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Categories: Computer Science: Quantum Computers, Environmental: Ecosystems
Published Reef fish must relearn the 'rules of engagement' after coral bleaching
(via sciencedaily.com) Mass coral bleaching events are making it harder for some species of reef fish to identify competitors, new research reveals. Scientists studying reefs across five Indo-Pacific regions found that the ability of butterflyfish individuals to identify competitor species and respond appropriately was compromised after widespread loss of coral caused by bleaching. This change means they make poorer decisions that leave them less able to avoid unnecessary fights, using up precious limited energy.
Published Slime for the climate, delivered by brown algae
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Brown algae take up large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and release parts of the carbon contained therein back into the environment in mucous form. This mucus is hard to break down for other ocean inhabitants, thus the carbon is removed from the atmosphere for a long time, as researchers now show. They reveal that the algal mucus called fucoidan is particularly responsible for this carbon removal and estimate that brown algae could thus remove up to 550 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air every year -- almost the amount of Germany's entire annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Published Rwandan tree carbon stock mapped from above
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed accurate nation-wide mapping of the carbon content of trees based on aerial images.
Published Researchers show a new way to induce useful defects using invisible material properties
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Much of modern electronic and computing technology is based on one idea: add chemical impurities, or defects, to semiconductors to change their ability to conduct electricity. These altered materials are then combined in different ways to produce the devices that form the basis for digital computing, transistors, and diodes. Indeed, some quantum information technologies are based on a similar principle: adding defects and specific atoms within materials can produce qubits, the fundamental information storage units of quantum computing.
Published Bird diversity increased in severely burned forests of Southern Appalachian mountains
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study found bird diversity increased in North Carolina mountain forest areas severely burned by wildfire in 2016, reinforcing that while wildfire can pose risks to safety and property, it can be beneficial to wildlife. The study results could help forest managers better predict bird responses to wildfire, and manage forests to benefit birds.
Published Palau's Rock Islands harbor heat-resistant corals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ocean warming is driving an increase in the frequency and severity of marine heatwaves, causing untold damage to coral reefs. Tropical corals, which live in symbiosis with tiny single celled algae, are sensitive to high temperatures, and exhibit a stress response called bleaching when the ocean gets too hot. In the last 4 decades, marine heatwaves have caused widespread bleaching, and killed millions of corals. Because of this, a global search is underway for reefs that can withstand the heat stress, survive future warming, and act as sources of heat-tolerant coral larvae to replenish affected areas both naturally and through restoration.
Published Carbon, soot and particles from combustion end up in deep-sea trenches
(via sciencedaily.com) New research shows that disproportionately large amounts of carbon accumulate at the bottom of deep-sea trenches. The trenches may thus play an important role for deep-sea storage of organic material -- and thus for the atmospheric Co2 balance.
Published Using deep learning to monitor India's disappearing forest cover
(via sciencedaily.com) Using satellite monitoring data, researchers have developed a deep learning algorithm that could provide real-time monthly land use and land cover maps for parts of India.
Published UK woodlands could store almost twice as much carbon as previously estimated
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source UK forests could store almost double the amount of carbon than previous calculations suggest, with consequences for our understanding of carbon stocks and humanity's response to climate change, according to a new study.
Published Do polar bear paws hold the secret to better tire traction?
(via sciencedaily.com) Traction is important. Humans have been continually interested in discovering how to better move across wet or frozen surfaces safely -- whether to improve shoes for walking on sidewalks or tires to maneuver the roadways. But what makes it possible for some Arctic animals to walk and run across the ice so effortlessly and gracefully without slipping and falling? Researchers took a deep dive into the paws of polar bears to find out. What the team discovered was that all bears (except sun bears) have papillae on their paw pads, but that the papillae on polar bears were taller -- up to 1.5 times. And, that the taller papillae of polar bears help to increase traction on snow relative to shorter ones. Even though polar bears have smaller paw pads compared to the other species (likely because of greater fur coverage for heat conservation), the taller papillae of polar bears compensate for their smaller paw pads, giving them a 30-50% increase in frictional shear stress.
Published Chaos gives the quantum world a temperature
(via sciencedaily.com) Two seemingly different areas of physics are related in subtle ways: Quantum theory and thermodynamics. How can the laws of thermodynamics arise from the laws of quantum physics? This question has now been pursued with computer simulations, which showed that chaos plays a crucial role: Only where chaos prevails do the well-known rules of thermodynamics follow from quantum physics.
Published New study finds logged tropical forests are surprisingly vibrant and need protection
(via sciencedaily.com) New study examines the flow of ecological energy across old-growth forests, logged forests and oil palm. The study surveys mammal and bird species across these landscapes to calculate food energetic pathways: how photosynthetic energy cascades from sunlight to be distributed among organisms. Relative to energy flow in old-growth forests, study finds 2.5 times more total energy flows in logged forests. The study findings question the use of the word 'degraded' to describe logged tropical forests.
Published Quantum dots at room temp, using lab-designed protein
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Quantum dots are normally made in industrial settings with high temperatures and toxic, expensive solvents -- a process that is neither economical nor environmentally friendly. But researchers have now pulled off the process at the bench using water as a solvent, making a stable end-product at room temperature. Their work opens the door to making nanomaterials in a more sustainable way by demonstrating that protein sequences not derived from nature can be used to synthesize functional materials.
Published Transplants can save dying coral reefs, but genetically diverse donors are key
(via sciencedaily.com) Study uses lab-grown coral clones to determine why some coral thrive when transplanted onto coral reefs and others die.
Published A peculiar protected structure links Viking knots with quantum vortices
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mathematical analysis identifies a vortex structure that is impervious to decay.
Published Uncovering plant invasions in the tropics
(via sciencedaily.com) An international collaboration of scientists has created the first inventory of flora introduced to the tropics, filling a knowledge gap about invasive plants in the tropics.
Published Curved spacetime in the lab
(via sciencedaily.com) In a laboratory experiment, researchers have succeeded in realizing an effective spacetime that can be manipulated. In their research on ultracold quantum gases, they were able to simulate an entire family of curved universes to investigate different cosmological scenarios and compare them with the predictions of a quantum field theoretical model.
Published New study highlights urgent need to safeguard deep reefs -- one of the largest and least protected ecosystems
(via sciencedaily.com) New study finds very few deep reefs have any form of protection, and face a multitude of threats, set only to escalate in the near future. Deep reefs are found below 30m and have a larger geographic range than shallow reefs. Deep reefs are biological hotspots, essential for climate change resilience, ocean health and food security, and a refuge for ocean life threatened in shallow waters.
Published Microbial miners could help humans colonize the moon and Mars
(via sciencedaily.com) The biochemical process by which cyanobacteria acquire nutrients from rocks in Chile's Atacama Desert has inspired engineers at the University of California, Irvine to think of new ways microbes might help humans build colonies on the moon and Mars.
Published Bat diversity and abundance are highest in old deciduous forest stands on the river banks in Eastern Ukraine
(via sciencedaily.com) European forest-dwelling bats require complex woodland structures at both the micro-habitat and the landscape level for successful breeding in summer. Particularly, the results from Kharkiv region (Eastern Ukraine) demonstrate that large stands of mature forests older than 90 years improved the breeding activity of bats, their abundance and overall species richness. Abundance and species richness increased from upland plots surrounded by agricultural lands to riverine or waterside plots with high forest cover.