ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News


Massive plankton blooms with very different ecosystem impacts

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 05:22 PM PDT

"The big mystery about plankton is what controls its distribution and abundance, and what conditions lead to big plankton blooms," according to the author of a new study. Researchers explore this question and provide examples of conditions that lead to massive plankton blooms with vastly different potential impacts on the ecosystem.

Climate change a bigger threat to landscape biodiversity than emerald ash borer

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 05:22 PM PDT

Despite the devastating impact the emerald ashborer beetle has had on forests in the eastern and midwestern parts of the U.S., climate change will have a much larger and widespread impact on these landscapes through the end of the century, according to researchers.

Plants get a faster start to their day than we think

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 05:22 PM PDT

To describe something as slow and boring we might say it's 'like watching grass grow', but scientists studying the early morning activity of plants have found they make a rapid start to their day - within minutes of dawn.

This forest has stayed wild for 5,000 years -- the soil shows it

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:12 PM PDT

Parts of the Amazon have been cultivated by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years, and mere centuries ago were the sites of cities and farmland, but other parts are 'untouched.' By examining microscopic bits of plant remains and charcoal in the soil, scientists learned that the Putumayo region of Peru's plant life hasn't changed much in 5,000 years, meaning that the people who have lived there found a long-term way to co-exist with nature.

Arctic rotifer lives after 24,000 years in a frozen state

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:11 PM PDT

Bdelloid rotifers are multicellular animals so small you need a microscope to see them. Despite their size, they're known for being tough, capable of surviving through drying, freezing, starvation, and low oxygen. Now, researchers have found that not only can they withstand being frozen, but they can also persist for at least 24,000 years in the Siberian permafrost and survive.

Physicists report definitive evidence how auroras are created

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:11 PM PDT

Physicistsreport definitive evidence of how auroras are created. In experiments, the physicists demonstrated the physical mechanisms for the acceleration of electrons by Alfven waves under conditions corresponding to Earth's auroral magnetosphere.

Conserving coastal seaweed: A must have for migrating sea birds

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:11 PM PDT

Ecologists are urging coastal communities to embrace all that the season brings, including the sometimes-unwelcome deposits of brown seaweed that can accumulate on the southern shores.

Climate warming to increase carbon loss in Canadian peatland by 103 per cent

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:10 PM PDT

Carbon loss in Canadian peatland is projected to increase by 103 per cent under a high emission scenario, according to new research.

Carbon dioxide sensors in two urban areas registered big drop in emissions during COVID-19 pandemic

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:10 PM PDT

Carbon dioxide emissions in Los Angeles and the Washington DC/Baltimore regions fell roughly 33 percent in April of 2020 compared with previous years, as roads emptied and economic activity slowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study. But while the emissions reductions are significant, the method that scientists used to measure them may have the greater long-term impact.

Lead halide perovskites -- a horse of a different color

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:10 PM PDT

Researchers have developed a novel spectroscopic technique for the study of charge carrier dynamics in lead halide perovskites.

Puerto Rico is prone to more flooding than the island is prepared to handle

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:10 PM PDT

Puerto Rico is not ready for another hurricane season, let alone the effects of climate change, according to a new study that shows the island's outstanding capacity to produce record-breaking floods and trigger a large number of landslides.

African great apes to suffer massive range loss in next 30 years

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 01:10 PM PDT

A new study predicts massive range declines of Africa's great apes -- gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos -- due to the impacts of climate change, land-use changes and human population growth.

New insights into survival of ancient Western Desert peoples

Posted: 07 Jun 2021 08:02 AM PDT

Researchers have used more than two decades of satellite-derived environmental data to form hypotheses about the possible foraging habitats of pre-contact Aboriginal peoples living in Australia's Western Desert.

Scientists establish new records of Singapore's sea-level history

Posted: 04 Jun 2021 05:38 AM PDT

Climate scientists have extended the known record of Singapore's sea-level to almost 10,000 years ago, providing a more robust dataset to aid future predictions of sea-level rise.