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Tiny acts of microbe justice help reveal how nature fights freeloaders

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2014Sciencebacteria vibrio cholerae, bioremediation, biosphere, bonnie bassler, carey nadell, fights freeloaders, history, howard stone, industrial cleanup, infection, knut drescher, life on earth, mechanism, microbe, nitrogen containing molecules, princeton university, public goods dilemma, recycle, tiny acts, treating a disease, v cholera

The idea of everyone in a community pitching in is so universal that even bacteria have a system to prevent the layabouts of their kind from enjoying the fruit of others’ hard work, Princeton University researchers have discovered.

Groups of the bacteria Vibrio cholerae deny loafers their unjust desserts by keeping the food generated by the community’s productive members away from V. cholerae that attempt to live on others’ leftover nutrients, the researchers report in the journal Current Biology. The researchers found that individual bacteria produce a thick coating around themselves to prevent nutrients from drifting over to the undeserving. Alternatively, the natural flow of fluids over the surface of bacterial communities can wash away excess food before the freeloaders can indulge. (more…)

Ridges on Mars Suggest Ancient Flowing Water

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2013Scienceactive hydrology, ancient martian subsurface, applied physics lab, biosphere, brown university, craters on mars, curiosity rover, flowing water, fluid flow, fossils of cracks, fracture conduits, gale crater, habitable environment, hydrothermal fluid, hypothesis, jack mustard, johns hopkins university, landing site, lee saper, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian surface, mineral hardened material, minerals, NASA, nili fossae, nilosyrtis, orientation data, planetary exploration, regional scale volcanism, ridges, subsurface hydrology, surrounding rocks

Ridges in impact craters on Mars appear to be fossils of cracks in the Martian surface, formed by minerals deposited by flowing water. Water flowing beneath the surface suggests life may once have been possible on Mars.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Networks of narrow ridges found in impact craters on Mars appear to be the fossilized remnants of underground cracks through which water once flowed, according to a new analysis by researchers from Brown University.

The study, in press in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, bolsters the idea that the subsurface environment on Mars once had an active hydrology and could be a good place to search for evidence of past life. The research was conducted by Lee Saper, a recent Brown graduate, with Jack Mustard, professor of geological sciences. (more…)

Environmental Issues: How True the Climate Changes Affecting Biodiversity

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Environmentalgae, annual migratory cycle, biodiversity, biological behavior, biosphere, brianne, caribbean species, changes in climate, changing climate, changing temperatures, climate changes, colonization, corals, current scenario, eccentric rainfall, ecology, ecosystem, elkhorn, environmental conditions, erratic courses, evolution, fishes, fossilized remains, global warming, great barrier reef, mammals, melting, melting of permafrost, migration of animals, migratory birds, oceans, offsprings, penguins, permafrost, phytoplankton, polar bears, polar regions, pollen distribution, regal cigs, satellite pictures, species, staghorn corals, temperature, underwater life, warm air currents, zooplanktons

A changing climate has implications on biodiversity without any doubt. Species in the past have been sensitive to changes in the climate; that has been proved time and again by the fossilized remains and pollen distribution studies. It has been seen or can be concluded safely that climate changes have led to extinction of species in one area and colonization in another.

It is improbable that all species can or will be able to adapt to changing conditions specially the sudden changes. This leads to impact in ecosystem dynamics and also on community composition. (more…)

Scientists Define New Limits of Microbial Life in Undersea Volcanoes

By Guest PostAugust 10, 2012Environment, Scienceaxial volcano, biogeochemical cycle, biological, biosphere, bruce strickrott, carbon dioxide, chemical, chemical factor, computer model, david butterfield, david garrison, deep ocean, earth, endeavour segment, fluid, formation, geochemical fluid, giraffe, growth rate, helene ver eecke, hydrogen, hydrogen threshold, hydrothermal fluid, hydrothermal vent, hyperthermophiles, hyperthermophilic, hyperthermophilic methanogens, james holden, julie huber, marine sediments, marvin lilley, metabolic process, methane, methane exhaling microbes, methanogen ecosystem, methanogenic, microbial composition, microbial life, microbiologist, natural gas, ocean surface, penguin, species, submarine alvin, subsurface microorganism, undersea volcanoes

A third of Earth’s organisms live in rocks and sediments, but their lives have been a mystery

By some estimates, a third of Earth’s organisms live in our planet’s rocks and sediments, yet their lives are almost a complete mystery.

This week, the work of microbiologist James Holden of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and colleagues shines a light into this dark world.

In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they report the first detailed data on methane-exhaling microbes that live deep in the cracks of hot undersea volcanoes. (more…)

NASA: Climate Change May Bring Big Ecosystem Changes

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2011Environmentbiodiversity, biome changes, biosphere, boreal forests, caltech, carbon, climate, climate change, climate model projections, computer modeling, desert, duane waliser, earth, eastern equatorial africa, ecological consequences, ecological sensitivity, ecosystem, element cycles, energy, environmental changes, forest, global climate simulations, grassland, great lakes, great plains, greenhouse gases, himalayas, hotspots, ice, jon bergengren, last glacial maximum, Madagascar, major ecological community type, mediterranean region, melting glaciers, migrate, model projections, modern climate changes, multiple generations, NASA, North America, northern hemisphere, plant communities, rising sea levels, southern south america, tibetan plateau, tundra, water

PASADENA, Calif. – By 2100, global climate change will modify plant communities covering almost half of Earth’s land surface and will drive the conversion of nearly 40 percent of land-based ecosystems from one major ecological community type – such as forest, grassland or tundra – toward another, according to a new NASA and university computer modeling study.

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., investigated how Earth’s plant life is likely to react over the next three centuries as Earth’s climate changes in response to rising levels of human-produced greenhouse gases. Study results are published in the journal Climatic Change. (more…)

Prehistoric Greenhouse Data from Ocean Floor Could Predict Earth’s Future, MU Study Finds

By Guest PostOctober 29, 2011Environmenta jimenez berrocoso, atlantic ocean temperatures, atmosphere, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, biosphere, c basak, circulation in the deep ocean, circulation patterns, climate, e e martin, element, fish teeth and bones, geological climate cycles, greenhouse climate, greenhouse climate on earth, isaza londono, kenneth macleod, late cretaceous epoch, late cretaceous greenhouse interval, modern increases in greenhouse gases, natural tracking system for water masses, neodymium, ocean floor, oceans, salty water mass, south atlantic, tropical atlantic, university of missouri

*Evidence of water mass moving south 70 million years ago shows how warmth was distributed*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – New research from the University of Missouri indicates that Atlantic Ocean temperatures during the greenhouse climate of the Late Cretaceous Epoch were influenced by circulation in the deep ocean. These changes in circulation patterns 70 million years ago could help scientists understand the consequences of modern increases in greenhouse gases.

“We are examining ocean conditions from several past greenhouse climate intervals so that we can understand better the interactions among the atmosphere, the oceans, the biosphere, and climate,” said Kenneth MacLeod, professor of geological sciences in the College of Arts and Science. “The Late Cretaceous Epoch is a textbook example of a greenhouse climate on earth, and we have evidence that a northern water mass expanded southwards while the climate was cooling. At the same time, a warm, salty water mass that had been present throughout the greenhouse interval disappeared from the tropical Atlantic.” (more…)

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