Ecosystems

Ecosystems

Spill update: From booms to dispersants

Choppy seas prevailed in the northern Gulf of Mexico on May 13, with even protected waters hostingrough 4 to 5 foot waves, according to the Coast Guard. But three-plus weeks into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and ensuing spill from a BP exploratory well, measures to respond to the catastrophe continued ramping up.

Ecosystems

Forests on the wane

Early last decade, the world’s tree coverage dropped by more than 3 percent.

Ecosystems

Pigeons usually let best navigator take the lead

One bird usually leads the flock, but sometimes another gets a turn at the helm.

Ecosystems

Athlete’s foot therapy tapped to treat bat-killing fungus

Over the past four years, a mysterious white-nose fungus has struck hibernating North American bats. Populations in affected caves and mines can experience death rates of more than 80 percent over a winter. In desperation, an informal interagency task force of scientists from state and federal agencies has just launched an experimental program to fight the plague. Their weapon: a drug ordinarily used to treat athlete’s foot.

Ecosystems

Iron fertilization in ocean nourishes toxic algae

Efforts to prevent global warming by fertilizing the oceans with iron could trigger harmful algal blooms.

Earth

Fowl surprise! Methylmercury improves hatching rate

A pinch of methylmercury is just ducky for mallard reproduction, according to a new federal study. The findings are counterintuitive, since methylmercury is ordinarily a potent neurotoxic pollutant.

Paleontology

Ancient DNA suggests polar bears evolved recently

A study of a rare Norwegian fossil narrows down when polar bears evolved and finds they are closely related to modern-day brown bears in Alaska.

Life

Hydrothermal vents sometimes colonized from afar

Deep-sea currents can waft larvae hundreds of kilometers.

Ecosystems

Sea of plastics

Oceanographers are finding more patches of floating polymers, some up to 20 meters deep.

Ecosystems

Sperm whales may team up to herd prey

Data recorders yield first hints of coordinated feeding behavior.

Earth

For coots, hatching order is crucial ID

When birds sneak eggs into others' nest, mom and dad can learn to find their own.

Ecosystems

Greening Christmas

I love the smell of balsam and firs and decorating holiday cookies – preferably with the sound of popular holiday standards in the background. I even enjoy shopping for and wrapping carefully chosen presents in seasonal papers festooned with huge bows. So when my hosts, this week, asked what I wanted to see during my visit, the answer was simple. Take me to one of Germany’s famed Christmas markets. And literally within a couple hours of my plane’s landing, they were already ushering me into the first of what would be a handful of such seasonal fairs. But as I also quickly learned, this first was an unusual one: a "green" bazaar.