The map is based on the northwards migratory patterns of birds (from the 4th february to the end of April) using environmental and meteorological data over the same 12 weeks--from Zhejiang Shanghai and Jiangsu to Liaoning Jilin and Heilongjiang.
This relationship is explored by David Wilson of Ecology and Heritage Partners and Anna Wilson from the University of Melbourne in Australia in a paper published in the Springer journal Human ecology.
Chalk isn't the only item in a school setting that can be troublesome to milk allergic students said James Sublett MD chair of the ACAAI Indoor Environment Committee.
Rice grown as a staple food for a large portion of the world's population absorbs arsenic from the environment and transfers it to the grain.
or it may be a result of environmental contamination. Despite the health risks arsenic in rice poses to millions of people around the world there are currently no effective agricultural methods in use to reduce arsenic levels.
and roots of the plant into the amphibian breeding pond environment at various times of year.
Levels of emodin in the environment are greatest at leaf out which is occurring right now in early spring.
Whilst this study specifically found emodin to detrimentally impact development of two species of frogs Western chorus frogs and African clawed frog (a common test species for environmental toxicity studies) Sacerdote-Velat and King
and have unexpected and damaging effects on natural ecosystems. Additionally new research from the zoo's Urban Wildlife Institute reveals how the presence of the invasive shrub in forest preserves and natural areas correlates to increased prevalence of carnivores.
In some areas like Lake County Forest Preserve District where Sacerdote-Velat works regularly ecologists and land managers have been committed to removing buckthorn from the area.
While we've made a lot of progress in understanding the ecological consequences to animals that are exposed unintentionally to insecticides the evolutionary consequences are understood poorly said study principal investigator Rick Relyea Pitt professor of biological sciences and director of the University's Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology.
Relyea and his Pitt collaborators exposed the tadpoles from each of the nine populations to environments containing either no pesticides chlorpyrifos or Roundup.
In a related study published online Feb 21 in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Relyea's Pitt research team examined
The article published Feb 21 in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry is titled Cross-tolerance in amphibians: Wood frog mortality when exposed to three insecticides with a common mode of action.
The experiments were conducted at Pitt's Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology from 2009 to 2012. Story Source:
#Traditional ranching practices enhance African savannathat human land use destroys natural ecosystems is cited an oft assumption in conservation
but ecologists have discovered that instead traditional ranching techniques in the African savanna enhance the local abundance of wild native animals.
The team of ecologists based at the Mpala Research center in Kenya found that trees close to the edges of glades grew faster
which is described in Ecology's April issue. Our findings are given particularly exciting how long glades persist in the savanna.
This means that even decades after the pastoralists move on they leave fertile footprints across the landscape that significantly alter the dynamics of the entire ecosystem.
It is important to note that overgrazing can have myriad detrimental impacts on ecosystems. This project simply demonstrates that traditional corralling techniques in Kenya leave a landscape-scale legacy that can bolster local abundances of native plants and animals.
We must strive to find ways that our impacts on ecosystems can work in concert with natural processes.
The above story is provided based on materials by Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Note:
Along with growing urbanization increased demand for protein in developing countries coupled with impending climate change
Simply increasing inorganic fertilizer use and water supply or applying organic farming systems to agriculture will be unable to satisfy the joint requirements of increased yield and environmental sustainability the scientists added.
or to eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems through water run off. The biologists said crops could be made more efficient in using water through discoveries in plant transport proteins that regulate the stomatal pores in the epidermis of leaves where plants lose more than 90 percent of their water through transpiration.
These recent developments in understanding the biology of plant transporters are leading to improved varieties less susceptible to adverse environments and for improving human health.
Discrete event simulations are used to model irregular systems with behavior that cannot be described by equations such as communication networks traffic flows economic and ecological models military combat scenarios and many other complex systems.
but this also means that one-third of the plots had introduced no species said Beth Schulz a research ecologist at the Pacific Northwest Research Station who led the study
which is published in the current issue of the journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. By describing forest stands with few
or escaped cultivation nonnative plants ultimately can become invasive displacing native species degrading habitat and altering critical ecosystem functions.
or threatened species the U s. Environmental protection agency National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) should use a common scientific approach says a new report from the National Research
or used in the United states EPA must ensure that it does not cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment which includes species that are listed as endangered
Moreover the U s. Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies including EPA to consult with FWS
If EPA determines that a pesticide is not likely to adversely affect a listed species
However if EPA determines that a pesticide is likely to adversely affect a listed species a formal consultation with FWS
EPA FWS and NMFS have developed their own approaches because their legal mandates responsibilities institutional cultures and expertise differ.
Such a process is used broadly for human-health and ecological risk assessments throughout the federal government.
If FWS and NMFS could build on EPA's analysis of whether a pesticide is likely to adversely affect a listed species rather than conduct a completely new analysis the assessment would likely be more effective and scientifically credible the committee determined.
The study was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration U s. Environmental protection agency U s. Fish and Wildlife Service and U s. Department of agriculture.
As a major fruit-eater the white-lipped peccary plays an important ecological role in rainforests and other habitats as a seed predator and disperser and it is a favorite prey of jaguars and pumas.
Additionally white-lipped peccaries are considered an environmental indicator of a well-preserved forest. The white-lipped peccary is listed as Near Threatenedon the IUCN's Red List
question in plant ecology. In addition to explaining how fires lead to regeneration of forests and grasslands their findings may aid in the development of plant varieties that help maintain
and restore ecosystems that support all human societies. This is a very important and fundamental process of ecosystem renewal around the planet that we really didn't understand says co-senior investigator Joseph P. Noel professor and director of Salk's Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical
Biology and Proteomics. Now we know the molecular triggers for how it occurs. Noel's co-senior investigator on the project Joanne Chory professor and director of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology laboratory says the team found the molecular wake-up call for burned forests.
This created an intensely competitive environment that was ultimately detrimental to the entire forest ecosystem.
But by the following spring when the rains arrived there was a burst of flowering plants amid the nutrient-rich ash
Then comparing the karrikin-bound KAI2 protein to the structure of an unbound KAI2 protein allowed the researchers to speculate how KAI2 allows a seed to perceive karrikin in its environment.
when plant ecosystems started to flourish on the terrestrial earth and fire became a very important part of ecosystems to free up nutrients locked up in dying and dead plants.
More research is needed to understand exactly how the change in shape of the KAI2 protein activates a genetic pathway that regulates germination says Chory the Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical
and how plant ecosystems forests and grasslands renew themselves. The work was supported by the National institutes of health grants 5r01gm52413 and GM094428 National Science Foundation awards EEC-0813570 and MCB-0645794 and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
and climate change says lead author Colin Khoury of the International Center for Tropical agriculture (CIAT) in Cali Colombia.
Andy Jarvis of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change and Food security; and Paul Struik Wageningen University.
#Ecological knowledge offers perspectives for sustainable agriculturea smart combination of different crops such as beans and maize can significantly cut the use of crop protection agents
Integrating ecological knowledge from nature with knowledge of crops opens up the prospect of a sustainable strategy that will increase yield per hectare at reduced environmental costs.
This was the assertion of Prof Niels Anten in his inaugural speech upon accepting the post of Professor of Crop and Weed Ecology at Wageningen University on Monday 22 april.
In order to meet the food demand of nine billion people in 2050 and at the same time reduce our impact on the environment such as the use of crop protection agents
and developments leading to deforestation or desertification we can no longer rely on synthetic pesticides and fertilizers alone.'
'We need to conduct much more research to better understand how to utilize the potential provided by natural ecological processes'said Professor Anten.
'In his inaugural address entitled'Crop ecosystems as diverse playing fields'Professor Niels Anten discusses the parallel development of two fields the ecology of natural systems such as forests and the ecology of agriculture.
and Weed Ecology he will be looking at the connections between these areas of study for the benefit of sustainable crops with high yields.
whether these neighbours are: friends or a foes a plant of the same species a family member or a genetically identical clone as in many monocultures in the West.
and filtering of sunlight by a neighbouring plant to detect its vicinity and size. It may respond with a growth spurt towards the light.
but also harmful to the environment while more and more weeds are becoming resistant to these agents.''We will need therefore also to look at other more ecological solutions'says Professor Anten.'
'In short in order to achieve a sustainable increase in food production we will need to deploy all the weapons in our arsenal;
among these the opportunities produced by ecological interactions have to date been neglected largely.''Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Wageningen University and Research Centre.
structural quality that helps dictate how water moves through soil and soil's resistance to erosion.
The findings appear in the May-June issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality. Fertilization typically leaves behind more crop residues in fields he explains
But more interestingly they found that adult males migrating to new groups conformed quickly to the social norms of their new neighbours
what are the optimal behaviours in their environment so copying them may actually make a lot of sense.
#Ecology buys time for evolution: Climate change disrupts songbirds timing without impacting population size (yet) Songbird populations can handle far more disrupting climate change than expected.
Density-dependent processes are buying them time for their battle. But without (slow) evolutionary rescue it will not save them in the end says an international team of scientists led by The netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in Science this week.
Yes spring started late this year in Northwestern Europe. But the general trend of the four last decades is still a rapidly advancing spring.
It's a real paradox explain Dr Tom Reed and Prof Marcel Visser of The netherlands Institute of Ecology.
Due to the changing climate of the past decades the egg laying dates of Parus major have become increasingly mismatched with the timing of the main food source for its chicks:
--and ecological mismatch are linked and it is a real eye-opener. Reed: It all seems so obvious once you've calculated this
The new findings can help to predict the impact of future environmental change on other wild populations
The above story is provided based on materials by Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#How trees play role in smog productionafter years of scientific uncertainty and speculation researchers at the University of North carolina at Chapel hill show exactly how trees help create one of society's predominant environmental and health concerns:
However in 2004 researchers contrary to popular assumptions revealed that isoprene was involved likely in the production of particulate matter tiny particles that can get lodged in lungs lead to lung cancer and asthma and damage other tissues not to mention the environment.
Jason Surratt assistant professor of environmental sciences and engineering at the Gillings School of Global Public health now reveals one mechanism by
and plants but because of the presence of nitrogen oxides it is involved in producing this negative effect on health and the environment.
With the precise mechanism now revealed researchers can plug it into air quality models for better predicting episodes of air pollution and potential effects on earth's climate.
and environmental agencies to evaluate and make regulatory decisions that impact public health and climate change.
We observe nature's quirks but we must always consider that our actions do have said repercussions Surratt.
It's the interaction between these natural and man-made emissions that produces this air pollution smog
but EU policy on the cultivation of GMOS has created an environment that makes this impossible.
The BBSRC-funded scientists from Rothamsted Research the James Hutton Institute Institute of Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University Lancaster University and the University of Nottingham
whilst providing pasture for food production under conditions of changing climate. In areas with similar climate and soils then there is potential for reducing the likelihood of flood generation based on increased soil water storage within a river's catchment.
Professor Douglas Kell Chief executive of BBSRC said: We usually think of improving food crops solely in terms of traits such as the yield
and their wildlife has been documented well in temperate zones such as North america and Europe. Yet a new study in an important tropical zone--the fast-changing southern Amazon a region marked by widespread replacement of native forest by cattle ranches
and more recently croplands--suggests that at least some of those damaging impacts may be buffered by the very deep
The study led by Christopher Neill director of the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is published this week in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. This entire journal issue
Over the past two decades Mato grosso has experienced both the highest rates of deforestation (mostly for pasture
and soya bean expansion) and the greatest reduction in deforestation rates (associated with government policies and macroeconomic factors) in the Amazon write the editors of the issue who include Neill's collaborator Michael T. Coe of Woods Hole Research center.
The regional focus of this issue allows for a deep assessment of the complex ecological and social changes related to agricultural transformation of a tropical forest environment.
and quantity at Tanguro Ranch a nearly 200000-acre farm similar in climate and geography to large tracts of the Amazon where soybean production largely for export as animal feed is expanding rapidly.
This is in contrast to many Northern hemisphere cropland areas where fertilizers are known to add nutrients to the soil that with rainfall run off into freshwater streams
The southeastern Amazon is a very fast-moving environment of change. Right now most soybean fields are fertilized not with nitrogen.
The study also noted impacts of deforestation on the quantity of water entering streams. Typically after a forest is cut downabout four times more surface water runs off into small streams because of reduced evaporation to the atmosphere.
However at Tanguro Ranch rainfall infiltrates quickly into the soil and streams are fed predominantly by groundwater
When larger rivers have to handle that extra water caused by deforestation they change geomorphically;
Neill has been working at Tanguro Ranch since 2007 with collaborators from Woods Hole Research center Brown University the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) and the University of SãO Paulo.
Shelby Riskin and Gillian Galford both of whom graduated from the Brown-MBL Graduate Program in Biological and Environmental sciences;
and social-ecological dynamics in the Amazon says Marty Downs associate director of Brown University's Environmental Change Initiative.
Theme Issue Ecology economy and management of an agroindustrial frontier landscape in the southeast Amazon compiled
& Environmental science researchers at the U s. Department of energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory describe details of a low-cost stable effective catalyst that could replace costly platinum in the production of hydrogen.
The Brookhaven team had identified already some promising leads with experiments demonstrating the potential effectiveness of low-cost molybdenum paired with carbon as well as the use of nitrogen to confer some resistance to the corrosive acidic environment required in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis cells.
A nanostructured hybrid of these two materials however remained active and stable even after 500 hours of testing in a highly acidic environment.
The presence of nitrogen and carbon atoms in the vicinity of the catalytic molybdenum center facilitates the production of hydrogen from water Muckerman said.
#Strengthening legumes to tackle fertilizer pollutionthe overuse of nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture can wreak havoc on waterways health and the environment.
and further diminish the environmental damage from overuse of nitrogen fertilizers said Manuel Gonzalez-Guerrero lead author of the paper from UPM.
All aspects of the environment-soil rocks weather vegetation water etc. -vary from place to place over the Earth.
It will also have a major effect on reducing adverse effects on the environment from agriculture.
That is a legitimate concern but I wanted to look more at how this change could potentially impact the carbon cycle with the understanding that the carbon cycle has implications for global climate change explains Bowne.
which in turn can affect climate change? Our current study touches on one component of that cycle and more research is needed to address this huge topic says Bowne.
In the face of unprecedented deforestation and biodiversity loss policy makers are increasingly using financial incentives to encourage conservation.
and reduce carbon emissions from deforestation. This incentive-based approach is comparatively inexpensive as low agricultural yields
As a result this approach has become a leading climate change mitigation strategy adopted by the United nations as policies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation.
Similar agricultural intensification policies are being promoted across the tropics. However the researchers highlight how those higher yields and incomes will also increase financial incentives for farmers to clear more forest for agriculture.
We anticipate that similar patterns are likely across the tropics including in places like Indonesia. Story Source:
The study concludes that it is crucial to address the interlinks between humans animals and the environment to control animal brucellosis and BTB.
Some evidence over the last decade suggests that even as agricultural production in the state has increased deforestation in the Amazon region has slowed.
For that reason the state is seen by many as a model for agricultural development that minimizes harm to the environment.
and are stripped of most of their mass by powerful stellar winds. These two grains are thought to have come
because the dark rocks show up clearly against the white snow and ice. Haenecour with the Nanosims 50 ion microprobe he used to look for presolar grains in a primitive meteorite.
whose explosion is thought to have started kick the collapse of the molecular cloud out of which the planets of the solar system formed?
If you just change the diet a little the financial and environmental costs associated with it are quite different he explained.
Nutritional sustainability is not just about minimizing environmental impact it also involves promoting pet health through appropriate nutrition and food quality and safety.
Swanson said it would be helpful to develop a model that would estimate the environmental impact of pet foods
A controversial study published in 2009 equated the cost of keeping a mid-sized dog eating a normal diet with the environmental cost of driving an SUV 12500 miles a year.
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental sciences (ACES.
He noted that knowledge of evolutionary relationships among fishes improves scientists'ability to predict how closely related species might react to environmental factors such as climate change.
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental sciences (ACES.
or obese--than do their non-gardening neighbors. Researchers at the University of Utah reported these
It has been shown previously that community gardens can provide a variety of social and nutritional benefits to neighborhoods says Cathleen Zick lead author of the study
Results showed that women community gardeners had an average BMI 1. 84 lower than their neighbors
For men the BMI was lower by 2. 36 for gardeners--a difference of 16 pounds for a man 5 feet 10 inches tall--compared to the neighborhood cohort.
When compared to same sex siblings a similar advantage to unrelated neighbors was found. Women in the community gardening group had a BMI 1. 88 lower than their sisters;
However as the percentage of Americans living in urban areas continues to grow this initial study validates the idea that community gardens are a valuable neighborhood asset that can promote healthier living.
and others focused on designing new neighborhoods and revitalizing old ones. How the study was conductedthe study used unique administrative data to examine--for the first time--the relationship between community gardening and a health outcome.
One group included unrelated people from the same geographic neighborhood. This group would share similar physical environments like walkability
and proximity to food shops and stores as well as economic status. The second group was same sex siblings who would be expected to share genetic predispositions for weight
Data for neighbors siblings and spouses were drawn from administrative records using the Utah Population Database a multifaceted data resource used by health researchers.
once linked driver's license records were used to build a sample of neighbors--individuals matched for age gender
Together the place cells produce full representations of whole spatial environments. Unlike the laboratory experiments however the navigation of many animals in the real world including humans is carried out in three dimensions.
Kessler says great bustards across Eurasia exhibit a range of migratory behavior corresponding to the severity of winter weather.
Rapid development in Central asia combined with climate change and low reproductive rate could make these birds disappear Kessler says.
Local people are the stewards of their environment and ultimately decide whether a species will remain in the environment around them
or not Kessler says. Our goal is to learn from the locals and share the results of our research.
In findings published today (April 17) in the online journal PLOS ONE UCSC associate professor of environmental studies Chris Wilmers
Researchers are trying to understand how habitat fragmentation influences the physiology behavior ecology and conservation of pumas in the Santa cruz Mountains.
Lions are totally willing to brave rural neighborhoods but when it comes to reproductive behavior
In addition pumas give a wider berth to types of human development that provide a more consistent source of human interface such as neighborhoods than they do in places where human presence is more intermittent as with major roads
This includes neighborhoods where females often are willing to explore for food for their fast-growing brood.
The Department for Environment Food and Rural affairs (DEFRA) believes the disease was brought probably into the UK from infected midges blown across the Channel.
Identifying how such bacterial communities can be affected by environmental exposure may help scientists better understand how they can be manipulated to prevent
There is mounting evidence that exposure to a variety of environmental sources of microbes can affect long-term health findings known as the'hygiene hypothesis'said Song a graduate student in CU-Boulder's ecology and evolutionary biology department and first
and environmental exposure said Song. Our skin microbiota in particular seems to be the most malleable by our immediate surroundings
which includes the presence of household pets. The primary results indicated the family unit had a strong effect on human microbial community composition across all body sites said Knight.
because skin surfaces are less selective environments said Knight. Other paper co-authors included Christian Lauber Catherine Lozupone Gregory Humphrey Donna Berg-Lyons and Noah Fierer from CU-Boulder;
Methane is a substantial driver of global climate change contributing 30 percent of current net climate warming.
which will be open to the public on the National Mall is sponsored by the U s. Environmental protection agency which provided $15000 initial grants to each of the Johns Hopkins teams
The awards are part of an EPA program called P3: People Prosperity and Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability.
This team dubbed Algafuture is composed of undergraduates and graduate students from the departments of Geography and Environmental Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular engineering.
and dangerous metals like mercury chromium and arsenic said Pavlo Bohutskyi an environmental engineering doctoral student and leader of this team.
With an initial EPA grant the student team tested 20 species of algae. We found two strains that can grow well alongside pathogens
If the team receives one of the additional EPA grants he said the students plan to do further studies to see
Their faculty advisers are Edward Bouwer professor and chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering and Michael Betenbaugh professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering.
and graduate environmental engineering students obtained an initial EPA grant to develop a new understanding of pump performance
and how it can operate most efficiently said Emily Prosser an undergraduate environmental engineering student who is helping to lead the team.
If this team is awarded one of the EPA's follow-up grants the funds will be used to help open
The faculty adviser to the student ram pump team is William Ball a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering.
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