ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

---

• High carbon dioxide spurs wetlands to absorb more carbon
• Scientists outline long-term sea-level rise in response to warming of planet
• Drought response identified in potential biofuel plant
• Fiji's largest marine reserve swarming with sharks
• Scientists construct visual of intracellular 'zip code' signaling linked to learning, memory
• Nesting Gulf of Mexico loggerhead turtles face offshore risks
• Distorted GPS signals reveal hurricane wind speeds
• Great exaptations: Most traits emerge for no crucial reason, scientists find
• Share robotic frogs help turn a boring mating call into a serenade
• Free market is best way to combat climate change, study suggests
• Attractive and successful: In bonobos, attractive females are more likely to win conflicts against males
• Black-legged ticks linked to encephalitis in New York state
• Phytoplankton social mixers: Tiny ocean plants use turbulence for travel to social gatherings
• New retroviruses found in polar bear 'Knut' and panda 'Bao Bao'

High carbon dioxide spurs wetlands to absorb more carbon Posted: 15 Jul 2013 05:24 PM PDT Under elevated carbon dioxide levels, wetland plants can absorb up to 32 percent more carbon than they do at current levels, according to a 19-year study just published. With atmospheric carbon dioxide passing the 400 parts-per-million milestone this year, the findings offer hope that wetlands could help soften the blow of climate change.

Scientists outline long-term sea-level rise in response to warming of planet Posted: 15 Jul 2013 01:48 PM PDT A new study estimates that global sea levels will rise about 2.3 meters, or more than seven feet, over the next several thousand years for every degree (Celsius) the planet warms. This is one of the first analyses to combine four major contributors to potential sea level rise into a collective estimate, and compare it with evidence of past sea-level responses to global temperature changes.

Drought response identified in potential biofuel plant Posted: 15 Jul 2013 01:48 PM PDT Drought resistance is the key to large-scale production of Jatropha, a potential biofuel plant -- and an international group of scientists has identified the first step toward engineering a hardier variety.

Fiji's largest marine reserve swarming with sharks Posted: 15 Jul 2013 12:10 PM PDT Researchers have found that Fiji's largest marine reserve contains more sharks than surrounding areas that allow fishing, evidence that marine protected areas can be good for sharks.

Scientists construct visual of intracellular 'zip code' signaling linked to learning, memory Posted: 15 Jul 2013 11:18 AM PDT New research provides a rare "picture" of the activity taking place at the single molecular level: visual evidence of the mechanisms involved when a cell transports mRNA (or messenger RNA) to where a protein is needed to perform a cellular function.

Nesting Gulf of Mexico loggerhead turtles face offshore risks Posted: 15 Jul 2013 11:18 AM PDT Threatened loggerhead sea turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico can travel distances up to several hundred miles and visit offshore habitats between nesting events in a single season, taking them through waters impacted by oil and fishing industries.

Distorted GPS signals reveal hurricane wind speeds Posted: 15 Jul 2013 10:56 AM PDT Researchers have found a way to do something completely different with GPS: Measure and map the wind speeds of hurricanes. The new technique could help meteorologists better predict storm severity, how storms form, and where they might be headed.

Great exaptations: Most traits emerge for no crucial reason, scientists find Posted: 15 Jul 2013 10:44 AM PDT By simulating changes in an organism's metabolism, scientists have now shown that most traits may emerge as non-crucial "exaptations" rather than as selection-advantageous adaptations.

Share robotic frogs help turn a boring mating call into a serenade Posted: 15 Jul 2013 08:48 AM PDT With the help of a robotic frog, biologists have discovered that two wrong mating calls can make a right for female túngara frogs. The "rather bizarre" result may provide insight into how complex traits evolve by hooking together much simpler traits.

Free market is best way to combat climate change, study suggests Posted: 15 Jul 2013 07:54 AM PDT The best way to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change is through the use of market forces, according to a new study.

Attractive and successful: In bonobos, attractive females are more likely to win conflicts against males Posted: 15 Jul 2013 07:52 AM PDT While intersexual dominance relations in bonobos never have been thoroughly studied in the wild, several ideas exist of how females attain their dominance status. Some researchers suggest that bonobo female dominance is facilitated by females forming coalitions which suppress male aggression. Others think of an evolutionary scenario in which females prefer non-aggressive males which renders male aggressiveness to a non-adaptive trait.

Black-legged ticks linked to encephalitis in New York state Posted: 15 Jul 2013 06:12 AM PDT The number of tick-borne illnesses reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the rise. Lyme disease leads the pack, with some 35,000 cases reported annually. In the Northeast, the black-legged ticks that spread Lyme disease also infect people with other maladies, among them anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and -- now -- Powassan encephalitis.

Phytoplankton social mixers: Tiny ocean plants use turbulence for travel to social gatherings Posted: 15 Jul 2013 04:03 AM PDT Scientists have shown that the motility of phytoplankton also helps them determine their fate in ocean turbulence.

New retroviruses found in polar bear 'Knut' and panda 'Bao Bao' Posted: 15 Jul 2013 04:03 AM PDT Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are viruses that at some point in the past inserted themselves into the nuclear genome of a host's germ cell. Once integrated in a germ cell the virus would be passed on from one generation to the next and the endogenous retroviral genome would therefore be inherited to new species that evolve from the original host.

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