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Gulf Stream Leaves Its Signature Seven Miles High
2008-03-28 05:31:00
The Gulf Stream ’s impact on climate is well known, keeping Iceland and Scotland comfortable in winter compared to the deep-freeze of Labrador at the same latitude। That cyclones tend to spawn over the Gulf Stream has also been known for some time. A new study reveals that the Gulf Stream anchors a precipitation band with upward motions and cloud formations that can reach 7 miles high and penetrate the upper troposphere. The discovery, announced by a Japan–US team of scientists, shows that the Gulf Stream has a pathway by which to directly affect weather and climate patterns over the whole Northern Hemisphere, and perhaps even world wide.“Our findings gain even more significance by the fact that the Gulf Stream is the upper limb of the Atlantic portion of the ocean conveyor belt that drives the global ocean circulation,” says co-author Shang-Ping Xie, a research team leader at the International Pacific Research Center in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology,...
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Rabbit Fish To The Rescue Of The Reef
2008-03-28 05:26:00
While rabbits continue to ravage Australia’s native landscapes, rabbit fish may help save large areas of the Great Barrier Reef from destruction।The reason, say scientists, is the same in both cases – both rabbits and rabbit fish are efficient herbivores, capable of stripping an area of vegetation. However, in the case of the Reef, it is the vegetation that is the problem – and the rabbit fish, the answer.“When a coral reef is weakened or damaged through human activity such as climate change or pollution or by a natural disaster like a cyclone, the coral will usually recover provided it is not choked by fast-growing marine algae,” explains Professor David Bellwood of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.“The problem is that over the years we have fished down the populations of fish that normally feed on the young weed to such a degree that the weed is no longer kept in check, it can now smother the young corals and take over. Th...
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Arctic Pollution's Surprising History: Explorers Saw Particulate Haze In La
2008-03-28 05:24:00
Scientists know that air pollution particles from mid-latitude cities migrate to the Arctic and form an ugly haze, but a new University of Utah study finds surprising evidence that polar explorers saw the same phenomenon as early as 1870।"The reaction from some colleagues -- when we first mentioned that people had seen haze in the late 1800s -- was that it was crazy," says Tim Garrett, assistant professor of meteorology and senior author of the study. "Who would have thought the Arctic could be so polluted back then? Our instinctive reaction is to believe the world was a cleaner place 130 years ago."By searching through historic records written by early Arctic explorers, Garrett and his collaborator Lisa Verzella, former undergraduate student at the University of Utah, were able to find evidence of an aerosol "dry haze" that settled onto the ice to form a layer of grayish dust containing metallic particles. The haze and dust were likely the byproducts of smelting and coal combusti...
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Deadly Genetic Disease Prevented Before Birth In Zebrafish
2008-03-28 05:22:00
By injecting a customized "genetic patch" into early stage fish embryos, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St। Louis were able to correct a genetic mutation so the embryos developed normally.The research could lead to the prevention of up to one-fifth of birth defects in humans caused by genetic mutations, according to the authors.Erik C. Madsen, first author and an M.D./Ph.D. student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine, made the groundbreaking discovery using a zebrafish model of Menkes disease, a rare, inherited disorder of copper metabolism caused by a mutation in the human version of the ATP7A gene. Zebrafish are vertebrates that develop similarly to humans, and their transparency allows researchers to observe embryonic development.Children who have Menkes disease have seizures, extensive neurodegeneration in the gray matter of the brain, abnormal bone development and kinky, colorless hair. Most childre...
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Mark Robotic First For British Antarctic Survey
2008-03-28 05:20:00
Scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in collaboration with the Technical University of Braunschweig (TUBS), Germany have completed the first ever series of flights by autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Antarctica। This is the first time that unpiloted UAVs have been used in the Antarctic and the successful flights open up a major new technique for gathering scientific data in the harshest and remotest environment on Earth.Dr Phil Anderson of BAS says, "This is a huge technological achievement for BAS and TUBS. Apart from take-off and landing, when the UAVs are controlled by radio, the aircraft are completely autonomous, flying on their own according to a pre-programmed flight plan. Each flight lasts for 40 minutes, covering around 45 km and taking 100 measurements a second, so waiting for the UAV to return safely after its research mission was very exciting. Seeing the first UAV come back successfully was a real heart-in-the-mouth moment."Following trials during...
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Majestic Lesser Flamingos Survive In Contaminated Indian Waters
2008-03-24 12:25:00
A University of Leicester ecologist is setting out to discover why flamingos are so in the pink of health - in the poo!Dr David Harper, of the Department of Biology at the University of Leicester, has been studying lesser flamingos for nine years.His research has been carried out in the lakes of East Africa but new investigations he has carried out for the first time in India have- by his own admission -- given him 'rather a shock.'He said: "Lesser flamingos are graceful, majestic, birds. They are not the ones you can see at the zoo, because they are very difficult to maintain in captivity, but the ones that you see on television in their hundreds of thousands, crowded into a few specialist lakes in East Africa."I have been studying them, on these lakes in Kenya and Tanzania, but earlier this month I returned from India, having carried out a preliminary investigation of the population there, and I had rather a shock."In Africa the lesser flamingo, with its beautiful pink plumage, ...
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Pollution Visible From East Asia To North America In New Satellite Image
2008-03-24 12:13:00
In a new NASA study, researchers taking advantage of improvements in satellite sensor capabilities offer the first measurement-based estimate of the amount of pollution from East Asia n forest fires, urban exhaust, and industrial production that makes its way to western North America ।China, the world's most populated country, has experienced rapid industrial growth, massive human migrations to urban areas, and considerable expansion in automobile use over the last two decades. As a result, the country has doubled its emissions of man-made pollutants to become the world's largest emitter of tiny particles called pollution aerosols that are transported across the Pacific Ocean by rapid airstreams emanating from East Asia.Hongbin Yu, an associate research scientist of the University of Maryland Baltimore County working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., grew up in China and taught there as a university professor, where he witnessed first-hand and studied how p...
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MicroRNAs Help Zebrafish Regenerate Fins
2008-03-24 12:11:00
Biologists have discovered a molecular circuit breaker that controls a zebrafish's remarkable ability to regrow missing fins, according to a new study from Duke University Medical Center।Tiny wonders of the aquarium world, zebrafish can regenerate organs and tissues, including hearts, eye parts and fins. When a fin is lost, the fish regenerates a perfect copy in two weeks by orchestrating the growth of many tissue types, including bone, nerves, blood vessels, connective tissue and skin.Scientists hope that understanding how zebrafish repair themselves will lead to new treatments for human conditions caused by damaged tissue, such as heart failure, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.The regeneration regulator is one of a group of recently discovered molecules called microRNAs: small pieces of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that each can potentially control the activity of dozens of different genes. In humans, microRNAs play important roles in cell growth and death, among other functions. T...
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Arctic Sea Ice Still At Risk Despite Cold Winter, NASA Says
2008-03-24 12:09:00
Using the latest satellite observations, NASA researchers and others report that the Arctic is still on "thin ice" when it comes to the condition of sea ice cover in the region। A colder-than-average winter in some regions of the Arctic this year has yielded an increase in the area of new sea ice, while the older sea ice that lasts for several years has continued to decline.On March 18 the scientists said they believe that the increased area of sea ice this winter is due to recent weather conditions, while the decline in perennial ice reflects the longer-term warming climate trend and is a result of increased melting during summer and greater movement of the older ice out of the Arctic.Perennial sea ice is the long-lived, year-round layer of ice that remains even when the surrounding short-lived seasonal sea ice melts away in summer to its minimum extent. It is this perennial sea ice, left over from the summer melt period, that has been rapidly declining from year to year, and tha...
More About: Winter , Cold , Risk , Nasa

Breath Of The Ocean Links Fish Feeding, Reefs, Climate
2008-03-11 13:23:00
An ocean odor that affects global climate also gathers reef fish to feed as they "eavesdrop" on events that might lead them to food।Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is given off by algae and phytoplankton, microscopic one-celled plants that float in the ocean. Release of DMSP usually indicates either that tiny animals in the plankton are feeding on the algae, or that massive growth of algae -- an algal bloom -- has occurred, said Jennifer DeBose, a UC Davis graduate student and now a researcher with the National Ocean ic and Atmospheric Administration's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.Once released from the ocean into the atmosphere, derivatives of DMSP promote cloud formation, so clouds reflect more sunlight back into space and cool the Earth।These sulfur compounds are also known to serve as odor signals to marine organisms and are likely to play an equally important role in marine ecology, said Gabrielle Nevitt, professor of ne...
More About: Fish , Climate , Links , Reefs

Antarctic Fish Species Adopts Winter Survival Strategy Similar To Hibernati
2008-03-10 12:24:00
Scientists have discovered an Antarctic fish species that adopts a winter survival strategy similar to hibernation। Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of Birmingham reveal, for the first time, that the Antarctic 'cod' Notothenia coriiceps effectively 'puts itself on ice' to survive the long Antarctic winter.The study showed that the fish activate a seasonal 'switch' in ecological strategy -- going from one that maximises feeding and growth in summer to another that minimises the energetic cost of living during the long, Antarctic winter.The research demonstrates that at least some fish species can enter a dormant state, similar to hibernation that is not temperature driven and presumably provides seasonal energetic benefits. Scientists already know that Antarctic fish have very low metabolic rates and blood 'antifreeze' proteins that allow them to live in near-freezing waters. This study demonstrates that Antarctic fish - which already live i...
More About: Winter , Strategy , Fish , Survival

dead dolphins found on Texas shore
2008-03-06 07:56:00
Marine officials are worried that they may be facing another significant dolphin die-off in the Gulf of Mexico after 21 of the marine mammals were found washed up on Texas beaches over two days. The carcasses were discovered a year after about 70 dolphins washed up in the same area over a two week period."We are concerned, especially because (of) what happened last year," said Blair Maise, the marine mammal stranding coordinator for the national marine fisheries service."There may be more."Researchers weren't able to determine a cause for last year's significant die-off because the animals' carcasses were too decomposed when they were discovered.The bottlenosed dolphins found on Monday and Tuesday on the Bolivar peninsula near Galveston, Texas were also badly decomposed, but officials are hopeful they may still be able to determine a cause."We're going to take a more proactive role (this time) in trying to do aerial searches for fresher carcasses so we can get better information...
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Zebrafish Provide Useful Screening Tool For Genes, Drugs That Protect Again
2008-03-06 07:48:00
A small striped fish is helping scientists understand what makes people susceptible to a common form of hearing loss, although, in this case, it's not the fish's ears that are of interest. In a new study researchers at the University of Washington have developed a research method that relies on a zebrafish's lateral line -- the faint line running down each side of a fish that enables it to sense its surroundings -- to quickly screen for genes and chemical compounds that protect against hearing loss from some medications "The fish's lateral line contains sensory cells that are functionally similar to those found in the inner ear, except these are on the surface of the fish's body, making them more easily accessible," said James F. Battey, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of the NIDCD.* "This means that scientists can very efficiently analyze the sensory structures under different conditions to find out what is likely to cause damage to these structures and, conversely, what can protec...
More About: Drugs , Tool , Screening , Genes

Northern Right Whales Head South to Give Birth
2008-03-05 08:12:00
Like many northerners who head south to warmer climates for the winter, many Northern right whales also head south in November and stay into April. Their destination is the only known calving ground for this rare and endangered population-the waters off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. When they arrive, NOAA scientists are there to greet them, and to take DNA samples.Although they are large animals, finding them in the ocean is not easy. "Like people, they don't all congregate in one spot," says NOAA researcher Dr. Richard Pace of the challenge. "There may be one here, and three others 50 miles away. And you don't know who will be there this year." Pace, and colleagues from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), are primarily focused on locating right whale newborns and adults who have not yet been sampled.To find the whales, the researchers depend heavily on aerial spotting teams. Once close enough ...
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Tiny Polyps Need Two Kinds Of Carbon To Survive Coral Bleaching
2008-03-05 08:09:00
How well ocean reefs recover from the growing damage caused by warming sea temperatures depends both on how much the tiny coral polyps can eat, and how healthy they can keep the microscopic algae that live inside their bodies।New research intended to dissect one of the planet's most fertile and endangered ecosystems may change the way scientists look at this symbiotic partnership, shifting it from a case where the polyps function only as landlords to one where the tiny creatures actually nurture their algae.Preliminary findings were presented March 4 in two papers at the 2008 Ocean Sciences meeting in Orlando. The research focuses on the key role that carbon plays on the recovery of damaged coral reefs.Andrea Grottoli, an assistant professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University, has spent the last 14 years studying two common forms of coral that populate the reefs near the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.Two years ago, she reported that one of the corals she tested, Mont...
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Six-legged 'hexapus' claimed as world first in Britain
2008-03-05 08:08:00
British marine experts have found what they claim is a world first -- a six-legged octopus, or "hexapus," whom they have christened Henry. The unique sea creature, which has two limbs fewer than a normal octopus, is believed to be the result of a birth defect rather than an accident, say his keepers at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre in northwest England."We've scoured the Internet and talked to lots of other aquariums and no-one has ever heard of another case of a six-legged octopus," said supervisor Carey Duckhouse.Henry was discovered in a lobster pot off the north Wales coast two weeks ago, and was one of eight creatures that Sea Life staff picked up from a local marine zoo there -- where staff hadn't noticed his missing legs.It was only when he attached himself to the inside of a glass tank that Sea Life staff noticed he was two limbs short of a full set. Octopuses are renowned for having three hearts and blue blood, but not usually six legs."He's a lovely little thing," said ...
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New Theory For Dogfish And Skate Population Outburst, Off New England Shore
2008-03-04 08:26:00
New research by scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Chesapeake Biological Laboratory questions the long-held belief that a lack of predators and competitors was the primary cause for the increase of skates and dogfish observed in Southern New England 's George's Bank following overfishing of commercially important species in the 1980's।In an article appearing in the journal Ecological Applications, researchers Michael Frisk, Thomas Miller, Steve Martell and Katherine Sosebee argue that the increase of winter skate on George's Bank was the result of a migration to the area from adjacent -- or connected -- waters. This hypothesis challenges the current notion that the Georges Bank's population is closed and if true, could have significant implications to management of the fishery.Previously, scientists hypothesized that increased populations of skates and dogfish were the result of less competition from the reduced numbers of commercially im...
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Seafloor Cores Show Tight Bond Between Dust And Past Climates
2008-03-03 06:22:00
Each year, long-distance winds drop up to 900 million tons of dust from deserts and other parts of the land into the oceans। Scientists suspect this phenomenon connects to global climate--but exactly how, remains a question. Now a big piece of the puzzle has fallen into place, with a study showing that the amount of dust entering the equatorial Pacific peaks sharply during repeated ice ages, then declines when climate warms. The researchers say it cements the theory that atmospheric moisture, and thus dust, move in close step with temperature on a global scale; the finding may in turn help inform current ideas to seed oceans with iron-rich dust in order to mitigate global warming.In the past decade, scientists have documented similar dust peaks in polar ice cores, and in sediments from the Atlantic and Indian oceans, but records from Pacific were contradictory. Now that all the records have been shown to coincide, "it suggests that the whole world hydrologic cycle varies in unison...
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Enormous Jurassic Sea Predator, Pliosaur, Discovered In Norway
2008-03-03 06:16:00
Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway has announced the discovery of one of the largest dinosaur-era marine reptiles ever found – an enormous sea predator known as a pliosaur estimated to be almost 15 meters (50 feet) feet long।The 150 million year-old Jurassic fossil was discovered on the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, at 78 degrees north latitude, approximately 1300 km (800 miles) from the North Pole. It was found in the summer of 2006 by a team of Norwegian paleontologists and volunteers from the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, led by Dr. Jørn Hurum. The fossil was excavated in the summer of 2007 and has until now been prepared and conserved by a team at the Natural History Museum in Oslo .A pliosaur is a type of plesiosaur, a group of extinct reptiles that lived in the world's oceans during the age of dinosaurs. Pliosaurs had a tear-drop shaped body and two sets of powerful paddles that it used to “fly” through the water. Their short neck support...
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Voyage To Southern Ocean Aims To Study Air-sea Fluxes Of Greenhouse Gases
2008-03-03 06:13:00
Scientists will soon embark from Punta Arenas, Chile, on the tip of South America, to spend 42 days amid the high winds and waves of the Southern Ocean । Here they hope to make groundbreaking measurements to explain how huge fluxes of climate-affecting gases move between atmosphere and sea, and vice-versa.The cruise, which departs Feb. 28, should provide important information on how the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide moves between the ocean and atmosphere, said the cruise's chief scientist, David Ho of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Comprising 30 percent of global seas, "the Southern Ocean is a source of great uncertainty," he said. "So it's potentially important to our understanding of the global system."Humans put about 6 billion metric tons of CO2 into the air each year, mainly by fossil-fuel burning and deforestation. About a third is thought to be absorbed by oceans, and a third by plants or other components of land. The rest stays in the air--much o...
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Farmed Fish Fed Cheap Food May Be Less Nutritious For Humans
2008-03-03 06:09:00
When the diets of farmed fish are altered, the food we ingest also changes। For his doctorate, Sverre Ludvig Seierstad investigated the biological consequences of exchanging the fish oils commonly used in fish feed with vegetable oils. What consequences might this have on both fish and human health? The research project “Fjord til bord (Fjord to table)” has been a collaboration between the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, the National institute for Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES), Nutreco ARC and Ullevål University Hospital. The main ingredients of fish feed have traditionally been of marine origin. For several reasons, including increased demand for and production of farmed fish, and climatic considerations, feed ingredients of marine origin are becoming both scarce and expensive. The fish farming industry therefore wishes to utilise alternative lipid (fat) sources in feed used for salmon farming.Vegetable oils have been shown to stimulate the appetite and fee...
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Has The Mystery Of The Antarctic Ice Sheet Been Solved?
2008-03-03 06:08:00
A team of scientists from Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales travelled to Africa to find new evidence of climate change which helps explain some of the mystery surrounding the appearance of the Antarctic ice sheet।Ice sheet formation in the Antarctic is one of the most important climatic shifts in Earth's history. However, previous temperature records show no evidence of the oceans cooling at this time, but instead suggest they actually warmed, presenting a confusing picture of the climate system which has long been a mystery in palaeoclimatology.Now Dr Carrie Lear, Lecturer in Palaeoceanography, and her team at Cardiff have presented new temperature records using ancient sea floor mud recovered from Tanzania, East Africa. The shell chemistry of pin-head sized animals called foraminifera ("forams") reveal that ocean temperatures did in fact cool by about 2.5 degrees Celsius.Dr Lear said: "Forams are great tools for...
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Antarctic Krill found in waters 3,000 meters deep
2008-02-29 06:08:00
Shrimp-like krill can thrive in icy waters 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep off Antarctica as well as near the surface, according to a study on Monday that shows krill stocks can survive far deeper than previously thought.The British researchers said, however, that the discovery of krill in the depths does not mean that stocks of the crustaceans sometimes called "pink gold" are far bigger than previously expected nor that trawlers can expect bigger quotas."Scientists have found Antarctic krill living and feeding down to depths of 3,000 meters in waters around the Antarctic peninsula," the British Antarctic Survey said of a study by a robot submarine to the sea floor."The discovery completely changes scientists' understanding of the major food source for fish, squid, penguins, seals and whales," it said in a report with the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.Krill, which spawn near the surface, were previously thought to live only in waters down to about 150 meters. Traveling d...
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Resilience Science Is Promising Approach To Marine Conservation
2008-02-29 06:05:00
Ocean ecosystems are increasingly threatened by overfishing, pollution, habitat loss, climate change and coastal development. Understanding why some ecosystems resist these shocks, and continue to deliver benefits such as plentiful fish and pristine beaches, and how others collapse is the subject of resilience science.Resilience Science Is Promising Approach To Marine Conservation Brown University marine conservation scientist Heather Leslie has explained how the fast-growing field of resilience science can produce more effective ocean protection policies at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.*Resilience science is the study of how ecosystems resist and respond to disturbances, both natural and man-made. This increasingly influential area of environmental science is affecting marine conservation efforts from the Gulf of Maine to the Great Barrier Reef.Ocean ecosystems are increasingly threatened by overfishing, pollution, habitat loss, clima...

Hammerhead in need of protection
2008-02-29 06:03:00
Hammerheads are among the most commonly caught sharks for finning Over-fishing and demand for shark fins, an expensive delicacy, have pushed one of the world's iconic animals towards the brink of extinction, say experts. The scalloped hammerhead shark is to be added to the official endangered species list this year, under the heading "globally endangered". Their plight has been discussed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting. It was told that enforcement of marine reserves would aid shark protection. The observation takes account of new research that shows hammerhead and great white sharks patrol fixed routes in the ocean, gathering at hotspots to mate or feed. Dr Julia Baum, a marine ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US, and a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), said excessive fishing was putting many of the ocean's "most majestic predators" at risk of extinction. Speaking at the Boston meeting, she said: "Sharks ...
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Algae munching fish clean up Chinese lake
2008-02-29 05:59:00
Chinese authorities are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of the country's most polluted lakes -- and after their diet of toxins they will be sold on to consumers, state media said Thursday. More than 50,000 silver carp fry have been introduced into Chaohu lake and another 1.55 million will be added in the next 20 days, said Wu Changjun, from the Chaohu Fish ery Administration, according to the Xinhua news agency.Each carp is expected to have gobbled between 40 and 50 kilogrammes (88 to 100 pounds) of blue algae when it reaches its adult weight, with each chomp of the sludge helping to clean up the toxic lake, the report added.Once the carp have matured, fishermen will be able to catch them and sell them in markets, at a price 15 times their original cost, giving a boost to the local fishing industry, according to Xinhua.Chaohu, China's fifth biggest lake in the nation's eastern Anhui province, was last year overcome by the blue-green foul-smelling algae, threatening water...
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Scientists capture giant Antarctic sea creatures
2008-02-29 05:56:00
Scientists studying Antarctic waters have filmed and captured giant sea creatures, like sea spiders the size of dinner plates and jelly fish with six meter (18 feet) tentacles. A fleet of three Antarctic marine research ships returned to Australia this week ending a summer expedition to the Southern Ocean where they carried out a census of life in the icy ocean and on its floor, more than 1,000 meters (yards) below the surface."Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters -- we have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates," Australian scientist Martin Riddle, voyage leader on the research ship Aurora Australis, said on Tuesday."Many live in the dark and have pretty large eyes. They are strange looking fish," Riddle told local radio."Some of the video footage we have collected is really stunning -- it's amazing to be able to navigate undersea mountains and valleys and actually see what the animals look like in their undisturbed state," Riddl...
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Butterfly Fish 'May Face Extinction'
2008-02-28 10:48:00
A beautiful black, white and yellow butterflyfish, much admired by eco-tourists, divers and aquarium keepers alike, may be at risk of extinction, scientists have warned।The case of the Chevroned Butterfly fish is a stark example of how human pressure on the world’s coral reefs is confronting certain species with ‘blind alleys’ from which they may be unable to escape, says Dr Morgan Pratchett of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.In a study published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology Dr Pratchett and Dr Michael Berumen of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) warn that the highly specialized nature of the feeding habits of this particular butterflyfish – the distinctively patterned Chaetodon trifascialis - make it an extinction risk as the world’s coral reefs continue to degrade due to human over-exploitation, pollution and climate change.“The irony is that these butterflyfish are widespread around the wor...
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Observing Sustainable Tourism In Antarctica
2008-02-28 10:46:00
“Antarctica is the ultimate destination for anyone interested in natural history but it also challenges those people who visit to think broadly about our responsibilities to all life on Earth।” That's the view of Dr Robert Lambert, a lecturer on Tourism and the Environment at The University of Nottingham, who has just returned from the Antarctic in his role as an Observer for the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).Dr Lambert, who is a member of the Business School's Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute, says the relationship between nature and people is complex and constantly changing and great positives can come from tourism in Antarctica. He believes those lucky enough to experience it could become ambassadors for the region to help develop a 'constituency' of support for Antarctica.He said: “Few people get the opportunity to visit this extraordinary place, and those who experience it first hand return home with a powerful s...
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Two Oxygenation Events In Ancient Oceans Sparked Spread Of Complex Life
2008-02-28 10:43:00
The rise of oxygen and the oxidation of deep oceans between 635 and 551 million years ago may have had an impact on the increase and spread of the earliest complex life, including animals, according to a new study।Today, we take oxygen for granted. But the atmosphere had almost no oxygen until 2.5 billion years ago, and it was not until about 600 million years ago when the atmospheric oxygen level rose to a fraction of modern levels. For a long time, geologists and evolutionary biologists have speculated that the rise of the breathing gas and subsequent oxygenation of the deep oceans are intimately tied to the evolution of modern biological systems.To test the interaction between biological evolution and environmental change, an international team of scientists from Virginia Tech, the University of Maryland, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and Chinese Academy of Sciences, examined changes in the geochemistry and fossil distribution of 635- to 551-million-year old sediments pres...
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