Environment – Page 157 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Mesquite Trees Displacing Southwestern Grasslands

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2012Environment, Natureatmosphere, biochemical pathway, bouteloua eriopoda, carbon dioxide, catalina mountains, changing climate, climate, climate data, desert, ecohydrology, ecosystems, eddy covariance tower, grama grass, grassland, greg barron gafford, groundwater, groundwater pool, mesquite tree, muhlenbergia porter, muhly, photosynthesis, predictions, prosopis velutina, rainfall, root system, san pedro river riparian area, santa rita mountains, seasonal precipitation, southeastern arizona, southwest, southwestern climate, sugars, temperature, university of arizona, warming climate, water resource, woody shrub

Mesquite trees and woody shrubs are better adapted than grasslands to a Southwestern climate predicted to shift toward higher temperatures and greater variability in rainfall, UA ecologists have discovered.

As the desert Southwest becomes hotter and drier, semi-arid grasslands are slowly being replaced by a landscape dominated by mesquite trees, such as Prosopis velutina, and other woody shrubs, a team of University of Arizona researchers has found.

In a “leaf-to-landscape” approach, the team combined physiological experiments on individual plants and measurements across entire ecosystems to quantify how well grasslands, compared to mesquite trees and woody shrubs, cope with heat and water stress across seasonal precipitation periods. (more…)

Milkweed Loss Hurts Monarchs

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2012Environment, Natureagricultural field, glyphosate herbicides, herbicide, john pleasants, karen oberhauser, Mexico, midwestern farm, milkweed, minnesota, monarch butterfly, monarchs, plant, university of minnesota, wildlife

*Loss of milkweed in Midwestern farm fields harms butterflies, a study shows*

If you’re a gardener, milkweed may not be at the top of your list.

But if you love Minnesota’s state insect—the monarch butterfly—maybe it should be.

Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, but the plant is disappearing from what used to be a prime reservoir: Midwestern farm fields. A new study by University of Minnesota monarch expert Karen Oberhauser and her Iowa State colleague John Pleasants ties a decade-long decline in monarch populations to the loss of milkweed from the corn and soybean fields that blanket the region. (more…)

Scholars Say Global Governance Overhaul Needed For Earth’s Sustainability

By Guest PostMarch 19, 2012Environmentearth, environmental change, environmental institution, environmental scholar, frank biermann, geo engineering, global governance, model, Nanotechnology, reform, rio de janeiro, societal change, steven bernstein, subsystem, sustainable development, synthetic biology, un, united nations

A group of the world’s leading environmental scholars are sounding the alarm that human societies need to transform their national and international environmental institutions into a more coherent and robust planetary stewardship model to steer away from rapid and irreversible changes to the Earth’s subsystems.

University of Toronto political scientist Steven Bernstein is one of the authors of a paper which appears in Science on March 16, 2012. (more…)

New Research Suggests Cap and Trade Programs Do Not Provide Sufficient Incentives for Energy Technology Innovation

By Guest PostMarch 19, 2012Environmentclean technologies, emissions restrictions, energy efficiency regulation, environmental policy, innovative technologies, pollution control targets

Cap and trade programs to reduce emissions do not inherently provide incentives to induce the private sector to develop innovative technologies to address climate change, according to a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Early Spring Drives Butterfly Population Declines

By Guest PostMarch 18, 2012Environment, Naturebutterfly population, carol boggs, caterpillars, climate change, colorado rocky mountains, david inouye, flower, life cycle, mormon fritillary butterfly, national science foundation, nectar, population, saran twombly, snowmelt, species, speyeria mormonia, university of maryland

“Ahead-of-time” snowmelt triggers chains of events in the Mormon Fritillary butterfly

Early snowmelt caused by climate change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains snowballs into two chains of events: a decrease in the number of flowers, which, in turn, decreases available nectar. The result is decline in a population of the Mormon Fritillary butterfly, Speyeria mormonia.

Using long-term data on date of snowmelt, butterfly population sizes and flower numbers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Carol Boggs, a biologist at Stanford University, and colleagues uncovered multiple effects of early snowmelt on the growth rate of an insect population. (more…)

New Research Lowers Past Estimates of Sea-Level Rise

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2012EnvironmentBangladesh, bermuda, bil haq, coral reef, east antarctic, fossil coral, geophysics, glaciers, greenhouse gas emissions, greenland, ice sheet, maureen raymo, national science foundation, North America, paleoceanography, projection, reef, sea, sea level projection, sea-level rise, seashells, seawater, sub tropical islands, the bahamas, thermal expansion, united nations, warm period, west antarctica

*Projections for the future still loom large*

The seas are creeping higher as the planet warms. But how high could they go?

Projections for the year 2100 range from inches to several feet, or even more.

The sub-tropical islands of Bermuda and the Bahamas are two seemingly unlikely places scientists have gone looking for answers. (more…)

Aerial Survey Reveals Exmoor’s Rare Peatlands as Never Seen Before

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2012Environmentaerial survey, blanket bogs, exmoor, peatlands

An unmanned aircraft has captured hundreds of images of Exmoor’s peatlands, revealing the condition of this rare environment as never seen before.

Flying 300 metres above the ground, the state-of-the art remote-controlled vehicle captured very detailed photographs of two five-hectare study sites.

The University of Exeter and South West Water will use the images to monitor the effectiveness of the planned restoration of these rare ecosystems. The research will investigate whether the restoration, due to take place later this year, will result in improved water storage in the blanket bogs, bringing benefits such as cost savings on water bills and improvements in river quality. (more…)

Rising Seas Put Millions of Americans at Risk for Flooding

By Guest PostMarch 16, 2012Environmentamericans, atlantic seaboard, benjamin h strauss, california, canal region, coastal elevation, flooding, florida, gulf of mexico, jeremy l weiss, jonathan t overpeck, long beach, los angeles, louisiana, maryland, mission beach, new jersey, new york, remik ziemlinski, rising seas, san diego, sea level, university of arizona, us coastal region, venice

New estimates suggest more U.S. land prone to flooding than previously thought.

About 3.7 million Americans are at risk for flooding as the sea level continues to rise in the coming century, according to a new study from a team that includes University of Arizona researchers.

Areas on the south Atlantic Seaboard and surrounding the Gulf of Mexico appear to be most prone to future flooding. In terms of numbers of people at risk, Florida is the most vulnerable, closely followed by Louisiana, California, New York and New Jersey. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment