WASHINGTON — Researchers looking at corals in the western tropical Pacific Ocean have found signs of a profound shift in the depth where warm surface water and colder deeper water meet—a shift predicted by computer models of global warming. (more…)
The Census of Marine Life, a ten-year project to catalog all life in the sea, discovered more than 6,000 new species during its “decade of discovery,” scientists reported as they unveiled its results at a finale event in London Oct. 4-6. The collaboration combined the efforts of scientists from research organizations in more than 80 nations, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). (more…)
Each year, thousands of acres of crops are planted throughout Africa, Asia and Australia only to be laid to waste by a parasitic plant called Striga, also known as witchweed. It is one of the largest challenges to food security in Africa, and a team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Toronto have discovered chemicals and genes that may break Striga’s stranglehold. (more…)
Widespread reports of a decline in the population of bees and other flower-visiting animals have aroused fear and speculation that pollination is also likely on the decline. A recent University of Toronto study provides the first long-term evidence of a downward trend in pollination, while also pointing to climate change as a possible contributor. (more…)
LARAMIE, Wy. — Previous research has claimed that the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 is helping restore quaking aspen in risky areas where wolves prowl. But apparently elk hungry for winter food had a different idea. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Shade-grown coffee farms support native bees that help maintain the health of some of the world’s most biodiverse tropical regions, according to a study by a University of Michigan biologist and a colleague at the University of California, Berkeley.
