Remote Environments – envirobites

We’ve all seen pictures of a bright white arctic fox or snowshoe hare in a snowy landscape. But did you know, these same animals actually have brown coats during the summer? The ability of animals to change their seasonal coat color enables them to camouflage themselves against the landscape year round. A decrease in the duration of winter snow cover is one of the most widespread signals of climate change. Without snow, bright white arctic foxes and snowshoe hares will be obvious to predators and have decreased survival. A recent study reports that populations that have a mix of individuals with either brown or white winter coats may be better able to adapt and persist during this age of climate change.

Climate Environmental Science Remote Environments

Antarctica is melting from the bottom-up!

September 24, 2018September 24, 2018 Chelsea Barreto 0 Comments Climate Change, environmental science, glaciers, sea level rise

Reference: Silvano, A., Rintoul, S.R., Pena-Molino, B., Hobbs, W.R., van Wijk, E., Aoki, S., Tamura, T., and Williams, G.D. 2018.

Climate Environmental Science Remote Environments Science through time

Where will the tall trees grow?

September 18, 2018September 20, 2018 E.M.B. Doran 0 Comments Climate Change, Ecology, ecosystems, environmental science, land use and land cover, landscape change, modeling, paleoecology

What will the landscape look like when the world is four degrees warmer? Seven degrees warmer? Will you see the same trees and shrubs? Will the same birds visit your bird feeder? If you live in a forest now, will you then live in a desert? The implications have wide consequences not least for the production of food and the provision of water for your future self.

Environmental Science Human Exposure and Public Health Remote Environments Toxicology

Drug resistance in one of the remote regions of the world

June 25, 2018June 26, 2018 Kiran Gurung 0 Comments antibiotic resistance, antibiotics, soil microbes

Drug resistance is a common problem due to the human activities. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics has resulted in the development of resistance in disease-causing bacteria (microorganisms) found in soil. But, scientists have also found this resistance even in the soil from remote regions far away from human influence.

Environmental Science Remote Environments

Deep Sea Mining and Ecosystem Adaptability

January 5, 2018January 5, 2018 Claudia Mazur 0 Comments deep-sea, ecosystems, geology, marine biology, mining, Ocean, resources, water

We know more about the surface of the Moon and about Mars than we do about [the deep sea floor],

Climate Environmental Science Remote Environments

Integrating human dimensions into large-scale marine conservation planning

November 22, 2017 Lushani Nanayakkara 0 Comments Human dimensions

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.

Environmental Science Remote Environments

High Levels of Toxic Man-Made Chemicals Found in Deep Ocean Critters

August 19, 2017August 19, 2017 Clifton Dassuncao 0 Comments Bioaccumulation, environmental science, Ocean, POPs

Scientists from the UK have recently reported finding extraordinarily high levels of toxic man-made chemicals in tiny crustaceans from the deepest parts of the ocean.