Search Results for: desert ecosystem
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Animals
Termites, not fairies, cause plant circles in African deserts
Underground insect engineers create water traps in the soil, allowing rings of green grasses in the sand.
By Susan Milius -
Humans
Ancient North Africans got milk
Pottery study unveils early dairy practices among Saharan cattle herders.
By Bruce Bower -
Earth
Lizards threatened by warming
Analysis suggests climate change could wipe out 20 percent of species, 39 percent of local populations.
By Susan Milius -
Plants
Losing life’s variety
2010 is the deadline set for reversing declines in biodiversity, but little has been accomplished.
By Susan Milius -
Earth
Dirty snow may bring green burst to mountain peaks
Dust blowing in from distant deserts speeds the melting of snow and may shake up ecosystems on the slopes.
By Susan Milius -
Earth
The big spill: Flood could have filled Mediterranean in less than two years
Discovery of a distinctive channel and new calculations of possible water movement suggest a fast and furious flow formed the sea.
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Climate
Heat waves stunt grassland growth
An abnormally hot year can significantly suppress growth in grasslands, a stifling effect that lingers well into the next year even if temperatures return to normal. It can also hinder how well the grasslands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
By Sid Perkins -
Earth
Manifest dirt
Nineteenth-century settlers left a dusty mark on the West. Rocky Mountain lake deposits reveal that America’s westward expansion kicked huge amounts of dirt into the air—probably from livestock grazing. A team led by Jason Neff, a biogeochemist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, examined soil cores from the beds of tiny mountain lakes in […]
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Agriculture
Bee-Loved Plantings
Zipcode-organized guidelines tell gardeners, farmers and others how to design a landscape that will not only entice pollinators but also keep these horticultural helpers happy.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Invasive, Indeed
Some people may live lightly on the land, but the demands of the world's population as a whole consume nearly a quarter of Earth's total biological productivity.
By Sid Perkins