News tagged with ecosystem health

Environmental index could save rural communities

A new approach to environmental monitoring could avert ruin for some of the world's poorest communities.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Diverse ecosystems are crucial climate change buffer

Preserving diverse plant life will be crucial to buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in in the world's drylands, according to a new landmark study.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hellbender salamander study seeks answers for global amphibian decline

A new study co-authored by University of Florida researchers on the endangered Ozark Hellbender giant salamander is the first to detail its skin microbes, the bacteria and fungi that defend against pathogens.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Hidden hunger from wildlife loss

How do you balance the need for biodiversity conservation and human health? For Christopher Golden, '05, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Harvard University Center for the Environment, that question is at the core ...

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How do green algae react to carbon nanotubes?

Nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), which are found in an ever-increasing number of products, are ending up more and more frequently in our surroundings. If and how they affect aquatic ecosystems ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 04, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Crowded Earth: how many is too many?

Already straining to host seven billion souls, Earth is set to teem with billions more, and only a revolution in the use of resources can avert an environmental crunch, experts say.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Oct 23, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (10) | comments 144

Cruising the Chesapeake for water and air quality

A NASA-led team of scientists took to the Chesapeake Bay this summer to study a diverse yet close-to-home ecosystem in a field campaign that will help the agency determine how to study ocean health and air ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 09, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists explore the role of aeroecology in bat conservation and ecosystem health

Golf courses and coffee plantations are some of the unlikely bat habitats that could be considered in conservation plans, say scientists presenting research at the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) 96th Annual Meeting ...

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 11, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Multi-paddock grazing is superior to continuous grazing

A long-term study verifies multi-paddock grazing improves vegetation, soil health and animal production relative to continuous grazing in large-scale ranches, according to Texas AgriLife Research scientists.

Biology / Ecology

created Jun 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Mercury on the rise in endangered Pacific seabirds

Using 120 years of feathers from natural history museums in the United States, Harvard University researchers have been able to track increases in the neurotoxin methylmercury in the black-footed albatross (Phoebastria ni ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 18, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Human rules may determine environmental 'tipping points'

A new paper appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that people, governments, and institutions that shape the way people interact may be just as important for determining environmental ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists question indicator of fisheries health, evidence for 'fishing down food webs'

The most widely adopted measure for assessing the state of the world's oceans and fisheries led to inaccurate conclusions in nearly half the ecosystems where it was applied according to new analysis by an ...

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 17, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Perils of plastics: Risks to human health and the environment

Plastics surround us. A vital manufacturing ingredient for nearly every existing industry, these materials appear in a high percentage of the products we use every day. Although modern life would be hard to imagine without ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 19, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (13) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Air pollutants from abroad a growing concern, says new report

Plumes of harmful air pollutants can be transported across oceans and continents -- from Asia to the United States and from the United States to Europe -- and have a negative impact on air quality far from their original ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Sep 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0