temperature – Page 2 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Temperature and ecology: In Chile, rival barnacles keep competition cool

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2014Environmentbrown university, Chile, chilean barnacles, chthamalus fragilis, ecim, ecology, emily lamb, gray barnacle, heather leslie, jenna shinen, mediating factor, rival barnacles, rock barnacle, semibalanus balanoides, temperature

A lot of research shows that temperature can strongly influence species interactions and sometimes shape the appearance and functioning of biological communities. That’s why a newly published finding that changes in temperature did not alter the competitive balance of power between two rival species of Chilean barnacles is an ecological surprise.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Here are two facts that make the lowly barnacle important: They are popular models for ecology research, and they are very sensitive to temperature. Given that, the authors of a new study about a bellwether community of two barnacle species in Chile figured they might see clear effects on competition between these two species if they experimentally changed temperature. In the context of climate change, such an experiment could yield profound new insights into the biological future of a major coastline that is prized for its ecological, aesthetic, and economic values. (more…)

Vibrations influence the circadian clock of a fruit fly

By Guest PostJanuary 31, 2014Health, Sciencebipolar disorder, circadian clock, daily locomotor activity, depression, diurnal change, drosophila, external world time, fruit fly, insomnia, joerg albert, light, ralf stanewsky, temperature, temperature fluctuation, ucl ear institute, university college london, vibrations

The internal circadian clock of a Drosophila (fruit fly) can be synchronised using vibrations, according to research published today in the journal Science. The study suggests that an animal’s own movements can influence its clock.

The circadian clock, which underlies the daily rhythms characterising most of our bodily functions, including the sleep cycle, is mainly set by diurnal changes in light and temperature. (more…)

Smart hydrogels

By Guest PostJanuary 18, 2014Scienceacs, americans, anti inflammatory activity, arthritis foundation, biomacromolecules, chandran sabanayagam, Chicago, darrin pochan, DNA, drug molecules, gel is biocompatible, high tension, hip joint, hyaluronic acid, knee, ligament tears, longxi xiao, mechanical force, osteoarthritis, ph, researchers, rush university, smart hydrogels, stimulate tissue regeneration, temperature, treatment efficacy, university of delaware, xinqiao jia, yingchao chen, zhixiang tong

UD-developed smart gels deliver medicine on demand

Researchers at the University of Delaware have developed a “smart” hydrogel that can deliver medicine on demand, in response to mechanical force.

Over the past few decades, smart hydrogels have been created that respond to pH, temperature, DNA, light and other stimuli. (more…)

With Fewer Hard Frosts, Tropical Mangroves Push North

By Guest PostJanuary 4, 2014Environmentatlantic coast, australia, biodiversity, birds, brazil, climate change, coastal insects, daniel s gruner, evolutionary biology, florida, florida atlantic coast, landsat 5, mangrove forests, Mexico, miami, NASA, new zealand, palm beach county, peru, rising sea levels, salt marshes, temperature, tropical mangroves, university of maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Cold-sensitive mangrove forests have expanded dramatically along Florida’s Atlantic Coast as the frequency of killing frosts has declined, according to a new study based on 28 years of satellite data from the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md.

Between 1984 and 2011, the Florida Atlantic coast from the Miami area northward gained more than 3,000 acres (1,240 hectares) of mangroves. All the increase occurred north of Palm Beach County. Between Cape Canaveral National Seashore and Saint Augustine, mangroves doubled in area. Meanwhile between the study’s first five years and its last five years, nearby Daytona Beach recorded 1.4 fewer days per year when temperatures fell below 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius). The number of killing frosts in southern Florida was unchanged. (more…)

What are Future Climate Projections for Precipitation and Temperature for Your County?

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2013Environmentcharacterizing climate change, climate change, climate model, climate model simulations, future climate projections, hydrologic unit, intercomparison project, jay alder, map, matthew larsen, mitigation purpose, NASA, oregon state university, precipitation, steve hostetler, temperature, usgs, your county

USGS Website Lets You See

For the first time, maps and summaries of historical and projected temperature and precipitation changes for the 21^st century for the continental U.S. are accessible at a county-by-county level on a website developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.

The maps and summaries are based on NASA downscaling of the 33 climate models used in the 5^th Climate Model Intercomparison Project and the current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report. The resulting NASA dataset is on an 800-meter grid with national coverage. (more…)

Study: Greenhouse gas might have warmed early Mars enough to allow liquid water

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2013Scienceastronomer, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, computer climate model, computer models, early mars, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, hydrogen, james kasting, liquid water, michael e zugger, mystery, pennsylvania state university, ramses ramirez, ravi kopparapu, sunlight, surface of mars, temperature, tyler robinson, university of washington

The mystery of how the surface of Mars, long dead and dry, could have flowed with water billions of years ago may have been solved by research that included a University of Washington astronomer.

There is evidence that Mars had water at its surface 3.8 billion years ago or before, but scientists are divided on how that might have happened, especially since the sun was about 30 percent fainter back then, thus less able to melt water ice on Mars. (more…)

Biologists find an evolutionary Facebook for monkeys and apes

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2013Nature, Scienceangolan talapoin monkey, anthropology, apes, asian primate species, biologist, canopy density, central, cercopithecus cephus, chimpanzees, common chimpanzee, complex facial patterns, ecology, environmental variables, equator, evolutionary detectives, evolutionary facebook, Facebook, facial diversity, facial pigmentation, facial vocabulary, fission fusion societies, geographic location, hamadryas baboons, human skin pigmentation, identification, intra species level, iucn, javan langur, jessica lynch alfaro, macaca arctoides, mandrill, mandrillus sphinx, michael alfaro, miopithecus talapoin, monkey, moustached guenon, nasalis larvatus, nomascus leucogenys, northern, old world african, orangutans, pan troglodytes, piliocolobus tephrosceles, predictor, primate faces, primate radiations, primate specialist group, proboscis monkey, rainfall, rhinopithecus avunculus, sharlene santana, snub nosed monkey, social group, south america, ssc, stephen d nash, stump tailed macaque, temperature, tonkin, trachypithecus auratus, ucla biologists, ugandan red colobus, white cheeked gibbon

Why do the faces of some primates contain so many different colors — black, blue, red, orange and white — that are mixed in all kinds of combinations and often striking patterns while other primate faces are quite plain?

UCLA biologists reported last year on the evolution of 129 primate faces in species from Central and South America. This research team now reports on the faces of 139 Old World African and Asian primate species that have been diversifying over some 25 million years. (more…)

Effects of Climate Change on West Nile Virus

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2013Environment, Healthandrew comrie, brain, canada, cdc, changes in climate, climate change, climate change models, climate-driven, cory morin, culex quinquefasciatus, effect, encephalitis, immune response, infectious cycle, inflammation, meningitis, mosquito population model, mosquito populations, North America, precipitation, southern us, species, temperature, united states, university of arizona, virus carrying mosquitoes, west nile vector, west nile virus

A study projects how climate change may affect virus-carrying mosquitoes across the southern U.S. Changes are expected to vary with region, and the southern states should see a trend toward longer seasons of mosquito activity and smaller midsummer mosquito populations

The varied influence of climate change on temperature and precipitation may have an equally wide-ranging effect on the spread of West Nile virus, suggesting that public health efforts to control the virus will need to take a local rather than global perspective, according to a study published this week in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Tag Archives: temperature