Environment – Page 194 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

The Giant Panda: The Good News

By PravdaDecember 5, 2010Environment, Natureartificial insemination, bamboo pole, chengdu breeding center, chengdu panda breeding research center, China, cubs, ecology, endangered species, Environment, extinction, giant panda, pr china, reproductive cycle, scientists, timothy bancroft-hinchey, twin swapping technique, viagra

Close up of a cute baby 7-month old panda cub in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China. Image credit: Sheila Lau. Source: Wikipedia

Finally some good news on the environment, on ecology and on the Giant Panda: a revolutionary new technique developed by the PR China’s Chengdu breeding center seems certain to assure that greater numbers of this endangered species can be raised in thereby save it from extinction.

Just 1,600 Giant Pandas live in the wild, in 40 government-controlled panda reserves in the People’s Republic of China. The new breeding program has raised the number of animals bred in captivity to 300, while just this year 19 cubs have been born after artificial insemination programs in China’s two main breeding centers.

Breeding Giant Pandas in captivity is no easy task. They have the strangest gestation period which can range from eleven weeks to eleven months, they appear not to be sexually aroused by being held in captivity, females are on heat for 72 hours a year and are fertile during a 12 to 24-hour window inside that period. The small size of the male penis also means the mating position has to be exactly right, and this is not always possible in captivity. (more…)

Biodiversity Loss: Detrimental to Your Health

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2010Environment, Healthanimal extinctions, biodiversity, disease emergence, ecologist, ecosystems, felicia keesing, forests, global biodiversity, hantavirus, Health, infectious diseases, josh rosenthal, lyme disease, pathogens, plant, sam scheiner, species loss, transmission, west nile virus, wildlife

*Infectious diseases on the rise as species disappear*

Plant and animal extinctions are detrimental to your health.

That’s the conclusion of a paper published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature by scientists who studied the link between biodiversity and infectious diseases. (more…)

Many Coastal Wetlands Likely to Disappear this Century

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2010Environmentatlantic coast, coastal marshes, coastal wetlands, sea-level rise, sediment levels, sedimentation in wetlands, tidal ranges

Many coastal wetlands worldwide — including several on the U.S. Atlantic coast — may be more sensitive than previously thought to climate change and sea-level rise projections for the 21^st century. (more…)

Rewarding Eco-Friendly Farmers Can Help Combat Climate Change

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2010Environmentatmosphere, carbon dioxide, chesapeake bay, cier, climate change, combat, eco-friendly, ecosystem markets, farmers, fertilizer, fertilizer run-off, greenhouse gas, management practices, maryland, maryland farmers, matthias ruth, nitrogen, nutrient trading market, phosphorous, techniques, total maximum daily load, trading market

*UMD Study Advises State on Creation of ‘Nutrient Trading Market’*

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Financially rewarding farmers for using the best fertilizer management practices can simultaneously benefit water quality and help combat climate change, finds a new study by the University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER). (more…)

Air Above Dead Sea Contains Very High Levels of Oxidized Mercury

By Guest PostNovember 30, 2010Environmentatmosphere, bromine, chlorine, daniel obrist, dead sea, fluorine, global ecosystems, halogens, hebrew, iodine, mercury, non-metal elements, oxidized mercury, polar regions, potent neurotoxin, sea of salt, yam ha-melah

*First such levels measured outside polar regions*

In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is called Yam ha-Melah, the “sea of salt.” Now measurements show that the sea’s salt has profound effects on the chemistry of the air above its surface.

The atmosphere over the Dead Sea, researchers have found, is laden with oxidized mercury. Some of the highest levels of oxidized mercury ever observed outside the polar regions exist there. (more…)

Earth’s Lakes Warming Due to Climate Change

By Guest PostNovember 26, 2010Environmentalgal blooms, alpine lake, black, caspian seas, climate change, emerald bay, global survey, great lakes, kazakhstan, lake tahoe, lakes, lakes warming, natural ecosystem, North America, northern europe, northern hemisphere, philipp schneider, satellite data, simon hook, surface temperatures, temperature, trends

Lake Tahoe, seen here from Emerald Bay, was one of the primary validation sites for the global lake study. The lake, which straddles the borders of California and Nevada, is the largest alpine lake in North America. Image credit: NASA-JPL

WASHINGTON – In the first comprehensive global survey of temperature trends in major lakes, researchers have determined that Earth’s largest lakes have warmed during the past 25 years in response to climate change.

Philipp Schneider and Simon Hook of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used satellite data to measure the surface temperatures of 167 large lakes worldwide.

They reported an average warming rate of 0.45 degrees Celsius (0.81 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade, with some lakes warming as much as 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade. The warming trend was global, and the greatest increases were in the mid- to high-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. (more…)

Study Portends Greater Anticipated Global Warming

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2010Environmentanticipated global warming, climate models, current global models, warming predictions

Current state-of-the-art global climate models predict substantial warming in response to increases in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The models, though, disagree widely in the magnitude of the warming we can expect. The disagreement among models is mainly due to the different representation of clouds. Some models predict that global mean cloud cover will increase in a warmer climate and the increased reflection of solar radiation will limit the predicted global warming. Other models predict reduced cloudiness and magnified warming. (more…)

Biologists Report More Bad News for Polar Bears

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2010Environment3-d computer models, brown bears, climate change, ecology, Environment, extreme environment, genetic studies, global warming, graham slater, grizzly bears, ice ages, polar bears, van valkenburgh, vegetables

*Climate change will force them south, where they are unsuited for the diet*

A polar bear breaks through thin Arctic Ocean ice Aug. 23, 2009. Image credit: Canadian Coast Guard/USGS

Will polar bears survive in a warmer world? UCLA life scientists present new evidence that their numbers are likely to dwindle.

As polar bears lose habitat due to global warming, these biologists say, they will be forced southward in search of alternative sources of food, where they will increasingly come into competition with grizzly bears.

To test how this competition might unfold, the UCLA biologists constructed three-dimensional computer models of the skulls of polar bears and grizzly bears — a subspecies of brown bears — and simulated the process of biting. The models enabled them to compare the two species in terms of how hard they can bite and how strong their skulls are. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment