http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Australia said it was pushing for a ban Thursday of any commercial use of a pioneering technique to reduce the impacts of climate change by "fertilising" the world's oceans with iron, warning of significant risks. http://phys.org/news287893607.html Space & Earth Thu, 16 May 2013 03:26:55 EST news287893607 (Phys.org) —Fires and hurricanes are only two examples of natural disturbances that drastically affect millions of people worldwide. Now, scientists are considering how these events might limit opportunities for climate mitigation as well. A team of scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, working at the Joint Global Change Research Institute at Maryland, found that strategies to alleviate the impacts of climate change will need to account for future land and atmospheric disturbances that impact forests. This study is the first to quantify the effect of future natural disturbances on climate mitigation strategies. http://phys.org/news287301556.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 May 2013 07:20:01 EST news287301556 A new report from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) looked at the vulnerability of 54 breeding bird species to climate change impacts occurring by the year 2050 in Arctic Alaska. The assessment found that two species, the gyrfalcon and common eider are likely to be "highly" vulnerable, while seven other species would be "moderately" vulnerable to anticipated impacts. Five species are likely to increase in number and benefit from a warming climate. http://phys.org/news284201664.html Biology Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:54:31 EST news284201664 Geoengineering, the use of human technologies to alter the Earth's climate system—such as injecting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to scatter incoming sunlight back to space—has emerged as a potentially promising way to mitigate the impacts of climate change. But such efforts could present unforeseen new risks. That inherent tension, argue two professors from UCLA and Harvard, has thwarted both scientific advances and the development of an international framework for regulating and guiding geoengineering research. http://phys.org/news282490899.html Space & Earth Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:42:03 EST news282490899 Climate change, intensive farming and urban sprawl - are putting Europe's parkland and biological diversity under increasing pressure. The natural environment can only take so much pressure, before it becomes spoiled, and already, loss of habitat is threatening many species with extinction. http://phys.org/news281782014.html Biology Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:20:02 EST news281782014 In reef-building corals variations within genes involved in immunity and response to stress correlate to water temperature and clarity, finds a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Genetics. This information could be used to conserve or rebuild reefs in areas affected by climate change, by changes in extreme weather patterns, increasing sedimentation or altered land use. http://phys.org/news280685479.html Biology Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:00:01 EST news280685479 Dr. Charles Fletcher, Associate Dean and Professor of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, released this month the first edition of "Climate Change: What the Science Tells Us" (published by J. Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ). Fletcher offers the first real textbook to present the science surrounding climate change at the right level for an undergraduate student. http://phys.org/news278612049.html Space & Earth Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:14:16 EST news278612049 In the coming decades, climate change will lead to more frequent and more intense Midwest heat waves while degrading air and water quality and threatening public health. Intense rainstorms and floods will become more common, and existing risks to the Great Lakes will be exacerbated. http://phys.org/news277727794.html Space & Earth Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:36:50 EST news277727794 (Phys.org)—A new draft assessment of the impacts of climate change on the U.S. has been released by the Global Change Research Program in Washington, D.C., and is available online for public comment. Hailed as the most comprehensive and inclusive national effort to date to assess the science of climate change and its impacts, the National Climate Assessment, or NCA, will contribute directly to the U.S. climate policy debate. http://phys.org/news277552099.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:48:30 EST news277552099 Although climate change may alter the distributions of many species, changes in land use may compound these effects. Now, a new study by PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO) researcher Dennis Jongsomjit and colleagues suggests that the effects of future housing development may be as great or greater than those of climate change for many bird species. In fact, some species projected to expand their distributions with climate change may actually lose ground when future development is brought into the picture. The study, "Between a rock and a hard place: The impacts of climate change and housing development on breeding birds in California," appears online in the journal Landscape Ecology. http://phys.org/news275219659.html Biology Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:54:24 EST news275219659 (Phys.org)—Plant and animal species are shifting their geographic ranges and the timing of their life events – such as flowering, laying eggs or migrating – at faster rates than researchers documented just a few years ago, according to a technical report on biodiversity and ecosystems used as scientific input for the 2013 Third National Climate Assessment. http://phys.org/news275123829.html Space & Earth Wed, 19 Dec 2012 07:17:20 EST news275123829 A new study by biologists at Mercyhurst University focuses on the influence of climate change, particularly warmer winters, on the survival and potential fecundity of cold-blooded animals. http://phys.org/news274551885.html Biology Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:24:55 EST news274551885 Stronger snowfall increases future ice discharge from Antarctica. Global warming leads to more precipitation as warmer air holds more moisture – hence earlier research suggested the Antarctic ice sheet might grow under climate change. Now a study published in Nature shows that a lot of the ice gain due to increased snowfall is countered by an acceleration of ice-flow to the ocean. Thus Antarctica's contribution to global sea-level rise is probably greater than hitherto estimated, the team of authors from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) concludes. http://phys.org/news274534586.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:24 EST news274534586 Research led by the University of York has found that the impacts of climate change on rare plants in tropical mountains will vary considerably from site to site and from species to species. http://phys.org/news274014589.html Biology Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:09:56 EST news274014589 Europe defended its record Wednesday in curbing Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions as the countries of the world entered their third day of talks in Qatar on ways to tackle climate change. http://phys.org/news273337705.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:08:33 EST news273337705 Uncertainty about how much the climate is changing is not a reason to delay preparing for the harmful impacts of climate change says Professor Jim Hall of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and colleagues at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, writing today in Nature Climate Change. http://phys.org/news273232877.html Space & Earth Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:40:01 EST news273232877 Rising temperatures could widen the gap between the Europe's rich and poor nations, an EU agency warned Wednesday, as it announced the warmest decade on record in the continent. http://phys.org/news272736086.html Space & Earth Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:01:33 EST news272736086 Eight researchers in a new report have suggested that climate change is causing additional stress to many western rangelands, and as a result land managers should consider a significant reduction, or in some places elimination of livestock and other large animals from public lands. http://phys.org/news272047268.html Space & Earth Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:20:02 EST news272047268 China's endangered wild pandas may need new dinner reservations – and quickly – based on models that indicate climate change may kill off swaths of bamboo that pandas need to survive. http://phys.org/news271860985.html Space & Earth Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:00:09 EST news271860985 Governments and institutions should focus on developing adaption policies to address and mitigate against the negative impact of global warming, rather than putting the emphasis on carbon trading and capping greenhouse-gas emissions, argue Johannesburg-based Wits University geoscientist Dr Jasper Knight and Dr Stephan Harrison from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. http://phys.org/news269688761.html Space & Earth Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:32:51 EST news269688761 Over the last 30 years, great ape numbers have plummeted across Africa, due to increasing rates of commercial hunting, habitat destruction, and disease. A continent-wide, data-based overview of their habitats is now possible, as the results of surveys from over 60 sites have been combined through the IUCN/SSC A.P.E.S. (Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys) database (http://apes.eva.mpg.de). This information is crucial to inform global policy and donor decisions, and to predict and mitigate current and emerging threats. These threats include habitat destruction, large-scale infrastructure developments, resource exploitation projects, intensifying hunting pressure and impacts of climate change. http://phys.org/news267872977.html Biology Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:09:44 EST news267872977 What if you woke up every day to find that the closest grocery store had moved several miles farther away from your home? Over time, you would have to travel hundreds of extra miles to find essential food for yourself and your family. This is potentially a scenario faced by thousands of marine animals affected by climate change. http://phys.org/news267699812.html Space & Earth Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:06:14 EST news267699812 Today's announcement of a record low for Arctic sea ice extent shows the need for urgent local and global actions, say WWF experts. According to satellite monitoring, the low of 3.41 million square kilometers was reached on September 16. This is a loss of ice nearly twice the size of Alaska, compared to the average minimum from 1979 to 2000. http://phys.org/news267342214.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:43:56 EST news267342214 (Phys.org)—A landmark study has found that climate change is likely to have a major impact on Australia's plants, animals and ecosystems that will present significant challenges to the conservation of Australia's biodiversity. http://phys.org/news267179772.html Biology Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:36:21 EST news267179772 A new report by U.S. and Canadian scientists analyzes decades of research and concludes that the climate of the Northeast has changed and is likely to change more. The report outlines the effects of climate change on multiple aspects of forests in the northeastern corner of the United States and eastern Canada and concludes with recommendations on adaptive and mitigating strategies for dealing with future effects. http://phys.org/news264268480.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:55:07 EST news264268480 The continent of Antarctica is at risk from human activities and other forces, and environmental management is needed to protect the planet's last great wilderness area, says an international team of researchers, including a Texas A&M University oceanographer, in a paper published in the current issue of Science magazine. http://phys.org/news261308765.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:00:01 EST news261308765 Climate change has impacted on upland plants and vegetation over the past half century, new evidence from north west Scotland has revealed. http://phys.org/news259481063.html Biology Thu, 21 Jun 2012 07:04:34 EST news259481063 A recent study of the impact of climate change on butterflies suggests that some species might adapt much better than others, with implications for the pollination and herbivory associated with these and other insect species. http://phys.org/news257770644.html Biology Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:59:15 EST news257770644 A botanist brings a species of alfalfa from Siberia, to the United States. His hope? The plant survives, and leads to a new winter-hardy alfalfa. But what also happened during this time in the late 1800's, isn't just a story of legend and lore. The truth of the matter is creating a current revival in both interest and conservation of what's now called a crop's "wild relative." http://phys.org/news257607614.html Biology Wed, 30 May 2012 14:40:27 EST news257607614 Rising sea levels are likely to change Southern California beaches in the coming century, but not in ways you might expect. http://phys.org/news249648613.html Space & Earth Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:50:21 EST news249648613