Ecology articles

Follow the green brick road?
Researchers have found that bricks made from fly ash--fine ash particles captured as waste by coal-fired power plants--may be even safer than predicted. Instead of leaching minute amounts of mercury as some researchers had predicted, the bricks apparently do the reverse, pulling minute amounts of the toxic metal out of ambient air.

Huge wind machine to simulate category three hurricanes
It will huff, and puff, and blow the house in — but only for research purposes. Two days before the June 1 start of the 2007 hurricane season, University of Florida wind engineers unveiled the world's largest portable hurricane wind and rain simulator.

Study warns climate change and deforestation will lead to declines in global bird diversity
Global warming and the destruction of natural habitats will lead to significant declines and extinctions in the world's 8,750 terrestrial bird species over the next century, according to a study conducted by biologists at the University of California, San Diego and Princeton University.

Birds, bees, and moths drive flower evolution
Flowers evolve in a predictable fashion to match the mouthparts of pollinating birds and insects, rather than engaging in a gradual "arms race" between flower and pollinator, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Research finds evidence tropical cyclones have climate-control role
Purdue University researchers have found evidence that tropical cyclones and hurricanes play an important role in the ocean circulation patterns that transport heat and maintain the climate of North America and Europe.

New study could bring relief to sweltering city slickers
Sweltering summers in the city may become more bearable in future years, thanks to a new study probing the heat contributed by buildings, roads and traffic.

Simulations unravel outer membrane transport mechanism
Using X-ray data and advanced computer simulation and visualization software, researchers at the University of Illinois have painstakingly modeled a critical part of a mechanism by which bacteria take up large molecules. Their findings provide a rare window on the complex interplay of proteins involved in the active transport of materials across cell membranes.

Shine on, shine on, climate monitoring station: moon-based observatories proposed
Poets may see "a face of plaintive sweetness" or "a cheek like beryl stone" when they look at the moon, but Shaopeng Huang sees something else altogether: the ideal location for a network of observatories dedicated to studying climate change on Earth.

New theory aims to explain recent temperature, climate extremes
Using an ocean of data, sophisticated mathematical models and supercomputing resources, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are putting climate models to the test with particular focus on weather extremes.

The woes of kilimanjaro: don't blame global warming
The "snows" of Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro inspired the title of an iconic American short story, but now its dwindling icecap is being cited as proof for human-induced global warming.

Arctic spring comes weeks earlier than a decade ago
In the Earth's cold and icy far north, the harsh winters are giving way to spring weeks earlier than they did just a decade ago, researchers have reported in the June 19th issue of Current Biology, published by Cell Press. The finding in the Arctic, where the effects of global warming are expected to be most severe, offers an "early warning" of things to come on the rest of the planet, according to the researchers.

Climate models consistent with ocean warming observations
Climate models are reliable tools that help researchers better understand the observed record of ocean warming and variability.

Marine phytoplankton changes form to protect itself
A tiny single-celled organism that plays a key role in the carbon cycle of cold-water oceans may be a lot smarter than scientists had suspected.

The kapok connection: study explains rainforest similarities
Celebrated in Buddhist temples and cultivated for its wood and cottony fibers, the kapok tree now is upsetting an idea that biologists have clung to for decades: the notion that African and South American rainforests are similar because the continents were connected 96 million years ago.

Why a rocky mountain high?
A University of Utah study shows how various regions of North America are kept afloat by heat within Earth's rocky crust, and how much of the continent would sink beneath sea level if not for heat that makes rock buoyant.

Greenhouse gas burial
Deep coal seams that are not commercially viable for coal production could be used for permanent underground storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activities, thus avoiding atmospheric release, according to two studies published in Inderscience's International Journal of Environment and Pollution. An added benefit of storing CO2 in this way is that additional useful methane will be displaced from the coal beds.

Scientists find that earth and mars are different to the core
Research comparing silicon samples from Earth, meteorites and planetary materials, published in Nature (28th June 2007), provides new evidence that the Earth's core formed under very different conditions from those that existed on Mars. It also shows that the Earth and the Moon have the same silicon isotopic composition supporting the theory that atoms from the two mixed in the early stages of their development.

Scientist uncovers earth's mysterious layer
Laboratory measurements of a high-pressure mineral believed to exist deep within the Earth show that the mineral may not, as geophysicists hoped, have the right properties to explain a mysterious layer lying just above the planet's core.

Scientists report java tsunami gave no warning
Though categorized as magnitude 7.8, the earthquake could scarcely be felt by beachgoers that afternoon. A low tide and wind-driven waves disguised the signs of receding water, so when the tsunami struck, it caught even lifeguards by surprise. That contributed to the death toll of more than 600 persons in Java, Indonesia.

Scientists close in on missing carbon sink; northern forests less effective than expected in reducing global warming
Forests in the United States and other northern mid- and upper-latitude regions are playing a smaller role in offsetting global warming than previously thought, according to a study appearing in Science. The study, which sheds light on the so-called missing carbon sink, concludes that intact tropical forests are removing an unexpectedly high proportion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, partially offsetting carbon entering the air through industrial emissions and deforestation.