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Microbial Communities Critical for the Ecosystem Suffer due to Amazon Deforestation

Research from an international team of microbiologists, including the University of Oregon's Brendan Bohannan, has revealed a new concern about deforestation in the Amazon rainforest — a troubling net loss in the diversity among the microbial organisms responsible for a functioning ecosystem.

26 Dec 2012

Plant, Animal Species Shift Geographic Ranges Due to Climate Change

Plant and animal species are shifting their geographic ranges and the timing of their life events – such as flowering, laying eggs or migrating – at faster rates than researchers documented just a few years ago, according to a technical report on biodiversity and ecosystems used as scientific input for the 2013 Third National Climate Assessment.

19 Dec 2012

Researchers Develop Comprehensive Map of Great Lakes’ Environmental Stressors

A comprehensive map three years in the making is telling the story of humans’ impact on the Great Lakes, identifying how “environmental stressors” stretching from Minnesota to Ontario are shaping the future of an ecosystem that contains 20 percent of the world’s fresh water.

18 Dec 2012

Five-Tiered Testing System to Ensure Products are Free of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

A group of scientists from North America and Europe, including Carnegie Mellon University's Terry Collins, has developed a five-tiered testing system that manufacturers can use to ensure that the chemicals and consumer products they produce are free of harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals like BPA or DDT.

11 Dec 2012

Allowing Natural Erosion Could Reduce Impact of Flooding Due to Rising Sea Levels

A study involving a scientist from the University of Southampton, which shows that ensuring continued flood protection for low lying coastal areas may mean sacrificing cliff top communities to the sea, has won the 2012 Lloyds Science of Risk prize for Climate Change research.

4 Dec 2012

Active Bacteria Found in Salty, Dark, Cold, Isolated Ecosystem within Antarctic Ice

Shedding light on the limits of life in extreme environments, scientists have discovered abundant and diverse metabolically active bacteria in the brine of an Antarctic lake sealed under more than 65 feet of ice.

27 Nov 2012

Elemo Program Delivers Preliminary Results on Pollution in Lake Geneva

One year after the MIR submersibles dove into the depths of Lake Geneva, the elemo program is delivering its first scientific results. And with the support of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, the operation will be extended with a campaign to make observations above the lake surface from a sensor-packed ultralight aircraft. The same experiments are planned above Lake Baikal in Russia.

22 Nov 2012

EPA's Draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment Report Found Inadequate

Late last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the final judgment of a panel of independent experts retained to review its work to date on the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment (BBWA), in a report entitled 'External Peer Review of EPA's Draft Document: An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska."

16 Nov 2012

Scientists Study Hurricane Sandy’s Effects to Better Predict Environmental Impact of Future Storms

Beneath the 20-foot waves that crested off Delaware’s coast during Hurricane Sandy, thrashing waters reshaped the floor of the ocean, churning up fine sand and digging deep ripples into the seabed. Fish, crustaceans and other marine life were blasted with sand as the storm sculpted new surfaces underwater.

16 Nov 2012