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

Cloud clustering causes more extreme rain      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Understanding cloud patterns in our changing climate is essential to making accurate predictions about their impact on society and nature. Scientists published a new study that uses a high-resolution global climate model to understand how the clustering of clouds and storms impacts rainfall extremes in the tropics. They show that with rising temperatures, the severity of extreme precipitation events increases.

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

Air pollution hides increases in rainfall      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a new study, researchers broke down how human-induced greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions influence rainfall in the United States. Greenhouse gas emissions increase rainfall, while aerosols have a long-term drying effect as well as short-term impacts that vary with the seasons. As aerosols decrease, their long-term drying effect will likely diminish, causing rainfall averages and extremes to rapidly increase.

Ecology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Landslides Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Stronger storms free more nutrients from mud flats      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

If storms become stronger in the future due to climate change, more nitrogen may be released from the bottom of coastal seas.

Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity
Published

Increasingly similar or different? Centuries-long analysis suggests biodiversity is differentiating and homogenizing to a comparable extent      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The tendency of communities and the species within them to become more similar or more distinct across landscapes -- biotic homogenization and differentiation -- are approximately balanced, according to a new study. This analysis is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive assessment of how local and regional biodiversity changes combine across landscapes over centuries.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General
Published

New evidence shows UK solar parks can provide for bees and butterflies      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study shows that UK solar parks, if managed correctly, can provide vital resources to help stem the decline in the nation's bees and butterflies. The new research provides peer-reviewed field data of insect pollinators at solar parks in the UK, covering 15 sites.

Ecology: General Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Converting rainforest to plantation impacts food webs and biodiversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Every day, new areas of rainforests are converted into plantations, drastically changing tropical biodiversity and the way the ecosystem functions. Yet, the current understanding of the consequences is fragmentary: previous studies tended to examine either biodiversity or the ecosystem. An international research team brings these threads together in this study. They analyzed organisms ranging from microscopic mites and earthworms in the soil, to beetles and birds in tree canopies, comparing tropical rainforest with rubber and oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography
Published

Nature's checkup: Surveying biodiversity with environmental DNA sequencing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A thousand kilometers south of Tokyo, far into the largest ocean on Earth, lies a chain of small, volcanic islands -- the Ogasawara Islands. Nature has been able to develop on its own terms here, far from both humans and the warm Kuroshio current, which acts like a shuttle, moving marine species from Taiwan, over the Ryukyu Islands, and up the Pacific coast of mainland Japan. With upwards of 70 % of trees and many animal species being endemic to the archipelago, the islands have been dubbed 'the Galapagos of the East', as they are valuable as both a biodiversity hotspot and a cradle of scientific discovery.

Environmental: General Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Wildfires linked to surge in mental health-related emergency department visits      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new studyshows wildfires lead to an increase of anxiety-related emergency department visits in the western United States, amplifying the concerning parallel trajectory of two escalating public health crises -- mental health and climate change.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity
Published

Scientists may have cracked the 'aging process' in species      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research shows the relationship between a species' age and its risk of going extinct could be accurately predicted by an ecological model called the 'neutral theory of biodiversity.'

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity
Published

First-ever report of nesting of incredibly rare and endangered giant turtle      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Knowledge from local communities has resulted in the first-ever nesting evidence and discovery of a breeding population of an incredibly rare turtle in India.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: General Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity
Published

Genetic insights and conservation challenges of Nara's sacred deer      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In Nara, Japan, the revered sika deer faces a dilemma as their escalating population damages local farmlands. A new study has revealed a complex situation: while the sanctuary's deer upholds a distinct genetic identity, the surrounding areas display a blend of genetic lineages. This exposes a pressing predicament: whether to cull the 'pest' deer around sanctuary or risk losing a sacred genetic legacy.

Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Searching for clues in the history book of the ocean      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has shown that the tropical subsurface ocean gained oxygen during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (commonly referred to as PETM). During this short-lived interval of time in Earth s history that occurred 56 million years ago the average temperatures rose by up to six degrees within a few thousand years.

Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

How is deforested land in Africa used?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Africa's forested areas -- an estimated 14 % of the global forest area -- are continuing to decline at an increasing rate -- mostly because of human activities to convert forest land for economic purposes. As natural forests are important CO2 and biodiversity reservoirs, this development has a significant impact on climate change and effects the integrity of nature.

Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Is the Amazon forest approaching a tipping point?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Global warming may be interacting with regional rainfall and deforestation to accelerate forest loss in the Amazon, pushing it towards partial or total collapse. New research has identified the potential thresholds of these stressors, showing where their combined effects could produce a 'tipping point' -- in which the forest is so fragile that just a small disturbance could cause an abrupt shift in the state of the ecosystem.

Ecology: Nature Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

A century of reforestation helped keep the eastern US cool      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Widespread 20th-century reforestation in the eastern United States helped counter rising temperatures due to climate change, according to new research. The authors highlight the potential of forests as regional climate adaptation tools, which are needed along with a decrease in carbon emissions.

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

Frequent marine heatwaves in the Arctic Ocean will be the norm      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Marine heatwaves will become a regular occurrence in the Arctic in the near future and are a product of higher anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions -- as shown in a new study.