Tag Archives: temperatures

March of the Pathogens: Parasite Metabolism Can Foretell Disease Ranges under Climate Change

By Guest PostFebruary 27, 2013Environment, Scienceandrew dobson, Arctic, arctic climate, attitude, bacteria, body temperature, bryanne hoar, california santa barbara, climate change, cold blooded intermediate, disease causing parasite, disease ranges, earth grows warmer, ecology, emerging disease, environmental factors, environmental temperatures, equator, fundamental thermal niche, global warming, humans, infectious diseases, infectivity, life cycle, life cycle components, livestock, malaria, metabolic patterns, metabolic theory, microorganism, migrate, model, mortality, nematode, ostertagia gruehneri, parasite life cycle, parasite metabolism, pathogens, peter molnar, plasmodium, princeton university, range, reproduction, roundworm, ryan hechinger, sky is falling, susan kutz, temperatures, territory, university, university of calgary, viruses, wildlife, wooly bovine, worms

Knowing the temperatures that viruses, bacteria, worms and all other parasites need to grow and survive could help determine the future range of infectious diseases under climate change, according to new research.

Princeton University researchers developed a model that can identify the prospects for nearly any disease-causing parasite as the Earth grows warmer, even if little is known about the organism. Their method calculates how the projected temperature change for an area would alter the creature’s metabolism and life cycle, the researchers report in the journal Ecology Letters. (more…)

Researchers Share Surprising Discovery about Coral Reef Ecology

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2012Environment, Natureacidification, algae, algal symbionts, american samoa, climate change, coastal development, coral reef, coral species, coral tissue, david garrison, DNA, ecology, endosymbionts, environment disturbance, environmental change, environmental stress, french polynesia, functional ecosystem, future, generalists, global stressors, hawaii, himb, hollie putnam, host, manoa, moorea, nsf, ocean acidification, photosynthesis, pollution, prediction, reef corals, ruth gates, skeletal growth, skeletons, soest, stresss, symbiodinium, taiwan, temperatures, theory, threat, tissue sample

Researchers at the UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) made a discovery that challenges a major theory in the field of coral reef ecology.

The general assumption has been that the more flexible corals are, regarding which species of single-celled algae (Symbiodinium) they host in coral tissues, the greater ability corals will have to survive environmental stress. In their paper published August 29, 2012, however, scientists at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at SOEST and colleagues documented that the more flexible corals are, the more sensitive to environment disturbances they are. (more…)

New Study by WHOI Scientists Provides Baseline Measurements of Carbon in Arctic Ocean

By Guest PostMay 21, 2012Environmentalaska, arctic ocean, biogeosciences, canada basin, canadian coast guard, carbon, carbon 13, carbon atoms, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, CO2, david griffith, fiona mclaughlin, global climate, icebreaker, li xu, marine ecosystem, organic carbon, pacific, pathway, robie macdonald, sea ice melt, Siberia, temperatures, whoi

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have conducted a new study to measure levels of carbon at various depths in the Arctic Ocean. The study, recently published in the journal Biogeosciences, provides data that will help researchers better understand the Arctic Ocean’s carbon cycle—the pathway through which carbon enters and is used by the marine ecosystem. It will also offer an important point of reference for determining how those levels of carbon change over time, and how the ecosystem responds to rising global temperatures.

“Carbon is the currency of life. Where carbon is coming from, which organisms are using it, how they’re giving off carbon themselves—these things say a lot about how an ocean ecosystem works,” says David Griffith, the lead author on the study. “If warming temperatures perturb the Arctic Ocean, the way that carbon cycles through that system may change.” (more…)

Yale-led Team Finds CO2 Levels Plunged as Antarctica Froze

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2011Environmentalgae, atmosphere, carbon dioxide levels, climate transition, co2 and climate change, critical condition, cryosphere, earth, eocene epoch, eocene to oligocene, freezing of antarctica, fundamental link, geochemist, global climate change, global cooling, greenhouse gases, ice sheets, icing of antarctica, mark pagani, matthew huber, molecules, oligocene, polar ice caps, robert m deconto, sea level, temperatures, yale university, zhonghui liu

A Yale University-led research team has found evidence that carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere plunged prior to and during the initial icing of Antarctica, about 34 million years ago. The new findings provide further evidence of atmospheric carbon dioxide’s role as a major trigger of global climate change.

“CO2 is tracking global cooling at that time,” said Yale geochemist Mark Pagani, lead author of a paper published online Dec. 1 in the journal Science. “It’s important to demonstrate that there are obvious linkages between CO2 and climate change. It’s one more piece of evidence that CO2 is a primary lever on climate.” (more…)

Microbial life on Mars: Could Saltwater Make it Possible?

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2011Scienceair pressure, antarctic lakes, atmospheres, bruce block, carbon dioxide, daily and seasonal cycles, earth, forms of microbial life, gregory dick, gulf of mexico, mars, Mars Phoenix Lander, mars today, microbe, microbial life, NASA, nilton renno, organisms, perchlorate salts, salt loving extremophile microorganisms, saltwater on mars, sea level, temperatures, the centro de astrobiologia in madrid, the university of georgia, united states, university of michigan, university of texas at dallas, water vapor

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— How common are droplets of saltwater on Mars? Could microbial life survive and reproduce in them? A new million-dollar NASA project led by the University of Michigan aims to answer those questions.

This project begins three years after beads of liquid brine were first photographed on one of the Mars Phoenix lander’s legs.

“On Earth, everywhere there’s liquid water, there is microbial life,” said Nilton Renno, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences who is the principal investigator. Researchers from NASA, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Georgia and the Centro de Astrobiologia in Madrid are also involved. (more…)

Melting Ice on Arctic Islands a Major Player in Sea Level Rise

By Guest PostApril 25, 2011Environmentalaska, alex gardner, Antarctica, canadian arctic, canadian arctic archipelago, canadian arctic islands, climate, earth, gravimetry, gravitational field, greenland, ice caps, lake erie, melting glaciers, melting of glacier ice, mountain glaciers, numerical simulation, patagonia, sea-level rise, temperatures, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Melting glaciers and ice caps on Canadian Arctic islands play a much greater role in sea level rise than scientists previously thought, according to a new study led by a University of Michigan researcher.

The 550,000-square-mile Canadian Arctic Archipelago contains some 30,000 islands. Between 2004 and 2009, the region lost the equivalent of three-quarters of the water in Lake Erie, the study found. Warmer-than-usual temperatures in those years caused a rapid increase in the melting of glacier ice and snow, said Alex Gardner, a research fellow in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences who led the project. The study is published online in Nature on April 20. (more…)

Main Culprit of Deadly Russian Heat Wave? Natural Variability

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2011Environmentatmospheric blocking pattern, atmospheric carbon dioxide, atmospheric models, boulder, climate change, climate surprise, computer climate models, concentration, crop failures, daily average temperatures, early summer of 2010, earth system research laboratory, esrl, greenhouse gas concentrations, heat wave, judith perlwitz, martin hoerling, mio matsueda, moscow, munich reinsurance, natural atmospheric phenomenon, randall dole, russia, russian heat wave, signal of a warming climate, summer storms, temperatures, warming hole, weather extremes

WASHINGTON — The deadly Russian heat wave of 2010 was due to a natural atmospheric phenomenon often associated with weather extremes, according to a new study. And while the scientists could not attribute the intensity of this particular heat wave to climate change, they found that extreme heat waves are likely to become increasingly frequent in the region in coming decades.

The research team drew from scientific observations and computer climate models to evaluate the possible roles of natural and human-caused climate influences on the severity of the heat wave. The study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. (more…)

Greenland’s Glaciers Double in Speed

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2011Environmentairborne radar systems, antarctic ice sheet, Arctic, basins and mountains, Cambridge University, glacier, glaciologist, global climate system, global ocean, global sea level change, greenland, greenland ice sheet, humankind, icebergs, icy world, julian dowdeswell, polar regions, radar systems, sea level, seas, sub glacial mountains, temperatures

The contribution of Greenland to global sea level change and the mapping of previously unknown basins and mountains beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet are highlighted in a new film released by Cambridge University this morning.

The work of glaciologist Professor Julian Dowdeswell, Director of Cambridge University’s Scott Polar Research Institute, is the focus of This Icy World, the latest film in the University’s Cambridge Ideas series. (more…)