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Scientist names new fly species after the Professor who has supported his work

A Professor from The University of Manchester has had his name immortalised as a new species of fly.

Professor Richard Preziosi, from the Faculty of Life Sciences, said he was delighted with the unusual tribute from researcher Dr Dave Penney.

It follows his continued support of Dr Penney’s unfunded research into amber rocks which he has been investigating for around 20 years.

Dr Penney discovered the new species of fly, which he has named Proceroplatus preziosii, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, after finding a fossil in 16 million-year-old amber from the Dominican Republic. His findings were confirmed by Dr Neal Evenhuis, of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, who is the leading world expert on this group. The species is a tiny gnat just a few millimetres long belonging to the Keroplatidae family. (more…)

Researchers Find Unprecedented, Man-Made Trends in Oceans Acidity

By Guest PostJanuary 26, 2012Environment21st century, acidity, anthropogenic co2 emission, aragonite, aragonite saturation, axel timmermann, bishop museum, calcification rate, calcium carbonate, caribbean, climate, climate modeler, co2 emission, computer modeling, coral, coral reef, earth system model, ecosystem, fossil fuel, global scale, hawaiian islands, honolulu, jamstec, jhamandas watumull planetarium, last glacial maximum, level of acidity, marine ecosystem, marine organism, mollusk, observation, ocean, ocean acidification, ocean chemist, ocean condition, parts per million, ppm, saturation level, tobias friedrich, western equatorial pacific, yellow tangs

Nearly one-third of CO2 emissions due to human activities enters the world’s oceans. By reacting with seawater, CO2 increases the water’s acidity, which may significantly reduce the calcification rate of such marine organisms as corals and mollusks, resulting in the potential loss of ecosystems. The extent to which human activities have raised the surface level of acidity, however, has been difficult to detect on regional scales because it varies naturally from one season and one year to the next, and between regions, and direct observations go back only 30 years.

By combining computer modeling with observations, an international team of scientists concluded that anthropogenic CO2 emissions, resulting from the influence of human beings, over the last 100 to 200 years have already raised ocean acidity far beyond the range of natural variations. The study is published in the January 22, 2012 online issue of Nature Climate Change. (more…)

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Scientist names new fly species after the Professor who has supported his work

Researchers Find Unprecedented, Man-Made Trends in Oceans Acidity