Taking the next step toward growing our own fuel
...em in the Midwest -- arguably the largest man-made ecosystem on the planet," Blaschek said. "This agro-ecosystem is still largely focused on providing raw materials for the food, feed and fiber industries and not on chemicals and fuels." This research, he added, will help to change that focus and provid...New Jersey Institute of Technology environmentalist receives Fulbright Chair award
...ram. Jackson will conduct research on coastal and ecosystem management and lecture on International Environmental Policy at the Polytechnic Institute of Turin, Italy during the 2004-2005 academic year, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. ...New study links low fish supply to increased bushmeat hunting
...ad author Justin Brashares, assistant professor of ecosystem sciences at the University of California, Berkeley's College of Natural Resources. "If people aren't able to get their protein from fish, they'll turn elsewhere for food and economic survival. Unfortunately, the impacts on wild game resources are not...Order of species loss has important biodiversity consequences, grassland study reveals
...e way the system works. Zavaleta likens the ecosystem benefits of retaining rare species to the role of a child plugging a dike with his thumb. "It's a small difference that can have huge consequences," she said. "Most ecologists would like to see natural systems able to do that--resist accidental invas...Investigating the Columbia River and Estuary: A primary focus of research
... reports how periphyton communities a fundamental ecosystem food source fare in the Columbia groundwater/river interface when exposed to strontium-90, which has resulted from past Hanford nuclear materials production. Effects of hexavalent chromium on fall Chinook salmon in the Columbia River at Hanford...2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals 15,589 species at risk of extinction
...er, are considered to be outstanding indicators of ecosystem health; therefore their catastrophic decline serves notice about the state of the planet's water resources. The marine environment is also not as well known as the terrestrial environment, but many marine species are being over-exploited to the point...Invasive sea squirt alive and well on Georges Bank
...not native to an ecosystem, and that may harm that ecosystem if introduced. In the fall of 2003, the same research team first spotted this infestation over roughly 6 square miles of ocean bottom during a scientific cruise to study habitats on Georges Bank. This year, the team surveyed a larger area with tuni...Science to restore the nation's ecosystems
...change information for sustainable landscape-scale ecosystem restoration through science, planning, and policy....cant degradation in the Everglades and Florida Bay ecosystem usually associated with human factors also coincides with the long-term African drought and a four-f...Stanford biologist working to restore native forests to Hawaii
...g of native forests can not only restore a damaged ecosystem but also provide a renewable source of profit. The lessons learned here-about quantifying the benefits supplied by nature and creating incentives to protect them-are likely to be relevant in many other parts of the world, Daily said. She is working w...Researchers discover direct link between agricultural runoff and massive algal blooms in the sea
...cessively large blooms can also overwhelm a marine ecosystem by creating oxygen-depleted "dead zones" in the ocean. Scientists have long suspected that many harmful blooms are fueled by fertilizer runoff from farming operations, which in many regions pour tons of excess nitrogen and other nutrients into rivers...Wolves gone, western ecosystems suffer
... could become established, and the entire riparian ecosystem began a slow demise that was only reversed recently when wolves were re-introduced to the park. In their newest work, the researchers have found exactly the same forces at work along the Gallatin River in southwestern Montana. Coinciden...Global bird populations face dramatic decline in coming decades, study predicts
...CCB) and lead author of the PNAS study. "Important ecosystem processes, particularly decomposition, pollination...ths that year. Insect control is another important ecosystem service performed by birds, yet the study found that more insect-eating bird species are prone to ex...Growing cities in arid regions
... framework of urban design Ecosystem dynamics and ecosystem management in arid regions Human ecology and urban design: Prospects for a new arid regions' urbanism Transportation and ecological mobility alternatives Building technology: Sustainable technologies and materials for city building Approaches for...Europe's fishermen should have marine 'stewardship' role, says study
...ake on a 'stewardship' role to protect the marine ecosystem Increasing the role of stakeholders in developing...ility Providing aid for the transition towards an ecosystem approach Introducing spatial management, including the use of protected areas Using incentives to ...NASA finds trees and insect outbreaks affect carbon dioxide levels
...t outbreaks, as among the most important causes of ecosystem disturbances in North America," Potter said. According to scientists, the reason insects affect the planet's carbon dioxide level is that the six-legged creatures eat and kill trees and other vegetation. When the amount of greenery is reduced on Eart...Microbe's genome promises insight into Earth's carbon and sulfur cycling
...oup of marine bacteria known to impact the Earth's ecosystem by releasing and consuming atmospheric gases. This genetic blueprint provides insight into the biochemical pathways the bacterium uses to regulate its release of sulfur and carbon monoxide. Atmospheric sulfur serves as a catalyst for cloud formation,...NASA study finds tiny particles in air may influence carbon sinks
...els were high, the amount of carbon absorbed by an ecosystem increased for forest and croplands, and decreased ... leaf area for each site, and to interpret the net ecosystem exchange. For each site, the researchers analyzed how carbon cycled in each ecosystem on cloudy and ...Drilled shells show extinction's lasting effects
...ompetitive balance in the Western Atlantic and the ecosystem has yetto fully recover, according to research published this week in thejournal Science . In the seagrass meadows of the Gulf of Mexico, Chicoreus andPhyllonotus marine snails feed on Chione clams by slowly drilling ahole through the shell wall. T...Urban ecology study witnessing the birth of a 'designer ecosystem'
...y convinced that they are looking at a new kind of ecosystem an ecosystem that is radically different from the native desert that surrounds it and driven in part by forces u...Sardines may prevent toxic gas eruptions off the California and African coasts
...as sardines, can profoundly alter an entire marine ecosystem in ways that may be difficult or impossible to reverse," says Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Pew Institute for Ocean Sciences and an expert on fishery science and management. Pew's Chief Scientist Elizabeth Babcock adds, "The California sa...