Warming in Biological News

In the warming West, climate most significant factor in fanning wildfires' flames

The recent increase in area burned by wildfires in the Western United States is a product not of higher temperatures or longer fire seasons alone, but a complex relationship between climate and fuels that varies among different ecosystems, according to a study conducted by U.S. Forest Service and ...

Global warming increasing the dispersal of flora in Northern forests

As a result of stronger winds caused by global warming, seeds and pollen are being carried over longer distances. An increase in temperature of only a couple of degrees may increase the dispersal of plants in Northern forests and the spread of plant species into forest clearings after felling or f...

Cantabrian cornice has experienced seven cooling and warming phases over past 41,000 years

In 1996, an international team of scientists led by the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) started to carry out a paleontological survey in the cave of El Mirn. Since then they have focused on analysing the fossil remains of the bones and teeth of small vertebrates that lived in the Cantabrian region...

Wetlands likely source of methane from ancient warming event

An expansion of wetlands and not a large-scale melting of frozen methane deposits is the likely cause of a spike in atmospheric methane gas that took place some 11,600 years ago, according to an international research team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. The finding ...

Fighting global warming offers growth and development opportunities

Combating climate change may not be a question of who will carry the burden but could instead be a rush for the benefits, according to new economic modeling presented today at "Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges & Decisions" hosted by the University of Copenhagen. Contrary to current cos...

Prominent climate researcher to speak at UH on global warming March 5

HOUSTON, March 3, 2009 As we move more toward renewable energy, questions persist about the Earth's climate. Is it dramatically changing? If so, are humans or natural variations in climate or other causes responsible? A leading expert in climate research and atmospheric science will address su...

Decisive action needed as warming predictions worsen, says expert

Stanford, CA Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are rising more rapidly than expected, increasing the danger that without aggressive action to reduce emissions the climate system could cross a critical threshold by the end of the century, warns a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergove...

Global warming threatens Antarctic sea life

MELBOURNE, FLA.Climate change is about to cause a major upheaval in the shallow marine waters of Antarctica. Predatory crabs are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters and disrupt the primeval marine communities. "Nowhere else than in these ecosystems do giant sea spiders and marine pill...

Global warming linked to European viral epidemic

An epidemic of the viral disease nephropathia epidemica (NE) has been linked to increases in the vole population caused by hotter summers, milder winters and increased seedcrop production by broadleaf trees. Research published in BioMed Central's open access International Journal of Health Geogra...

Global warming is changing organic matter in soil

New research shows that we should be looking to the ground, not the sky, to see where climate change could have its most perilous impact on life on Earth. Scientists at the University of Toronto Scarborough have published research findings in the prestigious journal, Nature Geoscience , that s...

Global warming link to amphibian declines in doubt

Evidence that global warming is causing the worldwide declines of amphibians may not be as conclusive as previously thought, according to biologists. The findings, which contradict two widely held views, could help reveal what is killing the frogs and toads and aid in their conservation. "We ar...

Global warming predicted to hasten carbon release from peat bogs

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 6, 2008 -- Billions of tons of carbon sequestered in the world's peat bogs could be released into the atmosphere in the coming decades as a result of global warming, according to a new analysis of the interplay between peat bogs, water tables, and climate change. Such an ...

Dried mushrooms slow climate warming in Northern forests

Irvine, Calif. The fight against climate warming has an unexpected ally in mushrooms growing in dry spruce forests covering Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and other northern regions, a new UC Irvine study finds. When soil in these forests is warmed, fungi that feed on dead plant material dry out ...

Stanford researchers: Global warming is killing frogs and salamanders in Yellowstone Park

Frogs and salamanders, those amphibious bellwethers of environmental danger, are being killed in Yellowstone National Park. The predator, Stanford researchers say, is global warming. Biology graduate student Sarah McMenamin spent three summers in a remote area of the park searching for frogs an...

Climate change expert to discuss grim global warming predictions

HOUSTON, Oct. 28, 2008 On the day Americans elect a new president, one of the nation's leading climate change experts will speak at the University of Houston and outline the daunting global warming challenges awaiting the next administration. Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the ...

Earlier global warming produced a whole new form of life

Researchers from McGill University, along with colleagues from the California Institute of Technology, the Curie Institute in Paris, Princeton University and other institutions, have unearthed crystalline magnetic fossils of a previously unknown species of microorganism that lived at the boundary ...

Global warming threatens Australia's iconic kangaroos

As concerns about the effects of global warming continue to mount, a new study published in the December issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology finds that an increase in average temperature of only two degrees Celsius could have a devastating effect on populations of Australia's iconic k...

New studies find global warming will have significant economic impacts on Florida coasts

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- Leading Florida-based scientific researchers released two new studies today, including a Florida State University report finding that climate change will cause significant impacts on Florida's coastlines and economy due to increased sea level rise. A second study by resear...

Prolonged effects of a warming anomaly on grasslands

Professors Yiqi Luo, Linda Wallace and Rebecca Sherry in the Department of Botany and Microbiology coauthored a paper with colleagues Jay Arnone and Paul Verburge at the Desert Research Institute; Dale Johnson from the University of Nevada at Reno; David Chimel from the National Center for Atmosph...

Durham scientists to tackle CO2 storage in global warming challenge

Scientists at Durham University (UK) are working on new ways of storing CO 2 emissions underground to help in the fight against global warming. The University has launched the Carbon Storage Research Group, which will be led by the newly-created position of Professor of Carbon Capture and Stor...

Global warming experts recommend drastic measures to save species

AUSTIN, TexasAn international team of conservation scientists from Australia, the United Kingdom and United States, including University of Texas at Austin Professor Camille Parmesan, call for new conservation tactics, such as assisted migration, in the face of the growing threat of climate change...

Global warming linked to caribou-calf mortality

Fewer caribou calves are being born and more of them are dying in West Greenland as a result of a warming climate, according to Eric Post, a Penn State associate professor of biology. Post, who believes that caribou may serve as an indicator species for climate changes including global warming, b...

Despite awareness of global warming Americans concerned more about local environment

COLUMBIA, Mo. Last week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared climate change a top international threat, and Al Gore urged politicians to get involved to fight global warming. Results from a recent survey conducted by a University of Missouri professor reveal that the U.S. public, while ...

Killer freeze of '07 illustrates paradoxes of warming climate

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 5, 2008 -- A destructive spring freeze that chilled the eastern United States almost a year ago illustrates the threat a warming climate poses to plants and crops, according to a paper just published in the journal BioScience. The study was led by a team from the Department...

Will global warming increase plant frost damage?

Widespread damage to plants from a sudden freeze that occurred across the Eastern United States from 5 April to 9 April 2007 was made worse because it had been preceded by two weeks of unusual warmth, according to an analysis published in the March 2008 issue of BioScience. The authors of the repo...

A warming climate can support glacial ice

New research challenges the generally accepted belief that substantial ice sheets could not have existed on Earth during past super-warm climate events. The study by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego provides strong evidence that a glacial ice cap, about half the s...

Losing more than we gain from autumn warming in the north

An international study investigating the carbon sink capacity of northern terrestrial ecosystems discovered that the duration of the net carbon uptake period (CUP) has on average decreased due to warmer autumn temperatures. Net carbon uptake of northern ecosystems is decreasing in response to a...

Major study concludes that global warming is killing off coral

If world leaders do not immediately engage in a race against time to save the Earth's coral reefs, these vital ecosystems will not survive the global warming and acidification predicted for later this century. That is the conclusion of a group of marine scientists from around the world in a major ...

Global warming and other research from UCLA summit featured in journal

Global warming and other human-caused ecological changes are outpacing the ability of species to adapt, resulting in greater threats of disease, reduced diversity in plant and animal communities, and an overall loss of natural heritage, according to research presented at a University of California...

Ancient fish bones reveal impacts of global warming beneath the sea

Scientists studying ancient fish bones in Scandinavia have discovered that warm-water species like anchovies and black sea bream that once thrived in Danish waters during a prehistoric warm period are now returning. Some cold-water species, such as cod, were also abundant during this period, havi...

New research discredits $100B global warming 'fix'

Virginia Key, Fla. -- Scientists have revealed an important discovery that raises doubts concerning the viability of plans to fertilize the ocean to solve global warming, a projected $100 billion venture. Research performed at Stanford and Oregon State Universities, published in the Journal of ...

TAU professor finds global warming is melting soft coral

Tel Aviv University Professor (and alumnus) Hudi Benayahu, head of TAU's Porter School of Environmental Studies, has found that soft corals, an integral and important part of reef environments, are simply melting and wasting away. And Prof. Benayahu believes this could mean a global marine catastr...

Global Warming and the Habitability of Planet Earth, Sept. 26

HOBOKEN, N.J. Dr. D. James Baker, a consultant to UNESCO and a former Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will deliver a talk at Stevens Institute of Technology, Sept. 26, titled, Global Warming and the Habitability of Planet Earth: A Time of Reckoning. ...

Forest fire prevention efforts will lessen carbon sequestration, add to greenhouse warming

CORVALLIS, Ore. Widely sought efforts to reduce fuels that increase catastrophic fire in Pacific Northwest forests will be counterproductive to another important societal goal of sequestering carbon to help offset global warming, forestry researchers at Oregon State University conclude in a new r...

Your own private global warming

A group of researchers from the British Antarctic Survey have collected individuals from a wide range of species commonly found in Antarctic waters and subjected them to increasing levels of water temperature to learn how each species is prepared to cope with the conditions that they are likely to...

Your own private global warming

A group of researchers from the British Antarctic Survey have collected individuals from a wide range of species commonly found in Antarctic waters and subjected them to increasing levels of water temperature to learn how each species is prepared to cope with the conditions that they are likely to...

From 'alarmed' to 'dismissive': The six ways Americans view global warming

New Haven, Conn. Americans fall into six distinct groups regarding their climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, according to a new report, "Global Warming's Six Americas," by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities. The researchers, who surveyed 2,129 adult Americans in the f...

Ma and Pa solutions to global warming

The prairies offer opportunities for capitalizing on environmentally friendly farming practices and potentially useful agricultural waste to produce jobs, economic growth, commercial opportunities, and renewable energy sources, according to a perspective article published in the current issue of t...

Crickets may predict human survivability during global warming

How well crickets adapt to rising temperatures may provide clues about whether or not humans can survive global warming. UCF scientist Wade Winterhalter landed an $860,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for an innovative study that fuses global warming models with a biological model t...

NAU research ties tree mortality trends to climate warming

(Flagstaff, Ariz.- Jan. 23, 2009) - Global warming is speeding up the mortality of trees, and Northern Arizona University research is providing some of the data to prove it. Pete Ful, an NAU associate professor in the School of Forestry and a director of the university's Ecological Restoration ...