Environmental News Network

In Measuring Gas Exchange Between Water and Air, Size Matters

Ponds and lakes play a significant role in the global carbon cycle, and are often net emitters of carbon gases to the atmosphere. However, the rate at which gases move across the air-water boundary is not well quantified, particularly for small ponds.

UN agricultural agency links food security and climate change in new guidelines

The United Nations agricultural agency today unveiled guidelines to help Governments balance the needs of farming and climate change when making decisions, such as whether to refill a dried up lake or focus instead on sustainably using the forest on its shore.

Dingo fence study shows dingo extermination leads to poorer soil

A comparison of conditions in the outback on either side of Australia’s dingo fence has revealed that extermination of these apex predators affects not only the abundance of other animals and plants, but also reduces the quality of the soil.

The UNSW study indicates greater control of kangaroo numbers is needed across a third of the Australian continent where dingoes are rare, to reduce damage on ecosystems.

“We have shown for the first time that the presence of dingoes is linked to healthier soils, because they suppress the numbers of kangaroos that graze on the vegetation,” says study senior author UNSW Associate Professor Mike Letnic.

Hubble Catches a Galaxy Duo by the "Hare"

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the unusual galaxy IRAS 06076-2139, found in the constellation Lepus (The Hare). Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments observed the galaxy from a distance of 500 million light-years.

Migratory Seabird Deaths Linked to Hurricanes

Stronger and more frequent hurricanes may pose a new threat to the sooty tern, an iconic species of migratory seabird found throughout the Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic, a new Duke University-led study reveals.

The study, published this week in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PeerJ, is the first to map the birds’ annual migratory path and demonstrate how its timing and trajectory place them in the direct path of hurricanes moving into the Caribbean after forming over the Atlantic.

“The route the birds take and that most Atlantic-forming hurricanes take is basically the same – only in reverse,” said Ryan Huang, a doctoral student at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, who led the study. “That means these birds, who are usually very tired from traveling long distances over water without rest, are flying head-on into some of the strongest winds on the planet.”