environmental science research for everyone
Mayfly swarms used to be so large that snowplows had to take to the streets to clear the road of their carcasses. However, recent evidence demonstrates that mayfly populations are decreasing dramatically. This is bad news for surrounding ecosystems, especially for fish and birds that depend on these insects for food.
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There has been a lot of controversy recently about a group of chemicals that are found, well, nearly everywhere: phthalates. Their ubiquitous presence in our environment combined with their toxic effects observed in lab animals, have fueled concerns that they might be negatively impacting our health. What does the research on humans show?
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Mercury is a troublesome pollutant in the environment and while we know a lot more about where sources are today, we don’t know as much about where sources were in the past and how high pollution levels were. Luckily, trees can help us to figure that out! Using traces of mercury pollution stored in tree rings, scientists try to see how mercury pollution levels have changed as we’ve become more industrialized.
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“Fire refugia are landscape elements that remain unburned or minimally affected by fire, thereby supporting postfire ecosystem function, biodiversity, and resilience to disturbances.” (Meddens et al. 2018)
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The Nassau grouper has long been critically endangered due to overfishing throughout its Caribbean range. The Cayman Islands government instituted a comprehensive program to boost Nassau grouper numbers, and partnered with scientists and conservation organizations in a project to monitor the grouper population. Over the fifteen year program, the fish population has increased. The program and project provide successful models for marine conservation partnerships.
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Pandas and whales grab a lot of our conservation attention (and funds), but what about the finelined pocketbook? This daintily named species, along with other freshwater mussels, is in deep trouble. Scientists worked together to identify research priorities for their conservation.
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Experiencing nature has been linked to many mental health benefits, and now we know it can even lighten the mood on Twitter. Researchers have found that visits to urban greenspaces result in happier, less negative, and less self-absorbed tweets.
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Want to fly without the carbon guilt? Offsetting programs let you pay to plant trees to take that carbon from the air, and researchers are studying how social factors and global policies might influence these environmentally-minded behaviors.
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Bird feeding is a popular activity enjoyed around the globe. However, we don’t really understand how bird feeding can impact the behavior of birds. A new study from China took on this question by studying black-headed gulls. Read on to find out how food provisionings affected the behaviors of these birds
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Most of the plastic in the ocean is not readily identifiable. Rather it’s in the form of small, microscopic particles that are released when plastic and synthetic fibers break off and break down from their original use items, such as laundry, straws, and… teabags! A group of researchers from McGill University have found that billions of microplastics are released when steeping tea from synthetic fiber tea bags.
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