For nature, gravel-bed rivers critical feature in western North America
Missoula MT (SPX) Jun 29, 2016 -
Gravel-bed river floodplains are some of the most ecologically important habitats in North America, according to a new study by scientists from the U.S. and Canada. Their research shows how broad valleys coming out of glaciated mountains provide highly productive and important habitat for a large diversity of aquatic, avian and terrestrial species.
This is the first interdisciplinary resea ...
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Beach replenishment helps protect against storm erosion during El Nino
San Diego CA (SPX) Jun 28, 2016 -
A team of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego compared sand levels on several San Diego beaches during the last seven winters. The El Ninos of winter 2009-10 and 2015-16 were the two most erosive. Three San Diego County beaches that received imported sand in 2012 were about 10 meters (33 feet) wider, and one to two meters (three to six fee ...
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Sea star death triggers ecological domino effect
Burnaby, Canada (SPX) Jun 29, 2016 -
A new study by Simon Fraser University marine ecologists Jessica Schultz, Ryan Cloutier and Isabelle Cote has discovered that a mass mortality of sea stars resulted in a domino effect on B.C.'s West Coast Howe Sound marine ecology.
In the summer of 2013, millions of sea stars along the West Coast contracted a wasting disease and died in one of the largest wildlife mass mortality events eve ...
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Fix for 3-billion-year-old genetic error could improve genetic sequencing
Austin TX (SPX) Jun 28, 2016 -
For 3 billion years, one of the major carriers of information needed for life, RNA, has had a glitch that creates errors when making copies of genetic information. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a fix that allows RNA to accurately proofread for the first time. The new discovery, published June 23 in the journal Science, will increase precision in genetic research ...
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New technique settles old debate on highest peaks in US Arctic
Munich, Germany (SPX) Jun 28, 2016 -
Finding out which is the highest mountain in the US Arctic may be the last thing on your mind, unless you are an explorer who skis from the tallest peaks around the globe. Ski mountaineer Kit DesLauriers joined forces with glaciologist Matt Nolan to settle a debate of more than 50 years, while testing a new, affordable mapping technique in a steep mountainous region. Their research is published ...
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'Amazing protein diversity' is discovered in the maize plant
Cold Spring Harbor NY (SPX) Jun 29, 2016 -
The genome of the corn plant - or maize, as it's called almost everywhere except the US - "is a lot more exciting" than scientists have previously believed. So says the lead scientist in a new effort to analyze and annotate the depth of the plant's genetic resources.
"Our new research establishes the amazing diversity of maize, even beyond what we already knew was there," says Doreen Ware, ...
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Future global warming could be even warmer
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Jun 29, 2016 -
Future global warming will not only depend on the amount of emissions from man-made greenhouse gasses, but will also depend on the sensitivity of the climate system and response to feedback mechanisms. By reconstructing past global warming and the carbon cycle on Earth 56 million years ago, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute among others have used computer modelling to estimate the potent ...
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