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Archive for May 17th, 2010
‘Climate change’ danger to salmon and trout in Wye
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
BBC: Climate change could be putting salmon and trout at risk, according to work by Cardiff University scientists. Researchers studied young salmon and trout populations in the River Wye and its tributaries between 1985 and 2004. The study found salmon numbers fell by 50% and trout by 67%, with the fish hardest hit following hot, dry summers. However, the Wye and Usk Foundation said since the research, wet summers had brought improvements to young salmon and trout ...
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Productivity key to reducing emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
Otago Daily Times: Improved productivity could reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions from sheep by up to 12%, according to the author of a study which calculated the carbon footprint of sheep. Stewart Ledgard, a principal AgResearch scientist, said a higher lambing percentage and faster lamb growth rates offered the best options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from sheep, as opposed to reducing fossil fuel use, which was low on sheep farms compared with other intensive agricultural ...
Lloyd’s of London warns of ‘perfect storm’ threat to insurance market
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
Guardian: The head of the Lloyd's of London insurance market warns today that one more major disaster could plunge the insurance industry into the red this year. Richard Ward will tell a gathering of insurance chiefs that the industry is facing the toughest year he can remember, the Guardian has learned. "It isn't overstating the situation to say that the insurance industry is facing a potential perfect storm this year," Ward says in his keynote speech at the Insurance Day London ...
Mediterranean most at risk from European heatwaves
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
Nature: A projected increase in heatwaves in Europe would hit low-lying river basins and coastal cities across the Mediterranean the hardest, say researchers. Erich Fischer and Christoph Schär of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich used global and regional climate models to predict changes in the frequency and duration of summer hot spells in Europe during the twenty-first century. They used a middle-of-the-road scenario for climate change and economic growth to learn about ...
Prehistoric fish extinction cleared path for vertebrates: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: A mass extinction of prehistoric fish some 360 million years ago cleared the path for the evolution of modern vertebrates, a study published Monday has found. "Everything was hit; the extinction was global," said lead author Lauren Sallan of the University of Chicago. "It reset vertebrate diversity in every single environment, both freshwater and marine, and created a completely different world." While the mass extinction at the end of the Devonian period is among the ...
Louisiana shrimpers glum despite oil leak progress
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
Reuters: News that energy giant BP has made progress in curbing the flow of oil gushing from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico did little to lighten the mood of downtrodden fisherman along Louisiana's coast on Monday. "They should have plugged it up in the first place," said Drake Dupre, 48, a gray-bearded shrimp boat captain in the Terrebonne Parish village of Chauvin, as he hosed down his vessel. "They're doing all this stupid stuff first." Gesturing to his docked trawler, named for his ...
Fire destroys rare snake collection
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 17th, 2010
Independent (UK): A fire in Brazil has destroyed what may have been the world's largest scientific collection of dead snakes, spiders and scorpions, which served as the main source for research on many species. Members of the Instituto Butantan said the nearly 100-year-old collection lost in the fire included almost 80,000 snakes and several thousand specimens of spiders and scorpions. The specimens were used to study evolution and how to avert extinctions, said institute director Otavio ...
Presidential commission to probe Gulf oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
Reuters: President Barack Obama will create a presidential commission to probe the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and energy giant BP said on Monday it had "turned the corner" in its efforts to contain it. London-based BP Plc said its latest "quick fix" -- a mile-long siphon tube deployed by undersea robots down to the leaking well-- was capturing about a fifth of the oil leaking from the ruptured well. Officials cautioned that the tube is helping contain the oil but will not stop the ...
Scientists worry current could carry oil to Keys
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
Associated Press: With BP finally gaining some control over the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, scientists are increasingly worried that huge plumes of crude already spilled could get caught in a current that would carry the mess all the way to the Florida Keys and beyond, damaging coral reefs and killing wildlife. Scientists said the oil will move into the so-called loop current soon if it hasn't already, though they could not say exactly when or how much there would be. Once it is in ...
To U.S. offshore drilling official abruptly retires
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 17th, 2010
McClatchy Newspapers: The top federal official in charge of overseeing offshore drilling retired abruptly on Monday as BP's chief operating officer pledged that his company would never pump oil from the runaway Deepwater Horizon well that exploded, killed 11 workers and began spewing millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico . Some in Congress welcomed Chris Oynes' resignation as the head of the Minerals Management Service's offshore drilling program as a sign that the administration would ...