Tag: "rainfall" at biology news

New research indicates a 'troubled' greenhouse is brewing

... explored the relationship between seasonality and rainfall in soils, then applied the same techniques to buri...y also can be used to determine the seasonality of rainfall as well as the amount of rainfall because the spread within the profile of carbonate nodules is rela...

South America's vast pantanal wetland may become next everglades, UNU experts warn

...n, and stabilizing the local climate, particularly rainfall and temperature. Today, however, these services are compromised by the global problem of climate change while local pollution, habitat destruction and narrowing migration corridors for many species are among the consequences of introducing intensive...

World's largest rainforest drying experiment completes first phase

...onian rainforest. From January 2000 to July 2004, rainfall was excluded from a one-hectare (2.2 acre) plot in...s National Forest, in Brazil. A total of 6 feet of rainfall was diverted with six thousand 2' by 6' clear plastic panels suspended 3 to 12 feet above the soil. ...

Scientists find fossil proof of Egypt's ancient climate

...urope and Asia. Periods of substantially increased rainfall compared to the present are known to have occurred...ase lasted at least several thousand years. Normal rainfall in the area they study is a minuscule 0.7 of a millimeter per year, but there is evidence that the r...

Survey finds silver contamination in North Pacific waters

...gal's group have also found high mercury levels in rainfall on the U.S. West Coast, which they linked to contamination from coal burning in Asia. "Unlike mercury, silver is not a human health concern. But silver is second only to mercury in its toxicity to marine invertebrates," Flegal said. Sam Luoma, a U....

NASA study finds snow melt causes large ocean plant blooms

...low from the Southwest Arabian Sea bringing annual rainfall to the subcontinent from June to September. In the Western Arabian Sea, these winds also cause upwelling of cooler nutrient-rich water, creating ideal conditions for phytoplankton to bloom every year during summer. Since 1997, a reduction in snow ha...

Africa to take it on chin again with climate change

...-99 average. A different process appears to shape rainfall in the Sahel. When sea-surface temperatures are warmer in the South Atlantic than in the North, it pulls the Sahelian monsoon cycle south as well, depriving the region of its usual rains. "This was the situation during much of the latter half of the...

Butterfly migration could be largest known

...ers. This year, however, exceptionally high winter rainfall in southern California has created a bumper crop of plants for the caterpillars to eat, fuelling a population boom, Shapiro said. The butterflies take about three days to reach the Central Valley, and the current generation will fly as far as southe...

Tropical Deforestation affects rainfall in the U.S. and around the globe

...orestation in different areas of the globe affects rainfall patterns over a considerable region. Deforestati...azon region of South America (Amazonia) influences rainfall from Mexico to Texas and in the Gulf of Mexico. Similarly, deforesting lands in Central Africa affec...

Beach pollution is worst during new and full moon

...h managers can now use tides as they currently use rainfall to assess warnings, Boehm suggests. When it rains, managers recommend that swimmers not enter the water for three days. "They could also suggest that during spring tides -- and especially spring-ebb tides -- water quality is more likely to be impaire...

Storing carbon to combat global warming may cause other environmental problems, study suggests

...per is that those places tend to be relatively low rainfall areas. We predict we will see a decrease in stream...redict whether this increased moisture might boost rainfall to counter tree water withdrawals, co-authors Bruce McCarl of Texas A&M University and Brian Mur...

Marine mammals are on the frontline of failing ocean health

...ge." Warming temperatures are likely to increase rainfall in the North, leading to increased run-off to ocean systems and melting of ice. These changes affect how contaminants are delivered to the food web, and thus to people. Habitat loss and increases in water temperature also allows both pathogens and ...

Parts of the Caribbean and Central America are likely to have less summer rain

...odels calls for a substantial decrease in tropical rainfall to occur by 2054, or sooner under some of the mode... century, the models call for a decrease in summer rainfall of 20 percent or more in parts of the Caribbean and Central America, Neelin said. The winter change ...

New analysis shows three human migrations out of Africa

...oclimatic data that indicate periods of very high rainfall in eastern Africa, making what is now the Sahara Desert a savannah," Templeton said. "That makes the timing very amenable for movements of large populations through the area. " Templeton said that the fossil record indicates a significant change i...

Scientists develop malaria forecasting tool to predict disease risk

...r early-warning model on population vulnerability, rainfall and health surveillance data and then used forthcoming season forecasts for rainfall to predict unusual changes in the seasonal pattern of disease in Botswana. The team based their stu...

Biodiversity key to sustainable biofuel according to University of Minn. researcher's findings

...l grasses and other prairie plants. Over 12 years, rainfall during the growing season varied more than twofold and average daily high temperatures ranged from 21.5 C to 24.4 C. Stability was dependent on diversity and root mass. Roots store nutrients and buffer against climate variations. Prairie plants, whic...

The vicious cycle of rainforest destruction

...estion of rainfall: areas in Africa with 1800mm of rainfall a year are rainforest; in South America, areas with the same rainfall are savanna. Other issues such as soils, fertility and drainage must play a part, the researchers b...

Tiny airborne particles are a major cause of climate change

...ollision process is less efficient and, therefore, rainfall is suppressed. The smaller droplets are lifted higher up into the atmosphere, creating larger and taller clouds that will persist longer. Not only does this alter the whole water cycle, but the increased cloud cover reflects more of the sun's radiati...

New strategy developed to combat West Nile Virus

...t too simplistic, relying on factors such as total rainfall to estimate disease risk, said Jeffrey Shaman, an ...d that spring drought followed by continual summer rainfall is critical for the amplification and transmission of West Nile Virus and a similar disease, St. Lou...

CSIRO imagery shows Outer Great Barrier Reef at risk from river plumes

...arrying a larger sediment load than during regular rainfall and river flow. As such floods have not occurred for a while the accumulated material in the creeks ands rivers coupled with increased sediment runoff from the land is causing a significant transport of terrestrial material to all areas of the affec...

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