because it occurs naturally in the environment. Human activity such as use of certain pesticides can also add arsenic to the environment.
Because rice is grown in water and takes in more arsenic it has higher levels than other foods said Suzanne C. Fitzpatrick the senior adviser for toxicology in FDA's Center for Food safety and Applied Nutrition.
and encountered different environmental challenges. Eventually genes die if they're not being used Last explains.
Ten years later Environment Minister Ian Campbell decided that the bird could be used as an excuse not to allow the construction of a wind farm in a friend s electorate in Gippsland.
A bushman s bushman he actively managed the environment by lighting small fires to create a mosaic of habitats of different ages
To his credit Environment Minister Peter Garrett acted fast. On advice from the Recovery Team he allowed enough parrots to be taken from the wild to secure an insurance population in captivity.
hazard David Bowman a forest ecologist at the University of Tasmania in Australia told KQED.
and peeling bark during periods of dry windy weather can turn a small ground fire into a terrifying explosive firestorm in a matter of minutes.
when hot winds of late summer and fall start blowing and make control of a moving flame front impossible until the winds stop Tom Klatt UC Berkeley campus environmental manager said in a report from the university's Division of Agriculture and Natural resources Newscenter.
As a result Calfire the state's firefighting agency has categorized the East Bay Hills particularly Berkeley and Oakland as a'Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone'Klatt added.
Eucalyptus trees also aren't winning any friends among ecologists concerned about invasive species. The California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) considers the eucalyptus a moderately serious problem considering its rapid spread
or the equator projected onto the sky. Day and night last about equally long on Sunday with about 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark.
In addition to the brilliant colors of fall leaves the autumn equinox signals another colorful spectacle the aurora borealis also called the Northern lights.
Besides the lengthening of nights and cool evening weather which are great for stargazers autumn truly is aurora season according to NASA.
That's because geomagnetic storms are about twice as frequent as the annual average during the fall.
Northern lights Dazzle in Night-Sky Images Particles that get discharged from the sun during such geomagnetic storms zip toward Earth at breakneck speed.
and the Harvest moon emerged according to NASA. 4. Why fall leaves may fade Climate change may dull the picture most synonymous with autumn fall leaves.
Climate change may also alter suitable habitats for trees like the sugar maple known to be big players in fall's vibrant colors. 5
The good weather this season gave us the opportunity this season to spend a bit more of time counting individual emperor penguins said Alain Hubert the expedition leader
but the future of penguin species remains uncertain as global warming changes Antarctica's climate.
</p><p></p><p>After about 400 million years of expansion following the Big bang the universe was cool enough for gravity to begin coalescing clouds of hydrogen into stars igniting nuclear fusion for the first time.
This changed for the first time about 11500 years ago as Earth s climate became warmer and milder.</
But researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular biology and Applied Ecology (IME) in MÃ nster Germany have isolated the genetic switch that tells the tobacco plant to stop growing flower and die.
The Heat is On Another factor promoting increased wildfires in the western U s. is climate change
Climate change promotes fire-friendly infestations of bark beetles via a double whammy: Milder winters enable populations of bark beetles to survive the winter
At the same time climate change increases the vulnerability of forests to bark beetle attacks. It does so by triggering droughts that subject trees to water stress
Climate Change and Wildfires Reinforce Each other To make matters worse the problem is not only that climate change promotes wildfires
That is wildfires promote climate change. How? For one thing wildfires char and darken the land. Darkened land absorbs more heat than non-charred vegetated land.
The complex relationship between climate change and wildfires mean that areas that experience temperature increases
and space involving weather conditions local winds landscape features microclimates day-tonight changes in atmospheric conditions soil moisture and the types and distribution of vegetation.
and the NSF-funded National Ecological Observatory Network headquartered in Boulder Colo. The High Park wildfire was selected for study
and had generated thereby rare pre-fire baseline data on area ecology. Critical components of the High Park study are flyovers of the burn scar
and adjacent areas by a Twin Otter airplane that collects ecological measurements with state-of-the-art remote-sensing instruments.
and other factors are being incorporated into high-definition 3-D images as well as other types of rich ecological data covering the study area.
of which have water supplies that are likely to be affected by post-fire erosion. And they may ultimately be used to help refine models of fire behavior
and is funded partially by NSF indicates that by the end of the 21st century climate change may kill off swaths of bamboo that pandas need to survive.
At Brown's Ranch just east of Bismarck N d. the community has gone 70 days with less than half an inch of rain.
It's not how much rainfall you get explains Brown. It's how much you can store.
or soak up heavy rainfall. This means less water is wasted and it also means that Brown who received a 2012 Growing Green award from NRDC doesn't need to rely on federal crop insurance to cover his losses in times of drought or other weather extremes.
which we all pay the costs of climate change which is driving more droughts flooding and extreme weather.
As our climate warms crop insurance claims from farmers will continue to rise according to the USDA placing an even bigger burden on the FCIP and therefore taxpayers.
and other weather extremes and more likely to rely on crop insurance. In a new NRDC report my colleague Claire O'connor who comes from a long line of Nebraska farmers herself calls for an overhaul of the FCIP.
it makes sense to climate-proof our farms. Brown is among a growing number of farmers who use a suite of techniques to build soil's natural capacity to retain moisture discourage weeds and pests and nurture crops.
No-till farming means that instead of plowing-under that rich soil ecosystem every planting season Brown plants directly onto the stubble of last year's crops.
The nation can't afford to put our farmland or our farmers not to mention taxpayers at risk by not protecting farms from extreme weather.
Reforming the FCIP to encourage soil-protective climate-proofing techniques will make our farms more resilient
and our farmers more secure ease the burden on taxpayers and protect our environment. You can learn more about soils
or skipping the life-giving Nile floods. The pyramids were built to properly prepare the king for that journey Redding said.
-and nut-bearing trees and wind-dispersed seedlings take root instead according to a study published today (March 19) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The seedling communities of the forest floors are really different in a hunted forest compared to a well-protected forest said study co-author Ola Olsson an ecologist
at Lund University in Sweden. In the long run that's going to make the hunted forest look quite different from
Hunted forests held seedling species that relied on wind to disperse their seeds. In a generation that could fundamentally change the forest ecology he said.
And whereas gorilla and monkey meat does provide protein for local people the fruit trees the primates maintain may be an even bigger economic benefit to people Olsson said.
Important work The findings show yet another devastating impact of the bushmeat trade said Joanna Lambert an ecologist at the University of Texas at San antonio who was involved not in the study.
or standards on the agriculture industry to protect animals workers public health and the environment. There is great value in organizing folks in King's district to defend Iowa's laws
 Tufts'Roberts thinks calories still count The environment is so full of junk food and excess portions that the only way many people can keep their weight healthy is to watch what they eat she said.
and the Environment in Bilthoven The netherlands said in a statement. oedromedary camels are a popular animal species in the middle East where they are used for racing
One popular story suggests that the strong winds of a tornado can blow a single piece of straw straight into a tree trunk.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center the old straw story is just a lot of hot air.
However NOAA does concede that the intense winds generated by a tornado are capable of twisting trees
Wolves are an economic and ecological boon to the state driving wildlife-oriented tourism and keeping prey populations in balance thereby reducing crop losses
#Can'Meatless Mondays'and Improved Farming Counter Climate Change?(Op-Ed) Geoff Orme-Evans is Public Policy Manager for Humane Society International (HSI.
He leads HSI's efforts to humanely address animal agriculture's contribution to environmental degradation and climate change.
A recent report by the United nations Food and agriculture organization (FAO) Tackling Climate Change Through Livestock revealed startling news. Animal agriculture with its 70 billion land animals accounts for 14.5
percent of global human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions confirming that the farm-animal sector is a top contributor to one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time.
Wet weather in 2012 lowered crop yields and forced The british to import wheat for the first time in decades.
The National Weather Service pegged the tornado as an EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale meaning winds reached more than 200 mph (322 km h).
Only about 1 percent reach EF5 status. Predicting which storms will generate monster tornadoes or any tornadoes at all remains a challenge.
When wind and humidity conditions are right thunderstorm systems can begin to rotate and become what are called supercells.
Supercells are marked by the presence of a mesocyclone a rotating updraft of air that can sometimes create a funnel cloud.
Exactly why this happens in some storms and not others is a key mystery. We're trying to be able to figure out why of two pretty much identical supercells one will generate a tornado
Radar can't sense every component of the wind's movement for example. By using simulations she
and her colleagues want to set up at least 100 storms they can tweak at will altering one variable such as humidity
So far Mcgovern and her team have created about 10 storms she said far fewer than the 100 they need.
The team has done similar work to predict airplane turbulence with great success so once the database of simulated storms is built using them to predict real-world weather should be said successful she.
On Monday the National Weather Service office in Norman Okla. gave residents 16 minutes of warning before the tornado even formed based on radar indicators that the storm clouds were circulating in such a way that a tornado was likely.
or a funnel cloud in the sky. We believe our computer weather prediction models might be getting good enough that we might be able to give people somewhat more warning maybe an hour
Narrow valleys can also funnel wind into tornadoes from a mile or so away Gallus said causing damage far afield from the actual funnel cloud. 50 Amazing Tornado Facts Moore in particular has been hit by three violent tornadoes in less than 15 years:
and now being moved to Dallas-Fort worth Texas allows researchers to get full three-dimensional information about how wind is moving.
Traditional radar provides only one component of wind movement. What we are about is getting higher resolution in space
Likewise homes in neighborhoods hit by the tornado were destroyed completely. As of Wednesday the death toll stood at 24 10 of
In Joplin Miss. a 2011 tornado killed 158 according to the National Weather Service (the city of Joplin pegs the death toll at 161.
Building in tornado country Even in Tornado Alley buildings are designed to withstand only 90 mph (145 km h) straight-line winds said Partha Sarkar who studies wind engineering and aerodynamics at Iowa State university.
The standard is based on historic measurements of thunderstorm winds and doesn't take into account even the most common types of tornadoes.
) What's more Sarkar said rotational tornado winds can put even stronger stresses on buildings than straight-line winds.
The buildings are designed simply not to withstand that level of wind he told Livescience. The Deadliest Tornadoes in U s. History Designing a tornado-proof building is said expensive Sarkar.
The storm shelters today are designed for 250 mph (402 km h) wind speeds and we feel that is higher than will ever be experienced at the ground level in a tornado said Ernst Kiesling a mechanical engineer at Texas Tech and the executive director of the National Storm Shelter Association.
Shelter from the storm Unfortunately cost prevents homeowners in even tornado-prone areas from installing these shelters.
In Oklahoma Kiesling said perhaps one in every five newer homes has an in-home shelter
Cats in the United states release about 2. 6 billion pounds (1. 2 million metric tons) of feces into the environment every year.
#Causes of Global Warming Earth's climate has always been in a state of flux according to data gleaned from the geological record ice core samples and other sources.
However since the Industrial revolution began in the late 1700s the world's climate has been changing in a rapid and unprecedented way.
Earth's average temperature has risen by 1. 4 degrees Fahrenheit (0. 8 degrees Celsius) over the past century the Environmental protection agency (EPA) reports.
Earth's climate is the result of a balance between the amount of incoming energy from the sun
Effects of Global Warming This is called the greenhouse effect because a similar process occurs in a greenhouse:
because they exacerbate the greenhouse effect: CO2 methane nitrous oxide water vapor and ozone are among the most prevalent according to NASA.
Additionally these greenhouses gases don't all contribute equally to the greenhouse effect: Methane for example is about 21 times more effective at trapping heat from IR radiation than carbon dioxide according to the EPA.
This difference in heat-trapping ability is referred sometimes to as a gas's global-warming potential or GWP.
Earth's historic climate changes have included ice ages warming periods and other fluctuations in climate over many centuries.
A drop in solar activity for example is believed to have caused the Little Ice age a period of unusually colder climate that lasted from about 1650 to 1850 according to NASA.
The Reality of Climate Change: 10 Myths Busted Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+.
+Original article on Livescience. com. For the latest information on the greenhouse effect visit v
#Celebrity Endorsements May Spur Kids'Unhealthy Eating Kids eat more of a food product that has been endorsed by a celebrity researchers report in a new study.
Facts About Climate, Animals & Plants The Cenozoic era which began about 65 million years ago
The global climate of the early portion of the Cenozoic Period was much warmer than it is today
and the overall climate of the Earth was much more consistent regardless of proximity to the equator.
Each segment of the Cenozoic experienced different climates. During the Paleogene Period most of the Earth s climate was tropical.
The Neogene Period saw a drastic cooling which continued into the Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary period.
This had a significant impact on the climate and marine life surrounding each continent. During the Pleistocene epoch glaciers covered central North america extending as far east as New york south to Kansas and Nebraska and west to the northern West Coast.
The Great lakes were formed as the glaciers receded. Several of the world s foremost mountain ranges including The alps Himalayas
and the Rocky mountains were formed during the Cenozoic era. Life During the Cenozoic era The Cenozoic era is also known as the Age of mammals
However as the climate cooled forests died off creating open land. Due to the widening of the oceanssharks whales and other marine life proliferated.
How Climate Affects the Quality of Bubbly As partiers around the world cheer to the New Year this evening many will enjoy a crisp burst of fizz to the nose before gulping down a tart glass of bubbly.
But climate and weather patterns are amongst the most influential of these factors driving the difference between a sub-par
and high-class bottle of bubbly. 6 Unexpected Effects of Climate Change Precipitationâ Grapes destined to become sparkling wine are picked before they are fully ripe
If a crop experiences heavy rains late in a growing season berries grow too quickly and the flavorful compounds within the fruit become diluted resulting in a bland final product.
 Wine grapes generally thrive in relatively dry environments with just enough rain to keep roots moist and photosynthesis in action.
Temperature Grapes grow in fairly mild climates and suffer during bouts of extreme cold and heat.
 During heat waves fruits become susceptible to ripening prematurely. Since grapes become less acidic and more sweet as they ripen speedy ripening prevents them from developing their full flavor
Research conducted in northeast Spain has shown that prolonged heat waves in which temperatures reach at least 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) result in nearly universally poor quality bottles of cava according to a 2011 report in the International Journal of Biometeorology.
Cloud cover Cloud cover can slow photosynthesis which as with drought and excess heat limits sugar production and can produce a tart fruit.
 Generally wine grapes benefit from relatively warm stable weather. As climate patterns become more erratic
and vegetation zones begin to shift northward within this century as predicated by climate scientists vineyards may face more erratic crop qualities;
in addition northerly regions that have not traditionally been able to produce the delicate grapes destined for bubbly such as southern regions of England may become more suited for this industry.
and are a concern for years after their release into the environment. Â On April 27 the residents of Pripyat were evacuated about 36 hours after the accident had occurred.
The prevailing winds at the time of the accident were from the south and east so much of the radiation plume traveled northwest toward Belarus.
if it causes negative impacts on the long-term sustainability of the global ecosystem. China's implementation of an ivory-product identification system represents a political determination to discourage the expansion of the ivory-carving business a wise policy decision.
#China's Top 6 Environmental Concerns China's environmental crises seem to arise on a scale as sweeping and epic as the vast nation itself:
Compounding these problems is the Chinese government's stony silence about anything that might imperil the country's economic development including environmental regulation.
In the meantime the people of China are forced to face the following environmental catastrophes on a daily basis:
Air pollution According to the Environmental protection agency's air quality scale any pollution rating above 300 means the air is unsafe to breathe.
Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth Water pollution Thousands of dead pigs floating past Shanghai dramatic though they are may be the least of China's water pollution worries.
Last December shortly after his sister died of lung cancer at age 35 businessman Jin Zengmin from Zhejiang province offered a 200000-yuan ($32000) reward to any local environmental official who would swim in a nearby river
so it's perhaps unsurprising that much of the nation's 3 7 million square-mile (9. 6 million square kilometers) territory has been subject to deforestation.
This prompted the United nations Environment Programme to list the country's forests as threatened and in need of protection.
Following closely on the heels of deforestation and agricultural development is desertification the destruction of vegetative land cover that results in a landscape defined by bare soil and rock.
Blinding dust storms mud-choked rivers and eroded topsoil are often the result of desertification.
Biodiversity Closely related to deforestation and desertification is the issue of habitat loss and the resulting drop in biodiversity.
Cancer villages Perhaps no other issue underscores China's reckless disregard for environmental and public health more than the existence of cancer villages entire towns that have been written off as so polluted that simply living there is a cancer risk.
In February of this year a report from China's environment ministry noted that chemicals
What's more of a concern to environmental advocates is the growing affluence of China's middle class who are now adopting Western-style consumer patterns.
and heavily populated country have a global reach that affects everything from sugar prices in Europe to climate change in Greenland:
Most climate experts agree that China's industrial growth and its dependence on coal-burning are significant drivers of climate change Scientific American reports.
Can China change course? While China's traditionally obdurate government hierarchy has seemed to value economic development at any cost including the health of its citizens
and wholesale eco-destruction there are signs of a thaw in the icy silence that shrouds much environmental action in the country.
The government's recent admission that cancer villages exist shows that the environment ministry has acknowledged that pollution has led to people getting cancer environmental lawyer Wang Canfa told Agence Frence-Presse.
It shows that this issue of environmental pollution leading to health damages has drawn attention. Coupled with the public outcry over the thick blanket of toxic smog that covered Beijing earlier this year there are glimmers of hope that the Chinese people may succeed in wresting some measure of control over their environment and their lives back from government and industry leaders.
Whether they will succeed remains to be seen. Email Marc Lallanilla or follow him@Marclallanilla. Follow Livescience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
#Citizen Scientists Key to Halting Sudden Oak Death (Op-Ed) Matteo Garbelotto is an extension specialist and adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental science Policy and Management at the University of California Berkeley.
We started by enlisting grass-roots environmental leaders in several communities and developed compulsory training sessions for each of them that guided hundreds of participants in properly identifying
The quality of the collected material the willingness of volunteers to share information about their own private property (by providing samples) the intimate knowledge that locals have of their own neighborhoods
#Climate Change May be Worsening Western Wildfires SAN FRANCISCO Wildfires in the western United states are getting worse and human-caused climate change may be the main culprit in the hotter more dangerous infernos new research suggests.
Though Dennison's study isn't the first to suggest that climate change may be fueling more Western wildfires past studies often looked at limited data sets ruled out private
For instance in Southern California hotter drier weather combined with changes in the Santa ana winds may have fanned the flames
whether climate change is behind the trends we're seeing Dennison told Livescience. But the trend seems to transcend regional conditions ecosystem variations
and fire-management practices suggesting that larger climatic factors are at play. To tease that out Dennison
Despite the broad regional trend the strategies for fighting wildfires will likely be different in each ecosystem.
#Climate Scientist: 2 Degrees of Warming Too much NEW YORK Famed climate scientist and activist James Hansen has said it before
and he'll say it again: Two degrees of warming is too much. International climate negotiators agreed in the Copenhagen Accord a global agreement on climate change that took place at the 2009 United nations'Climate Change Conferenceâ that warming this century shouldn't increase by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3
. 6 degrees Fahrenheit) to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But in a new paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE Hansen
and a cadre of co-authors from a wide array of disciplines argue that even 2 degrees is too much
The new study is a departure from the typical climate science paper both for the wide variety of fields represented in the list of co-authors
which includes economist Jeffrey Sachs as well as for the policy implications it raises something climate scientists tend to shy away from.
and their thoughts on the ongoing and so far largely ineffectual effort to come up with a global plan to combat the problem of climate change
Hansen noted for his outspokenness on the topic of climate change and his willingness to venture into an advocacy role that many other climate scientists try to avoid has voiced previously his concern about the 2-degree warming benchmark saying in 2011 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical
Union (AGU) that the target that has been talked about in international negotiations for 2 degrees of warming is actually a prescription for long-term disaster.
At the time Hansen was still the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New york. He retired from that position in April in part to pursue political and legal efforts on combating climate change.
Hansen had used already vacation time to attend climate protests and was arrested or cited several times including in front of the White house.)
and his co-authors say Earth's climate history suggests the level of emissions cited to stay below the 2-degree threshold would result in a significantly different planet than the one humans know today
The authors note that many impacts of climate change are already visible from the shrinking ranges of some species to the frequency of extreme heat waves. 8 Ways Global Warming is Already Changing the World The study also reveals conditions during another period called the Eemian
The aim in limiting greenhouse gas emissions should be to keep Earth's climate as close as possible to
To have a 50 percent shot at not surpassing the 2-degree warming limit the fifth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted that emissions should not exceed about 1000 Gtc by 2100.
That's because of feedbacks in the climate system such as Arctic ice melt and changes to cloud cover as well as the potential melting of ice sheets.
Taking such feedbacks into account 1000 Gtc would likely result in a temperature rise of at least 3 degrees Celsius the authors say
and the impacts from climate change would be locked in (impossible to reverse) for the future after 2100.
Part of problem is that even with current levels of emissions the inertia of the climate system means that not all of the warming those emissions will cause has happened yet a certain amount is in the pipeline
Of course to to decarbonize the energy system deeply would require a level of global cooperation not seen so far Sachs said as well as a new way of approaching climate negotiations something he is working on with nations ahead of climate meetings in 2014 and 2015.
and environmental effects of fossil fuels into account putting clean energy from wind to nuclear on an equal footing.
and arguments about intergenerational ethics that dangerousâ climate change should be defined by a threshold of 350 ppm (below current levels)
and just 1c total warming relative to preindustrial time (we have reached nearlyâ that already) rather than the typically cited 2c warming/450 ppm limit Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann who wasn't involved in the study
Stanford climate scientist Ken Caldeira was more apprehensive about the nature of the study. Whereas the information in the study was important
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