Carbon emissions to the atmosphere from bodies of water are expected to increase as warmer water temperatures can cause faster rates of organic matter breakdown. The study of the temperature sensitivity of leaf litter breakdown in streams and rivers was published on Feb. 28 in Global Change Biology. The new study reviewed data from more than 1,000 reports representing 41 countries and 85 different plant genera to quantify the sensitivity of litter breakdown in streams and rivers to changes in temperature. In this case, according to metabolic theory, the rate of litter breakdown would depend on the metabolic rate of stream organisms - which is stimulated by elevated temperatures.
This study is important because it shows how critical climate change is to litter breakdown. Also, this shows just how broad the effects of climate change are in the sense of our ecosystem. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170303081326.htm
0 Comments
"Some of the tree species that are abundant in Amazonian forests today, like cacao, acai, and Brazil nut, are probably common because they were planted by people who lived there long before the arrival of European colonists, says Nigel Pitman," the Mellon Senior Conservation Ecologist at Chicago's Field Museum and a co-author of the study.
Domesticated by Amazonian natives, this study centralized on the trees that many of us use for typical food. Other regions showed fewer domesticated species, or a weaker relationship between domesticated species and archaeological sites, highlighting the need for more research on the history of Amazonian settlement. The way in which the Amazonian peoples settled has an effect on the distribution. While the small number of domesticated species used in the study was sufficient to reveal a strong human signal in modern forests, the authors point out that the signal may be even stronger than they documented, since hundreds of other Amazonian tree species were used by pre-Colombian peoples and also deserve study. This study is significant because it reveals to what extent the Amazonian forests play a role in the everyday foods we know today. This study should analyze the remains of the Amazon in order to see where these plant species originated. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170302143939.htm A new study conducted by scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara and colleagues at several other institutions found that during the 2015-2016 El Nino, winter beach erosion on the Pacific coast was 76 percent above normal. During the winter months, erosion along the beaches is common. However, during El Nino, the erosion became more severe. The research team assessed seasonal beach behavior for 29 beaches along more than 1,200 miles of the Pacific coast. The waves either equaled or surpassed the winter average along the West Coast, corresponding to extreme beach erosion across the region. California's extreme drought resulted in lower river flows, which meant less sand being brought to the coast to help sustain beaches.
In my opinion, it is still important to combat the effects of the drought, despite the fact that it is almost over. With beaches along the Pacific Coast suffering from the consequences of the drought, it is critical that we make an effort to recover these beaches. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170223114751.htm The largest pool of marine methane on Earth spans from the coast of Central America to Hawaii in the Tropical Pacific Ocean. For the first time microbial methane production in parts of the seafloor, where the water is very low in oxygen, contributes to a huge methane pool which goes from Panama, up to Mexico and as far out as the Hawaiian archipelago, according to the International Society for Microbial Ecology team. "It is important that we understand how microbes produce and consume this powerful greenhouse gas, especially in the oceans where we currently understand very little," said Felicity Shelley, Joint Lead Author.
In my opinion, this is an important issue because the rising amounts of greenhouse gasses have an indescribable overall effect on our environment, with the oceans being a victim of these substances. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170224111725.htm Small marine birds that can even be exposed to coin sized amounts of oil can die due to hypothermia in regions with cold water. Unfortunately, the off shore oil management in Canada is failing when it comes to the self regulation of small off shore oil spills. However, seabirds are rarely considered in the monitoring of small spills from offshore oil production projects in Newfoundland and Labrador even though Environment Canada has asked that they be included. When researchers delved further into this issue, they discovered that there were around 220 daytime oil spills.
This is a significant issue because aquatic birds play an important role in the marine ecosystem and are being dramatically effected by the small oil spills. It is important that awareness is raised for this issue in order to avoid endangerment of this species in the long run. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160526095451.htm Large amounts of deer can create human hazards such as blocking roadways and spreading disease. Not only this, but they can disrupt ecosystems by eating away at the habitats that many species rely on. In a new study published in Landscape and Urban Planning, researchers show that areas in the eastern U.S. with high deer numbers tend to have fewer birds that need forest shrubs. These bird species rely on food from insects while using shrubs as a hideout. However, these shrubs are often eaten by deer. The coastal region -- with as many as twenty-eight thousand droppings per hectare -- is where the study found significant correlations between deer and birds. I think this is important because many people are familiar with the fact that humans can negatively effect populations, but it is a rare occasion when we recognize that other animals can effect species' populations as well. This study suggests our land use practices that promote high deer numbers might be changing local ecosystems -- with implications for declining songbirds and the people who enjoy them. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170130224740.htm The first gorilla to ever be raised by humans since birth, Colo, recently passed away in her sleep at the age of 60. One of the reasons that is speculated to have led her to such a long life (20 years above average) was the human care she received. The shooting of Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo last May spurred debate about whether animals like gorillas even belong in zoos. But most zoo animals won’t be leaving anytime soon, and they require care that emphasizes their welfare if people want them to have long lives like Colo. However, in the past, zoo animals were poorly treated and they were trained to behave a certain way through food deprivation, sedation, etc. In human care, a mother gorilla may not want or be able to care for her young. To get past this, zookeepers, like those at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, become gorilla surrogates who stay with infants at all times. Zookeepers also minimize human contact by training infants to approach the bottle, eliminating human reliance. Overall, even though zoos may be perceived as a prison for animals, they do have their benefits. Training animals to better care for themselves could provide them with a longer life. However, there will always be negative aspects of zoos, like the Harambe incident. Furthermore, this raises the question of whether zoos are a positive or negative thing. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/science/colo-gorilla-zoo-animals.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fearth&action=click&contentCollection=earth®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0 Some researchers have pinpointed geographical footprints in monarch butterfly wings that have led to locating where monarchs migrate every fall in North America. Even though the butterfly's origin was discovered to be widespread across Canada and the United States, the majority of monarchs migrated from the American Midwest to Mexico. In the recent years, researchers have observed a decrease in the monarch population, which could be due to a numerous amount of factors. eradication of milkweed, which began in the mid-1990s. Monarchs feed on milkweed and lay their eggs on the plants. "We're facing a growing crisis of species extinction, not just with monarchs," said Norris, co-author of the new paper.
I personally believe that it is important for such an iconic species like the monarch to gain recognition and help in sustaining their population. With this new "chemical footprint technology" I think that it will become easier to learn more about the species and figure out ways to avoid their endangerment. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170110161022.htm With coastal regions becoming more polluted day by day, it is becoming increasingly harder for species to survive in these toxic conditions. However, in East Coast estuaries, the Atlantic killfish have resiliently adapted to the intense levels of pollution. Evolution is working hard to save some urban fish from a lethal, human-altered environment, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis, and published Dec. 9 in the journal Science. The killifish is up to 8,000 times more resistant to this level of pollution than other fish, the study found. One of the reasons is their high level of genetic diversity, which is higher than any other vertebrate. "This study shows that different populations of Atlantic killifish exposed to toxic pollution evolve tolerance to that pollution through changes in one molecular pathway," said George Gilchrist.
This study is important because it exemplifies the importance of genetic diversity within ecosystems, especially with the amount of pollution within the environment. Genetic diversity strengthens species, and allows them to be protected against human activity. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161208143334.htm Due to warmer winters, the amount of rain has increased instead of the amount of snowfall. This has resulted in the freezing of water on the groud, meaning that many substances below this ice are frozen over and inaccessable. This has negatively impacted the reindeer population because the staple foods that they rely on for survival have been frozen over, leading to thier starvation. Ecologists from the James Hutton Institute, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and Norwegian University of Life Sciences have worked in the high Arctic since 1994, measuring and weighing the reindeer. The survey shows that over 16 years, the adult reindeers' weight declined by 12% -- from 55kg for those born in 1994 to just over 48kg for those born in 2010.
This is important because it shows the impacts of climate change on species and their eventual path to extinction. If humans do not take action to reduce climate change, instead of leading Santa's sleigh, reindeer will be left starving and endangered. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161212084646.htm |
AuthorNatalie Archives
November 2016
Categories |