Herring larvae could benefit from an acidifying ocean

A long-term field study in a Swedish fjord shows how rising carbon dioxide levels can affect food webs and fish survival

Date:

March 29, 2018

Source:

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Summary:

Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is making the oceans more acidic. Some studies show that's bad news for fish, including commercially important species. But a new study shows that herring might be able to tolerate this change.

These strange-looking floating objects are really giant plastic test tubes called KOSMOS mesocosms that extend roughly 19 metres deep. Researchers used them to test the response of young herring to ocean acidification.

Credit: KOSMOS/GEOMAR

Human-centered design is key to forming partnerships for large-scale conservation success

Date:

March 29, 2018

Source:

Virginia Tech

Summary:

To recruit more fishers to help with marine conservation, cast a wider net. New findings question previous assumptions in the field that the payments themselves are the most effective motivator of participation.

Small-scale fishers mainly use diving gear and these deckless boats to harvest inshore finfish, benthic invertebrates, and algae.

Credit: Mike Sorice

Public willing to pay to improve ecosystem water quality

Date:

March 28, 2018

Source:

University of Missouri-Columbia

Summary:

Researchers have found in a nationwide survey that members of the public are more willing to pay for improved water quality than other ecosystem services such as flood control or protecting wildlife habitats.

In the wake of the recent water crisis in Flint, Michigan, in which studies confirmed lead contamination in the city's drinking supply, awareness of the importance of protecting watersheds has increased. User-financed ecosystem service programs can compensate landowners to voluntarily participate in environmental improvement efforts. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri have found in a nationwide survey that members of the public are more willing to pay for improved water quality than other ecosystem services such as flood control or protecting wildlife habitats.

Salvage logging is often a pretext for harvesting wood

Date:

March 27, 2018

Source:

University of Würzburg

Summary:

An increasing proportion of the world's protected forests are subject to extensive logging activities. The practice is called 'salvage logging' and allegedly aims to protect, e.g. areas of windthrow against bark beetle infestation. However, a new study has found that this instrument is used far too often.

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Salvage logging in the Bavarian Forest National Park according to the national park regulations. Here, trees infested by bark beetles are extracted in a future core zone.

Credit: Reinhold Weinberger, Bavarian Forest National Park management

Are fire ants worse this spring because of Hurricane Harvey?

Ecologists are checking to see if floods gave advantage to invasive ants

Date:

March 26, 2018

Source:

Rice University

Summary:

Ecologists are checking to see if Hurricane Harvey's unprecedented floods gave a competitive boost to fire ants and crazy ants, two of southeast Texas' least favorite uninvited guests.

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Rice University ecologists Sarah Bengston and Tom Miller examine ants at Big Thicket National Preserve near Beaumont, Texas. The researchers are studying whether Hurricane Harvey's unprecedented floods gave a competitive boost to invasive fire ants and crazy ants.

Credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University

Alberta's boreal forest could be dramatically altered by 2100 due to climate change

Model by UAlberta biologists predicts big changes due to climate change and wildfire

Date:

March 26, 2018

Source:

University of Alberta

Summary:

Half of Alberta's upland boreal forest is likely to disappear over the next century due to climate change, a new study shows. The upland forest will be replaced after wildfire by open woodland or grassland, according to research from biologists.

Half of Alberta's upland boreal forest is likely to disappear over the next century due to climate change, a new study shows.

Trends of US surface water body area over three decades

Date:

March 26, 2018

Source:

University of Oklahoma

Summary:

A new research study reveals the divergent trends of open surface water bodies in the contiguous United States from 1984 to 2016, specifically, a decreasing trend in the water-poor states and an increasing trend in the water-rich states. Surface water resources are critical for public water supply, industry, agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystem services.

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This is the Lake Thunderbird reservoir in Norman, Oklahoma.

Credit: University of Oklahoma

Freeloading orchid relies on mushrooms above and below ground

Date:

March 22, 2018

Source:

Kobe University

Summary:

The orchid species Gastrodia pubilabiata mimics rotting mushrooms or fermented fruit, and is pollinated by fruit flies who mistakenly lay their eggs in its flowers. If there are rotting mushrooms near the orchid, its pollination rate increases. As well as using mushrooms to attract insect pollinators, G. pubilabiata survives by absorbing nutrients from the fungal hyphae of mushrooms. This is the first time a plant has been discovered to depend on mushrooms both above and be

(A) This is Gastrodia pubilabiat flowers and the fruit fly pollinators. (B) flowers with eggs laid by fruit flies. (C) Fruit fly carrying G. pubilabiata pollen mass on the Mycena mushroom. (D) Fruit fly carrying G. pubilabiata pollen mass on fermented kaki fruit.

Credit: Kobe University

Five New Fossil Forests Found in Antarctica

Hundreds of millions of years ago, Antarctica was carpeted with prehistoric greenery. Now, scientists may have uncovered clues about what happened in the "Great Dying,"

                                                                                                                          or Permian extinction.

PUBLISHED MARCH 16, 2018

Antarctica is one of the harshest environments on the planet. As the coldest, driest continent, it harbors a world of extremes. The powerful katabatic winds that rush from the polar plateau down the steep, vertical drops around the continent's coast can stir up turbulent snowstorms lasting days or weeks, and the endlessly barren terrain gives Antarctica the title of the world's largest desert.

Reefs help protect vulnerable Caribbean fish from climate change

Date:

March 16, 2018

Source:

University of British Columbia

Summary:

New research suggests that larger reef areas may help protect the Caribbean's coral reef fish communities from the impacts of ocean warming.

Soot transported from elsewhere in world contributes little to melting of some Antarctic glaciers

Dry Valleys study indicates that strong winds can temporarily disturb locally produced black carbon

Date:

March 16, 2018

Source:

National Science Foundation

Summary:

Airborne soot produced by wildfires and fossil-fuel combustion and transported to the remote McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica contains levels of black carbon too low to contribute significantly to the melting of local glaciers, according to a new study.

These are the McMurdo Dry Valleys with a view of Lake Hoare and the Canada Glacier.

Credit: Dave Haney, NSF

Soil fungi may help determine the resilience of forests to environmental change

Date:

March 16, 2018

Source:

University of California - Santa Cruz

Summary:

A major new study reveals that soil fungi could play a significant role in the ability of forests to adapt to environmental change.

Coral reefs suffering in Philippines despite outlawing damaging fishing practices

New research finds dynamite, poison still common fishing methods

Date:

March 16, 2018

Source:

University of British Columbia

Summary:

Some of the fishing methods used in today's small-scale fisheries are causing more damage to coral reefs than ever, a new study has found.

When natural disaster strikes, can insects and other invertebrates recover?

93 percent decline in local invertebrate abundance after 2015 flood

Date:

March 15, 2018

Source:

Entomological Society of America

Summary:

After a 100-year flood struck south central Oklahoma in 2015, a study of the insects, arthropods, and other invertebrates in the area revealed striking declines of most invertebrates in the local ecosystem, a result that researchers say illustrates the hidden impacts of natural disasters.

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The University of Oklahoma Biological Station near Lake Texoma on the state's southern border found itself in the middle of a once-in-a-century flood in June 2015. Three months earlier, researchers there had sampled the insect and invertebrate community in the area, and later sampling found a 93 percent decrease in abundance, a 60 percent decrease in species presence, and a 64 percent decrease in biomass among insects and other invertebrates nine months post-flood.

Credit: Jeff Thrasher

Construction set of magnon logic extended: Magnon spin currents can be controlled via spin valve structure

Date:

March 14, 2018

Source:

Universität Mainz

Summary:

In the emerging field of magnon spintronics, researchers investigate the possibility to transport and process information by means of so-called magnon spin currents. In contrast to electrical currents, on which todays information technology is based, magnon spin currents do not conduct electrical charges but magnetic momenta. These are mediated by magnetic waves, or so-called magnons, which analogous to sound waves propagate through magnetic materials

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Depending on the magnetic configuration of the spin valve, the electrical signal is transmitted (bottom) or suppressed (top).

Credit: Copyright Joel Cramer

Male loggerhead turtles also go back to their nesting beaches to breed

Date:

March 14, 2018

Source:

Universidad de Barcelona

Summary:

Most male loggerhead turtles go back to the nesting beaches to breed –- a common behavior among female turtles --, according to a new study.

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This new study breaks with the classical view on the breeding behaviour of the loggerhead turtle.

Credit: UB-IRBio

Cash payments prompt tropical forest users to harvest less

Study shows people cut 48 percent fewer trees when paid to conserve

Date:

March 14, 2018

Source:

University of Colorado at Boulder

Summary:

An experiment conducted with 1,200 villagers in five developing countries found that when people are given cash to conserve, they cut down fewer trees both while they are being paid and after payments cease.

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Residents of a village in Indonesia participate in a debriefing after participating in a study on cash-payments for conservation.

Credit: Krister Par Andersson/CU Boulder

Marine ecologists study the effects of giant kelp on groups of organisms in the underwater forest ecosystem

Date:

March 14, 2018

Source:

University of California - Santa Barbara

Summary:

When British naturalist Charles Darwin traveled to the Galapagos Islands in 1835, he took notice of the giant kelp forests ringing the islands. He believed that if those forests were destroyed, a significant number of species would be lost. These underwater ecosystems, Darwin believed, could be even more important than forests on land.

Coral reef experiment shows: Acidification from carbon dioxide slows growth

Ocean acidification will severely impair coral reef growth before the end of the century if carbon dioxide emissions continue unchecked

Date:

March 14, 2018

Source:

Carnegie Institution for Science

Summary:

Ocean acidification will severely impair coral reef growth before the end of the century if carbon dioxide emissions continue unchecked. The paper represents the first ocean acidification experiment in which seawater was made artificially acidic by the addition of carbon dioxide and then allowed to flow across a natural coral reef community. The acidity of the seawater was increased to reflect end-of-century projections if carbon dioxide from greenhouse gas emissions are not abated.

This is an experimental plume of carbon dioxide-enriched seawater and a dye tracer flowing across a coral reef flat in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. This study represents the first ocean acidification experiment on a natural coral reef community and provides evidence that near-future ocean acidification projections severely depressed coral reef growth.

Credit: Photograph is courtesy of Aaron Takeo Ninokawa of UC Davis.

Climate change could imperil half of plant and animal species in the world’s most naturally rich areas

DATE:March 13, 2018

Up to half of plant and animal species in the world’s most naturally rich areas—including the Amazon and the Galápagos—could face extinction by the turn of the century due to climate change if carbon emissions continue to rise unchecked.

A new study examines various climate change scenarios—from 4.5°C rise in global mean temperatures if we don’t cut emissions to a 2°C rise if we meet the upper limit for temperature set in the Paris Agreement—and their impact on nearly 80,000 plant and animal species in 35 of the world’s most diverse and naturally wildlife-rich areas. Researchers selected each area for its uniqueness and the variety of plants and animals found there.

New insights into the origin of elongated heads in early medieval Germany

Date:

March 13, 2018

Source:

Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz

Summary:

A palaeogenomic study investigates early medieval migration in southern Germany and the peculiar phenomenon of artificial skull deformation.

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These are strong, intermediate, and non-deformed skulls (from left to right) from the Early Medieval sites Altenerding and Straubing in Bavaria, Germany.

Wind moves microinvertebrates across desert

Evidence collected over five years might have implications for freshwater systems

Date:

March 13, 2018

Source:

The University of Texas at El Paso

Summary:

Research has yielded the first evidence of how waterborne microinvertebrates move across vast expanses of arid desert. A new study details for the first time how high desert winds disperse small invertebrates and how they colonize hydrologically disconnected basins throughout the region.

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A tray of marbles sits on the roof of the Biology Building on the campus of The University of Texas at El Paso. Trays like this were used to collect dust as part of a study by UTEP faculty and students to determine how microinvertebrates were carried across vast expanses of desert by wind. The marbles mimic the rolling surface of desert terrain. Blowing dust skims right over most surfaces but will occasionally become lodged in gaps. Researchers took this dust and rehydrated it to determine if microinvertebrates in dormant, developmental stages were present.

Credit: UTEP Communications

Ag robot speeds data collection, analyses of crops as they grow

Date:

March 12, 2018

Source:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Summary:

A new lightweight, low-cost agricultural robot could transform data collection and field scouting for agronomists, seed companies and farmers. The TerraSentia crop phenotyping robot measures the traits of individual plants using a variety of sensors, including cameras, transmitting the data in real time to the operator's phone or laptop computer.

FULL STORY

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Agricultural and biological engineering professor Girish Chowdhary is leading a team that includes crop scientists, computer scientists and engineers in developing TerraSentia, a crop phenotyping robot.

Credit: L. Brian Stauffer

The Alps are home to more than 3,000 lichens

Date:

March 12, 2018

Source:

Pensoft Publishers

Summary:

Widely used as biomonitors of air quality, forest health and climate change, lichens play a vital role. However, no overview of their diversity across the emblematic Alps had been provided up until recently, when an international team of lichenologists concluded their 15-year study. Their annotated checklist includes more than 3,000 lichens and presents a long-missed benchmark for scientists studying mountain systems around the globe.

FULL STORY

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A common fruticose lichen in the Alps: Flavocetraria nivalis.

Credit: Dr Peter O. Bilovitz CC-BY 4.0