Most recent 40 articles: Science Daily - Earth and Climate
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'Diverse' Agriculture Benefits People and the Environment at the Same Time - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Rotating crops, conserving soil nutrients and deploying other strategies to "diversify" agriculture all at the same time can yield major benefits for the environment and people alike -- including increased crop yields and improved food security for entire communities.
That's the take-home message of a landmark new study, including researchers from more than 15 nations and data from 2,655 farms on five continents. The team published its findings April 4 in the journal Science.
"This is evidence that this can actually work -- we can imagine agricultural systems that are more diverse and serve people and nature at the same time," said Zia Mehrabi, a co-author of the new ... Read more ...
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'Tug of War' Tactic Enhances Chemical Separations for Critical Materials - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Lanthanide elements are important for clean energy and other applications. To use them, industry must separate mixed lanthanide sources into individual elements using costly, time-consuming, and waste-generating procedures. An efficient new method can be tailored to select specific lanthanides. The technique combines two substances that do not mix and that prefer different types of lanthanides. The process would allow for smaller equipment, less use of chemicals, and less waste production.
The metals called lanthanides have valuable properties for clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles and wind turbines and for many other applications. These elements include ... Read more ...
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A Natural Touch for Coastal Defense - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Common "hard" coastal defenses, like concrete sea walls, might struggle to keep up with increasing climate risks. A new study shows that combining them with nature-based solutions could, in some contexts, create defenses which are better able to adapt. Researchers reviewed 304 academic articleson the performance of coastal defenses around the world, including: natural environments; soft measures (which support or enrich nature); hard measures (such as concrete sea walls); and hybrids of the aforementioned. Soft and hybrid measures turned out to be more cost-effective than hard measures, and hybrid measures provided the highest hazard reduction overall in low-risk areas. Although ... Read more ...
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A New Estimate of U.S. Soil Organic Carbon to Improve Earth System Models - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Soil contains about twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and plants combined. It is a major carbon sink, capable of absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it releases. Management of soil carbon is key in efforts to mitigate climate change, in addition to being vital to soil health and agricultural productivity.
Measuring soil carbon, however, is a painstaking, expensive process. Samples must be dug from the ground and sent to a lab for analysis, making upscaling measurements on a large spatial scale challenging.
Now environmental scientists have combined field-level data with machine-learning techniques to estimate soil organic carbon at the U.S. ... Read more ...
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A Simple Way to Harvest More 'Blue Energy' from Waves - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · As any surfer will tell you, waves pack a powerful punch. Now, we are one step closer to capturing the energy behind the ocean's constant ebb and flow with an improved "blue energy" harvesting device. Researchers report in ACS Energy Letters that simply repositioning the electrode -- from the center of a see-sawing liquid-filled tube to the end where the water crashes with the most force -- dramatically increased the amount of wave energy that could be harvested.
The tube-shaped wave-energy harvesting device improved upon by the researchers is called a liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). The TENG converts mechanical energy into electricity as water sloshes back ... Read more ...
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A Smarter City Skyline for Flood Safety - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A city's skyline -- the distinctive shapes and arrangements of its buildings -- impacts the safety of its population during floods. When the streets flood, pedestrians can be swept under the current and injured or killed. With climate change and rising urbanization, the likelihood and severity of urban flooding are increasing.
Not all city blocks are created equal. In Physics of Fluids, an AIP Publishing journal, researchers from Beijing Normal University, Beijing Hydrological Center, and the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research investigated how city design contributes to pedestrian safety during flooding.
"Climate change leads to an increasing ... Read more ...
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AI Writing, Illustration Emits Hundreds of Times Less Carbon Than Humans, Study Finds - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · With the evolution of artificial intelligence comes discussion of the technology's environmental impact. A new study has found that for the tasks of writing and illustrating, AI emits hundreds of times less carbon than humans performing the same tasks. That does not mean, however, that AI can or should replace human writers and illustrators, the study's authors argue.
Andrew Torrance, Paul E. Wilson Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, is co-author of a study that compared established systems such as ChatGPT, Bloom AI, DALL-E2 and others completing writing and illustrating to that of humans.
Like cryptocurrency, AI has been subject to debate about the amount of energy ... Read more ...
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Ants in Colorado Are on the Move Due to Climate Change - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Over the past 60 years, climate change has forced certain ant species, unable to tolerate higher temperatures, out of their original habitats in Gregory Canyon near Boulder, Colorado, according to a new research published April 9 in the journal Ecology.
The resulting biodiversity change could potentially alter local ecosystems, according to first author Anna Paraskevopoulos, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Like all insects, ants are ectothermic, meaning their body temperature, metabolism and other bodily functions depend on the environment's temperature. As a result, ants are sensitive to ... Read more ...
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Are Universities Connected to Local Sustainability? A New Study Suggests Yes...and No. - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A new study finds that universities scoring strongly on measures of sustainability are associated with innovation and economic growth in their surrounding communities. However, the study did not find similar connections between university sustainability performance and environmental sustainability in their home communities.
"Society is facing a slew of global challenges, and we wanted to assess the extent to which higher education is contributing to the sort of transformative change needed to address these challenges," says Christopher Galik, co-author of the study and a professor of public administration at North Carolina State University. "For this study, we started at the ... Read more ...
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Atmospheric and Economic Drivers of Global Air Pollution - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Carbon monoxide emissions from industrial production have serious consequences for human health and are a strong indicator of overall air pollution levels. Many countries aim to reduce their emissions, but they cannot control air flows originating in other regions. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at global flows of air pollution and how they relate to economic activity in the global supply chain.
"Our study is unique in combining atmospheric transport of air pollution with supply chain analysis as it tells us where the pollution is coming from and who is ultimately responsible for it," said lead author Sandy Dall'erba, professor in the ... Read more ...
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Australia on Track for Unprecedented, Decades-Long Megadroughts - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Australia could soon see megadroughts that last for more than 20 years, according to new modelling from The Australian National University (ANU) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.
According to the scientists, the findings paint a worrying picture of future droughts in Australia that are far worse than anything in recent experience.
Megadroughts are exceptionally severe, long-lasting and widespread. They can last multiple decades or even centuries. An example of this is the megadrought in the United States' southwestern region that started in the year 2000 and has continued for more than two decades.
Co-lead author Dr Georgy Falster, from the ANU ... Read more ...
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Biofilm-Resistant Glass for Marine Environments - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A group of researchers led by University of Massachusetts Amherst engineers have created ultraviolet (UV) rays-emitting glass that can reduce 98% of biofilm from growing on surfaces in underwater environments, as reported in the journal Biofilm.
Biofilm is a slimy layer of various types of microorganisms that grows on wet surfaces. "If you look down your sink and touch the inner side of it -- that slimy substance is biofilm," describes Mariana Lanzarini-Lopes, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at UMass Amherst, and a corresponding author on the paper.
Biofilm is a significant issue for underwater applications. The United States Navy estimates ... Read more ...
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Boreal Forest and Tundra Regions Worst Hit Over Next 500 Years of Climate Change, Study Shows - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · The boreal forest, covering much of Canada and Alaska, and the treeless shrublands to the north of the forest region, may be among the worst impacted by climate change over the next 500 years, according to a new study.
The study, led by researchers at the White Rose universities of York and Leeds, as well as Oxford and Montreal, and ETH, Switzerland, ran a widely-used climate model with different atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to assess the impact climate change could have on the distribution of ecosystems across the planet up to the year 2500.
Most climate prediction models run to the year 2100, but researchers are keen to explore longer-term projections ... Read more ...
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Building Blocks for Greener Energy: Reconfigurable Elastic Metasurface - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Energy harvesting, an eco-friendly technology, extends beyond solar and wind power in generating electricity from unused or discarded energy in daily life, including vibrations generated by passing car engines or trains. Recent intriguing research has been announced, aiming to enhance the efficiency of energy harvesting using a new type of metasurface that can be reconfigured, resembling the assembly of LEGO bricks.
Professor Junsuk Rho from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering and PhD/MS student Geon Lee from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) have joined ... Read more ...
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California Leads U.S. Emissions of Little-Known Greenhouse Gas - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · California, a state known for its aggressive greenhouse gas reduction policies, is ironically the nation's greatest emitter of one: sulfuryl fluoride.
As much as 17% of global emissions of this gas, a common pesticide for treating termites and other wood-infesting insects, stem from the United States. The majority of those emissions trace back to just a few counties in California, finds a new study led by Johns Hopkins University.
"When we finally mapped it out, the results were puzzling because the emissions were all coming from one place," said co-author Scot Miller, an assistant professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins who studies greenhouse ... Read more ...
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Chemistry Researchers Modify Solar Technology to Produce a Less Harmful Greenhouse Gas - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · In the paper, "Methyl Termination of p-Type Silicon Enables Selective Photoelectrochemical CO2 Reduction by a Molecular Ruthenium Catalyst," published in ACS Energy Letters, the researchers explain how they use a process called methyl termination that uses a simple organic compound of one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms to modify the surface of silicon, an essential component in solar cells, to improve its performance in converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using sunlight.
"One challenge with solar energy is that it's not always available when we have the highest need for it," said Gabriella Bein, the paper's first author and a Ph.D. student in chemistry. ... Read more ...
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Climate Change Impacts Terrorist Activity - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Changing weather patterns induced by climate change are contributing to shifts in the location of terrorist activity, according to new research.
An exploratory study led by extremism expert Dr Jared Dmello, from the University of Adelaide's School of Social Sciences, found some climatological variables affected terrorist activity in India.
"Suitability analyses indicate that all the climatological variables tested -- temperature, precipitation, and elevation -- relate to shifting patterns of terrorist activity," says Dr Dmello.
"Urban centres have increasingly grown in population density, particularly in spaces with favourable climates, and some of the more remote ... Read more ...
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Climate Change Threatens Antarctic Meteorites - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Using artificial intelligence, satellite observations, and climate model projections, a team of researchers from Switzerland and Belgium calculate that for every tenth of a degree of increase in global air temperature, an average of nearly 9,000 meteorites disappear from the surface of the ice sheet. This loss has major implications, as meteorites are unique samples of extraterrestrial bodies that provide insights into the origin of life on Earth and the formation of the Moon.
Disappearing at an alarming rate
By 2050, about a quarter of the estimated of 300,000 -- 800,000 meteorites in Antarctica will be lost due to glacial melt. By end of the century, researchers ... Read more ...
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Cloud Engineering Could Be More Effective 'Painkiller' for Global Warming Than Previously Thought - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Cloud 'engineering' could be more effective for climate cooling than previously thought, because of the increased cloud cover produced, new research shows.
In a study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers at the University of Birmingham found that marine cloud brightening (MCB), also known as marine cloud engineering, works primarily by increasing the amount of cloud cover, accounting for 60-90% of the cooling effect.
Previous models used to estimate the cooling effects of MCB have focused on the ability of aerosol injection to produce a brightening effect on the cloud, which in turn increases the amount of sunlight reflected back into space.
The practice of ... Read more ...
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Cold-Affinity Algae Species Are Gradually Being Replaced by Warm-Affinity Ones Off the Coast of Biscay - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · The temperature of our planet is rising rapidly. Ninety per cent of the excess heat generated has been absorbed by the sea and, as a result, the surface temperature of the oceans has risen significantly. In this context, immobile and temperature-sensitive organisms are particularly vulnerable.
In addition, there are places where the warming of the sea is more significant than in others. For example, off the Basque coast there has been a 0.23 °C increase in sea temperature per decade, compared with a global increase of 0.15 °C. Faced with this situation, the UPV/EHU's Marine Benthos Research Group explored how macroalgae communities in a coastal area off Biscay have ... Read more ...
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Companies Ignoring Climate Risks Get Punished by Markets, New Study Reveals - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A pioneering study from the University of Florida has quantified corporations' exposure to climate change risks like hurricanes, wildfires, and climate-related regulations and the extent to which climate risks are priced into their market valuations. The research also exposes a costly divide -- companies that proactively manage climate risks fare much better than those that ignore the threats.
Using textual analysis of earnings call transcripts from almost 5,000 U.S. public companies, researchers developed novel measures of firms' physical climate risk exposure from weather extremes as well as the 'transition risks' that firms face from the global shift to a low-carbon ... Read more ...
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Deep Parts of Great Barrier Reef 'Insulated' from Global Warming -- For Now - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Some deeper areas of the Great Barrier Reef are insulated from harmful heatwaves -- but that protection will be lost if global warming continues, according to new research.
High surface temperatures have caused mass "bleaching" of the Great Barrier Reef in five of the last eight years, with the latest happening now.
Climate change projections for coral reefs are usually based on sea surface temperatures, but this overlooks the fact that deeper water does not necessarily experience the same warming as that at the surface.
The new study -- led by the universities of Exeter and Queensland -- examined how changing temperatures will affect mesophotic corals (depth 30-50 ... Read more ...
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Deforestation Harms Biodiversity of the Amazon's Perfume-Loving Orchid Bees - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A survey of orchid bees in the Brazilian Amazon state of Rondônia, carried out in the 1990s, is shedding new light the impact of deforestation on the scent-collecting pollinators, which some view as bellwethers of biodiversity in the neotropics.
The findings, from a researcher at the University of Kansas, are published today in the peer-reviewed journal Biological Conservation.
"This study on orchid bees was an add-on to previous research on stingless bees. Orchid bees are so easy to collect, so we added them to our broader survey of bee biodiversity across this rapidly developing region in the Amazon," said lead author J. Christopher Brown, professor of geography ... Read more ...
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Demand for Critical Minerals Puts African Great Apes at Risk - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A recent study led by researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the non-profit conservation organization Re:wild shows that the threat of mining to the great ape population in Africa has been greatly underestimated. Their results have been published in Science Advances.
The rising demand for critical minerals, such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other rare earth elements required for the large-scale transition to cleaner energy is causing a surge of mining in Africa, where a large share of those mineral resources is still unexploited. This is driving deforestation of ... Read more ...
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Dinosaur Study Challenges Bergmann's Rule - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · When you throw dinosaurs into the mix, sometimes you find that a rule simply isn't.
A new study led by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Reading calls into question Bergmann's rule, an 1800s-era scientific principle stating that animals in high-latitude, cooler climates tend to be larger than close relatives living in warmer climates.
The fossil record shows otherwise.
"Our study shows that the evolution of diverse body sizes in dinosaurs and mammals cannot be reduced to simply being a function of latitude or temperature," said Lauren Wilson, a UAF graduate student and a lead author of a paper published today in the journal ... Read more ...
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Discovery Could End Global Amphibian Pandemic - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A fungus devastating frogs and toads on nearly every continent may have an Achilles heel. Scientists have discovered a virus that infects the fungus, and that could be engineered to save the amphibians.
The fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or Bd, ravages the skin of frogs and toads, and eventually causes heart failure. To date it has contributed to the decline of over 500 amphibian species, and 90 possible extinctions including yellow-legged mountain frogs in the Sierras and the Panamanian golden frog.
A new paper in the journal Current Biology documents the discovery of a virus that infects Bd, and which could be engineered to control the fungal disease.
The ... Read more ...
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Economist: Tens of Billions of Dollars in Forest Products Are Being Overlooked - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Are we missing the forest for the trees? More than timber grows in forests -- including products worth many tens of billions of dollars. Because these goods go unrecorded in official trade statistics, their economic value escapes our attention. As a result, clear opportunities to combat poverty are being missed, according to a University of Copenhagen economist.
In the Roman Empire, custom taxes on spices, black pepper in particular, accounted for up to a third of the empire's annual income. And during the late Middle Ages, European efforts to cut out middle men and monopolise the spice trade led to colonization in Asia. Historically, non-timber forest products have frequently ... Read more ...
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eDNA Methods Give a Real-Time Look at Coral Reef Health - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · The human gut is full of microbes. Some microbes can make people sick, while others are responsible for balancing gut health. But humans aren't the only species who's health depends on these microorganisms. Coral reef ecosystems rely on microorganisms to recycle organic matter and nutrients. These cells also help feed corals and other life reliant on reefs. Researchers from WHOI studied the microbes in coral reef water by examining eight reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands over a period of seven years, which included periods of hurricane and coral disease disturbance.
"Coral reefs have been declining for decades. Climate change, hurricanes, disease, and other stressors have ... Read more ...
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Elastocaloric Cooling: Refrigerator Cools by Flexing Artificial Muscles - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · There is room for just one small bottle in the world's first refrigerator that is cooled with artificial muscles made of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy. But the mini-prototype that the team led by professors Stefan Seelecke and Paul Motzki will be presenting at the Hannover Messe from 22 to 26 April is groundbreaking: it shows that elastocalorics is becoming a viable solution for practical applications. This climate-friendly cooling and heating technology is far more energy-efficient and sustainable than current methods. The research team is developing the new heating and cooling technology in multiple research projects at Saarland University and the Center for Mechatronics and ... Read more ...
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Engineers 'Symphonize' Cleaner Ammonia Production - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Among the many chemicals we use every day, ammonia is one of the worst for the atmosphere. The nitrogen-based chemical used in fertilizer, dyes, explosives and many other products ranks second only to cement in terms of carbon emissions, due to the high temperatures and energy needed to manufacture it.
But by improving on a well-known electrochemical reaction and orchestrating a "symphony" of lithium, nitrogen and hydrogen atoms, University of Illinois Chicago engineers led by Meenesh Singhhave developed a new ammonia production processthat meets several green targets.
The process, called lithium-mediated ammonia synthesis, combines nitrogen gas and a hydrogen-donating ... Read more ...
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Evolution in Action? Nitrogen-Fixing Organelles - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Nitrogen is a nutrient essential for all life on Earth. Although nitrogen gas (N2) is plentiful, it is largely unavailable to most organisms without a process known as nitrogen fixation, which converts dinitrogen to ammonium -- a major inorganic nitrogen source.
While there are bacteria that are able to reduce dinitrogen to ammonium, researchers at the University of Rhode Island, Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona, University of California at Santa Cruz and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered nitrogen-fixing symbiotic organisms exhibiting behaviors similar to organelles. In fact, researchers posit these symbiotic organisms -- UCYN-A, a ... Read more ...
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Experiencing Extreme Weather Predicts Support for Policies to Mitigate Effects of Climate Change - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Most Americans report having personally experienced the effects of extreme weather, according to new survey data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center that finds support for pro-environmental government policies meant to lessen the effects of climate change.
More than 6 in 10 people favor increased investment in energy-efficient public transit and an equal number support providing tax credits to families who install rooftop solar or battery storage, according to the nationally representative panel survey, fielded in November 2023 with over 1,500 U.S. adults.
Two-thirds of U.S. adults say that in the past year their typical daily activities were affected either ... Read more ...
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Exposure to Common Environmental Carcinogens Linked to Decreased Lifespan Happiness - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · If improving your outlook on life really was as simple as "don't worry, be happy," then keeping your spirits up would be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, it's not so simple, as a multitude of factors beyond our control can affect our mood.
In a study published in March in Environmental Research, researchers from Osaka University have revealed that contaminants in the environment can have an effect on our lifespan emotional wellbeing.
A recently developed risk assessment tool defined happy life expectancy as the lifespan during which a person experiences subjective emotional wellbeing, while loss of happy life expectancy (LHpLE) was defined as a decrease in the length of ... Read more ...
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Fans Are Not a Magic Bullet for Beating the Heat! - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A new study by researchers at the University of Ottawa throws cold water on the idea that fans can effectively cool you down during extremely hot weather events.
With severe heat waves becoming more frequent due to climate change, there's a growing need for safe and accessible ways to keep people cool, especially vulnerable populations like older adults. Fans are often recommended as cheap and easy solutions, but this study suggests they might not be as helpful as previously thought.
"Fans do improve sweat evaporation, but this effect is not strong enough to significantly lower your body's internal temperature when it's already really hot (above 33-35°C). In older ... Read more ...
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Food Security in Developed Countries Shows Resilience to Climate Change - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A study by the University of Southampton has found that market forces have provided good food price stability over the past half century, despite extreme weather conditions.
Findings are published in the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.
Wheat is an important crop in the United States used for food production. A small fraction becomes animal feed and the crop isn't used to generate biofuel. The main buyers of wheat are flour mills, food processors, and direct consumers.
"Before the mid-70s, oil was the dominant driver of wheat price fluctuations in the US, but after this point we see a much stronger influence coming from a wider set of factors that includes ... Read more ...
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For Mining in Arid Regions to Be Responsible, We Must Change How We Think About Water - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · "We've been thinking about water all wrong," says Brendan Moran, the paper's lead author and a postdoctoral research associate in geosciences at UMass Amherst. "We typically assume that water is water, and manage all water the same way, but our research shows that there are actually two very distinct pieces of the water budget in the Dry Andes, and they respond very differently to environmental change and human usage."
Water is especially important for lithium, the crucial component of the powerful batteries in such things as electric and hybrid cars and photovoltaic systems. Lithium doesn't like to be in solid form and tends to occur in layers of volcanic ash -- but it reacts ... Read more ...
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Gloom and Doom Warnings About Climate Change Do Not Work - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · If you want to spread a message about climate change and global warming, you need to adapt the message according to your intended audience and what you want to achieve.
Huge survey involving 63 countries
59,000 people participated in surveys as part of the work on creating the app, and Norway was among the 63 countries involved. (You can read about what works best in Norway later in the article)
In total, nearly 250 researchers were involved in the work of testing out different climate messages and tactics. Richter was part of the research team along with colleagues Senior Researcher Stepan Vesely and Professor Christian Klöckner, also from NTNU's Department ... Read more ...
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Groundbreaking Research in Groundwater's Role in Ecosystem Sustainability - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Until now, groundwater -- a critical water resource around the globe, especially in dry regions -- has been largely unstudied in its importance and role in sustaining ecosystems. A new groundbreaking research effort led by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in partnership with University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Cardiff University, and Desert Research Institute (DRI) examines the relationship between groundwater and ecosystems across California. Their innovative findings are featured in Nature Water.
Led by Dr. Melissa Rohde, who completed the study as part of her doctoral research in Dr. John Stella's Riparian Echohydrology Lab at ESF, the ... Read more ...
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Heat Stress from Ocean Warming Harms Octopus Vision - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · While climate change has led to an increase in the abundance of octopuses, heat stress from projected ocean warming could impair their vision and impact the survivability of the species.
"We found several proteins important for vision that were affected by thermal stress," says Dr Qiaz Hua, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences.
"One of them is a structural protein found in high abundance in animal eye lenses to preserve lens transparency and optical clarity, and another is responsible for the regeneration of visual pigments in the photoreceptors of the eyes.
"The levels of both of these proteins were significantly ... Read more ...
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How Climate Change Will Impact Food Production and Financial Institutions - Science Daily - Earth and Climate (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses climate and agricultural data from Brazil. It finds that climate change has a cascading effect on farming, leading to increased loan defaults for one of the nation's largest public sector banks. Over the next three decades, climate-driven loan defaults could increase by up to 7%, according to the study.
The projections in the paper revealed that although temperatures are rising everywhere, there is substantial variation in what that looks like from region to region, which underscores the need to build distinct types of physical and financial resilience.
For example, parts of northern ... Read more ...
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