An unexpected way to boost fishery yields using dams
A new study based on the Mekong River basin, home to one of the largest freshwater fisheries in the world, reveals particular dam flow patterns that could be harnessed to boost food production -- by up...
View ArticleHydropower dams can be managed without an all-or-nothing choice between...
Nearly 100 hydropower dams are planned for construction along tributaries off the Mekong River's 2,700-mile stretch. In Science Magazine, researchers present a mathematical formula to balance power...
View ArticleOne wet winter can shake up San Francisco Bay's invasive species
For many Californians, last year's wet winter triggered a case of whiplash. After five years of drought, rain from October 2016 to February 2017 broke more than a century of records. In San Francisco...
View ArticleA bird in the bush is worth $223,851 in the hand
The arrival of a single Black-backed Oriole bird in rural Pennsylvania - 5000 kilometres from its usual home in Mexico - was worth an estimated $US 223,851 to the economy from bird watchers flocking to...
View ArticleStudy finds variation within species plays critical role in health of ecosystems
Concerns about biodiversity tend to focus on the loss of species, but a new study suggests that the loss of variation within species can also have important and unexpected consequences on the environment.
View ArticleHow much can 252-million-year-old ecosystems tell us about modern Earth? A lot.
New paleontological research shows that during the late Permian, the equator was dry and desert-like, yet surprisingly a hotspot for biodiversity. Similarly to modern rainforests, equator ecosystems...
View ArticleWorld-first uses satellites and ocean models to explain Antarctic seafloor...
In a world-first, a research team of Australian and international scientists has used data collected by satellites and an ocean model to explain and predict biodiversity on the Antarctic seafloor.
View ArticleSustainable dams -- are they possible?
Humans have been altering natural waterways for centuries, but only in the last several decades have dams raised ecological concerns. N. LeRoy Poff, professor of biology at Colorado State University,...
View ArticleNew species of fish displays striking color difference between males and females
Adult males of are a deep reddish-orange, while females and juveniles are pale yellow, according to the authors of an article in Journal of Fish Biology describing tetra Hyphessobrycon myrmex....
View ArticleNew maps show shrinking wilderness being ignored at our peril
Maps of the world's most important wilderness areas are now freely available online following a University of Queensland and Wildlife Conservation Society-led study published today.
View ArticleScientists call for improved technologies to save imperiled California salmon
Scientists working to protect California's most endangered salmon say in a new report that key improvements in tracking Sacramento River winter-run Chinook through California's complex water delivery...
View ArticleMonkey study shows a path to monitoring endangered species
A Brazilian-American research group has just published an unusual study outlining data needs for monitoring the survival of monkeys called muriquis that live in patches of forest in Brazil.
View ArticleStudy finds links between deforestation and fisheries yields in the Amazon
The conversion of tropical forests to crop and pastureland has long been a concern for scientists, a new study points to another unexpected consequence: changes in fish production.
View ArticleResearchers capture oldest ice core ever drilled outside the polar regions
The oldest ice core ever drilled outside the polar regions may contain ice that formed during the Stone Age -- more than 600,000 years ago, long before modern humans appeared.
View ArticleKent State researcher exposes MRSA risk at northeast Ohio beaches
Tara C. Smith, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology in Kent State's College of Public Health, published the findings of a study her lab conducted in 2015 that shows a higher-than-expected prevalence of...
View ArticleHow much can late Permian ecosystems tell us about modern Earth? A lot.
New paleontological research shows that during the late Permian, the equator was dry and desert-like, yet surprisingly a hotspot for biodiversity. Similarly to modern rainforests, equator ecosystems...
View ArticleReducing how much nitrogen enters a lake has little impact on algal blooms
Lakes suffering from harmful algal blooms may not respond to reduced, or even discontinued, artificial nitrogen loading. Many blue-green algae responsible for algal blooms can fix atmospheric nitrogen...
View ArticleIn the footsteps of Jacques Cousteau
In 1970, Jacques Cousteau and his Team recovered an unusual stalactite from the depths of the Caribbean Sea. Now geoscientist Eberhard Gischler of Goethe University Frankfurt explains what it reveals...
View ArticleThe incredible journey of the first African tortoise that arrived in Europe
About 95 million years ago, a river turtle adapted to marine environments and made an extraordinary migration from the ancient continent of Gondwana, which grouped what is now Africa and South America,...
View ArticleFish to benefit if large dams adopt new operating approach
Recognizing that many large dams are here to stay, a University of Washington team is investigating an emerging solution to help achieve freshwater conservation goals by re-envisioning the ways in...
View ArticleSardines take us to the sources of biodiversity in the Amazon River
What is the origin of this abundance of species in the Amazon River? Researchers at UNIGE have integrated a range of potential factors into a single statistical model to study the genesis of genetic...
View ArticlePolitical instability and weak governance lead to loss of species, study finds
Big data study of global biodiversity shows ineffective national governance is a better indicator of species decline than any other measure of 'anthropogenic impact.' Even protected conservation areas...
View ArticlePlant defense following the iron-maiden principle
Calcium phosphate is a typical component of teeth. It has recently been shown that plants of the rock nettle family also use this very hard mineral in their „teeth
View ArticleLife in marine driftwood: The case of driftwood specialist talitrids
The rare and difficult-to-sample driftwood talitrids, also called driftwood hoppers, are reviewed by David Wildish in the open access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution. The scientist links these...
View ArticleStudy examines conflict between farmers and livestock predators
A new Journal of Wildlife Management study conducted in South Africa has found that black-backed jackals, a similar species to coyotes and dingoes, prefer to eat livestock rather than similar-sized...
View ArticleClimate change: Soil animals cannot explain self-reinforcing effect
Leipzig. When the soil warms up, it releases more carbon dioxide (CO2) -- an effect that further fuels climate change. Until now, it had been assumed that the reason for this was mainly due to the...
View ArticleBefriending oneself has benefits, but backup plan recommended
A self-replicating fish replicates only its own DNA, but researchers have found the mangrove killifish has a remarkable amount of genetic diversity across its species.
View ArticleWrens' calls reveal subtle differences between subspecies
Birds' songs and the ways they vary between places have been well studied--but what can the simpler vocalizations known as calls tell us about bird biology? A new study from The Auk: Ornithological...
View ArticleA virus-bacteria coevolutionary 'arms race' solves diversity by 'killing the...
Researchers at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have shed new light on a fundamental question in ecology, by improving a popular...
View ArticleCall for action to tackle threat to a global biodiversity hotspot
An invasive Australian tree is now posing a serious threat to a global diversity 'hotspot' in the natural forests of Jamaica's Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. The tree species, Pittosporum...
View ArticleCultural evolution has not freed hunter-gatherers from environmental forcing
Cultural evolution has made humans enormously potent ecosystem engineers and has enabled us to survive and flourish under a variety environmental conditions. Even hunter-gatherers, who obtain their...
View ArticleRice U.'s one-step catalyst turns nitrates into water and air
Engineers at Rice University's Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center have found a catalyst the cleans toxic nitrates from drinking water by converting them into air and water.
View ArticleHow genes will save or fail birds in the face of climate change
A new study analyzing the genomes of yellow warblers in North America reveals how some subpopulations are more 'genetically vulnerable' to changes associated with climate change; furthermore, it finds...
View ArticleThree new species of zoantharians described from coral reefs across the...
Three new species of zoantharians -- relatives of the better-known hard corals and sea anemones - were discovered by researchers based in southern Japan. One of them, Antipathozoanthus remengesaui, was...
View ArticleAmazon biodiversity hotspot to suffer even more losses after contentious law...
In August 2017, the Bolivian government passed a contentious law that paved the way for construction of a new 190-mile road cutting through one of the country's most iconic and biodiverse protected...
View ArticleMethane hydrate dissociation off Spitsbergen not caused by climate change
For years, methane emissions from the seabed have been observed in the Arctic Ocean off Spitsbergen. The assumption that the warming of seawater by climate change is responsible for the release of...
View ArticlePan-European sampling campaign sheds light on the massive diversity of...
In a major pan-European study, a research team from Germany have successfully extracted environmental DNA from as many as 218 lakes to refute a long-year belief that vital microorganisms do not differ...
View ArticleNorth American waterways are becoming saltier and more alkaline
A University of Maryland-led study is the first to assess long-term changes in freshwater salinity and pH at the continental scale. Drawn from data recorded at 232 USGS monitoring sites across the...
View ArticleUS rivers and streams are compromised by increasing salt loads
Human activities are exposing US rivers and streams to a cocktail of salts, with consequences for infrastructure and drinking water supplies. So reports a new study in the Proceedings of the National...
View ArticleDead trees are alive with fungi
So far, little research has been conducted on fungi that live on dead trees, although they are vital to the forest ecology by breaking down dead wood and completing the element cycle between plants and...
View ArticleIn urban streams, pharmaceutical pollution is driving microbial resistance
In urban streams, persistent pharmaceutical pollution can cause aquatic microbial communities to become resistant to drugs. So reports a new study published today in the journal Ecosphere.
View ArticleStudy finds source of toxic green algal blooms and the results stink
Florida's St. Lucie Estuary received national attention in 2016 as toxic green algal blooms wreaked havoc on this vital ecosystem. A new study contradicts the widespread misconception that periodic...
View ArticleWinter road salt, fertilizers turning North American waterways increasingly...
Find related stories on NSF's Environmental Research and Education (ERE) programs at this link. Also find related stories on NSF'sLong-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program site.
View ArticleThe size of marine plankton is key to its global dispersal and distribution
In a paper published in the latest issue of Nature Communications a group of international researchers, led by AZTI scientists, shows that the size of marine plankton is key to its global dispersal and...
View ArticleStudy finds strong support for ocean protection
People around the world strongly support ocean conservation measures, according to a new study of public perceptions of marine threats and protection.
View ArticleRising CO2 is causing trouble in freshwaters too, study suggests
As carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere rise, more CO2 gets absorbed into seawater. As a result, the world's oceans have grown more acidic over time, causing a wide range of well-documented...
View ArticleNew studies aim to boost social science methods in conservation research
Scientists have produced a series of papers designed to improve research on conservation and the environment.
View ArticleSpider eat spider: Scientists discover 18 new spider-hunting pelican spiders...
Scientists examined and analyzed hundreds of pelican spiders both in the field in Madagascar and through study of pelican spiders preserved in museum collections. Their analysis sorted the spiders...
View ArticleHiding from a warmer climate in the forest
Global warming threatens forest plants adapted to cooler temperatures. An international team of scientists from the universities of Stockholm, Marseille and Helsinki have unraveled where these species...
View ArticleThe negative impact of climate change on freshwater bodies
A lot of research is being conducted into the acidification of the world's oceans. A recent study has proved that freshwater bodies are likewise affected. Rising carbon dioxide levels could upset the...
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