Ancient Indonesian climate shift linked to glacial cycle
Using sediments from a remote lake, researchers from Brown University have assembled a 60,000-year record of rainfall in central Indonesia. The analysis reveals important new details about the climate...
View ArticleLong-standing climate paradox resolved
(Phys.org) —Climate scientists have long documented the strong control of Earth's orbital variations on the waxing and waning of the great ice ages, when huge "pluvial" lakes filled the valley floors...
View ArticleHow variable are ocean temperatures?
The earth's climate appears to have been more variable over the past 7,000 years than often thought. This is the conclusion of a new study forthcoming online this week in the U.S. scientific journal...
View ArticleThe Swiss paper wasp, a new species of social Hymenoptera in Central Europe
Swiss scientists have discovered a new species of aculeate wasp, not hidden somewhere in a jungle on a remote continent, but in Central Europe, in a swampy area just a few kilometers from Zurich. The...
View ArticleEarth Institute professor looks back at human history to understand how we...
Environmental geographer Ruth DeFries is a pioneer in the study of how humans have transformed the surface of the Earth. Using satellite data, she explores how changes in Earth's vegetation can affect...
View ArticleNew volume documents the science at the legendary snowmastodon fossil site in...
Four years ago, a bulldozer operator turned over some bones during construction at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado. Scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science were...
View ArticleFossils link Caribbean bat extinction to humans, not climate change
Sharing caves with millions of bats, the Caribbean's first humans may have driven some species of the winged mammals to extinction.
View ArticleHumans altering Adriatic ecosystems more than nature, study shows
The ecosystems of the Adriatic Sea have weathered natural climate shifts for 125,000 years, but humans could be rapidly altering this historically stable biodiversity hot spot, a University of Florida...
View ArticleThe number of fungal species has been greatly overestimated
A study led by the researchers of the University of Tartu Natural History Museum discovered that the most species-rich fungal communities are in tropical rainforests. The estimated global species...
View ArticleMajor study shows biodiversity losses can be reversed
Most people would probably agree that human pressures on the land are bad news for wildlife. Practices such as agriculture can introduce pollutants to the environment, force out wildlife, and change...
View ArticlePlant dispersal insights may aid climate change predictions
Explanations for why the same plant groups occur in Australia, New Zealand, and South America have been deeply controversial. By comparing broad patterns of climatic history to age and habitat...
View ArticleNewly discovered 48-million-year-old lizard walked on water in Wyoming
A newly-discovered, 48-million-year-old fossil, known as a "Jesus lizard" for its ability to walk on water, may provide insight into how climate change may affect tropical species, according to a study...
View ArticleClimate surprises possibly in store for Antarctica, say researchers
Two different climate scenarios appear plausible for Antarctica in the 21st century, says Paul Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.
View ArticleReconstructing a vanished bird community from the Ice Age
Visit Peru's Talara Tar Seeps today and you'll see a desert, but 15,000 years ago, the area was grassland and forest, roamed by dire wolves and saber-toothed cats. If you had gone for a walk in the...
View ArticleUndergraduates make discoveries in Hawaiʻi from mountain to sea
Original scientific research by two recent graduates from UH Mānoa's Global Environmental Science (GES) undergraduate program has shed new light on Hawai'i's past and current natural environment.
View ArticleBugs collected on rooftop for 18 years reveal climate change effects
A volunteer registration of insects for 18 consecutive years on the Copenhagen roof of the Natural History Museum of Denmark has revealed local insect community turnover due to climate change. The...
View ArticleResearchers show that global warming happened just as fast in the past as today
Climate change is progressing rapidly. It is not the first time in our planet's history that temperatures have been rising, but it is happening much faster now than it ever has before. Or is it?...
View ArticleScientists crack mystery of the Sierra Nevada's age
In science, the simplest questions often prove themselves the most difficult to answer. Questions such as what killed the dinosaurs, or how many fish are there in the oceans took decades to solve or...
View ArticleAnother heat record means 2015 likely to be hottest ever (Update)
The globe shattered yet another heat record in November, continuing a warming trend that is all but certain to make 2015 the hottest in modern history, US government scientists said Thursday.
View ArticleDid famine worsen the Black Death?
When the Black Death swept through Europe in 1347, it was one of the deadliest disease outbreaks in human history, eventually killing between a third and half of Europeans.
View ArticleResearchers study impact of melting glaciers in Peru
In the context of modern anthropogenic climate change, many Peruvian societies are experiencing the brunt of abrupt climate change impacts. The Peruvian Andes are home to 70 percent of the world's...
View ArticleA 100-million-year partnership on the brink of extinction
A relationship that has lasted for 100 million years is at serious risk of ending, due to the effects of environmental and climate change. A species of spiny crayfish native to Australia and the tiny...
View ArticleFossils reveal approaching relocation of plants on Earth
Significant changes in the distribution of plants on Earth can be a reality by 2050. The prediction is made by scientists from Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of...
View ArticleStudy finds increase in Antarctic marine worm species
A study by the University of Liverpool has found that the diversity of marine worm species in the Antarctic Ocean has been vastly underestimated, and this finding could help to monitor climate change...
View ArticleFrom urban jungle to rainforest canopy – how construction cranes are building...
The humble construction crane could be the key to exploring what ecologists call 'the last biotic frontier' – the forest canopy.
View ArticleRapid Arctic warming has in the past shifted Southern Ocean winds
The global climate is a complex machine in which some pieces are separate, yet others are connected. Scientists try to discover the connections to predict what will happen to our climate, especially in...
View ArticleTiming of global regression and microbial bloom linked with the...
The Earth has known several mass extinctions over the course of its history. One of the most important happened at the Permian-Triassic boundary 250 million years ago. Over 95 percent of marine species...
View ArticleNew Ice core drilling in North Eastern Greenland
The first crew of researchers, technicians and students has arrived at the EastGRIP research camp on the Greenland ice cap, flown in by ski-equipped American Hercules planes. During the next 4 months,...
View ArticleStudies call for expansion and digitization of Arctic museum collections
As sea ice continues to disappear, scientists are rushing to gather data on Arctic taxa. How should the collected plant and animal specimens be stored? As Indigenous communities age, traditional...
View ArticleHow can changing climate affect a civilization?
William (Billy) D'Andrea is a Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory paleoclimatologist and a Center for Climate and Life Fellow; he studies how environments have changed over time by reconstructing climate...
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