Amid a sea of depressing news on coral reefs, examples of healthy reef fish populations could help drive new understanding for conservation efforts. A comprehensive study published in Nature earlier this year […]
Using “bright spots” to study coral reefs
The hurdles to carbon farming
Agriculture and land use together are responsible for 25% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Land cover change, such as deforestation, adds another 12-17%. Unlike GHG mitigation strategies in many other […]
Escaping the heat: the plant world’s refugees
Alpine ecosystems are islands of cold. They contain pockets of endemic biodiversity surrounded by a sea of hotter land. Mountains are thought to be particularly vulnerable to climate change because increased temperatures compromise species […]
A new type of environmentalist: the “ecomodernist”
The Breakthrough Institute recently released The Ecomodernist Manifesto which gives us a window into the mind of a new type of environmentalist: the “ecomodernist. The Ecomodernist Manifesto does not call for a […]
Megafauna: earth’s ecosystem engineers
Thirteen thousand years ago North America was home to more than fifty species of megafauna–animals that weigh more than one hundred pounds. If you think the United States has a weight problem […]
Greenland’s contribution to sea-level rise
The below picture for this blog post is a powerful image of how the Atlantic ocean will cover New York City’s Wall Street if we allow the world to rise four degrees Celsius. This article explores […]
Climate Change’s Role in the Syrian Uprising
Three years before Syria’s uprising in 2011, the country experienced the worst drought in recorded history. This unprecedented dry weather caused dramatic crop failure and livestock mortality in regions heavily dependent on […]
Humans pave the way for “mesopredators”– a rising ecological force
It is well known that humans have dramatically impacted global ecosystems over the past two hundred years. Air pollution and ocean acidification are two major anthropogenically-forced effects that have direct impacts on Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. […]
Climate change affects songbirds in unforeseen ways
John Muir said that, “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe”. That is exactly what ecologists from the University of Montana […]
What kills more people than car accidents and HIV in China?
Last week the illustrious scientific journal, Nature, published a study showing that outdoor air pollution kills 1.36 million people in China alone each year. This is “an order of magnitude higher than that attributable to […]
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