The 16th Birding Fair, starting at the scenic Man Sagar lake here this Friday, will be devoted to conservation of urban lakes which are getting extinct at an alarming rate because of lack of priority and inadequate administrative control in most of the cities. Ironically lakes are dying out at …
A survey of organic and conventional potato fields shows that species evenness is greater under organic management. Replicating these levels of evenness in a field trial shows that the evenness of natural enemies found in organic fields promotes pest control and increases crop biomass. This is independent of the identity …
It remains uncertain whether added nitrogen enhances total plant productivity in response to CO2-fertilisation in natural ecosystems. Here the authors show that nitrogen addition initially enhances the CO2-stimulation of plant productivity but also promotes the encroachment of plant species that respond less strongly to elevated CO2 concentrations. Overall, the observed …
Global climate and the atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2atm ) are correlated over recent glacial cycles, with lower pCO2atm during ice ages, but the causes of the pCO2atm changes are unknown. The modern Southern Ocean releases deeply sequestered CO2 to the atmosphere. Growing evidence suggests that the Southern …
Organic farming supports higher biodiversity. Research involving the Colorado potato beetle shows that this increased diversity can deliver a better ecosystem service in the form of more effective pest control.
Lessons on the risks and opportunities of climate change should be directed at future executives, given that many companies rival nations in greenhouse-gas emissions, says Genevieve Patenaude.
Many climate researchers worry that scepticism about global warming is on the rise. Jeff Tollefson investigates the basis for that concern and what scientists are doing about it.
Far from the tar-coated beaches and clean-up crews seen on nightly news programmes, the Deepwater Horizon disaster is exacting an ongoing and largely unknown toll. In the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, floating oil slicks and subsurface plumes threaten a highly diverse ecosystem.
It isn't enough to explain the facts of climate change very, very clearly. Building public trust requires researchers to change their practices. (Editorial)
Seasonal (spring and summer) depletion of dissolved inorganic carbon occurs in the surface mixed layers of most of the unproductive or oligotrophic regions of the world's oceans. The missing dissolved inorganic carbon is thought to be converted to particulate carbon by photosynthesis, yet there are seemingly insufficient dissolved nutrients present …
Volcanic eruptions release a large amount of sulphur dioxide. This is oxidized to sulphate and can then form sulphate aerosol, which can affect the Earth's radiation balance. Here, past volcanic eruptions and atmospheric conditions are investigated by using sulphur and triple oxygen isotope measurements of atmospheric sulphate preserved in the …
Many large mammals became extinct worldwide at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, around 12,000 years ago. Here, it is shown that smaller mammals, which often provide much more comprehensive fossil records than large mammals, were much less likely to respond to the Pleistocene
Gender inequalities in biomedical research are undermining patient care. In the first of three related pieces, Alison M. Kim, Candace M. Tingen and Teresa K. Woodruff call on journals, funding agencies and researchers to give women parity with men, in studies and in the clinic.
Spending on science is one of the best ways to generate jobs and economic growth, say research advocates. But as Colin Macilwain reports, the evidence behind such claims is patchy.
The Great Aletsch Glacier is ill. Over the course of the twentieth century, the largest Alpine glacier, in Valais, Switzerland, receded by more than two kilometres, and Switzerland
