Ecosystems News

RSS

Canadian Government Highlights National Conservation Plan Accomplishments

The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council, today highlighted the accomplishments achieved under the National Conservation Plan.

27 Dec 2014

Pheidole Ants Evolve Twice, to Take Over the New World and then the Old World

About one tenth of the world's ants are close relatives; they all belong to just one genus out of 323, called Pheidole. "If you go into any tropical forest and take a stroll, you will step on one of these ants," says Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University's Professor Evan Economo.

26 Dec 2014

Climate Change and Fishing Impact Distribution of Fish in Northeast U.S. Waters

Scientists studying the distribution of four commercial and recreational fish stocks in Northeast U.S. waters have found that climate change can have major impacts on the distribution of fish, but the effects of fishing can be just as important and occur on a more immediate time scale.

23 Dec 2014

Drought Conditions Delay Nesting for Some Bird Species

A recent study suggests drought conditions are delaying nesting by two weeks or more for some Sonoran Desert bird species, such as Black-tailed Gnatcatchers and Verdins.

23 Dec 2014

Microplastics Have Sunk to the Ocean Floor

The deep sea is becoming a collecting ground for plastic waste, according to research led by scientists from Plymouth University and Natural History Museum.

17 Dec 2014

Natural Reserves Managed by UC Riverside to be used in Study of Ecological Impacts of Climate Change

Three natural reserves managed by the University of California, Riverside will be involved in an ambitious plan to use the UC Natural Reserve System (NRS) to detect and forecast the ecological impacts of climate change in California.

12 Dec 2014

Eastern Pacific Species Driven Northward Due to Climate Change

Anticipated changes in climate will push West Coast marine species from sharks to salmon northward an average of 30 kilometers per decade, shaking up fish communities and shifting fishing grounds, according to a new study published in Progress in Oceanography.

11 Dec 2014

Current Rate of Climate Change Will Outpace Animals' Acclimation Capacity

Animals that regulate their body temperature through the external environment may be resilient to some climate change but not keep pace with rapid change, leading to potentially disastrous outcomes for biodiversity.

11 Dec 2014

Caribbean Gorgonian Corals May Be More Resilient to Ocean Acidification

A new study on tropical shallow-water soft corals, known as gorgonians, found that the species were able to calcify and grow under elevated carbon dioxide concentrations. These results suggest that Caribbean gorgonian corals may be more resilient to the ocean acidification levels projected by the end of the 21st century than previously thought.

10 Dec 2014

Study May Help Predict What Ecosystems Will Look Like in the Future

Humans are rapidly changing the look and function of earth's ecosystems, from the increase of greenhouse gases to the unintentional and harmful spread of plants and animals to new environments. A major challenge for ecologists is to understand how and why communities respond to factors that underlie global change.

8 Dec 2014