ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• First-of-its-kind study reveals surprising ecological effects of earthquake and tsunami
• Zombie-ant fungus is under attack, research reveals
• Handful of heavyweight trees per acre are forest champs
• Jockeying for genetic advantage: DNA analysis to evaluate thoroughbreds
• After epic debate, avian flu research sees light of day
• Iceman mummy: 5,000-year-old red blood cells discovered -- oldest blood known to modern science
• Experiments underestimate plant responses to climate change
• Old fish makes new splash: Coelacanth find rewrites history of the ancient fish
• Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss could rival impacts of climate change, pollution
• Gas development linked to wildlife habitat loss
• Rapid decline in US Earth observation capabilities
• First 'microsubmarines' designed to help clean up oil spills
• Stream temperatures don't parallel warming climate trend
• Marine food chain becomes clearer with new revelations about prey distribution
• Mining for heat: Abandoned mine tunnels might ferry geothermal energy from deep underground
• Eye size determined by maximum running speed in mammals
• Arctic sea-ice loss didn't happen by chance
• Biomimetic polymer synthesis enhances structure control
• Dry heat increases bark beetle bite
• Escape response of small fish tested using a supercomputer
• New clues to how brain cancer cells migrate and invade

First-of-its-kind study reveals surprising ecological effects of earthquake and tsunami Posted: 02 May 2012 03:47 PM PDT The reappearance of long-forgotten habitats and the resurgence of species unseen for years may not be among the expected effects of a natural disaster. Yet that's exactly what researchers have found on the sandy beaches of south central Chile, after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami in 2010. Their study also revealed a preview of the problems wrought by sea level rise -- a major symptom of climate change.

Zombie-ant fungus is under attack, research reveals Posted: 02 May 2012 03:47 PM PDT A parasite that fights the zombie-ant fungus has yielded some of its secrets to an international research team. The research reveals, for the first time, how an entire ant colony is able to survive infestations by the zombie-ant fungus, which invades an ant's brain and causes it to march to its death at a mass grave near the ant colony, where the fungus spores erupt out of the ant's head.

Handful of heavyweight trees per acre are forest champs Posted: 02 May 2012 03:44 PM PDT Big trees three or more feet in diameter accounted for nearly half the biomass measured at a Yosemite National Park site, yet represented only one percent of the trees growing there, according to the largest quantitative study yet of the importance of big trees in temperate forests.

Jockeying for genetic advantage: DNA analysis to evaluate thoroughbreds Posted: 02 May 2012 01:25 PM PDT When you buy a racehorse, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Top yearlings at Keeneland's 2011 Thoroughbred auction, for instance, averaged nearly $350,000 and hadn't yet raced a step. Odds are that some of them never will. Now, thanks to a biologist, it's possible to boost the odds of getting a winner with a simple genetic test.

After epic debate, avian flu research sees light of day Posted: 02 May 2012 11:38 AM PDT After a marathon debate over a pair of studies that show how the avian H5N1 influenza virus could become transmissible in mammals, and an unprecedented recommendation by a government review panel to block publication, one of the studies was finally and fully published on May 3, 2012.

Iceman mummy: 5,000-year-old red blood cells discovered -- oldest blood known to modern science Posted: 02 May 2012 11:11 AM PDT His DNA has been decoded; samples from his stomach and intestines have allowed us to reconstruct his very last meal. The circumstances of his violent death appear to have been explained. However, what had, at least thus far, eluded the scientists, was identifying any traces of blood in Ötzi, the 5,000-year-old glacier mummy. Examination of his aorta had yielded no results. Yet recently, a team of scientists from Italy and Germany, using nanotechnology, succeeded in locating red blood cells in Ötzi's wounds, thereby discovering the oldest traces of blood to have been found anywhere in the world.

Experiments underestimate plant responses to climate change Posted: 02 May 2012 10:31 AM PDT Experiments may dramatically underestimate how plants will respond to climate change in the future. That's the conclusion of an analysis of 50 plant studies on four continents.

Old fish makes new splash: Coelacanth find rewrites history of the ancient fish Posted: 02 May 2012 10:31 AM PDT Coelacanths, an ancient group of fishes once thought to be long extinct, made headlines in 1938 when one of their modern relatives was caught off the coast of South Africa. Now coelacanths are making another splash.

Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss could rival impacts of climate change, pollution Posted: 02 May 2012 10:31 AM PDT Loss of biodiversity appears to impact ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to a new study. There has been growing concern that the very high rates of modern extinctions -- due to habitat loss, overharvesting and other human-caused environmental changes -- could reduce nature's ability to provide goods and services like food, clean water and a stable climate.

Gas development linked to wildlife habitat loss Posted: 02 May 2012 10:30 AM PDT Intense development of the two largest natural gas fields in the continental U.S. are driving away some wildlife from their traditional wintering grounds, new research shows.

Rapid decline in US Earth observation capabilities Posted: 02 May 2012 09:34 AM PDT A new report says that budget shortfalls, cost-estimate growth, launch failures, and changes in mission design and scope have left US Earth observation systems in a more precarious position than they were five years ago.

First 'microsubmarines' designed to help clean up oil spills Posted: 02 May 2012 09:34 AM PDT Scientists are reporting development and successful testing of the first self-propelled "microsubmarines" designed to pick up droplets of oil from contaminated waters and transport them to collection facilities. The report concludes that these tiny machines could play an important role in cleaning up oil spills, like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

Stream temperatures don't parallel warming climate trend Posted: 02 May 2012 09:34 AM PDT A new analysis of streams in the western United States with long-term monitoring programs has found that despite a general increase in air temperatures over the past several decades, streams are not necessarily warming at the same rate.

Marine food chain becomes clearer with new revelations about prey distribution Posted: 02 May 2012 09:34 AM PDT A new study has found that each step of the marine food chain is clearly controlled by the trophic level below it -- and the driving factor influencing that relationship is not the abundance of prey, but how that prey is distributed.

Mining for heat: Abandoned mine tunnels might ferry geothermal energy from deep underground Posted: 02 May 2012 08:29 AM PDT Abandoned mine tunnels might ferry geothermal energy from deep underground to help heat homes and offices.

Eye size determined by maximum running speed in mammals Posted: 02 May 2012 08:26 AM PDT Maximum running speed is the most important variable influencing mammalian eye size other than body size, according to new research.

Arctic sea-ice loss didn't happen by chance Posted: 02 May 2012 06:19 AM PDT The ongoing rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice is often interpreted as the canary in the mine for anthropogenic climate change. In a new study, scientists have now systematically examined the validity of this claim. They find that neither natural fluctuations nor self-acceleration can explain the observed Arctic sea-ice retreat. Instead, the recent evolution of Arctic sea ice shows a strong, physically plausible correlation with the increasing greenhouse gas concentration. For Antarctic sea ice, no such link is found – for a good reason.

Biomimetic polymer synthesis enhances structure control Posted: 02 May 2012 06:18 AM PDT A new biomimetic approach to synthesising polymers will offer unprecedented control over the final polymer structure and yield advances in nanomedicine, researchers say.

Dry heat increases bark beetle bite Posted: 02 May 2012 06:18 AM PDT Climate change puts spruce forests at greater risk of bark beetle attacks.

Escape response of small fish tested using a supercomputer Posted: 02 May 2012 06:18 AM PDT Researchers have for the first time succeeded in discovering the optimal escape response of fish using a supercomputer. The aim was to test whether the escape mechanism of small fish, developed in the course of evolution, is optimal for achieving the maximum escape distance in a short time.

New clues to how brain cancer cells migrate and invade Posted: 01 May 2012 03:30 PM PDT Researchers have discovered that a protein that transports sodium, potassium and chloride may hold clues to how glioblastoma, the most common and deadliest type of brain cancer, moves and invades nearby healthy brain tissue.

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