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Categories: Biology: Botany, Geoscience: Environmental Issues

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Flooding in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin is creating ideal breeding conditions for many native species that have evolved to take advantage of temporary flood conditions. Scientists have now developed virtual models of the Murray River to reveal a crucial link between natural flooding and the extinction risk of endangered southern bell frogs (Litoria raniformis; also known as growling grass frogs). Southern bell frogs are one of Australia's 100 Priority Threatened Species. This endangered frog breeds during spring and summer when water levels increase in their wetlands. However, the natural flooding patterns in Australia's largest river system have been negatively impacted by expansive river regulation that in some years, sees up to 60% of river water extracted for human use.

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With only a small percentage of plastics recycled, determining the best way to recycle and reuse these materials may enable higher adoption of plastics recycling and reduce plastic waste pollution. Researchers examined the benefits and trade-offs of current and emerging technologies for recycling certain types of plastics to determine the most appropriate options.

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A study shows that global atmospheric dust -- microscopic airborne particles from desert dust storms -- has a slight overall cooling effect on the planet that has hidden the full amount of warming caused by greenhouse gases. Climate change could accelerate slightly if dust levels stop climbing.

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Reducing the number of stomata that rice have makes them more tolerant to salt water, according to researchers.

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A new study shows that smoke particles from human-lit fires are responsible for over 80% of smoke-related deaths each year. The study shows that smoke pollution is on the rise, reducing air quality, and leading to increased illness and premature deaths.

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Using artificial intelligence, engineers have simplified and reinforced models that accurately calculate the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) -- the soot, dust and exhaust emitted by trucks and cars that get into human lungs -- contained in urban air pollution.

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Vital winter ice road infrastructure may be cracking and sinking under the load of an unseasonably warm start to the new year across Europe and North America. New research warns that ice roads, essential for moving people, food, medicine and fuel in remote northern communities, as well as heavy machinery used by industry, may become unsustainable as the climate warms. This poses significant issues this century.

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An international team of collaborators have revealed the most detailed look yet at the planet's recent climactic history, including summer and winter temperatures dating back 11,000 years to the beginning of what is known as the Holocene.

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Environmental scientists calculate that about two percent of visibly floating plastic may disappears from the ocean surface by UV light from the sun each year.

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Pyroelectric catalysis (pyro-catalysis) can convert environmental temperature fluctuations into clean chemical energy, like hydrogen. However, compared with the more common catalysis strategy, such as photocatalysis, pyro-catalysis is inefficient due to slow temperature changes in the ambient environment. Recently, a team has triggered a significantly faster and more efficient pyro-catalytic reaction using localized plasmonic heat sources to rapidly and efficiently heat up the pyro-catalytic material and allow it to cool down. The findings open up new avenues for efficient catalysis for biological applications, pollutant treatment and clean energy production.

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Despite recent, torrential rains, most of Southern California remains in a drought. Accordingly, many residents plant trees prized for drought tolerance, but a new study shows that these trees lose this tolerance once they're watered.

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A new report and upcoming international virtual event addresses the unequal burden of marine plastics on different communities. The illustrated report includes case studies from around the world and recommends future changes.

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Subway riders waiting in stations near tunnels that run below the city's rivers are exposed to higher levels of hazardous pollutants than are found in other stations. The 'river-tunnel effect,' as researchers call it, may help explain extremely poor air quality in the nation's largest underground transit system and have particular implications for stations close to rivers in general.

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As the atmospheric deposition of sulfur has decreased, the use of sulfur fertilizer in Midwestern U.S. agriculture has increased between 1985 and 2015.

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Recent measurements have shown that Frankfurt International Airport is a major source of ultrafine particles and that these can disperse over long distances across the city. Researchers have now discovered that the ultrafine particles partly consist of synthetic jet oils. The research team has deduced that emissions from lubrication oils must be lowered in addition to those from kerosene in order to reduce the concentration of ultrafine particles and thus improve air quality.

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Scientists have developed artificial intelligence techniques to track the development of crevasses -- or fractures -- on the Thwaites Glacier Ice Tongue in west Antarctica. A team of scientists has adapted an AI algorithm originally developed to identify cells in microscope images to spot crevasses forming in the ice from satellite images. Crevasses are indicators of stresses building-up in the glacier.

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Researchers have developed a system that can transform plastic waste and greenhouse gases into sustainable fuels and other valuable products -- using just the energy from the Sun.

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Scientists have made new projections of glacier mass loss through the century under different emissions scenarios.

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Researchers examine the role of spring heatwaves on the melting rates of mountain snowpacks across the West. They found that in April 2021, record-breaking snowmelt rates occurred at 24% of all mountain snowpack monitoring sites in the region, further compounding the impacts of extended drought conditions.

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Researchers now have a much better understanding of how climate change can impact and cause sea water temperatures on one side of the Indian Ocean to be so much warmer or cooler than the temperatures on the other -- a phenomenon that can lead to sometimes deadly weather-related events like megadroughts in East Africa and severe flooding in Indonesia.