ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• NASA map sees Earth's trees in a new light
• Models underestimate future temperature variability: Food security at risk
• Deepwater Horizon disaster could have billion dollar impact
• Revealed in accurate detail, the underground world of plants
• Meet plants' and algae's common ancestor: Primitive organisms not always so simple, researcher says
• How the quarter horse won the rodeo
• Origin of photosynthesis revealed by a 'living fossil'
• Geoscientists use numerical model to better forecast forces behind earthquakes
• Chimp haven gets an upgrade
• New hope for threatened freshwater dolphins in Asia
• Genes may travel from plant to plant to fuel evolution
• Goat kids can develop accents
• Coral survival's past is key to its future
• Chromosome analyses of prickly pear cacti reveal southern glacial refugia

NASA map sees Earth's trees in a new light Posted: 17 Feb 2012 02:12 PM PST A NASA-led science team has created an accurate, high-resolution map of the height of Earth's forests. The map will help scientists better understand the role forests play in climate change and how their heights influence wildlife habitats within them, while also helping them quantify the carbon stored in Earth's vegetation.

Models underestimate future temperature variability: Food security at risk Posted: 17 Feb 2012 11:53 AM PST Climate warming caused by greenhouse gases is very likely to increase summer temperature variability around the world by the end of this century, new research shows. The findings have major implications for food production.

Deepwater Horizon disaster could have billion dollar impact Posted: 17 Feb 2012 08:55 AM PST The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 will have a large economic impact on the US Gulf fisheries. A new study says that over seven years this oil spill could have a $US8.7 billion impact on the economy of the Gulf of Mexico. This includes losses in revenue, profit, and wages, and close to 22,000 jobs could be lost.

Revealed in accurate detail, the underground world of plants Posted: 17 Feb 2012 08:55 AM PST Plant and computer scientists can now study the underground world of plants with more accuracy and clarity. The revolutionary technique will improve our chances of breeding better crop varieties and increasing yields.

Meet plants' and algae's common ancestor: Primitive organisms not always so simple, researcher says Posted: 17 Feb 2012 08:50 AM PST A biologist has created a sketch of what the first common ancestor of plants and algae may have looked like.

How the quarter horse won the rodeo Posted: 17 Feb 2012 07:17 AM PST American Quarter Horses are renowned for their speed, agility, and calm disposition. Consequently over four million Quarter Horses are used as working horses on ranches, as show horses or at rodeos. New research used 'next-generation' sequencing to map variation in the genome of a Quarter Horse mare. Analysis of genetic variants associated with specific traits showed that compared to a thoroughbred the Quarter Horse's genome was enriched for variants in genes involved in sensory perception, signal transduction and the immune system.

Origin of photosynthesis revealed by a 'living fossil' Posted: 17 Feb 2012 07:13 AM PST Recently, the complete genome of a glaucophyte alga (Cyanophora paradoxa) has been unraveled by an international consortium.

Geoscientists use numerical model to better forecast forces behind earthquakes Posted: 17 Feb 2012 07:10 AM PST Researchers have devised a numerical model to help explain the linkage between earthquakes and the powerful forces that cause them. Their findings hold implications for long-term forecasting of earthquakes.

Chimp haven gets an upgrade Posted: 16 Feb 2012 10:44 AM PST With its miles and miles of dense swamp forest, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo has long been a wildlife haven. It's home to an unusual primate population: so-called "naïve" chimpanzees, who have so little exposure to humans that they investigate the conservationists who study them, instead of running away. These curious chimps got a recent boost when Congo formally expanded Nouabalé-Ndoki to protect them. Known as the Goualougo Triangle, the 100-plus square-mile forest and its unique great ape population was first reported in 1989 by WCS conservationists.

New hope for threatened freshwater dolphins in Asia Posted: 16 Feb 2012 10:39 AM PST The Government of Bangladesh recently declared three new wildlife sanctuaries for endangered freshwater dolphins in the world's largest mangrove ecosystem – the Sundarbans, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society whose conservation work helped pinpoint the locations of the protected areas.

Genes may travel from plant to plant to fuel evolution Posted: 16 Feb 2012 10:34 AM PST Evolutionary biologists have documented for the first time that plants pass genes from plant to plant to fuel their evolutionary development. The researchers found enzymes key to photosynthesis had been shared among plants with only a distant ancestral relationship. The genes were incorporated into the metabolic cycle of the recipient plant, aiding adaptation.

Goat kids can develop accents Posted: 16 Feb 2012 06:50 AM PST The ability to change vocal sounds and develop an accent is potentially far more widespread in mammals than previously believed, according to new research on goats.

Coral survival's past is key to its future Posted: 14 Feb 2012 06:55 PM PST To predict the extinction risk of reef-building corals, researchers are examining past events to gain insight into how these corals today may fare through climate change.

Chromosome analyses of prickly pear cacti reveal southern glacial refugia Posted: 14 Feb 2012 07:10 AM PST Analysis of chromosome number variation among species of a North American group of prickly pear cacti showed that the most widespread species encountered are of hybrid origin. Those widespread species likely originated from hybridization among closely related parental species from western and southeastern North America.

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