ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Fish show autism-like gene expression in water with psychoactive pharmaceuticals
• Stealth behavior allows cockroaches to seemingly vanish
• Too few salmon is far worse than too many boats for killer whales
• Microbial communities changed after Deepwater Horizon Spill
• Ecologists call for preservation of planet's remaining biological diversity
• Variations in sex steroid gene expression can predict aggressive behaviors, bird study shows
• Today's climate more sensitive to carbon dioxide than in past 12 million years
• Photosynthesis: A new way of looking at photosystem II
• Sensors detect contaminants in water in low concentrations
• First photos ever of jaguars in Colombian oil palm plantation
• Arctic ice melt is setting stage for severe winters
• New secrets from 'Bay of the Pirates' warship that sunk 2,300 years ago
• Evidence of impending tipping point for Earth
• Warming climate sees tundra turn to forest
• First complete sequencing of pear genome
• How plants make cocaine
• Legendary lost city of Ciudad Blanca may have been found with airborne LiDAR
• Gasification may convert mesquite and juniper wood to a usable bioenergy
• Geoengineering could disrupt rainfall patterns
• Dinosaurs lighter than previously thought
• Homo heidelbergensis was only slightly taller than the Neanderthal

Fish show autism-like gene expression in water with psychoactive pharmaceuticals Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:38 PM PDT Psychoactive medications in water affect the gene expression profiles of fathead minnows in a way that mimics the gene expression patterns associated with autism spectrum disorder in genetically susceptible humans, according to new research.

Stealth behavior allows cockroaches to seemingly vanish Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:38 PM PDT Cockroaches, known for their stealth behavior, have a strategy up their sleeve only recently discovered by biologists. They are able to quickly disappear under ledges by flinging themselves off at full speed, grabbing the edge with hook-like claws on their hind legs, and swinging like a pendulum to land upside down underneath. Such a behavior was reproduced by a six-legged robot using Velcro strips.

Too few salmon is far worse than too many boats for killer whales Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:34 PM PDT Not having enough Chinook salmon to eat stresses out southern resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest more than having boats nearby, according to hormone levels of whales summering in the waters between British Columbia and Washington.

Microbial communities changed after Deepwater Horizon Spill Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:34 PM PDT Communities of microbial organisms -- species such as nematodes, protists and fungi -- on beaches along the Gulf of Mexico changed significantly following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. Researchers analyzed marine sediments from five Gulf Coast sites prior to and several months following shoreline oiling.

Ecologists call for preservation of planet's remaining biological diversity Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:49 PM PDT Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 17 ecologists are calling for renewed international efforts to curb the loss of Earth's biological diversity. The loss is compromising nature's ability to provide goods and services essential for human well-being, the scientists say.

Variations in sex steroid gene expression can predict aggressive behaviors, bird study shows Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:49 PM PDT A biologist has shown that natural variation in measures of the brain's ability to process steroid hormones predicts functional variation in aggressive behavior. The new work has found strong and significant relationships between aggressive behavior in free-living birds and the abundance of messenger RNA in behaviorally relevant brain areas for three major sex steroid processing molecules: androgen receptor, estrogen receptor and aromatase.

Today's climate more sensitive to carbon dioxide than in past 12 million years Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:49 PM PDT Until now, studies of Earth's climate have documented a strong correlation between global climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide; that is, during warm periods, high concentrations of CO2 persist, while colder times correspond to relatively low levels.

Photosynthesis: A new way of looking at photosystem II Posted: 06 Jun 2012 12:58 PM PDT Using ultrafast, intensely bright pulses of X-rays scientists have obtained the first ever images at room temperature of photosystem II, a protein complex critical for photosynthesis and future artificial photosynthetic systems.

Sensors detect contaminants in water in low concentrations Posted: 06 Jun 2012 12:58 PM PDT Many organic contaminants in the air and in drinking water need to be detected at very low-level concentrations. New research could be beneficial in detecting those contaminants.

First photos ever of jaguars in Colombian oil palm plantation Posted: 06 Jun 2012 10:24 AM PDT Camera traps recently produced the first photographic evidence of wild jaguars with cubs in an oil palm plantation in Colombia. These rare photos confirm that in some cases, jaguars are willing to move through oil palm. Importantly, the photos come from a small plantation adjacent to a protected area with some indigenous habitat present - perhaps the best case scenario for fostering jaguar use of palm oil tracts.

Arctic ice melt is setting stage for severe winters Posted: 06 Jun 2012 10:24 AM PDT A dramatic melt-off of Arctic sea ice due to climate change is hitting closer to home than millions of Americans might think – triggering a domino effect leading to increased odds of severe winter weather outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere's middle latitudes, according to new research.

New secrets from 'Bay of the Pirates' warship that sunk 2,300 years ago Posted: 06 Jun 2012 10:24 AM PDT A new study puts some finishing touches on the 2,300-year history of the beak-like weapon that an ancient warship used to ram enemy ships in the First Punic War, the conflict between ancient Rome and Carthage. The report also identifies a major threat that conservators must address in preserving this archaeological treasure for future generations.

Evidence of impending tipping point for Earth Posted: 06 Jun 2012 10:23 AM PDT A group of 22 scientists worldwide argue that the Earth is frighteningly close to a tipping point that would send the globe irreversibly into a state that could spell disaster for humans. The group note that human pressures and climate change can irreversibly change local ecosystems. The fear is that Earth faces planet-wide change that will disrupt global animal and plant communities as well as water and food supplies.

Warming climate sees tundra turn to forest Posted: 06 Jun 2012 08:31 AM PDT In just a few decades shrubs in the Arctic tundra have turned into trees as a result of the warming Arctic climate, creating patches of forest which, if replicated across the tundra, would significantly accelerate global warming.

First complete sequencing of pear genome Posted: 06 Jun 2012 07:26 AM PDT Scientists have announced the first complete sequencing of pear genome. Pear (Pyrus spp.) is one of the major and oldest cultivated fruit trees in the temperate regions, which is likely to have originated during the Tertiary period (65-55 million years ago) in southwestern China. It is genetically diverse with more than 5,000 cultivars and accessions present all over the world that could be divided into two major groups, the European or "Occidental" pears and the Asiatic or "Oriental" pears.

How plants make cocaine Posted: 06 Jun 2012 07:26 AM PDT Cocaine is one of the most commonly used (and abused) plant-derived drugs in the world, but we have almost no modern information on how plants produce this complex alkaloid. Researchers have just discovered a key reaction in cocaine formation in the coca plant from South America, and identified the responsible enzyme. This enzyme was shown to belong to the aldo-keto-reductase protein family revealing some exciting new insights into the evolution of cocaine biosynthesis.

Legendary lost city of Ciudad Blanca may have been found with airborne LiDAR Posted: 06 Jun 2012 06:27 AM PDT Archaeologists have used airborne laser mapping to unveil archaeological ruins in a Honduran rainforest. An initial analysis of the LiDAR survey has identified ruins that could be those of Ciudad Blanca or other long-hidden sites.

Gasification may convert mesquite and juniper wood to a usable bioenergy Posted: 06 Jun 2012 06:27 AM PDT Biomass gasification is being considered as a possible technology for converting at least 10 million acres of Texas brush into biofuel, according to a rangeland ecologist.

Geoengineering could disrupt rainfall patterns Posted: 06 Jun 2012 06:27 AM PDT A geoengineering solution to climate change could lead to significant rainfall reduction in Europe and North America, a team of European scientists concludes. The researchers studied how models of the Earth in a warm, CO2-rich world respond to an artificial reduction in the amount of sunlight reaching the planet's surface.

Dinosaurs lighter than previously thought Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:53 AM PDT Scientists have developed a new technique to accurately measure the weight and size of dinosaurs and discovered they are not as heavy as previously thought.

Homo heidelbergensis was only slightly taller than the Neanderthal Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:53 AM PDT The reconstruction of 27 complete human limb bones found in Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) has helped to determine the height of various species of the Pleistocene era. Homo heilderbergensis, like Neanderthals, were similar in height to the current population of the Mediterranean.

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