Drought Research News

July 26, 2024

Top Headlines

Agriculture: Less Productive Yet More Stable Pastures

July 22, 2024 — Climate change will have a considerable influence on the biodiversity and productivity of meadows and pastures. However, according to the results of the large-scale climate and land use experiment the extent of these changes depends on the land use. ...

Study Examines Urban Forests Across the United States

July 12, 2024 — Tree-planting campaigns have been underway in the United States, especially in cities, as part of climate mitigation efforts given the many environmental benefits of urban forests. But a new study finds that some areas within urban forests in the ...

Near Chromosome-Level Genome of the Mojave Poppy Bee

July 2, 2024 — Scientists have developed a near chromosome-level genome for the Mojave poppy bee, a specialist pollinator of conservation ...

Groundbreaking Discovery: Zinc Can Make Crop Yields More Climate-Resilient

June 27, 2024 — Climate change, drought, increased temperature and other stressors challenge agricultural sustainability. Researchers have now made an unexpected discovery: zinc plays a pivotal role in the plant response to abiotic stress. This groundbreaking ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:43pm EDT

Human Activity: A Double-Edged Sword in the Face of Drought

June 21, 2024 — A professor analyzes the conflicting impacts of human activities on extreme spring ...

When in Drought: Researchers Map Which Parts of the Amazon Are Most Vulnerable to Climate Change

June 19, 2024 — Some areas of the Amazon rainforest are more resilient to drought than others, new research shows. But if not managed carefully, we could 'threaten ...

Fish out of Water: How Killifish Embryos Adapted Their Development

June 6, 2024 — The annual killifish lives in regions with extreme drought. A research group now reports that the early embryogenesis of killifish diverges from that of other species. Unlike other fish, their body ...

Summer Droughts in Northern Hemisphere Increasingly Likely as Seasonal Streamflows Change

June 4, 2024 — Declining snowfall is changing the seasonal patterns of streamflow throughout the Northern hemisphere boosting chances of water shortages in the ...

High Groundwater Depletion Risk in South Korea in 2080s

May 30, 2024 — Team utilizes advanced statistical techniques to project the future groundwater depletion ...

Rising Temperatures Will Significantly Reduce Streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin as Groundwater Levels Fall

May 23, 2024 — The Colorado River makes life possible in many Western cities and supports agriculture that sustains people throughout the country. Most of the ...

U.S. Drought-Monitoring System Outpaced by Climate Changes

May 20, 2024 — A new study reports that the U.S. Drought Monitor's weekly maps of nationwide drought conditions -- which help direct emergency federal aid -- have captured the steady march of climate change, but ...

Roots Are a Key to Drought-Tolerant Maize

May 22, 2024 — Maize can grow successfully in very different local conditions. An international study has now demonstrated the important role of the plant root system. The researchers analyzed more than 9,000 ...

Warming Climate Intensifies Flash Droughts Worldwide

May 21, 2024 — Sudden, severe dry spells known as flash droughts are rising in intensity around the world, with a notable exception in mountainous Central Asia, where flash drought extent is shrinking, according to ...

Unraveling the Drought Dilemma: Can Reservoirs Be a Carbon Source?

May 20, 2024 — A team delves into the spatiotemporal patterns of water volume and total organic carbon concentration of agricultural ...

Additional Taxes Vs. Water Quotas: Study Compares the Most Effective System to Manage Water Consumption in Agriculture

July 16, 2024 — A new study finds that the proportional allocation of water, and not additional taxes on the resource, is more effective from the point of view of those engaged in ...

Airborne Technology Brings New Hope to Map Shallow Aquifers in Earth's Most Arid Deserts

May 16, 2024 — The new technique will map the top of the aquifer, called the 'water table,' spanning areas as large as hundreds of kilometers using a radar mounted on a high-altitude aircraft. According ...

Take Cover! Survey Shows Tornado Warnings Widely Misunderstood

May 9, 2024 — A study showed that about half of those surveyed in the mid-South could not accurately identify a tornado ...

Sister Cities Can Help Communities Better Navigate the Climate Crisis

May 3, 2024 — Anthropologists suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate ...

Plants Utilize Drought Stress Hormone to Block Snacking Spider Mites

May 3, 2024 — Recent findings that plants employ a drought-survival mechanism to also defend against nutrient-sucking pests could inform future crop breeding programs aimed at achieving better broadscale pest ...

Wildfires in Wet African Forests Have Doubled in Recent Decades

May 2, 2024 — Climate change and human activities like deforestation are causing more fires in central and west Africa's wet, tropical forests, according to the first-ever comprehensive survey there. The ...

Diversity and Productivity Go Branch-in-Branch

Apr. 24, 2024 — Researchers found that forests with higher trait diversity not only adapt better to climate change but may also thrive. The study unveiled how tree functional trait diversity plays a pivotal role in ...

How Soil Microbes Survive in Harsh Desert Environments

Apr. 17, 2024 — Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall -- how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by microbiologists. ...

New Approach Needed to Save Australia's Non-Perennial Rivers

Apr. 10, 2024 — An extensive review of current research incorporating geomorphology, hydrology, biogeochemistry, ecology and Indigenous knowledges identifies prevailing factors that shape water and energy flows in ...

Scientist Helps Link Climate Change to Madagascar's Megadrought

Apr. 9, 2024 — A team reveals a clear link between human-driven climate change and the years-long drought currently gripping southern ...

Groundbreaking Research in Groundwater's Role in Ecosystem Sustainability

Apr. 3, 2024 — Until now, groundwater -- a critical water resource around the globe, especially in dry regions -- has been largely unstudied in its importance and role in sustaining ecosystems. New groundbreaking ...

Australia on Track for Unprecedented, Decades-Long Megadroughts

Apr. 2, 2024 — Australia could soon see megadroughts that last for more than 20 years, according to new modelling. The researchers' bleak findings are before factoring in human impact on the climate since the ...

Droughts in Europe Could Be Avoided With Faster Emissions Cuts

Mar. 25, 2024 — Models suggest summer rainfall in southern Europe could decline by up to 48% by the year 2100 if emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise ...

Maize Genes Control Little Helpers in the Soil

Mar. 25, 2024 — Tiny organisms such as bacteria and fungi help to promote the health and function of plant roots. It is commonly assumed that the composition of these microbes is dependent on the properties of the ...

Diverse Habitats Help Salmon Weather Unpredictable Climate Changes

Mar. 14, 2024 — Restored salmon habitat should resemble financial portfolios, offering fish diverse options for feeding and survival so that they can weather various conditions as the climate changes, a new study ...

Drought, Soil Desiccation Cracking, and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: An Overlooked Feedback Loop Exacerbating Climate Change

Mar. 13, 2024 — Soil stores 80 percent of carbon on earth, yet with increasing cycles of drought, that crucial reservoir is cracking and breaking down, releasing even more greenhouse gases creating an amplified ...

How Climate Change Risks Increase at a National Scale as the Level of Global Warming Increases

Feb. 29, 2024 — Researchers have quantified how climate change risks to human and natural systems increase at a national scale as the level of global warming increases. A collection of eight studies -- all focusing ...

Study Finds Drought Fuels Invasive Species After Wildfires

Feb. 28, 2024 — Scientists uncover the intricate dance between drought, wildfires and invasive species in Southern California's coastal sage scrub ...

Scientists Assemble a Richer Picture of the Plight and Resilience of the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog

Feb. 26, 2024 — Up to only a few inches in length, with a lemon-hued belly, the foothill yellow-legged frog may seem unassuming. But its range once stretched from central Oregon to Baja California. In 2023, it was ...

Is the Amazon Forest Approaching a Tipping Point?

Feb. 14, 2024 — Global warming may be interacting with regional rainfall and deforestation to accelerate forest loss in the Amazon, pushing it towards partial or total collapse. New research has identified the ...