ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

Microbiology researchers have shed new light on the mechanisms of carbon cycling in the ocean, using a novel approach to track which microbes are consuming different types of organic carbon produced by common phytoplankton species.

Addressing the climate crisis will require cooperation on a massive scale, but to accomplish this, people need to know what specific challenges lie ahead and how to best move forward. Across the globe, people are facing the effects of the climate crisis, yet many are still unsure how, and even if, they can address it.

Two thirds of all mammals vanished from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 30 million years ago, when the climate on Earth changed from swampy to icy. But we are only finding out about this mass extinction now. Researchers examined hundreds of fossils from multiple sites in Africa, built evolutionary trees, and pinpointed each species' first and last known appearances. The climate shift 'was a real reset button.'

We regularly hear warnings that climate change may lead to 'tipping points': irreversible situations where savanna can quickly change into desert, or the warm gulf stream current can simply stop flowing. But the earth is much more resilient than previously thought. Researchers now show that the concept of tipping points is too simple.

Researchers have discovered an individual Eleotris oxycephala in Akita Prefecture, Japan, which is the northernmost record of this species. The juvenile was discovered in the Yoneshiro River system and likely reached the river from the south via larval dispersal in the Tsushima Current. This possible range expansion of Eleotris oxycephala may be linked to increasing water temperatures.

Observation data analysis reveals a 90-fold increase in the frequency of monthly heat extremes, so-called 3-sigma-events that deviate strongly from what is normal in a given region, in the past ten years compared to 1951-1980. Record daily rainfall events also increased in a non-linear way -- on average, 1 in 4 rainfall records in the last decade can be attributed to climate change. Seemingly small amounts of additional warming push up extreme events substantially.

It seems like an esoteric question: What, exactly, is a species? Two corals were described as different species, then merged together, and then separated once again. A new study explores the question further.

Whether birds get caged in the eye of a hurricane may depend on the intensity and totality of the chaos beyond the calm, says a novel study.

Researchers have found an energy-efficient way to convert the chief greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful chemicals. Using the method, CO2 is transformed into structures called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), suggesting a new and simpler route to dispose of the greenhouse gas to help tackle global warming.