Tag Archives: ecosystem

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…)

Crab Sagas Yield Insight into Sustainable Fisheries

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2012Environmentarmy corps of engineers, bering sea, causes, claws, climate and corps, crab populations, crab sagas, david armstrong, death assemblages, don bevan, dungeness crab, ecosystem, ghost shrimp, grays harbor, grays harbor estuaries, habitat, habitat destruction, myriad issues, natural factors, overfishing, pacific northwest, pacific oyster shell, predators, red king crab, soft shell mya, sustainability, sustainability meets reality, sustainable fisheries, tanya bevan, us crab fisheries, washington fishermen, washington state, willapa bay

Decades of wild swings in crab populations – some natural, some human-caused – dramatize the myriad issues surrounding questions about sustainable fisheries and the ecosystems that support them.

So said David Armstrong, professor and director of aquatic and fishery sciences, in his Jan. 5 talk “Claws, causes, climate and corps: A cavalcade of true crab sagas.” (more…)

Scientists Look to Microbes to Unlock Earth’s Deep Secrets

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2012Scienceatlantic ocean, bottom of the ocean, circulation obviation retrofit kits, columbia university, corks, deep ocean sediments, ecosystem, Environment, european consortium for ocean research drilling, expedition, Germany, habitable parts, integrated ocean drilling program, iodp, jamie allan, joides resolution, katrina edwards, lamont doherty earth observatory, microbes, microbial life, mid atlantic ridge microbiology expedition, national science foundation, north pond, ocean sediments, oceans, planet, research vessel, rocky ocean crust, rocky realm, sediment samples, submersible expeditions, subseafloor observatories, total biomass, university of bremen, university of southern california, volcanic lava, wolfgang bach, world

*To find answers, oceanographers install observatories beneath remote seafloor*

Of all the habitable parts of our planet, one ecosystem still remains largely unexplored and unknown to science: the igneous ocean crust.

This rocky realm of hard volcanic lava exists beneath ocean sediments that lie at the bottom of much of the world’s oceans.

While scientists have estimated that microbes living in deep ocean sediments may represent as much as one-third of Earth’s total biomass, the habitable portion of the rocky ocean crust may be 10 times as great. (more…)

Sea Cucumbers: Dissolving Coral Reefs?

By Guest PostDecember 27, 2011Environmentacidification, australia, biodiversity, caco3, calcium carbonate, carbon dioxide, coral reefs, digestive process, dissolution, dk13, ecosystem, emissions, erika woolsey, great barrier reef, jacob silverman, ken caldeira, kenneth schneider, maria byrne, marine environment, marine organisms, ocean acidification, one tree island, one tree reef, recycling of nutrients, reef environment, sea cucumbers, sea life

Washington, D.C. — Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems that support enormous biodiversity. But they are at risk. Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the ocean, threatening reefs and other marine organisms. New research led by Carnegie’s Kenneth Schneider analyzed the role of sea cucumbers in portions of the Great Barrier Reef and determined that their dietary process of dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surrounding reef accounts for about half of at the total nighttime dissolution for the reef. The work is published December 23 by the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Reefs are formed through the biological deposition of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Many of the marine organisms living on and around a reef contribute to either its destruction or construction. Therefore it is crucial that the amount of calcium carbonate remain in balance. When this delicate balance is disrupted, the reef ceases to grow and its foundations can be weakened. (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…)

Powerful Mathematical Model Greatly Improves Predictions for Species Facing Climate Change

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2011Environment, Nature, Scienceatmosphere and oceans, beetle, bridgett vonholdt, carbon dioxide emissions, coat color gene, coat color phenotype, daniel macnulty, daniel stahler, earth temperature, ecological impacts, ecological model, ecological parameters, ecosystem, Environment, environmental change, general model, genetics, global warming, gray wolf, grizzly bears, harmony, health of populations, heterozygotes, high arctic, integral projection model, ipm, mathematical model, new model, plants, polar bear, population ecology, population genetics, predictive model, quantitative genetics, robert wayne, species, sub fields of ecology, tim coulson, trophic cascade, wolf, wolf population, wolves, yellowstone, yellowstone national park

UCLA life scientists and colleagues have produced the most comprehensive mathematical model ever devised to track the health of populations exposed to environmental change.

The research, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, is published Dec. 2 in the journal Science.

The team’s groundbreaking integral projection model, or IPM, unites various sub-disciplines of population biology, including population ecology, quantitative genetics, population genetics, and life-span and offspring information, allowing researchers to link many different data sources simultaneously. Scientists can now change just a single variable, like temperature, and see how that affects many factors for a population. (more…)

Flash Forward 100 Years: Climate Change Scenarios in California’s Bay-Delta

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2011Environmentchinook salmon, climate change, ecosystem, endangered delta smelt, farmland, fish and wildlife service, francis parchaso, frequency of winter flooding, global climate change, irrigation water, james cloern, marcia mcnutt, native species, noaa, rising sea level, salinity, sea-level rise, state of california, temperature, the delta, warming scenarios

USGS scientists and academic colleagues investigated how California’s interconnected San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (the Bay-Delta system) is expected to change from 2010 to 2099 in response to both fast and moderate climate warming scenarios. Results indicate that this area will feel impacts of global climate change in the next century with shifts in its biological communities, rising sea level, and modified water supplies.

“The protection of California’s Bay-Delta system will continue to be a top priority for maintaining the state’s agricultural economy, water security to tens of millions of users, and essential habitat to a valuable ecosystem,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “This new USGS research complements ongoing initiatives to conserve the Bay-Delta by providing sound scientific understanding for managing this valuable system such that it continues to provide the services we need in the face of climate uncertainty.” (more…)

U-M ecologist: Future Forests May Soak up More Carbon Dioxide than Previously Believed, Helping to Buffer Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 16, 2011Environmentandrew burton, aspects of biological diversity, atmospheric carbon dioxide, biodiversity, carbon dioxide, climate change, co2 soaked trees, components of an ecosystem, donald zak, ecosystem, ecosystem modelers, experimental forest, experimental forest in rhinelander, fertilizing effect on trees, forage, genetic diversity, ground-level ozone, heat trapping carbon dioxide gas, human caused climate warming, kurt pregitzer, mark kubiske, nitrogen, north american forests, northeastern wisconsin, paper birch, photosynthesis, projected climate warming, rhinelander, simulate atmospheric conditions, smog, soil, sugar maple, trembling aspen, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— North American forests appear to have a greater capacity to soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas than researchers had previously anticipated.

As a result, they could help slow the pace of human-caused climate warming more than most scientists had thought, a U-M ecologist and his colleagues have concluded. (more…)