Global bird populations face dramatic decline in coming decades, study predicts
...iseases to human communities as a result of slowly decomposing carcasses," the authors wrote. As an example, the researchers pointed to India, where the collapse of the vulture population in the 1990s was followed by an explosion of rabid feral dogs and rats. In 1997 alone, more than 30,000 people died of rabies......sunk to the seafloor. Known as whale falls, their decomposing bodies and skeletons provide an energy source for specialized communities of animals that can last 50 to 100 years. Smith and his colleagues first happened upon a whale skeleton in 1987 while doing a deep-sea survey using the submersible Alvin. They ...Amazon source of 5-year-old river breath
...y rains and groundwater into waterways from soils, decomposing woody debris, leaf litter and other organic matter. Once in waterways it is chewed up by microorganisms, insects and fish. The carbon dioxide they generate quickly returns to the atmosphere, some 500 million tons a year, an amount equal to what is ab...The relationship between lawns and allergies and asthma
...of fungal spores dwell on dead vegetation, such as decomposing turfgrass clippings, and in the soil. Fungi play a vital role in the environment as decomposers. Dr. Harriet Burge of Environmental Microbiology Laboratories Inc., said a fungal-free environment is not possible or desirable. Fungi constitute an integ...Electronic nose could spell the end of landfill pongs
...hich contribute to global warming, are produced by decomposing waste. Currently there is no other instrumentation sensitive enough to monitor low concentrations of odours and gases on these sites. Gases and odours are analysed manually using handheld detectors and by panels of volunteers asked to smell samples o...Value of services performed by insects tops $57 billion in US
... did not include such important insect services as decomposing carcasses, garbage and trees (thereby decreasing the likelihood of forest fires); producing honey, shellac, dyes and other products; being used in medicine or as a source of food for animals other than those used in hunting, fishing and birding; and ...Sequencing of the oyster mushroom genome
...or degrading lignin found in agricultural waste or decomposing wood in the natural environment, may be used for designing systems to enable the elimination of these contaminants from the environment. The oyster mushroom is also a fungus the cultivation of which is widespread and so the study of its genetic or...Rotting leaf litter study could lead to more accurate climate models
...asons, gradually rotting away. Now, those bags of decomposing organic matter have allowed a research team led by...amount of carbon released into the atmosphere from decomposing litter. "The debate is whether the enhanced litter decay rate from warming will also increase the r...Nitrogen study may improve ecological predictions
...ition, it's not unusual for the microbes which are decomposing the plant matter to first retain nitrogen from the dying plants and other sources, until they have all they need for the decomposition process, Harmon said. This "immobilization" of nitrogen can actually cause a reduction in available soil nitrogen f...Algae toxin identification unravels fish-kill mystery
...the suspect toxin turns out to be highly unstable, decomposing rapidly once it's activated. Chemists from NIST and MUSC used an array of advanced spectroscopic techniques to determine that the toxin is characterized by the presence of copper-sulfur complexes. "NIST saved the day," Moeller said, "because we were ...Smithsonian scientists report ancient chili pepper history
...t organic archaeological remains, washing away and decomposing all but the most durable evidence of ancient human activities. Lead author Linda Perry, of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and colleagues overcame this obstacle by identifying chili pepper starch grains. The starch microfossils ...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, March 2007
...n of dissolved organic carbon that originated from decomposing fresh litter. Dissolved organic carbon has an important role in the soil carbon cycle as it represents a key transport pathway for carbon in solution to move from forest floor carbon sources to the mineral soil, where it can contribute to the buildup......il carbon emissions can be reduced because rapidly decomposing carbon forms are being replaced by stable ones in the form of agrichar." Unfortunately, agrichar is not widely available. BEST Energies Australia, a company involved with NSW DPI in the trials, has a pilot plant at Gosford which is producing minimal......terest to the study (those that eat the remains of decomposing animal flesh). They place animal visceras they smell strongly and attract a lot of these kinds of insects as bait, mainly to attract female adults, these being the most difficult to identify. Males have features that are more evident, so the larvae...