ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

An invasive species of marsh grass that spreads, kudzu-like, throughout North American wetlands, may provide similar benefits to protected wetlands as native marsh grasses. According to new research, the invasive marsh grass's effects on carbon storage, erosion prevention and plant diversity in protected wetlands are neutral.

A new study sheds light on a unique biological model of arsenic detoxification. According to the new research, the Entotheonella bacterium that inhabits the Theonella swinhoei sponge is one of the only known cases of a bacterium protecting its host from metal poisoning.

A research team has improved an important catalytic reaction commonly used in the oil and gas industries. The innovation could lead to dramatic energy savings and reduced pollution, they say.

Plate tectonics -- a defining feature of modern Earth and the driving force behind earthquakes, volcanoes and mid-ocean spreading ridges -- did not start until later in Earth's history, new research suggests. The work is the latest salvo in a long-standing geological debate: did plate tectonics start right away, or did Earth begin with a solid shell covering the entire planet? The new results suggest the latter.

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) is due to be revised by 2019. The necessary work process is already in full swing and scientific research is providing important input. In a recent study, an international team of researchers formulated recommendations designed to improve the monitoring, assessment and management of pollutants.

The history of people and landscapes, whether natural or cultural, is fundamentally connected. Answering key historical questions about this relation will allow us to approach our most important environmental issues in novel ways. Archeologists now present a list of 50 priority issues for historical ecology.

Research suggests that scientists may have more freedom than previously thought to engage in certain forms of climate change advocacy without risking harm to their credibility.

A major source of an important greenhouse gas has been discovered in the Tropical Pacific Ocean for the first time.