Biodiversity yields dividends, finds pan-European research
...d experiment at a continental scale - experimental grassland communities were established that mimicked the gra...estoring biodiversity is beneficial to maintaining grassland productivity - particularly if reductions in fertiliser and pesticide usage are to be achieved. Abou...Colorado State scientist is Ecological Society of America president
...rsity of soil invertebrates to the productivity of grassland ecosystems. She regularly presents invited lectures on topics such as the Antarctic ecosystems, the biological world underground, the benefits of integrated research to society, and women in science. Her research has been widely featured in newspape...USGS studies wildfire ecology in the western United States
...ansition to grassland. But once established, these grassland systems tend to be relatively stable, even when fire is suppressed. "The daunting thing is that it's going to take a long time to replace what has been destroyed in the last 20 years," Knick says. "We're looking at centuries if we rely only on n...USGS releases assessment of nation's biological resources
...n and mineral extraction. The result isthat native grassland bird species have shown more consistent, widespread andsteeper declines than any other group of North American birds." Likewise, he said, the report details how changes in the nation's waterways toaccommodate navigation, irrigation, hydroelectric pow...Seafood was brain food, says researcher
...ave been beach-dwellers foraging for shellfish,not grassland hunter-gatherers, says a U of T scientist. An international group of researchers including Stephen Cunnane, aprofessor in U of T's department of nutritional sciences, has assembled evidencethat the large brains of the earliest humans could on...Nearly half of Earth's land has been transformed by humans; 50 'dead zones' found in oceans
...srupted," Lubchenco stated. Forexample, forests, grassland and coral reefs contribute to flood control andclimate regulation. Mangroves, estuaries, coral reefs, and kelp forests protectshores from erosion and provide nursery areas or spawning habitat foreconomically important species. Massive changes in ...... investigating plant responses toclimate change in grassland ecosystems. Their work has demonstrated a uniquerelationship between plant growth and earthworm castings under different levelsof CO2. The rich earthworm castings, which are more abundant in nutrients thansurrounding soils, are valuable resources for...Duke Studies Show U.S. Central Plains Vulnerable To Global Warming
...,000 to 4,000years ago -- by flip-flopping between grassland and forest. During this period,immediately after the last ice age, the region underwent many such short-termcycles of warming and cooling. "We're finding that this system is really responsive, with thegrasslands expanding eastward into fores...Grassland Birds Are Not Nesting In Non-Native Grasses
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Populations of many grassland bird species havedeclined significantly in the last 30 years, according to breeding bird surveys.One cause may be farmers' increased use of exotic cool-season grasses, reportVirginia Tech fisheries and wildlife sciences faculty member Carola Haas and...Bison Grazing Increases Biodiversity In Grasslands
...osphere, and altered fire frequency have disrupted grassland ecosystems worldwide," adds Collins. "Although burning is essential to maintaining tallgrass prairies, fire alone is not a sufficient management solution for restoring prairie diversity, as some have proposed." Whereas fire is used as a conservatio...No Such Luck: Nitrogen From Air Pollution Unlikely to Moderate Global Warming
...utcomes. Tilman and Wedin conclude that in grassland ecosystems, nitrogen loading is a major threat that leads to loss of diversity, greater abundance of non-native species and the disruption of ecosystem functioning -- responses that are tightly linked. "We cannot preserve prairies or maintain the fu...