Environment – Page 193 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Ancient Forest Emerges Mummified From the Arctic

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2010Environmentarctic biodiversity, common trees, cooling climate, global cooling, mummified forest, mummified plants

SAN FRANCISCO — The northernmost mummified forest ever found in Canada is revealing how plants struggled to endure a long-ago global cooling. (more…)

Elevated Zinc Concentrations in Colorado Waterway Likely a Result of Climate Change

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2010Environmentacid rock drainage, ard sources, colorado waterway, groundwater conditions, hard water, snake river watershed, water quality, zinc concentration

Rising concentrations of zinc in a waterway on Colorado’s Western Slope may be the result of climate change that is affecting the timing of annual snowmelt, says a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. (more…)

Projected Losses of Arctic Sea-Ice and Polar Bear Habitat may be Reduced if Greenhouse Gas Emissions are Stabilized

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2010Environmentbear human interactions, gas emission scenarios, polar bear habitat, sea ice loss, tourism

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Sea-ice habitats essential to polar bears would likely respond positively should more curbs be placed on global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new modeling study published in the journal, Nature. (more…)

High-Tech Software and Unmanned Planes Allow Scientists to Keep Tabs on Arctic Seals

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2010Environment, Natureaerial photos, aircraft, Arctic, arctic ringed seal, atmosphere, bearded, bering sea, cameras, climate scientists, earth, elizabeth weatherhead, four species of arctic seals, greenhouse gases, ice floes, marine, noaa, novel project, peter boveng, polar ecosystems, ribbon seals, ringed, scan eagle, sea ice, seal populations, seals, spotted, temperatures, terrestrial mammals

A novel project using cameras mounted on unmanned aircraft flying over the Arctic is serving double duty by assessing the characteristics of declining sea ice and using the same aerial photos to pinpoint seals that have hauled up on ice floes.

The project is the first to use aircraft to monitor ice and seals in remote areas without putting pilots and observers at risk, said Elizabeth Weatherhead of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who is leading the study team. Weatherhead is a senior scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a joint venture of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (more…)

Ice-Age Reptile Extinctions Provide a Glimpse of Likely Responses to Human-Caused Climate Change

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2010Environment, Natureaegean islands, anthony ives, chances of survival, climate, climate change, ecologist, environmental conditions, extinctions, global warming, greek, greek islands, ice age, johannes foufopoulos, lizards, mediterranean sea, moisture levels, reptile, reptile populations, reptile species, sea levels, snakes, southern hemisphere, turtles

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues.

The Greek island extinctions also highlight the critical importance of preserving habitat corridors that will enable plants and animals to migrate in response to climate change, thereby maximizing their chances of survival. (more…)

Time Running Out to Save Climate Record Held in Unique Eastern European Alps Glacier

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2010Environmentalto dell ortles, ancient climate, climatic change, core, drill, eastern alps, eastern european alps, ecosystems, glacier, global warming, ground penetrating radar, high altitude sites, ice, ice field, ohio state university, ortles site, paolo gabrielli, thickness of the glacier

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A preliminary look at an ice field atop the highest mountain in the eastern European Alps suggests that the glacier may hold records of ancient climate extending back as much as a thousand years.

Researchers warn, however, that the record may soon be lost as global warming takes its toll on these high-altitude sites, according to a new study in the Journal of Glaciology.

The glacier, Alto dell’Ortles, is the highest large ice body in the eastern Alps, reaching an altitude of 12,812 feet (3,905 meters) above sea level. It is small, though, measuring barely 0.4 square miles (1.04 square kilometers), and only 10 percent of that is likely to hold a good climate record, the researchers said. (more…)

Tiny Protozoa May Hold Key to World Water Safety

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2010Environment, Sciencebarometers, better world, biologist, bob curtis, camera, car, climate change, department of defense, digital camera, dod, gasoline, groundbreaking technique, microscopic plankton, one celled protozoa, pesticides, plastic containers, protozoa, sbs, scott gallager, software, swimming behavioral spectrophotometer, Technology, toxins, underwater environment, wade mcgillis, water

Right now, it looks a little like one of those plastic containers you might fill with gasoline when your car has run dry. But Scott Gallager is not headed to the nearest Mobil station. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist has other, grander plans for his revolutionary Swimming Behavioral Spectrophotometer (SBS), which employs one-celled protozoa to detect toxins in water sources.

Not only is he working on streamlining the boxy-looking contraption—eventually even evolving it into a computer chip—but he sees it as a tool to potentially “monitor all the drinking water in the world.

“It has a unique utility.” (more…)

Invisible Invasive Species Altering Ecosystems

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2010Environmentair temperatures, asian carp, australia, blue green algae, brackish diatom, climate change, cyanobacteria, dramatic fashion, ecology, ecosystems, elena litchman, european lakes, global change, great lakes, gypsy moths, invasive microbes, invasive species, lake michigan, macroorganism, malaria, microbial invaders, nitrogen fixing rhizobium, nonpathogenic microbes, north american, pathogenic parasitic fungus, portugal, scientific research, subtropical, temperate latitudes, tropical, zebra mussels

Elena Litchman, associate professor of ecology, who works at MSU's Kellogg Biological Station. Image credit: Michigan State University

EAST LANSING, Mich. — While Asian carp, gypsy moths and zebra mussels hog invasive-species headlines, many invisible invaders are altering ecosystems and flourishing outside of the limelight.

A study by Elena Litchman, Michigan State University associate professor of ecology, sheds light on why invasive microbial invaders shouldn’t be overlooked or underestimated.

“Invasive microbes have many of the same traits as their larger, ‘macro’ counterparts and have the potential to significantly impact terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,” said Litchman, whose research appears in the December issue of Ecology Letters. “Global change can exacerbate microbial invasions, so they will likely increase in the future.” (more…)

Category Archives: Environment