It is imperative that governments meeting here at the UN’s Biodiversity Conference take action ensuring an alignment of the world’s biodiversity and climate agendas.
As a megadrought stresses the water supply throughout the Southwest, revolutionary research out of UNLV is answering this problem with a groundbreaking technology that pulls large amounts of water from the air in low humidity.
Scientists have identified a natural compound, (Z)-3-hexenyl butyrate (HB), that can induce stomatal closure in plants, a defense mechanism to conserve water and protect against pathogens. This discovery could lead to more sustainable agricultural practices by enhancing crop resilience to environmental stresses without the need for synthetic pesticides.
In the 1990s, the San Miguel Island fox nearly went extinct, with numbers dropping to just 15. A recovery program increased their population by 2010, but from 2014 to 2018, it fell to 30% of its peak due to a new acanthocephalan parasite, exacerbated by a prolonged drought. A collaborative research effort employed morphological and molecular methods, alongside necropsy records, to identify the parasite and assess its health impacts on the foxes.
A UNLV research team is developing sustainable water management solutions for rural arid areas in the U.S. and China, focusing on wastewater reuse through solar-powered treatment processes. The project aims to provide low-cost technologies for non-potable — and possibly potable — reuse in rural communities in both countries, addressing water scarcity and quality issues.
Rapid warming has impacted the northern ecosystem so significantly that scientists are concerned the region’s vegetation is losing the ability to recover from climate shocks, suggests a new study.
Dr. Seongpil Jeong and Kyungjin Cho of the Center for Water Cycle Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed an aquifer storage technique that could improve the potential for stable water storage.
Mega ocean warming El Niño events were key in driving the largest extinction of life on planet Earth some 252 million years ago, according to new research.
Scientists have discovered a genetic mechanism in pak choi that boosts drought tolerance by regulating ascorbic acid levels. By silencing the BcSRC2 gene, researchers found that the plant’s ascorbic acid content decreased, reducing its drought resistance. Conversely, overexpressing BcSRC2 raised ascorbic acid levels, enhancing the plant’s tolerance. This finding could guide future breeding strategies to help crops cope with water scarcity.
Severe drought in the American Southwest and Mexico and more severe wet years in the Northeast are the modern norm in North America, according to new research – and the analysis suggests these seasonal patterns will be more extreme in the future.
New research led by FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Assistant Professor Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf examined how drought and water volume in the Lower Apalachicola River watershed affect nitrogen and phosphorous, crucial nutrients for a healthy aquatic ecosystem.
Researchers from UC San Diego and UC Berkeley have identified the seasonal and climate-based cycles of Valley fever, an emerging but dangerous fungal disease spread through dust in the air.
Nearly half of the world’s land surface is now classified as drylands and these areas are accelerating their own proliferation, according to new research.
A cutting-edge study has revealed how genetic signals from rootstocks influence drought resistance in grafted walnut trees. Researchers found that by modifying the JrGA20ox1 gene in rootstocks, they could significantly enhance the trees' ability to cope with water scarcity. The study demonstrates a powerful new method for improving agricultural resilience to climate change, offering hope for sustaining walnut production under increasingly challenging environmental conditions.
Tufts University researcher Farshid Vahedifard and his team have created physics models to predict cascading hazards such as landslides and debris flows that can follow wildfires.