ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Severe python damage to Florida's native Everglades animals documented in new study
• Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity, study finds
• Livestock, not Mongolian gazelles, drive foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks
• Mouse to elephant? Just wait 24 million generations
• Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue
• Was the Little Ice Age triggered by massive volcanic eruptions?
• Chimp 'X factor': Extensive adaptive evolution specifically targeting the X chromosome of chimpanzees
• Warming in the Tasman Sea, near Australia, a global warming hot spot
• Sun unleashes an X1.8 class flare on Jan. 27, 2012
• What do killer whales eat in the Arctic?
• Grasslands soils offer some insurance against climate change
• Good news about carbon storage in tropical vegetation

Severe python damage to Florida's native Everglades animals documented in new study Posted: 30 Jan 2012 04:32 PM PST Precipitous declines in formerly common mammals in Everglades National Park in Florida have been linked to the presence of invasive Burmese pythons, according to new research. The study, the first to document the ecological impacts of this invasive species, strongly supports that animal communities in the 1.5-million-acre park have been markedly altered by the introduction of pythons within 11 years of their establishment as an invasive species. Mid-sized mammals are the most dramatically affected, but some Everglades pythons are as large as 16 feet long, and their prey have included animals as large as deer and alligators.

Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity, study finds Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:26 PM PST A new NASA study underscores the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity -- not changes in solar activity -- are the primary force driving global warming. The study offers an updated calculation of Earth's energy imbalance, the difference between the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth's surface and the amount returned to space as heat. The researchers' calculations show that, despite unusually low solar activity between 2005 and 2010, the planet continued to absorb more energy than it returned to space.

Livestock, not Mongolian gazelles, drive foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:24 PM PST Wildlife health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society have published evidence which supports the conclusion that Mongolian gazelles -- one of the most populous large land mammals on the planet -- are not a reservoir of foot-and-mouth disease, a highly contagious viral disease that threatens both wildlife and livestock in Asia.

Mouse to elephant? Just wait 24 million generations Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:19 PM PST Scientists have for the first time measured how fast large-scale evolution can occur in mammals, showing it takes 24 million generations for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to the size of an elephant.

Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:01 PM PST The walls of the aorta, the largest blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, exhibits a response to electric fields known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials. The discovery could have implications for treating human heart disease.

Was the Little Ice Age triggered by massive volcanic eruptions? Posted: 30 Jan 2012 10:15 AM PST Scientists suggest that the Little Ice Age was triggered by an unusual, 50-year episode of four massive volcanic eruptions. This led to an expansion of sea ice and a related weakening of Atlantic currents that caused the cool period to persist for centuries.

Chimp 'X factor': Extensive adaptive evolution specifically targeting the X chromosome of chimpanzees Posted: 30 Jan 2012 10:08 AM PST Genetic mutations that boost an individual's adaptability have greater chances of getting through to X chromosomes -- at least in chimpanzees, according to new Danish research. An analysis of the genes of 12 chimpanzees has now demonstrated that the chimpanzee X chromosome plays a very special role in the animal's evolutionary development.

Warming in the Tasman Sea, near Australia, a global warming hot spot Posted: 30 Jan 2012 07:25 AM PST Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents, including the East Australian Current, polewards beyond their known boundaries.

Sun unleashes an X1.8 class flare on Jan. 27, 2012 Posted: 30 Jan 2012 07:02 AM PST The sun unleashed an X1.8 class flare that began at 1:12 PM ET on January 27, 2012 and peaked at 1:37. The flare immediately caused a strong radio blackout at low-latitudes, which was rated an R3 on NOAA's scale from R1-5. The blackout soon subsided to a minor R1 storm. Models from NASA's Goddard Space Weather Center predict that the CME is traveling at over 1500 miles per second. It does not initially appear to be Earth-directed, but Earth may get a glancing blow.

What do killer whales eat in the Arctic? Posted: 29 Jan 2012 08:28 PM PST Killer whales are the top marine predator. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance. New research has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behavior and diet in the Arctic.

Grasslands soils offer some insurance against climate change Posted: 29 Jan 2012 12:10 PM PST The earth beneath our feet plays an important role in carbon storage – a key factor in climate change – and new research shows that in times of drought some types of soil perform better than others.

Good news about carbon storage in tropical vegetation Posted: 29 Jan 2012 12:10 PM PST Tropical vegetation contains 21 percent more carbon than previously thought. Using a combination of remote sensing and field data, scientists were able to produce the first "wall-to-wall" map (with a spatial resolution of 500 m x 500 m) of carbon storage of forests, shrublands, and savannas in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and South America.

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