'Madagascar Declaration' focuses African development policies on value of nature
...soil regeneration, pollination and other so-called ecosystem services, the declaration calls such natural benef...l be no escape from hunger, poverty and disease if ecosystem degradation continues at the current rate." The five-day conference of more than 300 delegates began...Saving the planet, from a mathematical perspective
...posing many methods of biological conservation and ecosystem management, Professor Levin has made fundamental contributions to environmental science," the foundation commented. In old English law, the common (or commons) was a tract of ground shared by residents of a village, but belonging to no one. It mi...Watching rocks grow: Theory explains landscape of geothermal springs
...hanges over time. Hot springs comprise a complex ecosystem of interacting microbes, geochemistry and mineralogy. The rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate results in shifting flows, and in the sealing off of some springs and the eruption of new vents. "Now that we understand the physical processes invol...Jellyfish dominate fish in over-harvested Namibian waters
...ime, but an analysis of this trend's effect on the ecosystem has been hampered by a lack of hard data on jellyfish abundance. The authors note that prior to their work, less formal observations had pointed to a striking change over time--for example, jellyfish are now so numerous in the region that they signi...Yellowstone ecosystem may lose key migrant
...he continental United States could vanish from the ecosystem that includes Yellowstone and Grand Teton National...ting migration route in and out of the Yellowstone ecosystem for at least 6,000 years. Animals travel up to 30 miles a day, clambering over 8,500-foot mountain ...Study shows that parasites form the thread of food webs
...ure and parasite links are necessary for measuring ecosystem stability, according to the study. "Food web theory is the framework for modern ecology," said Kevin Lafferty, a scientist with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center who is based at UC Santa Barbara and is lead author of the study. "Parasites...Caulerpa Taxifolia Eradication
...n these waters would have irreversibly changed the ecosystem in California's near-shore coastal environment," said Tim Keeney, NOAA's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere. "It was only through the rapid response and cooperative efforts of organizations at all levels that we were suc...How parachute spiders invade new territory
...de. But they can only perform this function in the ecosystem if they arrive at the right time. With our mathematical model we can start to examine how human activity, such as farming, affects the dispersal of spider populations." Dr Dave Bohan, a member of the research team, commented on how mathematical mo...Centuries of land-use practices profoundly impact earth system, UNH scientists report
...s. "It is important to know if a carbon sink in an ecosystem today is simply the result of recovery from having been cut down in the past, or a net new storage for carbon over the long term," says Hurtt. Moreover, he notes, without this historical analysis of land-use activities, even the most sophisticated ...Costa Rican environmental leader to receive new conservation award
...zed as an expert and advocate for the valuation of ecosystem services, and the award money will support his work over the coming year on advancing ecosystem services policy and practice. "blue moon fund is pleased to launch its Conservation Award program ...Titans of biodiversity science call for united, authoritative voice to inform decision-makers
...y can best be addressed." "Biodiversity provides ecosystem services such as disease and climate regulation, s...ed benefits to society from ecosystems, defined as ecosystem services, are currently being degraded or used unsustainably (4). Given the magnitude and urgency ...Fish virus in Northeast spreading to other fish species
...changing. "There is no cure for VHSV in fish in an ecosystem as large as the Great Lakes Basin. Given this, it is likely that management practices designed to limit the spread of the virus will be put in place," said Groocock. Although no management decisions have yet been made, the DEC could recommend that bo......hers discuss how this phenotype is heritable on an ecosystem level. That is, the progeny of a tree are likely to support the same communities of organisms and ecosystem processes that their parents supported. It's a premise with far-reaching implications. Consider, fo...Alternative approaches to marine management prove successful in reef conservation
...osures are the most effective ways to improve reef ecosystem health, none of the traditional management regimes involved permanent reef closures--instead, fishing was limited in other ways. The fourth, co-managed site did implement a permanent reef closure. The authors also noted that the traditionally manag...DOE JGI sequences, releases genome of symbiotic tree fungus
... and a step further toward mechanistic modeling of ecosystem responses," Rubin said. ...Ocean microbe census discovers diverse world of rare bacteria
...lieve they must have some importance to the marine ecosystem and can theorize a couple of possible roles." On...f the rare biosphere may take on new importance in ecosystem processes. "In other words, the low-abundance organisms might not be very active but represent a...Study shows hope for ridding lakes of clawed invader
... rusty crayfish population to crash, with the lake ecosystem returning to its pre-rusty crayfish state. "What we are wondering is whether we will reach a tipping point where the fish alone can keep up the pressure," says Carpenter, an authority on such ecological change. "We haven't seen it yet, but we're no......s of the turtles themselves, sea turtles were also ecosystem engineers in the Caribbean, shaping the environmen...logical extinction of green turtles transformed an ecosystem with diverse species of seagrass dominated by large herbivores into a detritus-based ecosystem domin...NSF grant aids ASU biodiversity exploration in China
...to study the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the vast grasslands of China's autonomous Inner Mongolia region. A better understanding of this relationship will help researchers determine how to manage sustainable ecosystems. "Biodiversity is the total variety and variability of l......and long-term effects on coastal forest structure, ecosystem processes, and services. Hurricanes Katrina and Ri... habitat, food resources, species composition, and ecosystem processes. GLORIA in North America, an alpine ecology monitoring network, 5:00-6:30 p.m. Karen Ho...