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Species Extinction By Asteroid A Rarity
New research argues in favor of a "sick earth" mechanism for most extinctions, rather than external event like an asteroid strike.
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Diversity Of Plant-eating Fishes May Be Key To Recovery Of Coral Reefs
A report scheduled to be published this week in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that maintaining the proper balance of herbivorous fishes may be critical to restoring coral reefs, which are declining dramatically worldwide.
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Green Coffee-growing Practices Buffer Climate-change Impacts
Chalk up another environmental benefit for shade-grown Latin American coffee: University of Michigan researchers say the technique will provide a buffer against the ravages of climate change in the coming decades.
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Beavers: Dam Good For Songbirds
The songbird has a friend in the beaver. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the busy beaver's signature dams provide critical habitat for a variety of migratory songbirds, particularly in the semi-arid interior of the West.
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Opening A Can Of Worms: Serendipitous Discovery Reveals Earthworms More Diverse Than First Thought
Scientists have found that the UK's common or garden earthworms are far more diverse than previously thought, a discovery with important consequences for agriculture. Biologists have found that many of the common earthworm species found in gardens and on agricultural land are actually made up of a number of distinct species that may have different roles in food chains and soil structure and ecology.
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Experts Agree: To Protect The Environment, Biofuel Standards Are Needed
Society is in a race to find renewable sources of carbon-neutral energy. Cellulose-based biofuels hold promise, but we need to proceed cautiously and with an eye toward minimizing long-term ecological impacts. Without a sound plan, we could wind up doing more environmental harm than good.
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Biodiversity In A Warmer World
Will climate change exceed life's ability to respond? Biodiversity in a Warmer World, published in the Oct. 10, 2008, issue of the journal, Science, illustrates that cross-disciplinary research fostered by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama clearly informs this urgent debate.
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Turf Wars: Sand And Corals Don't Mix
When reef fish get a mouthful of sand, coral reefs can drown. "We've known for a while that having a lot of sediment in the water is bad for corals and can smother them. What we didn't realize is how permanent this state of affairs can become, to the point where it may prevent the corals ever re-establishing."
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Fishy Future Written In The Genes
The roadmap to the future of the gorgeously-decorated fish which throng Australia?s coral reefs may well be written in their genes. Of particular importance may be to protect ?pioneer? fish populations which are able to re-colonize regions of reef devastated by global warming and other impacts or settle new areas as the corals move south.
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Challenges And Pathways To Earth Sustainability
The coming three decades will determine whether the population of the world comes into balance with the capacity of the biosphere to support it, or whether catastrophic changes in the environment brought on by climate change, losses of biodiversity, pollution of air and water, and overharvesting of natural resources will lead to the end of the improvement of wellbeing that has characterized the Modern Era. Current indicators are alarming.
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Researchers Document World's Mammals In Crisis
From majestic African elephants to tiny and often unappreciated rodents, mammals on Earth are in a state of crisis. One in four mammal species on Earth is being pushed to extinction, according to the Global Mammal Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the world's mammals.
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Field Of The Future: Ecological Experiment Simulates Conditions In 2100
A new experiment to find out how British plant ecosystems may be affected by future changes to climate and biodiversity is underway at Imperial College London.
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100 Years Of Ammonia Synthesis: How A Single Patent Changed The World
Now it is time to invent sustainable solutions to avoid environmental damage. As a result of the Haber-Bosch process for the synthesis of ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen, billions of people have been fed, millions have died in armed conflict and a cascade of environmental changes has been set in motion, suggests a new article.
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Lichens Function As Indicators Of Nitrogen Pollution In Forests
Scientists have found lichens can give insight into nitrogen air pollution effects on Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino mountain ecosystems, and protecting them provides safeguards for less sensitive species.
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Similarity Of Urban Flora: Plants In Towns And Cities Are More Closely Related Than Those In The Countryside
More plant species grow in German towns and cities than in the countryside, but those in towns and cities are more closely related and are often functionally similar. This makes urban ecosystems more susceptible to environmental impacts.
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Decline In Alaskan Sea Otters Affects Bald Eagles' Diet
Sea otters are known as a keystone species, filling such an important niche in ocean communities that without them, entire ecosystems can collapse. Scientists are finding, however, that sea otters can have even farther-reaching effects that extend to terrestrial communities and alter the behavior of another top predator: the bald eagle.
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Extinct May Not Be Forever For Some Species Of Galapagos Tortoises
Yale scientists report that genetic traces of extinct species of Galapagos tortoises exist in descendants now living in the wild, a finding that could spur breeding programs to restore the species.
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DNA Tests Could Help Predict, Prevent Harmful Algal Blooms
DNA test could be used to detect harmful algal blooms across the globe, an article the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.
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Vegetation Hardly Affected By Extreme Flood Events: Impacts On Flora And Fauna Of The Elbe Flood Of 2002
Extreme flood events in floodplain grasslands affect carabid beetles and molluscs more than plants. Biologists did several years of observations before and after the Elbe floods of August 2002 in this study. Flow variations are known to be most important drivers in structuring riverine communities. However, until now, the effects of extreme flood events on the flora and fauna of floodplains have been largely unknown, despite the fact that such events are likely to become more frequent as a result of climate change.
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Atlantic Wolffish: Fearsome Fish That Deserve Protection?
A group has filed a scientific petition with the federal government seeking endangered species protection for the Atlantic wolffish, a fish threatened with extinction due to years of overharvesting and habitat loss due to modern fishing gear. If the petition is successful, this will be the first listing of a marine fish as an endangered in New England.
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Warming Of 4 Degrees Celsius Depressed Plant Growth And Reduced Land Carbon Absorption
Scientists are reporting findings on the long-term effects of warming anomaly on grassland productivity and ecosystem carbon cycling. They found that warming by 4 degrees Celsius in the Reno greenhouse not only depressed plant growth and suppressed land carbon absorption in the treatment year but also resulted in prolonged suppression of plant growth and carbon absorption in the following year.
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Seabird Ammonia Emissions Contribute To Atmospheric Acidity
Ammonia emissions from seabirds have been shown to be a significant source of nitrogen in remote coastal ecosystems, contributing to nutrient enrichment (eutrophication) and acidification in ecosystems.
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Effect Of Climate Change On Animal Diversity
Two species of giraffe, several rhinos and five elephant relatives, along with multitudes of rodents, bush pigs, horses, antelope and apes, once inhabited what is now northern Pakistan.
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Are Fires More Important Than Rain For The Savannah Ecosystem?
Natural grass fires are evidently more important for the ecology of savannahs than has previously been assumed. This is the finding of a study carried out in Etosha National Park in the north of Namibia. It is the first study to have investigated the complex interplay of the factors fire, competition, moisture and seed availability in relation to a grass species.
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Plants In Forest Emit Aspirin Chemical To Deal With Stress; Discovery May Help Agriculture
Plants in a forest respond to stress by producing a chemical form of aspirin, scientists have discovered. The finding opens up new avenues of research into the behavior of plants, and it has the potential to give farmers an early warning signal about crops that are failing.
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Ocean Floor Geysers Warm Flowing Sea Water
Earth scientists have reported movement of warmed sea water through the flat, Pacific Ocean floor off Costa Rica. The movement is greater than that off midocean volcanic ridges. The finding suggests possible marine life in a part of the ocean once considered barren.
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Homeowner Perceptions In Fire-prone Areas
Most residents in fire-prone communities surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest have taken steps to protect their homes from wildland fires, according to a US Forest Service study completed this summer.
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Lack Of Large-scale Experiments Slows Progress Of Environmental Restoration
A new study finds that environmental restoration research using large experimental tests has been limited. The study maintains that for restoration to progress as a science and a practice, more research should be done on whole ecosystems with large experiments.
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Neighbors From Hell: Infanticide Rife In Guillemot Colony
One of Britain's best-known species of seabird is increasingly attacking and killing unattended chicks from neighboring nests due to food shortages.
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Modest Carbon Dioxide Cutbacks May Be Too Little, Too Late For Coral Reefs
How much carbon dioxide is too much? According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need to be stabilized at levels low enough to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." But scientists have come to realize that an even more acute danger than climate change is lurking in the world's oceans -- one that is likely to be triggered by CO2 levels that are modest by climate standards.
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