#Escalating cost of forest conservationin 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
and widespread poverty often mean that relatively small incentives can motivate many landholders to protect their land for conservation 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
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 Long Count calendar fell into disuse before European contact in the Maya area said Douglas J. Kennett professor of environmental archaeology Penn State.
but when looking at how climate affects the rise and fall of the Maya I began to question how accurately the two calendars correlated using those methods.
Correlation also allows the rich historical record of the Maya to be compared with other sources of environmental climate
Events recorded in various Maya locations can now be harmonized with greater assurance to other environmental climatic and archaeological datasets from this
and adjacent regions and suggest that climate change played an important role in the development
and it now appears that the practice of animal self-medication is a lot more widespread than previously thought according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues.
The fact that moths ants and fruit flies are known now to self-medicate has profound implications for the ecology and evolution of animal hosts and their parasites according to Mark Hunter a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and at the School
of Natural resources and Environment. In addition because plants remain the most promising source of future pharmaceuticals studies of animal medication may lead the way in discovering new drugs to relieve human suffering Hunter
The authors argue that animal medication has several major consequences on the ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions.
The research was part of a symposium titled Food and Its Environment: What Is In What We Eat?
If thrust into a dry environment they cease to reproduce but turn on genes which produce a biofilm protecting them from the detrimental environment.
Researchers tested the resilience of the Salmonella biofilm by drying it and storing it in dry milk powder for up to 30 days.
Biofilms allowed the Salmonella to survive the harsh acidic environment of the stomach increasing its chances of reaching the intestines where infection results in the symptoms associated with food poisoning.
By the mid-1990s the megaproject approach was viewed widely as a poor response to a water crisis worsened by population growth and climate change.
Through autophagy he says neural stem cells can regulate levels of reactive oxygen species--sometimes known as free radicals--that can build up in the low-oxygen environment of the brain regions where neural stem cells reside.
and also help identify the least costly mitigation options for addressing climate change in Europe.
Hangovers have been called a'metabolic storm'said Mitchell. They result from high blood levels of ethanol
and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Urban Ecosystems at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting to be held April 9-13 in Los angeles. The interdisciplinary forum is attended by more than 7000 scientists from around the world and features an array
Despite the extreme climate variation between the two regions she found the lawns had surprisingly similar abilities to absorb carbon and store it in soils.
But there's a stark contrast in how those lawns are managed leading to differences in their ecological impact.
For example in California's arid environment the management required and fossil fuel energy expended to keep lawns looking lush consumes so much energy that it counteracts the soil's natural carbon sequestration abilities.
But if you head nearly 2500 miles east to Cincinnati rainfall is more plentiful. This means more lawns don't require irrigation helping reduce the carbon cost of lawn maintenance and preserve the carbon sequestration benefits.
This study is the first of its kind to compare the environmental cost of making urban lawns rich and productive with leaving them unmanaged and undisturbed.
The University of Cincinnati proved to be an ideal location for Townsend-Small's project thanks to the proximity of the managed green spaces on campus and the natural environment of nearby city parks.
Brewer's discovery of artificial reservoirs--topographical depressions that were lined with clay to make a watertight basin--addressed how the Maya conserved water from the heavy rainfall from December to spring
when there was virtually no rainfall. Without that system Brewer says the smaller more remote settlement would have been more dependent on the larger Maya sites that ran a larger water conservation system.
The annual meeting features more than 6000 presentations posters workshops and field trips by leading scholars experts and researchers in the fields of geography environmental science and sustainability.
#Spring rains bring life to Midwest granaries but foster Gulf of mexico Dead Zonenew ORLEANS April 9 2013#The most serious ongoing water pollution problem in the Gulf of mexico originates not from oil rigs as many people believe but rainstorms and fields of corn and soybeans a thousand
miles away in the Midwest. An expert on that problem#the infamous Gulf of mexico#oedead Zone##today called for greater awareness of the connections between rainfall and agriculture in the Midwest and the increasingly severe water quality problems in the gulf.
Keynoting a symposium at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society the world s largest scientific society Nancy N. Rabalais Ph d. emphasized that oil spills like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster claim a terrible toll.
Sometimes however they overshadow the underlying water pollution problem that has been growing more and more severe for almost 40 years.#
#oethe Dead Zone is a vast expanse of water sometimes as large as the state of Massachusetts that has so little oxygen that fish shellfish
Climate change surging population growth and other factors stand to make matters worse. I hope this symposium helps engage scientists in seeking solutions that help sustain Earth and its people.#
Oil spills and other local pollution compound those negative effects on marine life Rabalais noted By day 77 of the Deepwater horizon disaster for instance the oil slick had covered about one-third of the Dead Zone making it even more inhospitable.
To address the major challenges in managing the growing amounts of animal and human waste water pollution; protecting water resources and restoring an economically vital coastline we will need to invest in the characterization of our water microbiological communities and shift the pollution science paradigm toward an understanding of risk and resilience under global change.
Water sustainability in a changing world 1. Jerald L. Schnoor1 Phd The University of Iowa Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering The University of Iowa Iowa City Iowa
which is stressed increasingly by multiple demands for water supply agriculture industry recreation and ecosystem needs. Changes in water supply and demands for water are driven by population growth climate
and land use change and our energy choices (such as biofuels oil sands and shale gas). In this talk we discuss the drivers affecting water sustainability
This paper also describes research at Clear Creek watershed (270 km2) a tributary of the Iowa River in eastern Iowa to create an environmental observing facility
David Sedlak1 Phd University California Berkeley Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 657 Davis Hall University of California Berkeley Berkeley CA 94720 United states
and drainage are struggling to keep up with the combined effects of climate change population growth underinvestment in maintenance
Pedro J. Alvarez1 Phd Rice university Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 6100 Main street MS 519 Houston TX 77005 United states 713-348-5903
and regulations to mitigate potential risks associated with their release to the environment. Therefore it is important to understand how engineered nanoparticles interact with microorganisms
which form the basis of all known ecosystems and provide critical environmental services such as nitrogen cycling.
The convergence of nanotechnology with environmental microbiology could expand the limits of technology enhance global health through safer water reuse
and contribute towards sustainable and integrated water management. This presentation will consider the antibacterial mechanisms of various nanomaterials within the context of environmental implications and applications.
Research needs to steward ecologically responsible nanotechnology will also be discussed. Confronting the water challenge: Dow technologies increase the flow1.
and long-term adverse health effects said Ana Navas-Acien MD Phd senior author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Environmental Health Sciences.
and leach into local groundwater supplies said Avner Vengosh professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.
Future climate change models predict significant reductions in precipitation in the Southern Mediterranean and Northern Africa regions in coming decades.
and graduate students led by Lhoussaine Bouchaou of the Applied Geology and Geo-Environment Laboratory at Ibn Zohr University.
and corn--adapted for a changing climate and other conditions. It also will require action to reduce a terrible waste of food that gets too little attention.
Global climate change may stress those resources even further. The demand for sustainable energy may divert more cropland to production of crops for biofuel production.
Drought and other extreme weather could impact food production. And consumption of too much food and less nutritious foods underpins epidemics in obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Cyanobacteria also have the potential to release nanocellulose into their surroundings much like A. xylinum making it easier to harvest.
and as they head into jack pine forests where the defensive compounds may be different this variation could allow them to be more successful in new environments explains Keeling.
and environment says Steven Jones an SFU molecular biology and biochemistry professor and SFU graduate. Information like this can help the scientists who model an outbreak
Gene transfers sometimes make organisms more successful in their environments. The following SFU-related graduates and/or faculty co-authored the paper:
However the social environment in which the rivals fight their battle can change the context
Through these activities the BRC supports studies in a broad range of fields from basic research to the treatment of disease health promotion food production and environmental conservation.
#Trade emerging as a key driver of Brazilian deforestationa new study published online April 4th in the journal Environmental Research Letters finds that trade and global consumption of Brazilian beef
and soybeans is increasingly driving Brazilian deforestation. Consequently current international efforts to protect rainforests (e g.
By estimating CO2 emissions from deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 1990 to 2010 and connecting the emissions to the most important direct drivers of Brazilian deforestation
With a consumption perspective the share of responsibility for deforestation is divided among the global consumers.
What in one perspective is Brazil's problem is now a global problem said lead author Jonas Karstensen of the Center for International Climate
and Environmental Research--Oslo (CICERO) a climate research institute in Norway. According to the study 2. 7 billion tonnes of CO2 or 30%of the carbon emissions associated with deforestation in the last decade was exported from Brazil.
Of this 29%were due to soybean production and 71%were due to cattle ranching. Brazilian consumption is responsible for the largest share of emissions from its own deforestation:
on average over the two decades 85%of the emissions embodied in Brazilian beef products and 50%of those in Brazilian soybean products have been driven by Brazilian consumption.
Consequently in recent years more of Brazil's deforestation is allocated to foreign regions. Russia has increased recently its share from very low levels to becoming the world's largest importer of emissions embodied in Brazilian beef in 2010 with 15%of total exported beef.
and therefore indirectly increasing the deforestation they are seeking to prevent. Countries are putting more and more pressure on the Brazilian Amazon by consuming agricultural products
while deforestation rates have seen a dramatic decrease over recent years. With increasing global pressure on Brazilian agriculture to increase production
and changes to the Brazilian Forest Code it seems unlikely that Brazilian deforestation rates will continue to decrease at the current rate without strengthening measures to protect the forests said co-author Robbie Andrew.
The above story is provided based on materials by Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO.
whether it is in a host or in the environment. The whole universe of virology is divided into two types of viruses--viruses that are enveloped
when found in the environment but acquires one from the cells that it grows in within the liver.
Enveloped viruses are generally quite fragile in the environment while non-enveloped viruses are hardier outside of a host
and being very stable in the environment so it can be transmitted efficiently between people but to wrap itself in a membrane to evade neutralizing antibodies
and then passed back into the environment through feces. By not needing its envelope to survive outside the host the virus gains the ability of non-enveloped viruses to survive longer
The campaign is addressing a broad range of science questions from the dynamics of Earth's crust and glaciers to the carbon cycle and the lives of ancient Peruvian civilizations.
and measure subtle changes in Earth's surface such as those caused by earthquakes volcanoes landslides and glacier movements.
The radar'S l-band microwaves can penetrate clouds and the tops of forests making it valuable for studying cloud-covered tropical environments and mapping flooded ecosystems.
This campaign highlights UAVSAR's versatility for Earth studies said Naiara Pinto UAVSAR science coordinator at JPL.
For example some volcanic sites also have glaciers. The studies also help U S. researchers establish
UAVSAR glacier data from South america's Andes mountains will be combined with ground measurements and airborne lidar data to determine how much these glaciers move during summer and from year to year.
The U s. Geological Survey is leading the collaborative project with the Chilean government to understand glacier processes within the context of climate change impacts from human activities.
The glaciers being imaged by UAVSAR provide freshwater for the residents of Santiago and water for regional agriculture.
This year's study sites include coastal mangroves in Central and South america. Much of Earth's population lives along coasts
and its livelihood and well-being depend on services provided by marine ecosystems said JPL's Marc Simard one of the campaign's many principal investigators.
and climate change may impact the sustainability of these ecosystems. Another principal investigator Kyle Mcdonald jointly of JPL and the City university of New york Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center (CREST) Institute is leading four data collections that will support the mapping
These ecosystems are potential major sources of atmospheric methane an important greenhouse gas. UAVSAR will help us better understand processes involved with the exchange of methane between Earth's land and atmosphere and with the contribution of these unique ecosystems to Earth's climate.
UAVSAR also is supporting agricultural studies of vineyards in Chile's La Serena region. The efforts will help scientists at the Universidad de La Serena's Terra Pacific Group better understand the value of soil moisture data in grape and wine production.
Researchers are using UAVSAR's vegetation and cloud penetrating capabilities to search for unrecorded archaeological features in an attempt to preserve sensitive sites from encroaching civilization.
and diversity of tropical cloud forests in the Peruvian Andes and Manu National park continuing his work there during the past decade.
Whether it be altering sugar levels to suit different environments or tweaking virus resistance Mutschler-Chu wants to discover the best package for insect and virus control.
They studied their emission lines as observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Emission lines show how light interacts with matter
#Environmental policies matter for growing megacitiesa new study shows clean-air regulations have reduced dramatically acid rain in the United states Europe Japan
and sulfate in rain--components contributing to acid rain said Suresh Rao Lee A. Reith Distinguished Professor of Civil engineering and Agronomy at Purdue University.
The effects of acid rain can propagate through aquatic ecosystems such as lakes rivers and wetlands and terrestrial ecosystems including forests
and soils negatively impacting ecological health. Researchers have used now publicly accessible data collected weekly or monthly at numerous monitoring sites during the period from 1980-2010 to track wet deposition of nitrate and sulfate near several U s. and East Asian cities.
The pollutants products of fossil fuel combustion are emitted by cars trucks and buses. Pollutants rise up into the atmosphere
or snow or as dry deposition between rain events. Fast-growing cities in East asia that lack regulations or enforcement show a dramatic rise in acid rain according to the new study completed by Purdue researchers Our analysis of wet deposition (acid rain) data provides compelling evidence
and enforcement of environmental regulations are profoundly important Rao said. The findings of the study are detailed in a research paper published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.
The article is accessible online and will appear in the May issue. It was authored co by civil engineering postdoctoral researchers Jeryang Park and Heather Gall and by Rao and Dev Niyogi Indiana state climatologist and an associate professor in the Purdue Department of Agronomy and the Department of Earth
Severe problems with air pollution also are evident in particulate matter (PM) concentrations contributing to smog.
The impact cities can have on the environment we find is a function of growing population
In essence we've solved the acid rain problem through good environmental regulations and wide adoption of mitigation technologies.
even though rainfall patterns vary widely from one city to another the annual average rate of nitrate
Because rainfall patterns vary so much from one location to another you would think wet deposition also would vary.
When mitigation strategies are adapted widely it is possible for cost-effective engineering solutions to protect the environment
Given certain emissions and rainfall patterns we can now project how wet deposition rates would increase initially
Additionally the model can be used to examine wet deposition rates under climate-change scenarios The study findings also have implications for variations in wet deposition rates under shifting weather resulting from climate-change scenarios as well as rapid urbanization
Although annual wet deposition patterns are influenced by variability in rainfall amounts both within a year
For example even though Xi'an China is predicted to become drier in the future due to climate changes the data
and modeling analysis revealed that long-term climate oscillations--like El nino and La Nina cycles--could induce dramatic increases in the concentration of pollutants in rainfall ultimately leading to increased wet deposition of pollutants.
This implies that when regulations are implemented inadequately climate change could result in much larger impacts on the environment said Park the article's lead author.
Future work will shift focus to Sub-saharan africa where major growth is anticipated later in the century.
The counter-intuitive conclusions appear in a new paper in the journal Ecology. Long vilified invasive species can sometimes become an ecosystem asset.
New Brown University research published online in the journal Ecology reports exactly such a situation in the distressed salt marshes of Cape cod.
There the invasive green crab Carcinus maenas is helping to restore the marsh by driving away the Sesarma reticulatum crabs that have been depleting the marsh grasses.
Humans have had far-reaching impacts on ecosystems said author Tyler Coverdale a researcher in the lab of lead author Mark Bertness chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
In this case an invasive species is potentially restoring a lost ecological function. Bertness and his group have been working on the marshes for years to trace the extent
and cause of the damage which includes grass die offs and subsequent erosion. A few years ago they started noticing that where there was still soil grasses were sometimes growing back somewhat although far short of full recovery.
which model what ecologists have begun recently to account for as non-consumptive effects. Lay people already call that effect scaring things away.
The ecological effect can be much greater much quicker. In two ways therefore the new study provides evidence for two newer views in ecology Bertness said.
One is that invasive species can sometimes turn out to be helpful. The other is that ecologists should account for the power of a predator's threat not just its actual attacks.
As for the marshes however Bertness said they need more help than the green crab alone can deliver.
The potential for profit and environmental benefits are why so many automobile oil and energy companies are working on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as the transportation of the future Zhang said.
The team liberates the high-purity hydrogen under mild reaction conditions at 122 Degree fahrenheit and normal atmospheric pressure.
and seasonal climate--prone to periods of drought and frost--makes Berkebile think the Puebloans had to rely on more than maize to survive.
If you think about the climate of the Upper Basin there's only 145 frost-free days in
and made to adapt to the environment. Examples at MU 125 include maize and possibly a type of bean.
and also a mind-changer in the way modern society views its environmental resources. She thinks there are aspects of the Puebloans'intercropping strategies
Published in the journal Environmental Pollution the Pitt study finds that bumblebees are at risk of ingesting toxic amounts of metals like aluminum
The paper The effects of aluminum and nickel in nectar on the foraging behavior of bumblebees first appeared online March 6 in Environmental Pollution.
For UC anthropology graduate student Ryan Washam that find--in which he took part--helped spark his current research in how federal agencies are conducting archaeological and environmental protection and preservation efforts in a time of tight budgets.
The forest's environmental and archaeological sites are vulnerable for a number of reasons. These includefor instance Washam's research points to one woodcutting area of the forest that encompassed 30 acres of felled trees in 2006.
#Tiny grazers play key role in marine ecosystem healthtiny sea creatures no bigger than a thumbtack are being credited for playing a key role in helping provide healthy habitats for many kinds of seafood according to a new study
Inconspicuous creatures often play big roles in supporting productive ecosystems said Matt Whalen the study's lead author who conducted this work
and buffer our coastal communities by providing shoreline protection from storms Grace said. These tiny animals by going about their daily business of grazing are integral to keeping healthy seagrass beds healthy.
This research by Virginia Institute of Marine Science and USGS researchers is the first in a series of studies worldwide on seagrass ecosystems.
A questionnaire also inquired about their environmental and shopping habits. Even though these foods were all the same the organic label greatly influenced people's perceptions.
and those who exhibit pro-environmental behaviors (such as recycling or hiking) are less susceptible to the organic'health halo'effect.
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental sciences (ACES.
#Soils in newly forested areas store substantial carbon that could help offset climate changesurface appearances can be so misleading:
and climate change by soaking up atmospheric carbon and storing it what's going on beneath the surface is critical.
U-M ecologist Luke Nave and his colleagues found that in general growing trees on formerly nonforested land increases soil carbon.
or allowing them to establish naturally on nonforested lands has a significant positive effect on the amount of carbon held in soils said Nave an assistant research scientist at the U-M Biological Station and in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
These forest soils represent a significant carbon reservoir that is helping to offset carbon emissions that lead to climate change said Nave lead author of the paper.
Biological Station and a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The work was supported by the U s. Forest Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Story Source:
and the environment explained Yves Carriã re a professor of entomology in the UA College of Agriculture
According to Tabashnik overly optimistic assumptions have led the EPA to greatly reduce requirements for planting refuges to slow evolution of pest resistance to two-toxin Bt crops.
The researchers led by UGA's Katrien Devos also were able to trace the dwarf gene to plants bred 50 years ago by Glenn Burton a UGA plant breeder who worked on the College of Agricultural and Environmental sciences'Tifton campus. Knowing
and Environmental sciences'Institute of Plant Breeding Genetics and Genomics housed in the department of crop and soil sciences and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences'department of plant biology.
The crop itself has a future a bright one-especially in regions where climate change may lead to more erratic rainfall patterns as pearl millet is highly drought tolerant.
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