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A River Ran Through It

By Guest PostOctober 17, 2010Nature, Sciencealan tessier, arizona state university, climate change, colorado, colorado river delta, downstream, ecosystems, food chain, grand canyon, humans, irrigation, jacques finlay, john sabo, las vegas, los angeles, minneapolis, Mississippi, new york city, Phoenix, river flows, rivers, sea of cortez, small tributaries, storm floods, streams

About the image: A now dry Colorado River delta branches into the Baja/Sonoran Desert near the Sea of Cortez. Image credit: Pete McBride

Rivers and streams supply the lifeblood to ecosystems across the globe, providing water for drinking and irrigation for humans as well as a wide array of life forms from single-celled organisms up to the fish humans eat.

But humans and nature itself are making it tough on rivers to continue in their central role to support fish species, according to new research by a team of scientists including John Sabo, a biologist at Arizona State University.

Globally, rivers and streams are being drained due to human use and climate change. These and other human impacts alter the natural variability of river flows.

Some affected rivers have dried and no longer run, while others have seen increases in the variability of flows due to storm floods. (more…)

The Nature Conservancy and IBM Launch Program for Sustaining Watersheds

By Guest PostSeptember 7, 20101 commentTechnologycarbon production, ecosystems, freshwater conservation, ibm, john tolva, michael reuter, parana river, rivers for tomorrow, spending issues, the federal university of mato grosso, the nature conservancy, the university of são paulo, university of brasilia, university of southern mississippi, university of wisconsin, watershed managers

ARMONK, NY & ARLINGTON, VA – – 07 Sep 2010: The Nature Conservancy and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced plans to launch a free Web site this fall called Rivers for Tomorrow, where watershed managers can map, analyze and share detailed information about the health of local freshwater river basins to inform clean up programs.

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First-of-Its-Kind Map Details the Height of the Globe’s Forests

By Guest PostJuly 21, 20101 commentEnvironment, Scienceaqua, atmosphere, canopy, carbon cycles, carbon dioxide, desdynI, douglas fir, ecosystems, height of the world’s forests, icesat, imaging spectrodiometer, lidar, michael lefsky, modis, NASA, richard Houghton, satellite data, satellites, tallest forests, terra, tropical rain forests, woods hole research center

WASHINGTON — Using satellite data, scientists have produced a first-of-its kind map that details the height of the world’s forests. Although there are other local- and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method.

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Tag Archives: ecosystems

A River Ran Through It

The Nature Conservancy and IBM Launch Program for Sustaining Watersheds

First-of-Its-Kind Map Details the Height of the Globe’s Forests