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Categories: Environmental: Ecosystems, Environmental: Wildfires
Published Wax-coated sand keeps soil wet longer, improves crop yields in arid regions
(via sciencedaily.com) Dry, hot regions are difficult places to grow plants because the soil dries out quickly. As a result, farmers in arid and semi-arid regions irrigate their fields with buried networks of irrigation tubing and cover the ground with plastic sheets. But plastic sheets are expensive and create waste. Now, researchers have developed a simple, biodegradable ground cover -- wax-coated sand -- which keeps soil wet and increases crop yields.
Published How to clean solar panels without water
(via sciencedaily.com) Dust that accumulates on solar panels is a major problem, but washing the panels uses huge amounts of water. Engineers have now developed a waterless cleaning method to remove dust on solar installations in water-limited regions, improving overall efficiency.
Published Stalagmites trace climate history and impact from volcanic eruptions
(via sciencedaily.com) The soils and vegetation of Patagonia's fjord regions form a unique and highly sensitive ecosystem that is closely linked to marine ecosystems, sediment deposition and carbon storage in the ocean. A research team has been working on reconstructing the climate history of this region in this extremely wet, rainy and inaccessible fjord and island zone of the Patagonian Andes in southern Chile. Due to its location, the area is a key region for understanding the history of the southern westerly wind belt within the global climate system.
Published Large mammals can help climate change mitigation and adaptation
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study investigates whether protecting and restoring large animal wildlife can help to support climate change goals.
Published Following rain, desert microbes exhale potent greenhouse gas
(via sciencedaily.com) New research shows how, after it rains, microbes in desert soil convert one form of pollution into another -- laughing gas.
Published These solar panels pull in water vapor to grow crops in the desert
(via sciencedaily.com) Using a unique hydrogel, scientists have created a solar-driven system that successfully grows spinach by using water drawn from the air while producing electricity. The proof-of-concept design offers a sustainable, low-cost strategy to improve food and water security for people living in dry-climate regions.
Published Being near pollinator habitat linked to larger soybean size
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have found that soybean crops planted near pollinator habitat produce larger soybeans than soybean crops that are not planted near pollinator habitat.
Published Risk of soil degradation and desertification in Europe’s Mediterranean may be more serious than realized
(via sciencedaily.com) Due to human-caused pressures and global warming, some soils in Europe's Mediterranean region are reaching what the researchers refer to as 'critical limits for their ability to provide ecosystem services,' which include farming and absorbing carbon, among others. Perhaps even more troubling, the problem could be even more extensive than we realize, says an author of a new study.
Published What lies beneath: Roots as drivers of South African landscape pattern
(via sciencedaily.com) Research findings suggest that alternative stable states can be maintained through biotic mechanisms, such as root traits, in addition to the commonly understood abiotic factors like climate. This insight is critical to conserving threatened ecosystems around the world.
Published Ancient Mesopotamian discovery transforms knowledge of early farming
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have unearthed the earliest definitive evidence of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in ancient Iraq, challenging our understanding of humanity's earliest agricultural practices.
Published Watering holes bring together wildlife, and their parasites
(via sciencedaily.com) The sun rises on the savannas of central Kenya. Grasses sway in the wind as hoof-steps fall on the dusty ground. A menagerie of Africa's iconic wildlife congregates around a watering hole to quench their thirst during the region's dry season.
Published Hidden order in windswept sand
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have analyzed an extensive collection of sand samples from so-called megaripple fields around the world and gained new insights into the composition of these sand waves. These could help settle debates about the mechanistic origin of some recently discovered enigmatic extraterrestrial sand structures and improve our ability to infer information about past weather and climate events from sediment records.
Published Iodine in desert dust destroys ozone
(via sciencedaily.com) When winds loft fine desert dust high into the atmosphere, iodine in that dust can trigger chemical reactions that destroy some air pollution, but also let greenhouse gases stick around longer. The finding may force researchers to re-evaluate how particles from land can impact the chemistry of the atmosphere.
Published Desert shrubs cranked up water use efficiency to survive a megadrought
(via sciencedaily.com) Shrubs in the desert Southwest have increased their water use efficiency at some of the highest rates ever observed to cope with a decades-long megadrought. Researchers found that although the shrubs' efficiency increases are unprecedented and heroic, they may not be enough to adapt to the long-term drying trend in the West.
Published Collapse of ancient Liangzhu culture caused by climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Referred to as 'China's Venice of the Stone Age', the Liangzhu excavation site in eastern China is considered one of the most significant testimonies of early Chinese advanced civilization. More than 5000 years ago, the city already had an elaborate water management system. Until now, it has been controversial what led to the sudden collapse. Massive flooding triggered by anomalously intense monsoon rains caused the collapse, as geologists and climate researchers have now shown.
Published Stalagmites as key witnesses of the monsoon
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have now reconstructed how the Indian summer monsoon responded to meltwater pulses into the North Atlantic at the end of the penultimate cold period.
Published Woodland and hedgerow creation can play crucial role in action to reverse declines in pollinators
(via sciencedaily.com) The largest survey of pollinator abundance in Wales has found that woodland and hedgerow creation can play a crucial role in action to reverse declines in insects that are essential for crop yield and other wildlife.
Published Climate changed abruptly at tipping points in past
(via sciencedaily.com) Climate scientists identify abrupt transitions in climate records that may have been caused by the climate system crossing a tipping point. They devised a statistical method to determine whether these transitions are simply noise or evidence of a more significant change. Their method is less error-prone than previous methods, since it doesn't rely on human determination. It also allows comparing different records consistently and can identify important events that may have been overlooked in older studies.
Published Making aircraft fuel from sunlight and air
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists have built a plant that can produce carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight and air. The next goal will be to take this technology to industrial scale and achieve competitiveness. Researchers now describe how this novel solar reactor functions and outline a policy framework that would provide incentives to expand the production of 'solar kerosene'.
Published Vast patches of glassy rock in Chilean desert likely created by ancient exploding comet
(via sciencedaily.com) Heat from a comet exploding just above the ground fused the sandy soil into patches of glass stretching 75 kilometers, a new study found.