Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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According to a new study, over the past couple of decades, global coffee production has been shifting towards a more intensive, less environmentally friendly style. That's pretty surprising if you live in the U.S. and you've gone to the grocery store or Starbucks, where sales of environmentally and socially conscious coffees have risen sharply and now account for half of all U.S. coffee sales by economic value.

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On April 1, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Maryland (UMD) welcomed the Honorable Nancy Kopp, Treasurer of the State of Maryland, and Deputy State Treasurer, Susanne Brogan, for a briefing on environmental and climate research programs at the University of Maryland Research Park (M-Square).

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The Worldwatch Institute will release State of the World 2014: Governing for Sustainability, the latest edition of its signature book series, on April 29. This edition discusses the immediate need for governments, private entities, and social groups to work together as a means to create a more sustainable future.

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Last winter’s curvy jet stream pattern brought mild temperatures to western North America and harsh cold to the East. A University of Utah-led study shows that pattern became more pronounced 4,000 years ago, and suggests it may worsen as Earth’s climate warms.

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What do zebra and kangaroos have in common? At first glance, not much — they aren’t even found in the same part of the world. But here’s one thing they do share: Both are part of the Nutrient Network, an innovative research cooperative spanning six continents that represents the first time anyone has used standardized ecological methods and measurements on such a global scale.

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A URI ornithologist has found that the capacity of a bird’s gut to change with environmental conditions is a primary limiting factor in their ability to adapt to the rapidly changing climate. And he believes that most other animals are also limited in a similar way.

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New Zealand study shows soil pH and iron levels predict cadmium bioavailability, offers solutions to farmers and ranchers

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Studies by researchers at Arizona State University and University of Chicago uncovered clues to how past peoples moved across their landscape as the once lush environment deteriorated.

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A 32-year study of subarctic forest moths in Finnish Lapland suggests that scientists may be underestimating the impacts of climate change on animals and plants because much of the harm is hidden from view.

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In the first study of its kind, scientists have compared air pollution rates from 1850 to 2000 and found that anthropogenic (man-made) particles from Asia impact the Pacific storm track that can influence weather over much of the world.

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Dead wood, such as old stumps and logs, is often overlooked when examining forest’s vitality; however, new research from old-growth forests in Iran point out the importance of this often-overlooked forest feature.

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Fish living on coral reefs where carbon dioxide seeps from the ocean floor were less able to detect predator odor than fish from normal coral reefs, according to a new study.

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On Earth Day—Tuesday, April 22—the Stony Brook campus community, and the global twitter-verse are invited to meet and tweet – virtually and in person – with Stony Brook University’s three Indianapolis Prize finalists: Russell A. Mittermeier; Carl Safina; and, Patricia C. Wright, during the University’s first ever “Tweet-Up” – an official event of the 2014 Earthstock celebration.

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An analysis of temperature data since 1500 all but rules out the possibility that global warming in the industrial era is just a natural fluctuation in the earth’s climate, according to a new study by McGill University physics professor Shaun Lovejoy.

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The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry introduces a music video to focus on our planet.

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A global catalog of 50 urban developments on six continents maps out the growing trend of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). The survey, compiled by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), using its TOD Standard evaluation tool, shows which projects connect people conveniently, affordably and safely to jobs, shopping, education and other opportunities that cities provide.

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Global Temperature Report: March 2014

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A team of researchers lead by Florida State University have found new evidence that permafrost thawing is releasing large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere via plants, which could accelerate warming trends.

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In a telephone press conference, scientists from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, will discuss the Gulf Long-Term Follow-up Study (GuLF STUDY), and what they have learned to date about the 33,000 oil spill clean-up workers and volunteers enrolled in the study.

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A statewide poll shows that more than 80 percent of New York voters are in favor of a permanent state ban on the sale of ivory that is decimating Africa’s elephants.

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Most people are fed up with winter, but Guy Meadows loves it. Ice and snow give the director of Michigan Technological University’s Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) in the frigid Upper Peninsula of Michigan a chance to do something few others can: study the Great Lakes under a cover of ice.

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In a paper in the journal Science, published today, April 4th, 2014, WCS and ZSL scientists review the ‘pros and cons’ of large scale fencing and argue that fencing should often be a last resort

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The Wildlife Conservation Society applauds the Afghanistan Government’s recent declaration establishing the entire Wakhan District, one of the most remote areas of Afghanistan, as the nation's second national park.

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An inscription on a 3,500-year-old stone block from Egypt may be one of the world’s oldest weather reports—and could provide new evidence about the chronology of events in the ancient Middle East.

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Science for Nature and People (SNAP) is pioneering a new model for using science to help solve the world’s most pressing conservation and human development challenges. Today, SNAP announces the selection of six new working group projects that bring science to solving some of the planet’s toughest challenges involving nature and human well-being.

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Extreme weather events in the Amazon Basin are giving NASA-funded scientists an opportunity to predict the impacts of climate change and deforestation on ecological processes and ecosystem services of the Amazon River wetlands.

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A team of Arizona State University researchers developed new simulations that depict the dynamics of deep Earth, which could be used to explain the complex geochemistry of lava from hotspots such as Hawaii.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society announced today that Karukinka – the Rhode Island-sized wilderness it manages on the Island of Tierra del Fuego in Chile – has been selected for a competition as one of the world's most "breathtaking" places. If it wins, Karukinka will receive 23,000 Euros ($31,000) in funding. The competition is organized by the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA), which offers funding to implement conservation projects.

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— Sea turtles—a group of seven species thought to have evolved more than 200 million years ago—are currently under significant stress, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, primarily as a result of human negligence and industrialization. A group of more than 600 scientists, conservationists, students and others will meet in New Orleans April 10-17 to discuss this and a wide range of other topics at the 34th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, the main meeting of the International Sea Turtle Society

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The Vietnam CITES Management Authority of the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development today hosted a meeting marking the nation’s first step toward minimizing transnational wildlife crime affecting this nation.

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Wellesley scientists find that the teeth of the nerpa seal may hold the strongest evidence of the effects of decades of environmental pollution, nuclear testing, and climate change on Russia's Lake Baikal.

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During Pleistocene era climate changes, neotropical orchid bees that relied on year-round warmth and wet weather found their habitats reduced by 30 to 50 percent, according to a Cornell University study that used computer models and genetic data to understand bee distributions during past climate changes.

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Results from a new study co-authored by Netra Chhetri, a faculty member at the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes at Arizona State University, show global warming of only two degrees Celsius will be detrimental to three essential food crops in temperate and tropical regions. And beginning in the 2030s, yields from those crops will start to decline significantly.

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Climatologist predicts that climate change may increase the severity of storms this spring.

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A new study in Nature Geoscience shows that dust in the air in North Africa and West Asia absorbs sunlight west of India, warming the air and strengthening the winds carrying moisture eastward, raining down in India about a week later. The results explain one way that dust can affect the climate, filling in previously unknown details about the Earth system.

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An international team of scientists has discovered that the last remaining stable portion of the Greenland ice sheet is stable no more. The finding will likely boost estimates of expected global sea level rise in the future.

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Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) nearly doubled in 2013, but most won’t take you farther than 100 miles on one charge. To boost their range toward a tantalizing 300 miles or more, researchers are reporting progress on a “breathing” battery that has the potential to one day replace the lithium-ion technology of today’s EVs. They presented their work at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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Imagine powering your cell phone by simply walking around your office or rubbing it with the palm of your hand. Rather than plugging it into the wall, you become the power source. Researchers at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, presented these commercial possibilities and a unique vision for green energy. To see a video of the team’s work, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVhJ4G-7na4.

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By the end of the 21st century, some parts of the world can expect as many as 30 more days a year without precipitation, according to a new study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego researchers.

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Social species, such as the African wild dog, require strict participation from group members to be successful. This strategy can enhance fitness benefits for the group, but also a higher critical threshold for extinction. Awareness of life history needs to guide management strategy.

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The spiny water flea, aka Bythotrephes, is devouring its way through the Great Lakes and into the surrounding inland waters, including Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park, disrupting an entire ecosystem from the bottom up.

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As the climate changes in the 21st century, more hurricanes may stray farther north along the eastern seaboard, like Superstorm Sandy did. During Sandy, researchers used crowdsourcing to collect the largest ever dataset of hurricane rain waters and analyze the storm's isotopic fingerprint.

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Aerosols in the atmosphere produced from human activities do indeed directly affect a hurricane or tropical cyclone, but not in a way many scientists had previously believed – in fact, they tend to weaken such storms, according to a new study that includes a team of Texas A&M University researchers.

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– By literally looking below the surface and digging up the dirt, Cornell researchers have discovered that a burgeoning deer population forever alters the progression of a forest’s natural future by creating environmental havoc in the soil and disrupting the soil’s natural seed banks.

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Scientists are aiming for a simple, practical way to remediate mine waste laced with copper and other toxic elements. And, they are shedding light on the inner workings of the plants and bacteria that do the cleanup.