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Scientists Reconstruct Pre-Columbian Human Effects on the Amazon Basin

By Guest PostJune 19, 2012Environment, Sciencealan tessier, Amazon, amazon basin, amazon river, archaeological evidence, biodiversity, climate change, crystal mcmichael, cultural parkland, d r piperno, ecological processes, environmental change, european, fit, historical evidence, human disturbance, human populations, luiz lobato, m r silman, madre de dios river, mark bush, national science foundation, peru, peruvian amazon, porto velho manaus, pre columbian amazon, pre columbian times, tropical rainforests

Findings overturn idea that the Amazon had large populations of humans that transformed the landscape

Small, shifting human populations existed in the Amazon before the arrival of Europeans, with little long-term effect on the forest.

That’s the result of research led by Crystal McMichael and Mark Bush of the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). The finding overturns the idea the Amazon was a cultural parkland in pre-Columbian times with large human populations that transformed vast tracts of the landscape.

The Amazon Basin is one of the highest biodiversity areas on Earth. Understanding how it was modified by humans in the past is important for conservation and for understanding the ecological processes in tropical rainforests. (more…)

Scientists Discover Huge Phytoplankton Bloom in Ice Covered Waters

By Guest PostJune 13, 2012Environmentalaska, aleutian islands, alga phaeocystis, arctic algal boom, arctic circle, arctic summer, arctic waters, beaufort seas, bob pickart, chlorophyll, climate change, continental shelf, ecosystem, emily peacock, healy, heidi sosik, ice free waters, icebreaker, icescape program, imaging flowcytobot, kevin arrigo, magnifying lenses, melt water, microscopic marine plants, NASA, optical measurements, phenomenon, photosynthetic, phytoplankton, polar chukchi, pools of water, rob olson, sam laney, sea ice, skylights, stanford university, thalassiosira, us coast guard, whoi

A team of researchers, including scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), discovered a massive bloom of phytoplankton beneath ice-covered Arctic waters. Until now, sea ice was thought to block sunlight and limit the growth of microscopic marine plants living under the ice.

The amount of phytoplankton growing in this under-ice bloom was four times greater than the amount found in neighboring ice-free waters. The bloom extended laterally more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) underneath the ice pack, where ocean and ice physics combined to create a phenomenon that scientists had never seen before. (more…)

Climate Change Led to Collapse of Ancient Indus Civilization, Study Finds

By Guest PostJune 2, 2012Environment, Sciencearabian sea, archaeological evidence, catastrophic floods, climate change, coring, dorian fuller, drilling, eastern afghanistan, egypt, ganges, geological evidence, geologist, geoscience, ghaggar hakra, goldilocks civilization, harappan civilization, harappan settlements, harappan times, himalaya, hindu mythology, indo gangetic plain, indus, james p m syvitski, liviu giosan, mesopotamia, northwest india, Pakistan, peter d clift, remains, river floods, romania, sarasvati, sediments, srtm, stefan constantinescu, topography, university college london, whoi

A new study combining the latest archaeological evidence with state-of-the-art geoscience technologies provides evidence that climate change was a key ingredient in the collapse of the great Indus or Harappan Civilization almost 4000 years ago. The study also resolves a long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Sarasvati, the sacred river of Hindu mythology.

Once extending more than 1 million square kilometers across the plains of the Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges, over what is now Pakistan, northwest India and eastern Afghanistan, the Indus civilization was the largest—but least known—of the first great urban cultures that also included Egypt and Mesopotamia. Like their contemporaries, the Harappans, named for one of their largest cities, lived next to rivers owing their livelihoods to the fertility of annually watered lands. (more…)

Seagrasses Can Store as Much Carbon as Forests

By Guest PostMay 25, 2012Environmentcarbon stock, climate change, coastal seas, florida coastal everglades, global carbon pool, seagrass beds, seagrass ecosystems, seagrasses

Researchers find that the global carbon pool in seagrass beds is as much as 19.9 billion metric tons

Seagrasses are a vital part of the solution to climate change and, per unit area, seagrass meadows can store up to twice as much carbon as the world’s temperate and tropical forests. (more…)

Nearly One-Tenth of Hemisphere’s Mammals Unlikely to Outrun Climate Change

By Guest PostMay 15, 2012Environmentclimate change, habitat, mammals, vulnerability, vulnerability of mammals

A safe haven could be out of reach for 9 percent of the Western Hemisphere’s mammals, and as much as 40 percent in certain regions, because the animals just won’t move swiftly enough to outpace climate change. (more…)

Mather Lecture

By Guest PostMay 14, 2012Environmentatmosphere, atmospheric moisture, biodiversity, charles j vörösmarty, China, climate change, computer model, cort willmott, deforestation, Europe, geospatial data, global water crisis, hydrology, India, industrializing place, john r mather, mather lecture, nancy targett, natural water systems, nitrogen pollution, noaa, river, sandra mather, stress, thermal regime, united states, university of delaware, water cycle, water management

Renowned expert Charles J. Vörösmarty addresses global water crisis

The world’s streams, rivers and lakes are under increasing stress because of human water management – and mismanagement – that threaten aquatic biodiversity and the water supply, Charles J. Vörösmarty said recently during the second annual John R. Mather Visiting Scholars Lecture.

Vörösmarty, professor of civil engineering with the City College of New York, presented “Global Water Crisis: The Slippery Slope” on May 3 at the University of Delaware’s Roselle Center for the Arts.

“The contemporary water system is really defined increasingly by the actions of humans,” he said. (more…)

Ecosystem Effects of Biodiversity Loss Could Rival Impacts of Climate Change, Pollution

By Guest PostMay 10, 2012Environment, Natureacid deposition, air pollution, algae, bacteria, biodiversity loss, biological diversity, bradley cardinale, california, canada, climate change, david hooper, ecosystem, environmental change, environmental stress, environmental stressors, extinction, forests, fungi, global warming, henry gholz, impact, leslie gonzalez, nutrient pollution, oxygen, ozone pollution, pollution, san josé, serpentine grasslands, Sweden, united states, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Loss of biodiversity appears to impact ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to a new study from an international research team.

The study is the first comprehensive effort to directly compare the impacts of biological diversity loss to the anticipated effects of a host of other human-caused environmental changes.

The results highlight the need for stronger local, national and international efforts to protect biodiversity and the benefits it provides, according to the researchers, who are based at nine institutions in the United States, Canada and Sweden. (more…)

A NASA Weather ‘Eye in the Sky’ Marks 10 Years

By Guest PostMay 7, 2012Environment, Scienceairs, amsu a, atmosphere, atmospheric infrared sounder, bae systems, boston, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate research, earth, energy cycle, eric fetzer, eye, global water, greenhouse gases, hyperspectral sounding, instrument, jet propulsion laboratory, model, monster, moustafa chahine, NASA, sky, tom pagano, water vapor, weather forecasting, weather satellites

For 10 years, it has silently swooped through space in its orbital perch 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth, its nearly 2,400 spectral “eyes” peering into Earth’s atmosphere, watching. But there’s nothing alien about NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, or AIRS, instrument, a “monster” of weather and climate research that celebrates its 10th birthday in orbit May 4.

AIRS, built by BAE Systems, Boston, under the direction of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is one of six instruments flying on NASA’s Aqua spacecraft as part of NASA’s Earth Observing System. AIRS, along with its partner microwave instrument, the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A), has faithfully measured our planet’s atmospheric temperature, water vapor, clouds and greenhouse gases with unprecedented accuracy and stability. Over the past decade, AIRS and AMSU-A have improved our understanding of Earth’s global water and energy cycles, climate change and trends and how Earth’s climate system is responding to increased greenhouse gases. (more…)

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