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Nature’s Backbone at Risk

By Guest PostOctober 31, 20101 commentNatureconservation efforts, endangered species, global biodiversity, threatened species, vertebrate species

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— One-fifth of the world’s vertebrate species are threatened with extinction, but the situation would be worse if not for current global conservation efforts, a new study finds. (more…)

Coral Algae Discovered in Black Corals at Never Before Seen Depths

By Guest PostOctober 25, 2010Naturealgae, black corals, coral, coral biology, daniel wagner, discovery, habitats, hawaii institute of marine biology, himb, jewelry industry, photosynthetic algae, photosynthetic symbiotic algae, shallow water reef building corals, symbiodinium, tropical, university of hawaii at manoa, zooxanthellae

Hawaiian Black Coral. Image credit: Daniel Wagner, HIMB

Researchers at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), an organized research unit in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology have made a remarkable new discovery.

When most people envision coral, they typically think of shallow-water reef-building corals found along beaches and tropical nearshore habitats. These “typical” corals are dependent upon photosynthetic algae (also known as Symbiodinium or zooxanthellae) found in their tissues to obtain nutrients to live off of.

In deeper less known waters, closely related black corals were considered to be void of these algae because of the light shortage to support photosynthesis. In fact, all black corals were considered to lack Symbiodinium (algae), because they are typically found at great depths where light levels are very low. (more…)

Plants Play Larger Role Than Thought in Cleaning up Air Pollution

By Guest PostOctober 24, 2010Environment, Natureair-polluting chemicals, anne-marie schmoltner, aspens, atmospheric chemistry, chemicals, ecosystem services, Environment, human health, infection, metabolic cycle, ovocs, oxygenated volatile organic compounds, poplars, thomas karl, toxic substances, trees, white blood cells

*Chemicals known as oxygenated volatile organic compounds (oVOCs) affect environment, human health*

About the image: Poplars, aspens, other trees provide extensive “ecosystem services.” Image credit: USDA

Vegetation plays an unexpectedly large role in cleansing the atmosphere, a new study finds. (more…)

A River Ran Through It

By Guest PostOctober 17, 2010Nature, Sciencealan tessier, arizona state university, climate change, colorado, colorado river delta, downstream, ecosystems, food chain, grand canyon, humans, irrigation, jacques finlay, john sabo, las vegas, los angeles, minneapolis, Mississippi, new york city, Phoenix, river flows, rivers, sea of cortez, small tributaries, storm floods, streams

About the image: A now dry Colorado River delta branches into the Baja/Sonoran Desert near the Sea of Cortez. Image credit: Pete McBride

Rivers and streams supply the lifeblood to ecosystems across the globe, providing water for drinking and irrigation for humans as well as a wide array of life forms from single-celled organisms up to the fish humans eat.

But humans and nature itself are making it tough on rivers to continue in their central role to support fish species, according to new research by a team of scientists including John Sabo, a biologist at Arizona State University.

Globally, rivers and streams are being drained due to human use and climate change. These and other human impacts alter the natural variability of river flows.

Some affected rivers have dried and no longer run, while others have seen increases in the variability of flows due to storm floods. (more…)

Squid Studies Provide Valuable Insights Into Hearing Mechanisms

By Guest PostOctober 17, 2010Naturehearing capabilities, hearing mechanisms, sense of hearing, squid hearing system, squid studies

The ordinary squid, Loligo pealii—best known until now as a kind of floating buffet for just about any fish in the sea—may be on the verge of becoming a scientific superstar, providing clues about the origin and evolution of the sense of hearing. (more…)

Corals Show Ocean Temperature Boundary Rising with Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 14, 20101 commentEnvironment, Natureandrea grottoli, branwen williams, climate modelers, computer models, coral reef, corals, el niño, global climate, global warming, gorgonian, isotopes, nitrogen 14, nitrogen 15, ocean circulation, oceanography, offshore, ohio state university, pacific decadal oscillation, palau, pdo, satellite data, thermocline, western tropical pacific

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.

The finding is the first physical evidence supporting what climate modelers have been predicting as the effects of global climate change on the subsurface ocean circulation. (more…)

What Lives in the Sea? – First Census of Marine Life Reveals Thousands of New Species

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2010Nature, Scienceanimal plankton, autonomous underwater vehicles, auvs, celebes sea, census of marine life, chris german, cmarz, coml, decade of discovery, deep-sea imaging systems, deep-water chemosynthetic ecosystems, larry madin, lost city, marine geochemist, marine zooplankton, mid-atlantic ocean, NASA, peter wiebe, remotely operated vehicles, rovs, sonar, squidworm, tentacles, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

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…)

Witchweed Should Haunt Crops no Longer, say U of T Researchers

By Guest PostSeptember 12, 2010Natureparasitic plant, plant hormone, striga, strigolactone, strigolactone in plants, witchweed

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…)

Category Archives: Nature