The ground beneath Antarctica's most vulnerable glacier has now been mapped, helping scientists to better understand how it is being affected by climate change. Analysis of the geology below the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica shows there is less sedimentary rock than expected -- a finding that could affect how the ice slides and melts in the coming decades.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are proposing a novel pathway through which coastal ecosystem restoration can permanently capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Seagrass and mangroves -- known as blue carbon ecosystems -- naturally capture carbon through photosynthesis, which converts carbon dioxide into living tissue.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study of the freshwater greenfin darter fish suggests river erosion can be a driver of biodiversity in tectonically inactive regions.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study suggests iron-rich ancient sediments may have helped cause some of the largest volcanic events in the planet's history.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Species known as marine habitat-forming species -- gorgonians, corals, algae, seaweeds, marine phanerogams, etc.-- are organisms that help generate and structure the underwater landscapes. These are natural refuges for other species, and provide biomass and complexity to the seabeds. But these key species in marine ecosystems are currently threatened by climate change and other perturbations derived from human activity. Now, a study warns that even in the marine protected areas (MPAs) the genetic diversity of structural species is not protected, although it is essential for the response and adaptation of populations to changes that alter the natural environment.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study has used global storm-resolving simulations and machine learning to create an algorithm that can deal separately with two different scales of cloud organization: those resolved by a climate model, and those that cannot be resolved as they are too small. This new approach addresses the missing piece of information in traditional climate model parameterizations and provides a way to predict precipitation intensity and variability more precisely.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study concludes that an extinct volcano off the shore of Portugal could store as much as 1.2-8.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of ~24-125 years of the country's industrial emissions. For context, in 2022 a total of 42.6 megatons (0.0426 gigatons) of carbon dioxide was removed from the atmosphere by international carbon capture and storage efforts, according to the Global CCS Institute. The new study suggests that carbon capture and storage in offshore underwater volcanoes could be a promising new direction for removal and storage of much larger volumes of the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Though prescribed burns reduce wildfire threats and even improve habitat for some animals, new research shows these fires also spread stinknet, an aptly named weed currently invading superblooms across the Southwestern U.S.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers found that the Hunga-Tonga eruption was associated with the formation of an equatorial plasma bubble in the ionosphere, a phenomenon associated with disruption of satellite-based communications. Their findings also suggest that a long-held atmospheric model should be revised.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Biologists reveals how coral cells tag friendly algae before ingesting them, initiating a mutually beneficial relationship. This information could guide next-level coral conservation efforts.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study found that as woody plants like shrubs and trees replace herbaceous plants like grasses, spot fires can occur farther away from the original fire perimeter.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists found weak, biologically-rich layers of sediments hundreds of meters beneath the seafloor which crumbled as oceans warmed and ice sheets declined. The landslides were discovered in the eastern Ross Sea in 2017, by an international team of scientists during the Italian ODYSSEA expedition, and scientists revisited the area in 2018 as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 374 where they collected sediment cores to understand what caused them.