ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

---

• Researchers assess effects of a world awash in nitrogen
• Discovery of a 'dark state' could mean a brighter future for solar energy
• Close family ties keep cheaters in check: Why almost all multicellular organisms begin life as a single cell
• Biofuel research boosted by discovery of how cyanobacteria make energy
• Shape, fit of reproductive organs evolve quickly and in concert, leaving size behind
• Acid rain poses a previously unrecognized threat to Great Lakes sugar maples
• Scientists find microbes in lava tube living in conditions like those on Mars
• Researchers closer to understanding the evolution of sound production in fish
• 140 new species described by California Academy of Sciences in 2011
• Global forests are overlooked as water suppliers, study shows
• Wheat can't stop Hessian flies, so scientists find reinforcements
• Cumulative impact of mountaintop mining documented

Researchers assess effects of a world awash in nitrogen Posted: 15 Dec 2011 08:27 PM PST Humans are having an effect on Earth's ecosystems but it's not just the depletion of resources and the warming of the planet we are causing. Now you can add an over-abundance of nitrogen as another "footprint" humans are leaving behind. The only question is how large of an impact will be felt.

Discovery of a 'dark state' could mean a brighter future for solar energy Posted: 15 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST The efficiency of conventional solar cells could be significantly increased, according to new research on the mechanisms of solar energy conversion.

Close family ties keep cheaters in check: Why almost all multicellular organisms begin life as a single cell Posted: 15 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST Any multicellular animal poses a special difficulty for the theory of evolution. Most of its cells will die without reproducing, and only a privileged few will pass their genes. Given the incentive for cheating, how is cooperation among the cells enforced? Evolutionary biologists suggest the answer is frequent population bottlenecks that restart populations from a single cell.

Biofuel research boosted by discovery of how cyanobacteria make energy Posted: 15 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST Research expected to help scientists to discover new ways of genetically engineering bacteria to manufacture biofuels overturns a generally accepted 44-year-old assumption about how certain kinds of bacteria make energy and synthesize cell materials. With this better understanding of how cyanobacteria make energy, it might be possible to genetically engineer a cyanobacterial strain to synthesize 1,3-butanediol -- an organic compound that is the precursor for making not only biofuels but also plastics.

Shape, fit of reproductive organs evolve quickly and in concert, leaving size behind Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:59 AM PST Believed critical for determining which individuals can -- or cannot -- successfully reproduce with each other, genitalia not only figure prominently in the origin of new species, but are also typically the first type of trait to change as new species form. Today, new international research shows that as populations and species diversify, the exact shape and fit of genitalia steals the show over size.

Acid rain poses a previously unrecognized threat to Great Lakes sugar maples Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:59 AM PST The number of sugar maples in Upper Great Lakes forests is likely to decline in coming decades, according to ecologists, due to a previously unrecognized threat from a familiar enemy: Acid rain.

Scientists find microbes in lava tube living in conditions like those on Mars Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:59 AM PST A team of scientists from Oregon has collected microbes from ice within a lava tube in the Cascade Mountains and found that they thrive in cold, Mars-like conditions. They have characteristics that would make the microbes capable of living in the subsurface of Mars and other planetary bodies.

Researchers closer to understanding the evolution of sound production in fish Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:58 AM PST Researchers studying sound production in perch-like fishes have discovered a link between two unrelated lineages of fishes, taking researchers a step closer to understanding the evolution of one of the fastest muscles in vertebrates.

140 new species described by California Academy of Sciences in 2011 Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:56 AM PST In 2011, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 140 new relatives to our family tree. The new species include 72 arthropods, 31 sea slugs, 13 fishes, 11 plants, nine sponges, three corals, and one reptile. They were described by more than a dozen Academy scientists along with several dozen international collaborators.

Global forests are overlooked as water suppliers, study shows Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:49 AM PST The forests of the world supply a significant amount of moisture that creates rain. A new study reveals how this important contribution of forests to the hydrologic cycle is often overlooked in water resource policy, such as that of the EU.

Wheat can't stop Hessian flies, so scientists find reinforcements Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST Wheat's genetic resistance to Hessian flies has been failing, but a group scientists believe that other plants may soon be able to come to the rescue.

Cumulative impact of mountaintop mining documented Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST Increased salinity and concentrations of trace elements in one West Virginia watershed have been tied directly to multiple surface coal mines upstream by a detailed new survey of stream chemistry. Researchers who conducted the study said it provides new evidence of the cumulative effects multiple mountaintop mining permits can have in a river network.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Environment News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610