Tag Archives: climate change

Climate Change Boosts Then Quickly Stunts Plants, Decade-long Study Shows

By Guest PostApril 12, 2012Environmentarizona, atmosphere, bruce hungate, climate change, ecologist, ecosystem feedback, elevation, george koch, global warming, grassland ecosystem, great basin desert, greenhouse, national science foundation, nau, nitrogen gas, northern arizona university, nsf, nutrient cycle, paul dijkstra, plant communities, san francisco peaks, saran twombly, warming environment, zhuoting wu

*Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long*

Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long, according to new research results.

The findings, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, show that plants may thrive in the early stages of a warming environment but then begin to deteriorate quickly.

“We were really surprised by the pattern, where the initial boost in growth just went away,” said scientist Zhuoting Wu of Northern Arizona University (NAU), a lead author of the study. “As ecosystems adjusted, the responses changed.” (more…)

Which Plants Will Survive Droughts, Climate Change?

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Environmentagaves, alahee, cacti, california, carbon dioxide, cell level loss, chaparral shrubs, China, christine scoffoni, climate change, desert plants, drought tolerance, ecosystems, extinction, faith inman narahari, hawaiian drought, lawren sack, megan bartlett, photosynthesis, plant species, psydrax odorata, sandalwood, santalum paniculatum, stiff cell wall, stomata, sunflower, tropical botanical gardens, turgor loss point, turgor pressure, xishuangbanna, yuccas, yunnan

New research by UCLA life scientists could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change.

Droughts are worsening around the world, posing a great challenge to plants in all ecosystems, said Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the research. Scientists have debated for more than a century how to predict which species are most vulnerable.

Sack and two members of his laboratory have made a fundamental discovery that resolves this debate and allows for the prediction of how diverse plant species and vegetation types worldwide will tolerate drought, which is critical given the threats posed by climate change, he said. (more…)

Geologists Correct a Rift in Africa

By Guest PostMarch 26, 2012Scienceafrica today, australia, climate change, earth crust, east africa, east african rift, eric roberts, ethiopia, geological sciences, giant arc, great rift valley, human evolution, human species, james cook university, Kenya, malawi, michael gottfried, michigan state university, model, nancy stevens, nature geoscience, ohio university, plate boundary, rukwa rift, system, tectonic forces, uganda, vertebrate fossils, volcanic ash

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The huge changes in the Earth’s crust that influenced human evolution are being redefined, according to research published today in Nature Geoscience.

The Great Rift Valley of East Africa – the birthplace of the human species – may have taken much longer to develop than previously believed.

“We now believe that the western portion of the rift formed about 25 million years ago, and is approximately as old as the eastern part, instead of much younger as other studies have maintained,” said Michael Gottfried, Michigan State University associate professor of geological sciences. “The significance is that the Rift Valley is the setting for the most crucial steps in primate and ultimately human evolution, and our study has major implications for the environmental and landscape changes that form the backdrop for that evolutionary story.” (more…)

Study of Patagonian Glacier’s Rise and Fall Adds to Understanding of Global Climate Change

By Guest PostMarch 24, 2012Environment17th century, andes, antonio de vea, chilean glacier, climate, climate change, climate system, earth, fernando torrejon, fluctuation, glacial environment, glacial melt, glacier, glacier fluctuation, glaciomarine sediment, global temperature, golfo elefantes, gualas glacier, holocene glacier, icebreaker, marine environment, nathaniel b palmer, neoglacial fluctuation, northern patagonian icefield, past temperature, patagonia, patagonias fjords, rainfall data, san rafael, sebastien bertrand, sediment record, spanish explorers, university of ghent, voyages, whoi

Glaciers play a vital role in Earth’s climate system, and it’s critical to understand what contributes to their fluctuation.

Increased global temperatures are frequently viewed as the cause of glacial melt, but a new study of Patagonia’s Gualas Glacier highlights the role of precipitation in the glacier’s fluctuation. The study, conducted by Sébastien Bertrand of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and his colleagues, reconstructs a 5,400 year-record of the region’s glacial environment and climate, comparing past temperature and rainfall data with sediment records of glacier fluctuations and the historical observations of early Spanish explorers. (more…)

Early Spring Drives Butterfly Population Declines

By Guest PostMarch 18, 2012Environment, Naturebutterfly population, carol boggs, caterpillars, climate change, colorado rocky mountains, david inouye, flower, life cycle, mormon fritillary butterfly, national science foundation, nectar, population, saran twombly, snowmelt, species, speyeria mormonia, university of maryland

“Ahead-of-time” snowmelt triggers chains of events in the Mormon Fritillary butterfly

Early snowmelt caused by climate change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains snowballs into two chains of events: a decrease in the number of flowers, which, in turn, decreases available nectar. The result is decline in a population of the Mormon Fritillary butterfly, Speyeria mormonia.

Using long-term data on date of snowmelt, butterfly population sizes and flower numbers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Carol Boggs, a biologist at Stanford University, and colleagues uncovered multiple effects of early snowmelt on the growth rate of an insect population. (more…)

Science Outreach : Getting Started is Easy!

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2012Media, Scienceblogs, climate change, debate, Facebook, hypothesis, information pyramid, knowledge, marie lambert chan, Media, methodology, scientific knowledge, scientists, traditional media, Twitter, university life, william raillant clark

Sharing scientific knowledge is a fundamental part of university life. Regardless of whether you’re an undergraduate or a tenured professor, everyone has the responsibility of spreading their knowledge as widely as possible.

Why would you want to, though? “For a variety of reasons,” answers William Raillant-Clark, Press attaché at Université de Montréal’s Office of Communications and Public Relations. “The media is an excellent vehicle for communicating your ideas or your discoveries to the general public, and it can also draw the attention of your research peers to your work. This is one of the reasons why funding partners and potential research directors take into consideration science outreach work.” (more…)

Study Links Past Changes in Monsoon to Major Shifts in Indian Civilizations

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Environmentasia, band of heavy rain, bay of bengal, camilo ponton, civilizations, climate change, cmz, core monsoon zone, dorian fuller, drilling vessel, drought, equator, eth, global warming, godavari river, harappan civilization, humid monsoon, India, indian monsoon, indian peninsula, insolation, inter tropical convergence zone, itcz, joides resolution, liviu giosan, modern agriculture, monsoon, northern hemisphere, ocean, paleo climatic information, plankton fossil, sahara desert, sediment core, solar radiation, tim eglinton, tropical forest, vegetation, whoi, zurich

A fundamental shift in the Indian monsoon has occurred over the last few millennia, from a steady humid monsoon that favored lush vegetation to extended periods of drought, reports a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study has implications for our understanding of the monsoon’s response to climate change.

The Indian peninsula sustains over a billion people, yet it lies at the same latitude as the Sahara Desert. Without a monsoon, most of India would be dry and uninhabitable. The ability to predict the timing and amount of the next year’s monsoon is vital, yet even our knowledge of the monsoon’s past variability remains incomplete. (more…)

What Makes Ticks Tick?

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2012Healthanaplasmosis, antibiotic therapy, apple, arthritis, babesiosis, bacterium, climate change, dengue fever, disease, durland fish, european ancestry, evolution, infectious diseases, iPhone, lyme disease, maine, malaria, michigan, minnesota, neurological problems, North America, Pennsylvania, placebo, ticks, united states, virginia, west nile virus, wisconsin

Durland Fish has researched ticks and their associated diseases for decades. A professor in the Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, he has, among other things, contributed to the discovery that the bacterium that causes Lyme disease has European ancestry and that the disease, once nearly eradicated in North America, roared back with reforestation. More recently he helped develop a Lyme disease “app” for the iPhone and other Apple devices that provides users with detailed information about tick populations in any given area in the United States and even comes with a video on how to safely remove a tick. He has also worked on mosquito-borne West Nile virus and dengue fever. Students selected Fish as the school’s mentor of the year in 2010. (more…)