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Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction: Is It Almost Here?

By Guest PostMarch 4, 2011Environment, Scienceanimal species, anthony barnosky, big five, biodiversity, biodiversity baseline, disease, earth, extinction, extinction rate for mammals, fossil record, global warming, habitat fragmentation, hazard of climate change, human activities, invasive species, mammals, mass extinction, richard lane, road to extinction, species, storm of threats

*Steep decline of many animal species warns that Earth is on the brink*

With the steep decline in populations of many animal species, scientists have warned that Earth is on the brink of a mass extinction like those that have occurred just five times during the past 540 million years.

Each of these “Big Five” saw three-quarters or more of all animal species go extinct.

In results of a study published in this week’s issue of journal Nature, researchers report on an assessment of where mammals and other species stand today in terms of possible extinction compared with the past 540 million years.

They find cause for hope–and alarm. (more…)

Berkeley Scientists at AAAS Highlight Challenges of Meeting State Energy Goals by 2050

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2011Environmentberkeley lab, biodiversity, biofuel crops, biofuels, biomass, california, carbon capture and sequestration, carbon sequestration technology, carbon storage, ebi, energy analyst, energy biosciences institute, greenhouse gas emissions, james mcmahon, jeffery greenblatt, load balancing triangle, low carbon, portraits of the california energy system in 2050, saline aquifers

California is showing the way for the rest of the nation in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, having set an ambitious goal to reduce these emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Given that energy demand is projected to double by 2050, experts agree that the state will have to dramatically overhaul its energy systems to achieve its greenhouse gas emission goals.

At the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, some of the specific challenges and issue ahead were discussed in a session titled “Portraits of the California Energy System in 2050: Cutting Emissions by 80 Percent.” Contributing to this discussion were two scientists from Berkeley Lab and one from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), in which Berkeley Lab is a partner. (more…)

The Undead May Influence Biodiversity, Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2011Environmentbiodiversity, cellular mechanisms, dormant microbes, greenhouse gas emissions, jay lennon, microorganisms affect, university of notre dame

EAST LANSING, Mich. — It’s commonly known, at least among microbiologists, that microbes have an additional option to living or dying — dormancy.

Dormant microbes are less like zombies and more like hibernating bears. What isn’t known, however, is how large numbers of dormant microorganisms affect the natural environments when they act as microbial seed banks. In the current issue of Nature Reviews: Microbiology, Jay Lennon, Michigan State University assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, examines the cellular mechanisms that allow microbes to hibernate and addresses the implications they can have on larger ecosystems such as soil, oceans, lakes and the human body. (more…)

Online Access to the Plants of the World Is Available

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2011Nature, Scienceafrican plants, biodiversity, digital scanner, ecologist, eldredge bermingham, Europe, flowers, global plants initiative, green tendrils, helene muller landau, herbaria, herbarium sheets, jstor, jungle, latin american, mireya correa, North America, online database, plants, pollen grains, university of panama

*The Global Plants Initiative Meets at the Smithsonian in Panama Jan. 11-13*

For centuries, jungle explorers from Europe and North America have created art of the plants they discover—pressing bright flowers and green tendrils onto herbarium sheets for prestigious museums and plant collections. But scientists in the most biodiverse countries lack easy access to this basic information needed to identify plants. The Global Plants Initiative, meeting Jan. 11-13 at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, catapults biodiversity research to a new level, sharing plant collections in a massive online database of high-resolution scans. (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…)

IBM Predictive Analytics Software Helps Marwell Wildlife Analyse Data to Improve Conservation Measures for Grevy’s Zebra

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2010Technologyanalytics software, biodiversity, colin shearer, grevy's zebra, guy parker, ibm, ibm predictive analytics, london, marwell wildlife, multi-variate analysis, spss, start summit, wild

LONDON, – 15 Sep 2010: At the START Summit in London, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced how it is working with Marwell Wildlife, a conservation charity, to help secure a future for Grevy’s zebra, an endangered species with less than 2,500 individuals in the wild.

(more…)

Shade-coffee farms support native bees that help maintain genetic diversity in remnant tropical forests

By Guest PostJuly 27, 20101 commentEnvironment, Natureafricanized honeybees, Berkeley, biodiverse tropical regions, biodiversity, biologist, buzz, canopy of trees, chiapas, christopher dick, ecology, evolutionary biology, m. affinis, Mexico, miconia affinis, migratory birds, native bees, native trees, pollination, role, saquiyac tree, shade-coffee farms, shade-grown coffee, shalene jha, tropical forest, university of california, university of michigan

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.

(more…)

Rare Carnivorous Plant on Top 10 List of Newly Discovered Species

By Guest PostJune 17, 2010Naturealastair robinson, arizona state university, biodiversity, botanical journal of the linnean society, botanical journal of the linnean society of london, carl Linnaeus, carnivorous plant, dioscorea orangeana, entomologist, international institute for species exploration, kew botanist, madagascan yam, mike fay, nepenthes attenboroughii, paul wilkin, Philippines, pitcher plants, quentin wheeler, school of life sciences, sir david attenborough, taxon experts, taxonomy, vaughan southgate

Nepenthes attenboroughii, named after Sir David Attenborough, honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society, has been ranked number 1

Each year The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University names the Top 10 new species described in the previous calendar year.

(more…)

Tag Archives: biodiversity

*Nepenthes attenboroughii, named after Sir David Attenborough, honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society, has been ranked number 1*

Nepenthes attenboroughii, named after Sir David Attenborough, honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society, has been ranked number 1