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Categories: Biology: Marine, Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published How does biodiversity change globally? Detecting accurate trends may be currently unfeasible
(via sciencedaily.com) Existing data are too biased to provide a reliable picture of the global average of local species richness trends.
Published New land creation on waterfronts increasing, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans are artificially expanding cities' coastlines by extending industrial ports and creating luxury residential waterfronts. Developers have added over 2,350 square kilometers of land (900 square miles, or about 40 Manhattans) to coastlines in major cities since 2000, according to a new study. The study reports the first global assessment of coastal land reclamation, which is the process of building new land or filling in coastal water bodies, including wetlands, to expand a coastline. The researchers used satellite imagery to analyze land changes in 135 cities with populations of at least 1 million, 106 of which have done some coastline expansion.
Published Fossil discovery reveals complex ecosystems existed on Earth much earlier than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers.
Published Can clay capture carbon dioxide?
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists have been using powerful computer models combined with laboratory experiments to study how a kind of clay can soak up carbon dioxide and store it.
Published The cod population off the coast of Sweden is not extinct
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Through DNA analyses, researchers have identified that there are still juvenile coastal cod off the west coast of Sweden. However, it is still difficult to find any mature adult cod in the area.
Published Past records help to predict different effects of future climate change on land and sea
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Ongoing climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions is often discussed in terms of global average warming. For example, the landmark Paris Agreement seeks to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C, relative to pre-industrial levels. However, the extent of future warming will not be the same throughout the planet. One of the clearest regional differences in climate change is the faster warming over land than sea. This 'terrestrial amplification' of future warming has real-world implications for understanding and dealing with climate change.
Published Air pollution linked with blood pressure in London teens
(via sciencedaily.com) In a new analysis involving adolescents living in London, exposure to higher levels of the pollutant nitrogen dioxide was associated with lower systolic blood pressure, while exposure to higher levels of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) was associated with higher systolic blood pressure.
Published Artificial sweetener as wastewater tracer
(via sciencedaily.com) Acesulfame is a sweetener in sugar-free drinks and foods. As it cannot be metabolized in the human body, the sweetener ends up in wastewater after consumption and remains largely intact even in sewage treatment plants. A new study shows that the persistence of the sweetener varies with temperature as the concentration of the sweetener in wastewater varies with the seasons. The environmental geosciences team analyzed how groundwater flows can be traced based on these seasonal fluctuations. Since residues of the sweetener end up in drinking water, acesulfame serves as an indicator of the origin and composition of our drinking water.
Published Marine reserves unlikely to restore marine ecosystems
(via sciencedaily.com) Protected marine areas are one of the essential tools for the conservation of natural resources affected by human impact -- mainly fishing --, but, are they enough to recover the functioning of these systems? A study now highlights the limitations of marine reserves in restoring food webs to their pristine state prior to the impact of intensive fishing.
Published 'Game-changing' findings for sustainable hydrogen production
(via sciencedaily.com) Hydrogen fuel could be a more viable alternative to traditional fossil fuels, according to University of Surrey researchers who have found that a type of metal-free catalysts could contribute to the development of cost-effective and sustainable hydrogen production technologies.
Published Reducing pesticide pollution and the intensity of harvesting can increase crop yield and contribute to climate change mitigation
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have found that carbon sequestration and plant resilience as well as forage pasture yield can be increased through key adjustments in agricultural management. The results provide a roadmap for reducing pesticide loads in soils and the first steps towards increasing climate change mitigation while improving crop yield in grasslands.
Published This loofah-inspired, sun-driven gel could purify all the water you'll need in a day
(via sciencedaily.com) Access to clean water is being strained as the human population increases and contamination impacts freshwater sources. Devices currently in development that clean up dirty water using sunlight can only produce up to a few gallons of water each day. But now, researchers in ACS Central Science report how loofah sponges inspired a sunlight-powered porous hydrogel that could potentially purify enough water to satisfy someone's daily needs -- even when it's cloudy.
Published What makes people care about the environment?
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study analyzes the factors that drive environmental concern among Europeans in an effort to understand how we can bolster popular support for combating climate change.
Published Licorice leaf extract is a promising plant protectant for conventional and organic agriculture
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study reveals that licorice leaf extract is a potent bactericide and fungicide that can be used in conventional and organic agriculture.
Published Caribou have been using same Arctic calving grounds for 3,000 years
(via sciencedaily.com) Caribou have been using the same Arctic calving grounds for more than 3,000 years. Female caribou shed their antlers within days of giving birth, leaving behind a record of their annual travels across Alaska and Canada's Yukon that persists on the cold tundra for hundreds or even thousands of years. Researchers recovered antlers that have sat undisturbed on the arctic tundra since the Bronze Age.
Published New research suggests drought accelerated empire collapse
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The collapse of the Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age has been blamed on various factors, from war with other territories to internal strife. Now, scientists have used tree ring and isotope records to pinpoint a more likely culprit: three straight years of severe drought.
Published Unearthing the impact of moisture on soil carbon processes
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers are offering a new perspective on those processes, revealing that moisture is a critical driver in the regulation and sequestration of soil carbon stocks.
Published Surprises in sea turtle genes could help them adapt to a rapidly changing world
(via sciencedaily.com) Around 100 million years ago, a group of land-dwelling turtles took to the oceans, eventually evolving into the sea turtles that we know today. However, the genetic foundations that have enabled them to thrive in oceans throughout the world have remained largely unknown.
Published Devastating cost of future coastal flooding for many developing nations predicted in new study
(via sciencedaily.com) New global modelling predicts the devastating socioeconomic impacts of future extreme coastal flooding for developing nations caused by climate change, with Asia, West Africa and Egypt facing severe costs in the coming decades.
Published Why icicles are rippled
(via sciencedaily.com) Winter is coming to an end; the last nights of below zero temperatures are here. In the morning, one still spots the occasional icicle on a gutter or car bumper. When you look at these icicles carefully, you may notice that they show a characteristic pattern of ripples -- always around one centimetre wide. What causes these ripples? Using an icicle machine of their own design, physicists and chemists investigated this question, and discovered that salt plays an important part in the formation process of the ripples.