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Categories: Environmental: Ecosystems, Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published Learning about the first animals on Earth from life at the poles
(via sciencedaily.com) The amazing survival strategies of polar marine creatures might help to explain how the first animals on Earth could have evolved earlier than the oldest fossils suggest according to new research. These first, simple and now extinct, animals might have lived through some of the most extreme, cold and icy periods the world has ever seen.
Published Health of coral reefs written in the sand -- and visible via satellite
(via sciencedaily.com) How healthy are coral reefs? And how are they responding to climate change? After more than 10 years of monitoring the Great Barrier Reef, geoscientists have developed a technique that allows them to answer these questions using satellites. And it all relies on sand aprons.
Published Could South American volcanoes have triggered whale extinctions?
(via sciencedaily.com) Today, increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are warming up the planet. Climate change can disrupt the balance of ecosystems and contribute to endangerment and extinction of some species. New research suggests that a period of intense volcanism in the Central Andes may be the missing link in the story of past climate changes that led to the extinctions of ancient marine mammals.
Published Half of the world's coral reefs may face unsuitable conditions by 2035
(via sciencedaily.com) There's more bad news for planet earth if climate change continues unabated. New research reveals that, under a worst-case scenario, half of coral reef ecosystems worldwide will permanently face unsuitable conditions in just a dozen years.
Published Reign of Papua New Guinea Highland's megafauna lasted long after humans arrived
(via sciencedaily.com) A giant kangaroo that once roamed on four legs through remote forests in the Papua New Guinea Highlands may have survived as recently as 20,000 years ago -- long after large-bodied megafauna on mainland Australia went extinct, new research indicates. Palaeontologists, archaeologists and geoscientists, have used new techniques to re-examine megafauna bones from the rich Nombe Rock Shelter fossil site in Chimbu Province in a bid to better understand the intriguing natural history of PNG.
Published Lagoons from the Arctic's 'forgotten coast' teem with fish and birds, vulnerable to climate change and human development
(via sciencedaily.com) A new scientific review article captures the unique and dynamic characteristics of coastal lagoon ecosystems in the Arctic Beringia Region, and discusses how climate change effects and human development could alter these habitats.
Published Climate risks for Gulf of Mexico coral reefs spelled out in study
(via sciencedaily.com) Ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea are on pace to surpass critical thresholds for coral health by mid-century, but rapid action to significantly reduce emissions could slow warming, giving corals and coral conservation programs as much as 20 more years to adapt, according to new research.
Published Glass microspheres won't save Arctic sea ice
(via sciencedaily.com) A proposal to cover Arctic sea ice with layers of tiny hollow glass spheres about the thickness of one human hair would actually accelerate sea-ice loss and warm the climate rather than creating thick ice and lowering the temperature as proponents claim. Sea ice, by reflecting the majority of the sun's energy back to space, helps regulate ocean and air temperatures and influences ocean circulation. Its area and thickness is of critical importance to Earth's climate.
Published Coral select algae partnerships to ease environmental stress
(via sciencedaily.com) Corals live symbiotically with a variety of microscopic algae that provide most of the energy corals require, and some algae can make coral more resilient to heat stress. In assessing one of the main reef builders in Hawai'i, Montipora capitata or rice coral, researchers found that the symbiont community in those corals varied significantly in different parts of Kaneohe Bay.
Published Biologists identify broad coral disease resistance traits
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study provides a novel framework for identifying broad coral disease resistance traits and examines the fundamental processes behind species survival.
Published Not enough: Protecting algae-eating fish insufficient to save imperiled coral reefs
(via sciencedaily.com) How can we boost the resilience of the world's coral reefs, which are imperiled by multiple stresses including mass bleaching events linked to climate warming?
Published Rainy days on track to double in the Arctic by 2100
(via sciencedaily.com) Today, more snow than rain falls in the Arctic, but this is expected to reverse by the end of the century. A new study shows the frequency of rainy days in the Arctic could roughly double by 2100.
Published Don't crack: Deteriorating safety on frozen lakes in a warming world
(via sciencedaily.com) An international team of climate and lake scientists has demonstrated that crossing frozen lakes with heavy trucks may soon be a thing of the past.
Published Changes in marine ecosystems going undetected
(via sciencedaily.com) Existing ways of calculating biodiversity dynamics are not very effective in detecting wholesale species community change due to the effects of ocean acidification.
Published Scientists find link between fast-melting Arctic ice and ocean acidification
(via sciencedaily.com) An international team of researchers has found acidity levels increasing three to four times faster than ocean waters elsewhere and a strong correlation between the accelerated rate of melting ice in the region and the rate of ocean acidification. This threatens the Earth's climate and the survival of plants, shellfish, coral reefs and other marine life.
Published Study links cold water shock to catastrophic coral collapse in the Eastern Pacific
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists have discovered that an extreme weather event that resulted in rapid sea temperature drops of up to 10 degrees was the primary cause of a catastrophic coral die-off event off the coast of Costa Rica.
Published Population boom near globe's vulnerable coral reefs
(via sciencedaily.com) Millions more people across the globe are relying on our endangered coral reefs than 20 years ago, according to new figures into population growth in coastal areas.
Published Revealing the genome of the common ancestor of all mammals
(via sciencedaily.com) An international team has reconstructed the genome organization of the earliest common ancestor of all mammals. The reconstructed ancestral genome could help in understanding the evolution of mammals and in conservation of modern animals. The earliest mammal ancestor likely looked like the fossil animal 'Morganucodon' which lived about 200 million years ago.
Published Cattle grazing with virtual fencing shows potential to create wildfire fuel breaks, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) The use of virtual fencing to manage cattle grazing on sagebrush rangelands has the potential to create fuel breaks needed to help fight wildfires, a recent study found.
Published Warming oceans are changing Australian reef fish populations
(via sciencedaily.com) Shallow reefs and the creatures that inhabit them are changing due to rising ocean temperatures, but these impacts have been obscured by a lack of comprehensive local data. A team of researchers has been tracking changes in the country's reefs for over a decade, and they now describe how they used fine-scale data to illustrate how warming waters impact tropical and temperate reef fish communities differently.