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Changing Climate, Not Tourism, Seems to Be Driving Decline in Chinstrap-Penguin Populations

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2012Environmentadelie, antarctic peninsula, antarctic science, antarctic site inventory, antarctic treaty nations, asi, baily head, breeding population, changing, chevy chase, chinstrap colony, chinstrap penguins, chinstrap population, climatic condition, data, deception island, gentoo penguins, heather lynch, high resolution, michael polito, national science foundation, nsf, oceanites, penguin dynamics, penguin population, polar programs, ron naveen, satellite imagery, Southern Ocean, steven forrest, stony brook university, temperature, thomas mueller, tinker foundation, tourist location, united states, warm

High-resolution satellite imagery aids in study

The breeding population of chinstrap penguins has declined significantly as temperatures have rapidly warmed on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to researchers funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The study indicates that changing climatic conditions, rather than the impact of tourism, have had the greatest effect on the chinstrap population.

Ron Naveen, founder of a nonprofit science and conservation organization, Oceanites, Inc., of Chevy Chase, Md., documented the decline in a paper published in the journal Polar Biology. Naveen and coauthor Heather Lynch, of Stony Brook University, are researchers with the Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI). (more…)

Small Organisms Could Dramatically Impact World’s Climate

By Guest PostOctober 26, 2012Environment21st century, atmospheric, carbon, carbon dioxide, christopher klausmeier, climate change, colin kremer, cycle, david garrison, diversity, element, elena litchman, equatorial water, evolutionary adaptation, food chain, global climate, impact, level, marine microorganism, michigan, mridul thomas, nitrogen, ocean, ocean floor, organism, phosphorous, photosynthesis, phytoplankton, population, science express, state university, temperature, tropical water, warmer

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Warmer oceans in the future could significantly alter populations of phytoplankton, tiny organisms that could have a major impact on climate change.

In the current issue of Science Express, Michigan State University researchers show that by the end of the 21st century, warmer oceans will cause populations of these marine microorganisms to thrive near the poles and may shrink in equatorial waters. Since phytoplankton play a key role in the food chain and the world’s cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and other elements, a drastic drop could have measurable consequences. (more…)

Science Working to Combat Deadly White Nose Syndrome in Bats

By Guest PostOctober 24, 2012Naturebat disease, bat hibernation, canadian provinces, cave, deadly, delicate ecology, diversity, ecohealth alliance, Environment, fungal ecology, fungus, fws, geological survey, geomyces destructans, growth rate, hibernation, humidity variation, marcia mcnutt, microclimate, mine, mycologia, new york, pasteurs quadrant, physiology, syndrome, temperature, underground ecosystem, US, white nose, wildlife disease, wns

New findings on white-nose syndrome are bringing scientists closer to slowing the spread of this deadly bat disease, according to recent and ongoing studies by the U.S. Geological Survey.

WNS has killed more than 5 million bats since it first appeared in New York in 2007, and the disease, caused by the fungus Geomyces destructans, has spread to 19 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces (view map). (more…)

Researchers Devise More Accurate Method for Predicting Hurricane Activity

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2012Environmentalok choudhary, cross validation, factor, forecasting, fredrick semazzi, historical data, humidity, hurricane season, method, model, motif based, nagiza samatova, network, north atlantic, north Carolina, seasonal hurricane, state university, statistical method, temperature, united states, william hendrix, zhengzhang chen

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new method for forecasting seasonal hurricane activity that is 15 percent more accurate than previous techniques.

“This approach should give policymakers more reliable information than current state-of-the-art methods,” says Dr. Nagiza Samatova, an associate professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work. “This will hopefully give them more confidence in planning for the hurricane season.” (more…)

UCLA Research Makes Possible Rapid Assessment of Plant Drought Tolerance

By Guest PostAugust 2, 2012Environmentassessment, carbon dioxide, China, christine scoffoni, drought tolerance, evaporation, lawren sack, megan bartlett, method, osmometer, osmometry, osmotic potential, p v curve, photosynthesis, plant drought tolerance, pressure volume curve, stomata, temperature, turgor loss point, ucla, xtbg, yunnan

UCLA life scientists, working with colleagues in China, have discovered a new method to quickly assess plants’ drought tolerance. The method works for many diverse species growing around the world. The research, published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, may revolutionize the ability to survey plant species for their ability to withstand drought, said senior author Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

“This method can be applied rapidly and reliably for diverse species across ecosystems worldwide,” he said of the federally funded research by the National Science Foundation. (more…)

Got Milk? Climate Change Means Stressed Cows in Southern U.S. May Have Less

By Guest PostJuly 11, 2012Environmentclimate change, dairy cows, dairy industry, dry arizona climate, eric salathe, florida, guillaume mauger, heat of summer, holstein milk, humidity, maricopa, milk production, nancy gohring, northern california, southern us, stressed cow, temperature, tillamook, university of washington, yoram bauman

“Cows are happy in parts of Northern California and not in Florida” is a good way to sum up the findings of new research from the University of Washington, said Yoram Bauman, best known as the “stand-up economist.”

Bauman and colleagues found that the decline in milk production due to climate change will vary across the U.S., since there are significant differences in humidity and how much the temperature swings between night and day across the country. For instance, the humidity and hot nights make the Southeast the most unfriendly place in the country for dairy cows.

Their study combined high-resolution climate data and county-level dairy industry data with a method for figuring out how weather affects milk production. The result is a more detailed report than previous studies and includes a county-by-county assessment — that will be available to farmers — of the impact climate change will have on Holstein milk production in the U.S. through 2080. (more…)

Statistical Analysis Projects Future Temperatures in North America

By Guest PostMay 20, 2012Environmentbayesian statistics, change, climate models, climate projection, emily kang, emissions scenario, great lakes, hudson bay, midwest, narccap, noel cressie, North America, ohio state university, pam frost gorder, projection, rocky mountains, seasonal temperature, spatial statistics, statistical analysis, temperature

COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the first time, researchers have been able to combine different climate models using spatial statistics – to project future seasonal temperature changes in regions across North America.

They performed advanced statistical analysis on two different North American regional climate models and were able to estimate projections of temperature changes for the years 2041 to 2070, as well as the certainty of those projections.

The analysis, developed by statisticians at Ohio State University, examines groups of regional climate models, finds the commonalities between them, and determines how much weight each individual climate projection should get in a consensus climate estimate. (more…)

Locked RNA Editing Yields Odd Fly Behavior

By Guest PostApril 26, 2012Scienceabiotic factor, als, arthur sugden, asli sahin, brown university, cell, charles lawrence, dadar, enzyme adar, epilepsy, factor, fruit fly, function, genetic, jacquelyn dorsky, james jepson, lauren alpert, locking down, lou gehrigs disease, nucleus, organism, phenomenon, protein, rna, robert reenan, suicidal depression, temperature, wallflowers, yiannis savva

At the level of proteins, organisms can adapt by editing their RNA — and an editor can even edit itself. Brown University scientists working with fruit flies found that “locking down” the self-editing process at two extremes created some strange behaviors. They also found that the process is significantly affected by temperature.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Because a function of RNA is to be translated as the genetic instructions for the protein-making machinery of cells, RNA editing is the body’s way of fine-tuning the proteins it produces, allowing us to adapt. The enzyme ADAR, which does this editing job in the nervous system of creatures ranging from mice to men, even edits itself. In a new study that examined the self-editing process and locked it down at two extremes in fruit flies, Brown University scientists found some surprising insights into how this “fine-tuning of the fine-tuner” happens, including bizarre behavioral effects that come about when the self-editor can’t edit. (more…)

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