Is a warming arctic giving polar bears the cold?
Recent research investigated how changes in the arctic are pushing polar bears off sea ice and towards land, affecting their exposures to pathogens and environmental toxins.
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Month: November 2017
The Dynamic Duo: Pine trees partner with fungal communities to survive climate change
With climate change comes increased drought, which can have serious consequences on many species. This study examined whether one tree species, the Pinyon pine, can rely on a relationship with fungal communities in its roots to survive drought conditions. Does the relationship last? Read on to find out.
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Alien Plants in Urban Landscapes
Alien plant species, or non-native plant species, provide positive benefits, such as improving aesthetics and contributing to local food production. However, these species can also have negative effects on urban landscape by producing allergy-inducing pollen and taking over habitat from native species. In order to effectively manage urban landscapes, more research is needed on the positive and negative impacts of alien plant species.
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When will the next big hurricane hit?
When will the next big hurricane hit, and how do we know? A new computer model of hurricanes is helping scientists understand the likelihood of high rainfall events in Texas, and suggests it might be time to prepare for more frequent major storms.
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Integrating human dimensions into large-scale marine conservation planning
In our efforts to safeguard vulnerable habitats from the multitude of threats currently facing our planet, oftentimes people get left out of the picture. Large-scale conservation efforts require the support of (especially local) communities to successfully meet their conservation objectives. Therefore, we need to seriously discuss ways to successfully incorporate human dimensions into large-scale conservation planning. In this paper, Christie et al. present some ideas on how we can ensure that large-scale conservation planning is mindful of human populations who might be impacted by new conservation areas.
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Tracing the Source
Using unique data and sophisticated models, one science team seeks to inform policy development to address harmful algal blooms in
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The Path to TRUE Sustainability
On September 25, 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit set an agenda of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Among them
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Birds evolve bigger beaks thanks to backyard feeders
Echoing Charles Darwin’s study of Galapagos finches, biologists in Great Britain have found that the size of birds’ beaks is adapted to help them eat certain types of food. But unlike Darwin’s finches, the British food sources influencing bird evolution aren’t natural features of the environment. They’re backyard bird feeders.
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Reputation (of Conservation Planning): Challenges in the Face of Climate Change
We could make a whole list of habitats to conserve, but which are in red, underlined? Scientists recently tested a number of models incorporating the impacts of climate change to find out what method we should be using for predicting high value conservation areas in the future.
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Small Urban Streams and Nutrient Removal: What’s Going On?
Algae mats scrub urban streams of excess nutrients, but the process is limited to the warmer months of the year, and it creates inhospitable habitats for fish and macroinvertebrates and also results in a stream that is unpleasant to look at and often smells.
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