ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• The sounds of science: Melting of iceberg creates surprising ocean din
• Rare primate species needs habitat help to survive
• Dinosaurs, diets and ecological niches: Study shows recipe for success
• New virus discovered in stranded dolphin
• Mammals can 'choose' sex of offspring, study finds
• Asian origins of native American dogs confirmed
• One More Homo Species? 3D-comparative analysis confirms status of Homo floresiensis as fossil human species
• Trees use water more efficiently as atmospheric carbon dioxide rises
• Assessing impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
• Wind power does not strongly affect greater prairie chickens, seven-year study finds
• Coastal power plant records reveal decline in key southern California fishes
• 'Peak oil' concerns should ease, experts predict
• Dingoes remain top predator despite control measures
• Huge iceberg breaks away from the Pine Island glacier in the Antarctic
• Contribution of Greenland ice sheet to sea-level rise will continue to increase
• Cloud brightening to cool seas can protect coral reefs: Targeted cooling could offer a 50-year 'breathing space' for coral protection
• Bat that sings like a bird is highly tuned to social circumstance
• Mycobacteria get all the advantages of sex with none of the downsides
• Birds outpace climate change to avoid extinction
• How early Earth kept warm enough to support life
• Live from the hen's egg
• Biologists name newly discovered threadworm after physicist Max Planck
• Nanomaterial to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions

The sounds of science: Melting of iceberg creates surprising ocean din Posted: 10 Jul 2013 06:42 PM PDT There is growing concern about how much noise humans generate in marine environments through shipping, oil exploration and other developments, but a new study has found that naturally occurring phenomena could potentially affect some ocean dwellers. Nowhere is this concern greater than in the polar regions, where the effects of global warming often first manifest themselves. The breakup of ice sheets and the calving and grounding of icebergs can create enormous sound energy, scientists say. Now a new study has found that the mere drifting of an iceberg from near Antarctica to warmer ocean waters produces startling levels of noise.

Rare primate species needs habitat help to survive Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:36 PM PDT The population of the critically endangered large primate known as the drill has been largely reduced to a few critical habitat areas in Cameroon, according to a recent study. The study highlights the challenges faced by this species as its living area becomes ever more fragmented by human disturbance. In addition, the report directs conservation efforts towards key areas where the populations continue to survive and thrive.

Dinosaurs, diets and ecological niches: Study shows recipe for success Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:36 PM PDT A new scientific study answers a long-standing question in palaeontology -- how numerous species of large, plant-eating dinosaurs could co-exist successfully over geological time. Results from the largest study of dinosaurs recovered from Alberta's Dinosaur Park Formation suggest that niche partitioning was at play: adaptations in skulls and jaws allowed for distinct groups of herbivores to specialize in eating specific types of vegetation, thereby avoiding competition for valuable food sources.

New virus discovered in stranded dolphin Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:29 PM PDT Researchers have identified a new virus associated with the death of a short-beaked dolphin found stranded on a beach in San Diego. It is the first time that a virus belonging to the polyomavirus family has been found in a dolphin.

Mammals can 'choose' sex of offspring, study finds Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:29 PM PDT A new study shows that mammalian species can "choose" the sex of their offspring in order to beat the odds and produce extra grandchildren. In analyzing 90 years of breeding records from the San Diego Zoo, researchers were able to prove for the first time what has been a fundamental theory of evolutionary biology: that mammals rely on some unknown physiologic mechanism to manipulate the sex ratios of their offspring as part of a highly adaptive evolutionary strategy.

Asian origins of native American dogs confirmed Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:25 PM PDT Once thought to have been extinct, native American dogs are on the contrary thriving, according to a recent study that links these breeds to ancient Asia.

One More Homo Species? 3D-comparative analysis confirms status of Homo floresiensis as fossil human species Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:24 PM PDT Based on the analysis of 3-D landmark data from skull surfaces of Homo floresiensis, scientists provide compelling support for the hypothesis that Homo floresiensis was a distinct Homo species.

Trees use water more efficiently as atmospheric carbon dioxide rises Posted: 10 Jul 2013 11:18 AM PDT Though studies have long predicted that more efficient forest water use would result from increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, biologists, using data collected in the northeastern US, and elsewhere around the world, showed that forests were responding much more than the predictions of even the most state-of-the-art computer models.

Assessing impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Posted: 10 Jul 2013 09:20 AM PDT While numerous studies are under way to determine the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico, the extent and severity of these impacts and the value of the resulting losses cannot fully be measured without considering the goods and services provided by the Gulf, says a new report.

Wind power does not strongly affect greater prairie chickens, seven-year study finds Posted: 10 Jul 2013 09:20 AM PDT Wind power development does not ruffle the feathers of greater prairie chicken populations, according to a seven-year study by ecologists. They found that grassland birds are more affected by rangeland management practices and by the availability of native prairie and vegetation cover at nest sites.

Coastal power plant records reveal decline in key southern California fishes Posted: 10 Jul 2013 09:18 AM PDT Recent research documents a dramatic, 40-year drop in a number of key fish species and a change in their community structure, according to a new study.

'Peak oil' concerns should ease, experts predict Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:44 AM PDT Should concerns about "peak oil" focus on demand for oil rather than dwindling supplies of it? Yes, according to a new analysis. Limits to consumption by the wealthy, better fuel efficiency and lower priced alternative fuels should begin driving down demand for oil around 2035. That's good news overall, but policymakers should pay attention to the mix of substitutes that will replace conventional oil.

Dingoes remain top predator despite control measures Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:43 AM PDT The culling of dingoes in Australia to protect livestock does not open the way for other predators to take their place, new research finds. Dingoes and red foxes are temporarily suppressed, while feral cats and goannas are not affected, which suggests that careful planning of culls, around calving time to save livestock from attacks, should not in the long term harm dingo populations or other animals in the ecosystem.

Huge iceberg breaks away from the Pine Island glacier in the Antarctic Posted: 10 Jul 2013 07:40 AM PDT On July 8, 2013, a huge area of the ice shelf broke away from the Pine Island glacier, the longest and fastest flowing glacier in the Antarctic, and is now floating in the Amundsen Sea in the form of a very large iceberg.

Contribution of Greenland ice sheet to sea-level rise will continue to increase Posted: 10 Jul 2013 07:40 AM PDT The contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea-level rise will continue to increase, experts say.

Cloud brightening to cool seas can protect coral reefs: Targeted cooling could offer a 50-year 'breathing space' for coral protection Posted: 10 Jul 2013 07:34 AM PDT The seeding of marine clouds to cool sea surface temperatures could protect threatened coral reefs from being bleached by warming oceans. Recent research proposes that a targeted version of the geo-engineering technique could give coral a fifty year 'breathing space' to recover from acidification and warming.

Bat that sings like a bird is highly tuned to social circumstance Posted: 10 Jul 2013 07:27 AM PDT New research shows that Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) vary the way elements are combined in their songs (i.e. syntax) in response to different social contexts, which is exceedingly rare among non-human mammals.

Mycobacteria get all the advantages of sex with none of the downsides Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:24 AM PDT Sexual reproduction is costly to organisms that depend on it, like humans. In contrast, bacteria reproduce by asexual reproduction, which is more efficient but doesn't allow genomic mixing, making them vulnerable to environmental change. A new report describes a process by which mycobacteria gain the best of both worlds, mixing their genomes as thoroughly as sexual organisms do, while retaining the advantages of asexual reproduction.

Birds outpace climate change to avoid extinction Posted: 10 Jul 2013 03:24 AM PDT A new study has shed light on the potential of birds to survive in the face of climate change. In the analysis, based on more than fifty years' detailed study of a population of great tits near Oxford, UK, scientists found that for these small, short-lived birds, evolution can work fast enough for genetic adaptation to keep pace with a changing environment. However, even for such fast-evolving species, evolution on its own is not enough.

How early Earth kept warm enough to support life Posted: 09 Jul 2013 12:56 PM PDT Solving the "faint young sun paradox" -- explaining how early Earth was warm and habitable for life beginning more than three billion years ago even though the sun was 20 percent dimmer than today -- may not be as difficult as believed, says a new study.

Live from the hen's egg Posted: 09 Jul 2013 08:52 AM PDT Like a contortionist, twisted the chick is lying in its eggshell, brain, eyes, and beak visible in levels of grey. In small white circles, the flowing blood of the active chick flashes again and again on the MRI system's monitor. The chick bumps with its head back and forth and finally cracks the eggshell. Scientists have now managed to film the natural embryonic development and hatching of a chicken in real time through MRI. To accomplish this, the researchers scanned fertilized eggs in a clinical MRI system with a unique imaging technique at an acquisition speed of 12 frames per second.

Biologists name newly discovered threadworm after physicist Max Planck Posted: 09 Jul 2013 08:51 AM PDT Biologists have named a newly discovered nematode after a German Nobel laureate. Pristionchus maxplancki is thus the first species to carry the name of the scientist, who died in 1947. The discovery from the Far East is assisting the researchers to attain new insights and knowledge about the many interdependencies between evolution, genetics, and ecology.

Nanomaterial to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions Posted: 09 Jul 2013 08:50 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new nanomaterial that could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power stations.

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