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Categories: Environmental: Ecosystems, Environmental: Water

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Biology: Marine Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Sea otters helped prevent widespread California kelp forest declines over the past century      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The study reveals dramatic regional kelp canopy changes along the California coast over a 100-year period. During this time there was a significant increase in kelp forest canopy along the central coast, the only region of California where southern sea otters survived after being hunted nearly to extinction for their fur in the 1800s. Contrastingly, kelp canopy decreased in northern and southern regions. At the century scale, the species' favorable impact on kelp forests along the central coast nearly compensated for the kelp losses along both northern and southern California resulting in only a slight overall decline statewide during this period.

Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Researchers pump brakes on 'blue acceleration' harming the world ocean      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Protecting the world ocean against accelerating damage from human activities could be cheaper and take up less space than previously thought, new research has found.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: General Ecology: Research Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Translating nuclear waste site data into microbial ecosystem insights      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A flagship seven-year study that explores how environmental stresses influence different ecological processes shaping the composition and structure of microbial communities in groundwater has now been published.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Efficiently moving urea out of polluted water is coming to reality      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a material to remove urea from water and potentially convert it into hydrogen gas. By building these materials of nickel and cobalt atoms with carefully tailored electronic structures, the group has unlocked the potential to enable these transition metal oxides and hydroxides to selectively oxidize urea in an electrochemical reaction. The team's findings could help use urea in waste streams to efficiently produce hydrogen fuel through the electrolysis process, and could be used to sequester urea from water, maintaining the long-term sustainability of ecological systems, and revolutionizing the water-energy nexus.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate
Published

The heat is on: Scientists discover southern Africa's temps will rise past the rhinos' tolerance      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Southern Africa contains the vast majority of the world's remaining populations of both black and white rhinoceroses (80% and 92%, respectively). The region's climate is changing rapidly as a result global warming. Traditional conservation efforts aimed at protecting rhinos have focused on poaching, but until now, there has been no analysis of the impact that climate change may have on the animals. A research team has recently reported that, though the area will be affected by both higher temperatures and changing precipitation, the rhinos are more sensitive to rising temperatures, which will quickly increase above the animals' acceptable maximum threshold.

Biology: Zoology Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Rain can spoil a wolf spider's day, too      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers found that wolf spiders can't signal others or perceive danger from predators as easily on rain-soaked leaves compared to dry ones. Even communicating with would-be mates is harder after it rains.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Climate change isn't producing expected increase in atmospheric moisture over dry regions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The warming climate has not lead to an expected increase in atmospheric moisture over arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The finding, which has surprised scientists, indicates that some regions may be even more vulnerable to future wildfires and extreme heat than projected.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Mathematics: Modeling
Published

New AI makes better permafrost maps      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New insights from artificial intelligence about permafrost coverage in the Arctic may soon give policy makers and land managers the high-resolution view they need to predict climate-change-driven threats to infrastructure such as oil pipelines, roads and national security facilities.

Archaeology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate
Published

Stalagmites as climate archive      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When combined with data from tree-ring records, stalagmites can open up a unique archive to study natural climate fluctuations, a research team has demonstrated. The researchers analyzed the isotopic composition of oxygen in a stalagmite formed from calcareous water in a cave in southern Germany. In conjunction with the data acquired from tree rings, they were able to reconstruct short-term climate fluctuations over centuries and correlate them with historically documented environmental events.

Biology: Biochemistry Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

A new, rigorous assessment of OpenET accuracy for supporting satellite-based water management      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Sustainable water management is an increasing concern in arid regions around the world, and scientists and regulators are turning to remote sensing tools like OpenET to help track and manage water resources. OpenET uses publicly available data produced by NASA and USGS Landsat and other satellite systems to calculate evapotranspiration (ET), or the amount of water lost to the atmosphere through soil evaporation and plant transpiration, at the level of individual fields. This tool has the potential to revolutionize water management, allowing for field-scale operational monitoring of water use, and a new study provides a thorough analysis of the accuracy of OpenET data for various crops and natural land cover types.

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

Climate change threatens global forest carbon sequestration, study finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Climate change is causing Western U.S. forests to be less effective carbon sinks, even as it boosts the productivity of forests in the Eastern U.S., according to new research.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Chasing the light: Study finds new clues about warming in the Arctic      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Arctic, Earth's icy crown, is experiencing a climate crisis like no other. It's heating up at a furious pace -- four times faster than the rest of our planet. Researchers are pulling back the curtain on the reduction of sunlight reflectivity, or albedo, which is supercharging the Arctic's warming.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Study quantifies how aquifer depletion threatens crop yields      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Three decades of data have informed a new Nebraska-led study that shows how the depletion of groundwater -- the same that many farmers rely on for irrigation -- can threaten food production amid drought and drier climes. The study found that, due in part to the challenges of extracting groundwater, an aquifer's depletion can curb crop yields even when it appears saturated enough to continue meeting the demands of irrigation.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

More aerosol particles than thought are forming over Siberia, study finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study finds that, contrary to previous beliefs, large amounts of aerosol particles can form over vast areas of the West Siberian taiga in the spring. When temperatures rise, this can have a significant impact on the climate.

Biology: Zoology Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Are bugs bugging humans or the other way around? Study reveals a few surprises      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research has determined key factors that impact biodiversity among spiders and insects in urban areas. The response of specific groups varied significantly, surprising the researchers. The study findings can help urban planners, landscapers, builders and homeowners make choices that increase biodiversity. Dozens of species previously unknown to science came to light through the study.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Physics: Optics
Published

Capturing greenhouse gases with the help of light      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers use light-reactive molecules to influence the acidity of a liquid and thereby capture of carbon dioxide. They have developed a special mixture of different solvents to ensure that the light-reactive molecules remain stable over a long period of time. Conventional carbon capture technologies are driven by temperature or pressure differences and require a lot of energy. This is no longer necessary with the new light-based process.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Human activity facilitates invasive plants' colonization in Mediterranean ecosystems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Some invasive plants can form persistent banks of seeds that remain under the soil for years, and this makes their eradication practically impossible. Over time, this invisible population of large quantities of living, buried plants -- in seed form -- will reoccupy ecosystems and displace the typical flora of the natural environment.