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Aerial Survey Reveals Exmoor’s Rare Peatlands as Never Seen Before

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2012Environmentaerial vehicle, blanket bogs, climate change, ecosystem, Environment, exmoor mires project, exmoor national park, exmoor peatlands, groundwater, infra red light, karen anderson, martin ross, remote controlled vehicle, river flows, river quality, scale of fluctuation, sediment, soil erosion, south west water, uk, university of exeter, unmanned aircraft, upstream thinking project

An unmanned aircraft has captured hundreds of images of Exmoor’s peatlands, revealing the condition of this rare environment as never seen before.

Flying 300 metres above the ground, the state-of-the art remote-controlled vehicle captured very detailed photographs of two five-hectare study sites.

The University of Exeter and South West Water will use the images to monitor the effectiveness of the planned restoration of these rare ecosystems. The research will investigate whether the restoration, due to take place later this year, will result in improved water storage in the blanket bogs, bringing benefits such as cost savings on water bills and improvements in river quality. (more…)

Scientists Discover Land-Ocean Connections off Moloka’i

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2012Scienceamphipods, ashley rowden, bottom fish, canyon, canyon effect, coastal macroalgae, concentration, craig smith, depleted oxygen, earth worms, eel, eric vetter, fabio de leo, family macrouridae, halosaurs, hawaii pacific university, hawaiian archipelago, isopods, jeff drazen, macro invertebrate, mollusks, molokai, noaa, north shore, omz, organic matter, oxygen minimum zone, polychaete worms, rattail fishes, salt lake city, sediment, shark, sixgill shark, soest, submarine canyon, synaphobranchids, tanaids, tiny crustaceans, utah

*Tree trunks, leaves, and kukui nuts indirectly feed bottom fish in submarine canyons off Moloka’i*

Scientists from UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) recently discovered that land-based plant material and coastal macroalgae indirectly support the increased abundances of bottom fish in submarine canyons, like those off the north shore of Moloka’i. Less than a few miles from the shore, these underwater canyons connect to deep river valleys that cut across the landscape of north Moloka’i. The high elevation and forested landscapes along Moloka’i’s north shore provide plant material, including decomposing tree trunks, leaves and tons of kukui nuts, which enter the ocean via river valleys and “pile up” on submarine canyon floors. (more…)

Scientist: Temperate Freshwater Wetlands Are ‘Forgotten’ Carbon Sinks

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Environmentblanca bernal, boreal peatland, buffer zone, canada, carbon dioxide, carbon holding power, carbon measurement, carbon sequestering system, carbon sequestration, carbon sink, carbon storage, cesium 137, climate change, depressional wetland, ecosystem, freshwater wetland, gahanna wetland, global carbon budget, greenhouse gas emission, lake erie, lead, marker, northern ohio, ohio wetland, old woman creek, organic matter, pb 210, plant, productive system, radioactive form, rate, sediment, Siberia, subarctic region, swamp, temperate region, william mitsch

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study comparing the carbon-holding power of freshwater wetlands has produced measurements suggesting that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply, according to researchers.

The study compared several wetlands at two Ohio wetland sites: one composed of mostly stagnant water and one characterized by water regularly flowing through it. The study showed that the stagnant wetland had an average carbon storage rate per year that is almost twice as high as the carbon storage rate of the flow-through wetland. (more…)

Something Odd Is Happening With Namibia’s Weather

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2011Environmentburlington, geoscientists, historic record, kuiseb, kyle nichols, mega floods, mineral quartz, namibia, national science foundation, nsf, omaruru, paul bierman, paul cutler, river sediment, riverbeds of western namibia, sediment, skidmore college, sparsely populated african country, swakop, university of vermont, weather in namibia, western namibia

*Southwestern African country is no arid desert–this year*

Something’s up with the weather in Namibia, say geoscientists Kyle Nichols of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and Paul Bierman of the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt.

Nichols and Bierman should know. They’re just back from the western mountains and coastal plain of this sparsely populated African country.

Usually, western Namibia is a dusty place where the stream beds are sand and the “lakes” are nothing more than flats of dried mud.

Not now. (more…)

Fossil Bird Study Describes Ripple Effect of Extinction in Animal Kingdom

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2011Scienceanimal kingdom, blackbird family, california, cowbird, david steadman, decline of panthers, domino effect, ecosystems, extinction, florida, fossil record, fossil study, grasslands, jessica oswald, mammals, mexican fossils, Mexico, negative impact, northern mexico, oceans, pandanaris convexa, rancho la brea fossil site, ripple effect, sediment, songbird species, sonora, térapa, trickle down effect, university of florida, wetlands

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida study demonstrates extinction’s ripple effect through the animal kingdom, including how the demise of large mammals 20,000 years ago led to the disappearance of one species of cowbird.

The study shows the trickle-down effect the loss of large mammals has on other species, and researchers say it is a lesson from the past that should be remembered when making conservation, game and land-use decisions today. (more…)

Colossal Fossil: Museum’s New Whale Skeleton Represents Decades of Research

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2010Nature, Scienceamy harris, anthropology, basilosaurus isis, basilosaurus skeleton, egyptian desert, evolution, extinct whale, fossil, fossil whales, fossilized basilosaurus vertebra, museum, natural history, philip gingerich, sea, sediment, skeleton, the evolution of whales, unesco world heritage site, valley of the whales, wadi hitan, william sanders

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—There’s a whale of a new display at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History, a leviathan that represents a scientific saga of equally grand proportions.

A complete, 50-foot-long skeleton of the extinct whale Basilosaurus isis, which lived 37 million years ago, now is suspended from the ceiling of the museum’s second floor gallery and will reign over an updated whale evolution exhibit scheduled to open in April 2011. (more…)

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