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Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
While the Deepwater Horizon oil gusher continues to mire the Gulf of Mexico, another threat could be growing below the oil slicked surface. This is the "Dead Zone". Currently the most well known dead zone is about 8,500 square miles in size and lies in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi River dumps high nutrient runoff from its vast drainage basin, which includes the heart of the U.S. agriculture business from the Midwest. This is equivalent to a dead zone the size of New Jersey. Dead zones are hypoxic (low oxygen) areas in the world's oceans, the observed incidences of which have been increasing since oceanographers began noting them in the 1970s.
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Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
The health of a waterway is entirely dependent on the status of its riparian zone, the area of land from which storm water flows. In urban environments, which are typically found along a waterway, that land is altered, and the flow of water to the stream or river is affected. These changes can have a devastating effect on the populations of aquatic life that reside there.
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Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
Archey's frog is a survivor: virtually unchanged evolutionarily for 150 million years, the species has survived the comet that decimated the dinosaurs, the Ice Age, and the splitting of continents. Seventy million years ago New Zealand broke away from Australia, essentially isolating Archey's frog and its relatives from all predatory mammals. Yet, if the New Zealand government has its way this species may not survive the century, let alone the next few decades.
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Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
How can a painting help us understand the likely effects of a warming climate? It is perhaps the best way to do so, since an artist capable of creating highly realistic scenes can show us the species likely to be present in an ecosystem as its average and extreme temperatures change over time.
"Climate Impacts on Olympic Peninsula Forests" vividly portrays the ongoing effects of climate change on our beautiful native plants and animals, through the interpretation of award winning fine artist of John C. Pitcher. John Pitcher can be reached at http://www.goldleafstudiosinc.com/
Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula contains several distinct ecosystems and supports biodiversity of species that are found nowhere else on the planet. Current scientific data suggests that forests in the Olympic Peninsula will experience a number of climate-related changes, including snowpack decline, increased tree establishment in meadows, threats to native species, and increased wildfire activity.
Good Nature Publishing is proud to present the first edition poster of “Climate Impacts on Olympic Peninsula Forests.” Varying from the usual drastic-impact portrayals depicting piles of trash and helpless animals choking on cigarette butts, Pitcher relays an artist's impression of climate impacts based on best science available.
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Friday, 11 June 2010 14:03 |
"Climate Impacts on Olympic Peninsula Forests" vividly portrays the ongoing effects of climate change on our beautiful native plants and animals, through the interpretation of award winning fine artist of John C. Pitcher. John Pitcher can be reached at:
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May 17, 2010 – Washington State's Olympic Peninsula contains several distinct ecosystems and supports biodiversity of species that are found nowhere else on the planet. Current scientific data suggests that forests in the Olympic Peninsula will experience a number of climate-related changes, including snowpack decline, increased tree establishment in meadows, threats to native species, and increased wildfire activity.
Good Nature Publishing is proud to present the first edition poster of "Climate Impacts on Olympic Peninsula Forests." Varying from the usual drastic-impact portrayals depicting piles of trash and helpless animals choking on cigarette butts, Pitcher relays an artist's impression of climate impacts based on best science available.
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Wednesday, 28 April 2010 05:09 |
Tuna sushi from your local supermarket might have lower mercury levels and so be safer to eat than sushi from a high-end restaurant, a new study using fish DNA suggests. The results show that some species of tuna, particularly those that restaurants value for their firmer flesh and appealing look — such as bluefin akami and all bigeye tuna — have higher mercury levels than other species typically found in grocery stores.
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Monday, 26 April 2010 12:34 |
The United States' Eastern forests have suffered a "substantial and sustained net loss" over the past few decades, according to a detailed study appearing in BioScience. From 1973 to 2000, Eastern have declined by 4.1 percent or 3.7 million hectares. Deforestation occurred in all Eastern regions, but the loss was most concentrated in the southeastern plains.
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Monday, 26 April 2010 12:34 |
Some people and animals are color blind. For those who can see the world of colors there is endless wonder. So how do these colors happen in nature? How do you choose to be pink, black or violet?
How different creatures in the animal kingdom — from colorful birds and reef fish to butterflies and snakes — make and deploy their artful designs is one of nature's many deep secrets. Now, however, a team of researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has exposed the fine details of how animals make new body ornamentation from scratch. The work, the result of years long and laborious experimentation, was published April 7 in the journal Nature.
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Monday, 26 April 2010 12:34 |
It is always amazing to watch birds in flight because they often behave as if they respond to unseen commands when they turn in unison. Pigeons have been recently studied by Oxford University and Eötvös University (Hungary) to see who is command in a given flock. Pigeon flocks (they concluded) are guided by a flexible system of leadership in which almost every member gets a vote but the votes of high ranking birds seem to carry more weight.
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Monday, 26 April 2010 12:34 |
I admit I’d hoped for something a little more exciting after a seven-and-a-half-hour journey from New Delhi to one of India’s best-known wildlife parks. It’s not that we didn’t see any wildlife when we made the trek late last month to the Corbett National Park in the northern state of Uttaranchal.
On our outing to the forests and grass lands of the 1300-square-kilometre park we saw 4 deer, 3 wild boar, 2 rabbits, lots of monkeys—and a giant frog. But this is also India’s oldest tiger sanctuary, home to 162 Bengal tigers. And we didn’t see a single one.
Gopal Dutt Sayal, general manager of the hotel we stayed at, warns tourists that although the park, named after British hunter-turned-conservationist Jim Corbett, is known for having one of the highest concentrations of tigers in the country, they shouldn’t get their hopes up. ‘There’s roughly only a four percent chance of seeing a tiger,’ says Sayal, a qualified naturalist.
However, he adds that the 162 tigers recorded in 2009 was still a healthy increase on the 134 counted the year before.
It’s a rare piece of good news for conservation efforts surrounding the biggest of the big cats, and India’s national animal. WWF India says at the turn of the 20th century, India had an estimated 40,000 wild tigers. Yet by 2002, a pugmark (footprint) census indicated the number had fallen to 3,642. A landmark 2008 monitoring exercise, meanwhile, suggested that the decline was even more alarming, claiming there were only 1,411 tigers left.
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