http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/ecology/ Ecology and environment news. Research on biodiversity reduction and ecosystems. Read news articles on coral bleaching, deforestation and wetland ecology. en-us Mon, 12 May 2008 09:05:01 EDT Mon, 12 May 2008 09:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/ecology/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508142820.htm An endangered species of flora or fauna ups the risk of the extinction of the other species in its ecological community. Trophically unique species are more vulnerable for cascading extinction, according to studies of a team of theoretical biologists. Sun, 11 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508142820.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083958.htm Walking through the last rainforests on the volcanic island of Mauritius, located some 800 km east of Madagascar, one is surrounded by ghosts. Since human colonisation in the 17th century, the island has lost most of its unique animals. The litany includes the famous flightless dodo, giant tortoises, parrots, pigeons, fruitbats, and giant lizards. It is comparatively easy to notice the los­­s of a species, but much more difficult to realise how many interactions have been lost as a result. Fri, 09 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083958.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509171616.htm Reducing the spread of some invasive species into our lakes could be as simple as asking boaters and fishers to dry out their equipment, says one biology professor studying invasive species in Lake Ontario. When anchor rope, fishing line and the boats themselves are thoroughly dried, the invasive species and their eggs will die, rather than spreading to another location, she explains. "It's such a simple thing for the general public to do, and yet it could make a big difference in the way that our lake ecosystems function." Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509171616.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133259.htm The Amazon rainforest, so crucial to the Earth's climate system, is coming under threat from cleaner air say prominent climate scientists. The new study identifies a link between reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal and increasing sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, resulting in a heightened risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest. Thu, 08 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133259.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105549.htm Research led by Iowa State University limnologist John Downing finds that ponds around the globe could absorb as much carbon as the world's oceans. Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105549.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133330.htm What if hydrology is more important for predicting biodiversity than biology? New research challenges current thinking about biodiversity, and opens up new avenues for predicting how climate change or human activity may affect biodiversity patterns. Thu, 08 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133330.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211806.htm The quality of pollen a plant produces is closely tied to its sexual habits, ecologists have discovered. As well as helping explain the evolution of such intimate relationships between plants and pollinators, the study also helps explain the recent dramatic decline in certain bumblebee species found in the shrinking areas of species-rich chalk grasslands and hay meadows across Northern Europe. Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211806.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211835.htm The Arctic has become a poster child for the negative effects of climate change, but new research that species living in the tropics likely face the greatest peril in a warmer world. Tue, 06 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211835.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501125429.htm Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have identified a potential "red tide killer." Red tides and related phenomena in which microscopic algae accumulate rapidly in dense concentrations have been on the rise in recent years, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in worldwide losses to fisheries and beach tourism activities. Despite their wide-ranging impacts, such phenomena, more broadly referred to as "harmful algal blooms," remain unpredictable in not only where they appear, but how long they persist. Tue, 06 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501125429.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430103945.htm Researchers have now quantified the amount of excess nitrogen removed from an urban stream during environmental restoration projects. This breakthrough allows environmental managers to assess the pollution-reducing benefits of storm water management and urban stream restoration, and could lead to new nitrogen reduction opportunities as public works managers make repairs to our nation's aging urban infrastructure. Tue, 06 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430103945.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501180247.htm Fire-derived charcoal is thought to be an important carbon sink. However, a new article in Science shows that charcoal promotes soil microbes and causes a large loss of soil carbon. There has been greatly increasing attention given to the potential of ‘biochar’, or charcoal made from biological tissues (e.g., wood) to serve as a long term sink of carbon in the soil. Sun, 04 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501180247.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430141200.htm Scientists have discovered a new climate pattern, the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. This pattern explains, for the first time, changes in the water important in helping commercial fishermen understand fluctuations in the fish stock. They're also finding that as the Earth is warming, large fluctuations in these factors could help climatologists predict how oceans will respond in a warmer world. Fri, 02 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430141200.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501143406.htm Scientists confirm computer model predictions that oxygen-depleted zones in tropical oceans are expanding, possibly because of climate change. Oceanographers have discovered that oxygen-poor regions of tropical oceans are expanding as the oceans warm, limiting the areas in which predatory fishes and other marine organisms can live or enter in search of food. Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501143406.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm Similarities between half-billion-year-old and recent food webs point to deep principles underpinning the structure of ecological relationships, as shown by researchers from the Santa Fe Institute, Microsoft Research Cambridge and elsewhere. Analyses of food-web data suggest that most, but not all, aspects of the trophic structure of modern ecosystems were in place over a half-billion years ago. Thu, 01 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428133928.htm Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rain forests were cut down, researchers are attempting what many thought was impossible -- restoring a tropical rain forest ecosystem. When the researchers planted worn-out cattle pastures in Costa Rica with a sampling of local trees in the early 1990s, native species of plants began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rain forests could one day be replaced. Ten years after the tree plantings, researchers counted the species of plants that took up residence in the shade of the new planted areas. They found remarkably high numbers of species -- more than 100 in each plot. And many of the new arrivals were also to be found in nearby remnants of the original forests. Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428133928.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429095049.htm Researchers discovered a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker along with 12 other suspected new species in Brazil's Cerrado, one of the world's 34 biodiversity conservation hotspots. The Cerrado's wooded grassland once covered an area half the size of Europe, but is now being converted to cropland and ranchland at twice the rate of the neighboring Amazon rainforest, resulting in the loss of native vegetation and unique species. Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429095049.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428140002.htm Hurricanes and storms limit the ability of corals in Belize to "recruit" new coral into their communities, according to a new study in Marine Environmental Research. Coral reefs --- which can grow to be thousands of years old --- form and grow when free-swimming coral larvae in the ocean attach to rocks or other hard surfaces and begin to develop. Intense storms can wipe out this "recruitment" process. Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428140002.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424115706.htm In less than three decades the round goby has become one of the most colorful features of the southern Baltic. The fish, which comes from the Black Sea, has rapidly adapted to Baltic conditions and can locally dominate coastal fish populations. This has led to competition with indigenous fish species, such as the flounder, but it has also become a significant contribution to the diet of important predatory fishes, such as cod and perch. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424115706.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423101813.htm Ecologists have discovered that subterranean and aboveground herbivorous insects can communicate with each other by using plants as telephones. Subterranean insects issue chemical warning signals via the leaves of the plant. This way, aboveground insects are alerted that the plant is already "occupied." Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423101813.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424112451.htm In the first experiment in a natural environment, scientists have shown that greater plant diversity significantly enhances an ecosystem's productivity. The finding underscores the importance of biodiversity to an ecosystem's value, such as capturing the global warming gas carbon dioxide. Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424112451.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080425095207.htm More than 20 years of continuous measurements and a dose of "belief" yield discovery of subtle ocean currents that could dramatically improve forecasts of climate, ecosystem changes. A scientific team detected the presence of crisscrossing patterns of currents running throughout the world's oceans. The new data could help scientists significantly improve high-resolution models that help them understand trends in climate and marine ecosystems. Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080425095207.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416091012.htm Deep-sea sharks have been tagged and tracked and their habitats precisely mapped in world-first research to test the conservation value of areas closed to commercial fishing. Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416091012.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416165732.htm Scientists have developed a new model that accurately maps where coral reefs are in the most trouble, and identifies regions where reefs can be protected best. The model is being applied in areas throughout the Indian Ocean. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416165732.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416153548.htm Fishing activities can provoke volatile fluctuations in the populations they target, but it's not often clear why. Fishing can alter the "age pyramid" by lopping off the few large, older fish that make up the top of the pyramid, leaving a broad base of faster-growing small younglings. Biologists found that this rapidly growing and transitory base is dynamically unstable -- a finding having profound implications for the ecosystem and the fishing industries built upon it. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416153548.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080417175221.htm Songbirds feeding near the contaminated South River are showing high levels of mercury, even though they aren't eating food from the river itself, according to a new article in Science. Mercury is one of the world's most troublesome pollutants, especially in water. "The birds eat a lot of spiders... The spiders have a lot of mercury in them and are delivering the mercury to these songbirds," one of the researchers said. Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080417175221.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415210623.htm One of Hawaii's most dominant plants, Metrosideros, has been a resident of the islands far longer than previously believed. Metrosideros, commonly called "ohi'a" in the Hawaiian Islands, has puzzled researchers for years. Although previously thought to be a newcomer to the islands, these plants are well integrated into the islands' ecosystems. Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415210623.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415101021.htm Half a century after the last earth-shattering atomic blast shook the Pacific atoll of Bikini, the corals are flourishing again. Some coral species, however, appear to be locally extinct. One of the most interesting aspects is that the team dived into the vast Bravo Crater left in 1954 by the most powerful American atom bomb ever exploded (15 megatons - a thousand times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb). The Bravo bomb vaporised three islands, raised water temperatures to 55,000 degrees, shook islands 200 kilometers away and left a crater 2km wide and 73m deep. Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415101021.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403104353.htm Millions of people tend birdfeeders in their backyards each year, often out of a desire to help the animals. But a new survey of research on the topic finds that feeding may not always bring a positive outcome for the birds. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403104353.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402164135.htm A new computer model has been developed that provides land managers with a more efficient and cost-effective approach for controlling gypsy moths and other invasive pests. The model, which recommends different management strategies for individual situations, indicates the best strategies for managing the destructive pests. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402164135.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401200446.htm Coral reefs could be dying out because of changes to the microbes that live in them just as much as from the direct rise in temperature caused by global warming, according to scientists. Tropical ecosystems are currently balanced on a climate change knife edge. Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401200446.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402114825.htm Modern agriculture and land-use practices may lead to major disruptions of the world's water flows, with potentially sudden and dire consequences for regions least able to cope with them researchers have warned. Recent outbreaks of toxic algae blooms in Quebec lakes and off Sweden's Baltic Sea coast are prime examples of ecosystem flips, the consequence of nutrients from fertilizers permeating the soil and running off into streams, lakes and oceans. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402114825.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401095212.htm Bacteria that consume heavy metals have been found in some of the most contaminated parts of the Peak District in the Southern Pennines, UK and may be changing the pollutants into more toxic forms that could leak out into reservoirs. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401095212.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401112354.htm There is widespread interest in restoring land damaged by gravel-sand mining, but the high costs of such projects can be off-putting. A new study in Restoration Ecology offers remarkable new evidence that these damaged environments can be effectively restored within about 25 years, and at virtually no cost. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401112354.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331222115.htm New research finds fresh evidence that urbanization in the United States threatens the populations of some species of migratory birds. But the six-year study also refutes one of the most widely accepted explanations of why urban areas are so hostile to some kinds of birds. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331222115.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401081924.htm The increase in imports and visitors to China in recent years has spurred an influx of economically damaging plants and animals. Massive construction projects, as well as new highways and railways and growth in domestic air travel, are exacerbating these biological invasions. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401081924.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330212514.htm Evolution can lead to greater biological diversity, and particularly to improvements in the functioning of ecosystems. New research shows evolution as a structuring force for ecosystems, and it open new paths to interpreting the relationship between the diversity of living beings and the functioning of ecosystems. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330212514.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330214448.htm More than two million trees belonging to nearly 5000 species, growing in tropical forests spread over 12 sites and three continents, have been monitored since the 1980s. The aims of this major study were to analyze the carbon storage capacity of tropical forests and measure the effects of climate change on how they function. Researchers found that tropical forests did indeed act as carbon sinks, but appeared to react principally to intrinsic phenomena rather than climate change. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080330214448.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331172503.htm Higher organisms do not have a "cost of complexity" -- or slowdown in the evolution of complex traits -- according to a new article in Nature. Biologists have long puzzled over the relationship between evolution of complex traits and the randomness of mutations in genes. Some have proposed that a "cost of complexity" makes it more difficult to evolve a complicated trait by random mutations, because effects of beneficial mutations are diluted. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331172503.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327172055.htm A tiny beetle is wreaking catastrophic action on the deteriorating Chihuahuan desert. Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327172055.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327093626.htm US Forest Service scientists with the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry have completed a study on ways to make high-value koa trees grow faster, while increasing biodiversity, carbon sequestration, scenic beauty and recreation opportunities in native Hawaiían forests. Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327093626.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327172031.htm Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rainforests were cut down, researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute took on a project that many thought was impossible -- restoring a tropical rainforest ecosystem. When the researchers planted worn-out cattle fields in Costa Rica with a sampling of local trees, native species began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rainforests can one day be replaced. Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327172031.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325083359.htm Molecular evidence provides strong evidence that speciation rates slow down through time. New species seem to appear less and less as the number of species in a region approaches the maximum number that it can support. Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325083359.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080318222509.htm In many regions of Africa, elephants are frequent visitors to farms and villages as they roam the landscape searching for food and water. This often brings them into conflict with humans. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are tracking their movements through southern and eastern Africa using satellite collars in an effort to understand their ecology and help prevent these conflicts. Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080318222509.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326093056.htm Scientists have made the first global-scale analysis of the processes leading to freshwater fish invasion in river basins. This phenomenon affects most river ecosystems of countries of the Northern hemisphere. However, in the context of economic growth developing countries are now experiencing, their river basins, home to the greater part of freshwater fish biodiversity, are at risk of the same fate unless vigilance is applied. Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326093056.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325203442.htm Evidence shows that a new logging road in Riau Province is cutting into the heart of Sumatra's largest contiguous peatland forest, a rare hydrological ecosystem that acts as one of the planet's biggest carbon stores. Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325203442.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325114917.htm Scientists have recently integrated remote sensing products with a national carbon accounting framework to quantify soil carbon fluxes over large regions. This advancement allows for the identification of soil and environmental attributes that are associated with unique combinations of planted crop and associated management inputs at the sub-county scale. The study illustrates the ability to model carbon dynamics associated with actual crop fields for entire regions or continents. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325114917.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080324203807.htm A decline by more than 70 percent of several North American shorebird species since the early 1970s has brought state, federal and international concern about conservation efforts for these birds and their wetland habitat. Wildlife ecologists are particularly interested in conservation measures aimed at slowing the decline. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080324203807.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080324091101.htm Over two hundred million humans depend for their subsistence on the fact that coral has an addiction to "junk food" -- and orders its partners, the symbiotic algae, to make it. This curious arrangement is one of nature's most delicate and complex partnerships -- a collaboration now facing grave threats from climate change. Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080324091101.htm