| ecology
7 |
rapid
historic temperature changes in the tropics
| 
Original
image from NASA
Image 20121240 courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image
Analysis Laboratory,
NASA Johnson Space Center: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
|
“The Cariaco Basin, located on
the northern Venezuelan shelf in the tropical Atlantic and southeastern
Caribbean region, provides a unique look back in time. A core of
sediment from the bottom of the ocean, in that area, contains layers
of plankton microfossils that serve as a recorder of past climate
conditions.
“ The importance of the tropics to global climate change
is now seen as far more important than a decade ago [...]. Scientists
are intrigued because the tropics used to be seen as "relatively
passive" in global climate models. If the tropics are a cause
or a trigger of climate change then their role becomes critical,
according to Lea, and even if the tropics are an amplifier of changes
that started elsewhere, then it is still scientifically important
to understand how they play that role.
“The Cariaco record indicates
that three large, rapid shifts of five to seven degrees Fahrenheit
occurred in the tropics on time scales of a century or less as the
earth warmed at the end of the last ice age, between 14,600 and
11,400 years ago. Similar rapid climate shifts are well known from
polar ice cores, but they represent a new discovery in the tropics.” |
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology190903 |
19.09.2003 |
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interesting,
if scrappy, item on vehicles with improved consumption
“Next week, Japan's top auto maker will unveil a production
version of the second-generation gasoline-electric hybrid car "Prius,"
distancing itself from competitors as it promises better fuel economy
and a larger, more comfortable car than its predecessor at the unchanged
sticker price of $20,000.”
—
“ Gasoline-electric hybrids are the most fuel-efficient mass-market
vehicles on the road now, with a four-seater offering between 45 to
52 miles per gallon - about twice that of comparable gasoline-powered
cars.”
[Diesel approximates this.]
—
“ Europeans are keener on diesel, which is cheaper and more fuel-efficient
than gasoline although they emit higher levels of harmful nitrogen oxide
and particulate matter.”
Worth a run through.
Note the varying behaviour of the European, American and Japanese builders.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology040903 |
04.09.2003 |
world
food stocks running down
“Separate calculations by two leading institutions monitoring
the global harvest show that the scorching weather has severely reduced
European grain production, ensuring that the world will not produce
enough to feed itself for the fourth year in succession, and plunging
stocks to the lowest level on record. And experts predict that the damage
to crops will be found to be even greater when the full cost of the
heat is known.
“They say that, as a result, food prices will rise worldwide,
and hunger will increase in the world's poorest countries. And they
warn that this is just a foretaste of what will happen as global warming
takes hold.”
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology310803 |
31.08.2003 |
| record
size for ozone hole prediction
“The 1997 Kyoto treaty set in place a global process to reduce
greenhouse gases which deplete the ozone layer, but the world's biggest
polluter the United States has yet to sign.”
related material
some
figures for energy efficiency
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology260803 |
26.08.2003
related material
some
figures for energy efficiency |
a
step towards understanding ocean ecology
“Although conservation efforts on land have focused on identifying
and protecting concentrations of vulnerable species, little has been
known about similar hotspots for marine life in the open ocean.”
“Since three of the four hotspots identified were found within
- or directly adjacent to - recently identified coral reef hotspots,
the researchers speculated that the rich habitat structure and dynamic
ocean conditions associated with coral reefs may favour adjacent hotspots
for open ocean species.”
A useful item to scan.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology220803 |
22.08.2003 |
greenhouse
gases
Water vapour and methane are more powerful ‘greenhouse’ gases
than carbon dioxide.
“Scientists know that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide have risen sharply in recent years, but
a study released today in Paris reports a surprising and dramatic increase
in the most important greenhouse gas - water vapor - during the last
half-century.”
(Report dated April 2001)
This web-site specialises in keeping up with news releases on the subject.
Iit is well to keep in mind there are powerful lobbies on both sides
of this ongoing debate.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology180803 |
18.08.2003 |
| health
of the seas—corals as an indicator
“People and coral do not mix, and never have, scientists said
yesterday in a report that shows humans started killing off coral reefs
thousands of years ago.”
—
“All
sorts of records, from pirate’s logs to modern day
fish counts, reveal that humans have a long history of damaging reefs.
Based on this history, humans have one last chance to establish a sustainable
reef-protection strategy,[...] ”
And here
is a pre-publication press release, quoting one of the 12 workers
concerned, with the main points given in an chatty manner.
The orginal set of four articles concerning this story were published
in the 15
August 2003 edition of Science magazine. Unfortunately, unless
one pays, all one is allowed is a very small taster.
However,
an independent news release for the report, Global Trajectories
of the Long-Term Decline of Coral Reef Ecosystems is available
here;
while here is the report, Long-Term
Region-Wide Declines in Caribbean Corals.
Nothing was found elsewhere concerning the other two articles.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology170803 |
up dated 23.08.2003 |
global
warming is a myth i tell you—don’t worry, ignore it and it
will go away
“With river levels falling and the mercury rising, authorities
face the choice of spewing out hotter water, risking ecological damage,
or cutting output, potentially leading to blackouts.”
—
“ Other countries face similar dilemmas. Germany has cut power
output while
Italy is trying to avoid further blackouts.”
From a World
Meteorological Organization report issued on 02.07.2003:
“The extreme weather [the WMO] documents, such as record high
and low temperatures, record rainfall and record storms in different
parts of the world, is consistent with predictions of global warming.
Supercomputer models show that, as the atmosphere warms, the climate
not only becomes hotter but much more unstable. "Recent scientific
assessments indicate that, as the global temperatures continue to warm
due to climate change, the number and intensity of extreme events might
increase," the WMO said, giving a striking series of examples.”
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology130803 |
13.08.2003 |
useful
and well-structured item on fish farming 
“[...] some 75% of global fish stocks are depleted in some way.
“As people get richer, they eat more fish. Average consumption
per person has almost doubled in under half a century. And fish has
certainly become more expensive [...] as demand has increased and supply
declined. There are still not enough farmed fish to stem this price
rise.”
related material
Seafood
watch
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology080803 |
08.08.2003
related material
Seafood
watch |
killing
the oceans
A book review 
“Nor is it just our consumption of large fish (such as cod,
swordfish, and tuna) that threatens these species; it is also our depletion
of their food sources. Fisheries biologist Daniel Pauly calls this "fishing
down the food chain." That chain, says Ellis, is actually more
a web of interdependence; for example, when California sea otters were
hunted almost to extinction, their preferred food, sea urchins, proliferated.
The urchins in turn destroyed kelp beds, which once provided habitat
for numerous fish -- and thus the cycle of destruction and alteration
persists and magnifies."
“More
than a million fish have escaped from fish farms over the
past six years, threatening the survival of Britain's declining wild
salmon populations.
—
“ The statistics also show that since 1999 at least 4.4 million
salmon and trout have been killed in incidents involving poisonous growths
of algae in the sea and invasions by jellyfish, including 1.9 million
fish last year alone.”
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology030803 |
03.08.2003 |
the
sky is rising, said little red hen—and it’s your fault
“The top of the troposphere - the atmosphere's lowest layer -
has risen by several hundred metres since 1979, mostly because of transport
and industrial emissions, reckon Ben Santer, of Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory in California, and colleagues.”
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology270703_2 |
27.07.2003 |
heavy
metal lead permeates earth ‘slowly’
“This definitively supports a few earlier studies," says
Friedland, "that show that lead in forests in the Northeast moves
very, very slowly. The lead that was emitted from gasoline and settled
into the soil over about 30 or 40 years is not going to end up in our
drinking water anytime soon.”
—
“ We found that the lead 207 applied in 1984 had only moved down
into the soil about seven centimeters, [...]”
My guess is that this suggests that depleted uranium will sink at a similar
rate. Even slight sinking would probably block alpha radiation.
related material
is nuclear power
really really dangerous?
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology270703 |
27.07.2003
related material
is nuclear power
really really dangerous? |
new
estimates of whale populations before hunting
“They suggest that the North Atlantic once contained about 240,000
humpback whales, or 24 times present numbers, and 360,000 fin whales,
or more than six times present numbers.
“However minke whales appear to be much closer to past levels.
The current population, estimated at 149,000, is more than half Roman's
estimate of its past population at 265 000.”
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology250703 |
25.07.2003 |
aral
sea disaster continues
![larger image at newscientist.com [image credit: newscientist.com]](/images/for-news/big_shrinking_aral.jpg) “This
feedback means the shallower eastern half of the South Aral could be gone
in just 15 years, says Zavialov, decades earlier than previous estimates.”
Left: The shrinking Aral Sea – larger image from
item at newscientist.com
[image credit: newscientist.com]
From Enc Brit.:
“From about 1960 the Aral Sea's water level was systematically
and drastically reduced because of the diversion of water from the Amu
Darya and Syr Darya rivers for purposes of agricultural irrigation.
As the Soviet government converted large acreages of pastures or untilled
lands in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and elsewhere into irrigated
farmlands by using the waters of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the amount
of water from these rivers that reached the Aral Sea dropped accordingly.
By the 1980s, during the summer months, the two great rivers virtually
dried up before they reached the lake. The Aral Sea began to quickly
shrink because of the evaporation of its now-unreplenished waters.”
The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest inland area of water.
the web address for this article is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology7.htm#ecology220703 |
22.07.2003 |
ecology archives
