environmental science research for everyone
Climate change is scary. Michigan researchers are empowering their community to prepare for it by predicting how extreme heat and precipitation events may impact public health in the future. Policy makers can use these findings to protect the most vulnerable members of the community!
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Have you posted on social media today? If you did, you’re not alone. All around the world people are using social media apps, and many of these apps are recording data as we speak. Though this thought might seem a little overwhelming, all of this data makes for a wealth of information that scientists can use for research purposes. Over the past decade, social media has started to become a huge source of data for scientists. One study published in 2017 aimed to find out whether this social media data could help researchers determine what factors were most important to tourists when choosing to visit protected areas in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Large-scale agriculture utilizes a myriad of chemicals to increase crop yields and profits. The effects of these chemical mixtures can be unpredictable once they are introduced into the environment, especially when interacting with vulnerable animal groups like amphibians.
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Waterfalls are the purview of unicorns and rainbows. But the magic isn’t all fantasy. New experiments are shedding light on how some waterfalls form.
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The white truffle is a prized (and notoriously expensive) delicacy, and its range may be expanding to higher latitudes. Is climate change opening new territory to this rare and sought-after species? What would be the cultural and economic consequences of a range shift for the world’s most valuable food?
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Pavement, smog, and lack of shade can increase temperatures in cities by up to 6ºF above the surrounding rural and suburban areas. We know the higher temperatures directly impact many species of animals, but is it possible that they could also affect the course of evolution and change the physiology of future generations? To answer this question, researchers from the Netherlands used a popular citizen science platform to gather data about the appearance of snails throughout a wide range of habitats.
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Does seaweed have the power to fight climate change? Are cow burps contributing to global warming? Read on to find the answers!
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Backyard gardens can boast surprising levels of biodiversity. Quantifying the diversity of many small gardens spread out across an urban area, however, can be difficult for scientists. In this study, researchers proposed a survey in which garden-owners were asked to give basic information about their gardens. From the responses, a statistical model was designed to determine the actual number of species present.
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Rats have shared our cities for a long time. Because of this they can be used a model to learn more about how animals colonized cities and what features of cities can be advantageous for some species. A new study focuses their attention on whether 19th century city mice had an advantage over their rural neighbors. Read on to find out more!
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Wild bees are indispensable pollen-transporters that support and maintain diverse plant communities in nature, but in discussions about the well-being of bees, they tend to lose the spotlight to their honeybee cousins. One issue where both wild bees and honeybees are struggling, however, is in facing the lack of food continuity throughout the growing season. Mapping the “hunger gaps” for foraging bees, and working to close such gaps, is a key issue for bee conservation.
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