A research team has now measured concentrations of the hormone corticosterone and its metabolic products in white-tailed sea eagles in northern Germany and correlated these values with potential causes of stress. They found that the levels of corticosterone in the birds' urine are higher the closer a breeding pair's nest is to paths or roads.
Read moreWorking with the ice core ReCap, drilled close to the coast in East Greenland, researchers wondered why the dust particles from the interglacial period — the warmer period of time between the ice ages — were several times bigger than the dust particles from the ice age. The research led to the invention of a method able to map the advancement of the glaciers in cold periods and the melting in warmer periods.
Read moreTravellers are willing to pay a little more for flights if they know the extra money will be used to address carbon emissions, a new study has found.
Read moreA new study examining carbon stocks in an actively managed mixed wood forest in New Hampshire finds that places with more trees have more carbon stored in both the trees and the soil. The findings demonstrate the connection between above ground and below ground carbon, which has implications for forest management strategies.
Read moreThe skies were clear, the winds were low, and the lasers aligned. In April, instruments aboard NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne campaign and the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 succeeded in measuring the same Arctic sea ice at the same time, a tricky feat given the shifting sea ice.
Read moreAs climate change accelerates, recording shifts in plant flowering times is critical to understanding how changes in climate will impact ecosystem interactions. To help measure these shifts, researchers have introduced a new quantitative measure of phenological status, called the 'phenological index,' that improves scoring of developmental stage in herbarium specimens, and predicts a higher degree of phenological advancement in response to climate change.
Read more'The production of unnecessary infant and toddler formulas exacerbates environmental damage and should be a matter of increasing global concern,' argue experts.
Read moreA new study revealed a more complex view than current standard predictions of coral bleaching events caused primarily by heat stress; rather, the scientists found that bleaching is driven by a variety of stressors, and each region responds differently.
Read moreA non-invasive approach could help marine biologists monitor coral health in the face of climate change.
Read moreCorals exude chemical defenses against bacteria, but when heated in the lab, those defenses lost much potency against a pathogen common in coral bleaching. There's hope: A key coral's defense was heartier when that coral was taken from an area where fishing was banned and plenty of fish were left to eat away seaweed that was overgrowing corals elsewhere.
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