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Archive for June 11th, 2015
Bats fertilize tropical trees: A win-win situation in rainforest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Bats in tropical regions are fertilizing trees with their excretions. An international team of scientists recently discovered that seeds of a tropical tree species, which regularly hosts bats in large hollows, contain nutrients from bat excreta. The study has now been published in the scientific journal Biotropica.
Many tropical ecosystems are low in nutrients. Especially phosphorus and nitrogen are essential for plant growth and their availability limits the productivity of plants. Past studies...
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Comments Off on Bats fertilize tropical trees: A win-win situation in rainforestClimate change progress ‘too slow’
Posted by BBC: Helen Briggs on June 11th, 2015
BBC: International talks in Bonn have made progress towards a new global deal on climate change, says the UN, amid calls from NGOs for a faster pace.
Countries are working towards options to limit greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 in time for a crunch Paris summit.
The UN said progress had been made towards streamlining the text of a new agreement at talks in Bonn.
Environmental groups said ''difficult issues'' such as finance and emissions cuts had yet to be addressed.
The 11-day meeting...
U.S. weather forecaster sees El Nino likely to last into 2016
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2015
Reuters: A U.S. weather forecaster warned on Thursday the El Nino weather pattern that can cause droughts in Asia and heavy rain in the Americas will likely last into next year, longer than previously expected and potentially roiling crops and commodity prices.
The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, pegged the chances of El Nino weather conditions continuing into the Northern Hemisphere's 2015-16 winter at 85 percent, becoming the first major forecaster to say the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. weather forecaster sees El Nino likely to last into 2016Lion hunters warn U.S. conservation rules could backfire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2015
Reuters: The thrill of hunting lion keeps luring John Jackson back to Africa for the chance to stalk the beasts in the wild and gaze through the scope of his rifle at the king of the jungle.
"You can see them, smell them. When they roar the ground shakes. It's like lightning snapping over your head," he says.
Jackson, of Metairie, Louisiana, is president of Conservation Force, a lobby group that says regulated lion hunting helps protect the animal by giving reserve owners a financial incentive to deter...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Lion hunters warn U.S. conservation rules could backfireIce sheet collapse 135,000 years ago to help scientists explain dramatic climate changes
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Alkira Reinfrank on June 11th, 2015
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The discovery of a massive ice sheet collapse 135,000 years ago could help scientists understand the processes that control the planet's dramatic climate changes.
An international team of scientists has found that the dramatic collapse at the end of the penultimate ice age caused extensive changes in the climate and triggered the last interglacial sea level peak, which well exceeded its present levels.
The team, which included scientists from the Australian National University (ANU), disproved...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Ice sheet collapse 135,000 years ago to help scientists explain dramatic climate changes100 Canadian, US scientists call oilsands moratorium
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2015
Canadian Press: A group of 100 leading Canadian and U.S. scientists has issued an urgent call for a moratorium on new oilsands development and listed 10 reasons why no more projects should be permitted. "I believe we have a duty to speak up," said Mark Jaccard, an energy economist at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University who spent more than a year drafting a letter to make sure it was scientifically sound. Jaccard was a co-author of a 2014 essay in a scientific journal that made a similar argument. But the current letter,...
Alaska Highway permafrost vulnerable to climate change
Posted by CBC: Dave Croft on June 11th, 2015
CBC: Researchers at Yukon College and the territory's highways department are ramping up efforts to preserve permafrost under roadways and prevent frost heaves and other damage.
The problem is expected to worsen with climate change and warmer temperatures.
Brian Horton, the research coordinator for the college's Northern Climate ExChange at the Yukon Research Centre, says much of the work is being done on the section of the North Alaska Highway between Burwash Landing, Yukon, and Beaver Creek, Yukon....
Stop oilsands expansion, Canadian and U.S. researchers say
Posted by CBC: None Given on June 11th, 2015
CBC: More than 100 Canadian and U.S. researchers are calling on Canada to end expansion of its oilsands, for 10 reasons that they describe as "grounded in science."
"Based on evidence raised across our many disciplines, we offer a unified voice calling for a moratorium on new oilsands projects," said a statement issued Wednesday by the group, led by academics at the University of Waterloo, Simon Fraser University and the University of Arizona.
The statement, signed by a range of researchers including...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Stop oilsands expansion, Canadian and U.S. researchers sayCanada: Researchers’ open letter calls for moratorium on new oilsands projects
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2015
Edmonton Journal: More than 100 scientists and economists from Canada and the U.S. made an unprecedented call Wednesday for a halt to new projects in the oilsands until carbon emissions can be reduced.
In an open letter sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the prestigious group of researchers said a moratorium on new projects is needed if the world wants to limit the worst impacts of global warming. Energy economist Mark Jaccard of Simon Fraser University said the position is “Alberta friendly,” as it would maintain...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Researchers’ open letter calls for moratorium on new oilsands projectsPolar bears killing and eating dolphins forced north global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2015
Independent: Bears have been seen catching and eating dolphins for the first time ever, after the marine mammals were left stuck in the Arctic Ocean because of global warming.
It marks the first time that bears have been seen killing and eating dolphins. Usually, the dolphins only go up north during the warmer summer -- but this year they have arrived in spring.
The bears catch the dolphins in a similar way to the seals that they usually eat. Both animals keep holes in the ice which they use to come up...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Polar bears killing and eating dolphins forced north global warming