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MU scientists find new farming method to reduce greenhouse gases, increase farm yields
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 14th, 2011
Science Centric: U.S. agricultural practices create 58 percent of nitrous oxide in the world, which is the third most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Scientists believe nitrous oxide contributes to global warming about 300 times more than carbon dioxide. New practices and products have been introduced to address this issue, but farmers do not have the time or profit margins to experiment with ideas that may ultimately hurt the 'bottom line.' Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found methods...
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Mountain glacier melt to contribute 12 centimetres to world sea-level increases by 2100
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 10th, 2011
Science Centric: Melt off from small mountain glaciers and ice caps will contribute about 12 centimetres to world sea-level increases by 2100, according to UBC research published this week in Nature Geoscience.
The largest contributors to projected global sea-level increases are glaciers in Arctic Canada, Alaska and landmass bound glaciers in the Antarctic. Glaciers in the European Alps, New Zealand, the Caucasus, Western Canada and the Western United Sates - though small absolute contributors to global sea-level...
Freshwater methane release changes greenhouse gas equation
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 8th, 2011
Science Centric: An international team of scientists has released data indicating that greenhouse gas uptake by continents is less than previously thought because of methane emissions from freshwater areas.
John Downing, an Iowa State University professor in the ecology, evolution and organismal biology department, is part of an international team that concluded that methane release from inland waters is higher than previous estimates.
The study, published in the journal Science, indicates that methane gas...
The ecosystem engineer: Research looks at beavers’ role in river restoration
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 4th, 2011
Science Centric: When engineers restore rivers, one Kansas State University professor hopes they'll keep a smaller engineer in mind: the North American beaver.
Beavers are often called ecosystem engineers because they can radically alter stream or valley bottom ecosystems, said Melinda Daniels, an associate professor of geography who recently studied the connection between beavers and river restoration. Beaver dams create diverse river landscapes, she said, and can turn a single-thread channel stream into a meadow,...
Globalisation burdens future generations with biological invasions
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 3rd, 2011
Science Centric: A new study on biological invasions based on extensive data of alien species from 10 taxonomic groups and 28 European countries has shown that patterns of established alien species richness are more related to historical levels of socio-economic drivers than to contemporary ones. An international group of 16 researchers reported the new finding this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The publication resulted from the three-year project...
Efficient phosphorus use by phytoplankton
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on December 18th, 2010
Science Centric: Rapid turnover and remodelling of lipid membranes could help phytoplankton cope with nutrient scarcity in the open ocean.
A team led by Patrick Martin of the National Oceanography Centre has shown that a species of planktonic marine alga can rapidly change the chemical composition of its cell membranes in response to changes in nutrient supply. The findings indicate that the process may be important for nutrient cycling and the population dynamics of phytoplankton in the open ocean.
Tiny free-floating...
Elevated zinc concentrations in Colorado waterway likely a result of climate change
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on December 16th, 2010
Science Centric: Rising concentrations of zinc in a waterway on Colorado's Western Slope may be the result of climate change that is affecting the timing of annual snowmelt, says a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The study focused on the Snake River watershed just west of the Continental Divide near Keystone, Colo., where CU-Boulder researchers have observed a four-fold increase in dissolved zinc over the last 30 years during the lowest water flow months, said Caitlin Crouch. Crouch, a...
Satellites give an eagle eye on thunderstorms
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on December 16th, 2010
Science Centric: It's one of the more frustrating parts of summer. You check the weather forecast, see nothing dramatic, and go hiking or biking. Then, four hours later, a thunderstorm appears out of nowhere and ruins your afternoon.
Thunderstorms can bring intense rain, hail, lightning and even tornadoes, but 'predicting them a few hours out is one of the great problems of meteorology,' says Chian-Yi Liu, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And the consequences can be more serious...
UC Davis study: Wild salmon decline was not caused by sea lice from farm salmon
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on December 14th, 2010
Science Centric: A new UC Davis study contradicts earlier reports that salmon farms were responsible for the 2002 population crash of wild pink salmon in the Broughton Archipelago of western Canada.
The Broughton crash has become a rallying event for people concerned about the potential environmental effects of open-net salmon farming, which has become a $10 billion industry worldwide, producing nearly 1.5 million tons of fish annually.
The new study, to be published online this week in Proceedings of the National...
Team of scientists predicts continued death of forests in southwestern US due to climate change
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on December 14th, 2010
Science Centric: If current climate projections hold true, the forests of the Southwestern United States face a bleak future, with more severe - and more frequent - forest fires, higher tree death rates, more insect infestation, and weaker trees. The findings by university and government scientists are published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
'Our study shows that regardless of rainfall going up or down, forests in the Southwest U.S. are very sensitive to temperature...