Study: Deforestation leaves fish undersized and underfed. 13 June 2014Last updated at 23:16 ET By Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News The role forest matter plays in aquatic food chains is a relatively recent discovery Deforestation is reducing the amount of leaf litter falling into rivers and lakes, resulting in less food being available to fish, a study suggests.
Penguins That Weathered Past Climate Change Suffer This Time. Jane J.
Lee Despite their pot-bellied profile and waddling gait, Antarctic penguins have weathered the challenges of one of the harshest climates on Earth for millennia. Three of those species—the Adélie, chinstrap, and gentoo—were also able to tolerate, if not flourish under, a warming event that came as ice sheets began to shrink, says a new study. They were climate change "winners," the authors write. About 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, the retreating ice exposed expanses of bare ground that the penguins could build nests on, allowing them to expand their populations.
This historical perspective is helping researchers to understand the penguins' current situation in western Antarctica. Northern Hemisphere Cracks 400 ppm CO₂ for Whole Month for First Time. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere crossed a significant threshold in April, just weeks after the White House released a major report on the impacts of climate change and just days before the Obama Administration is set to propose new restrictions on emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The concentration of CO₂, widely seen as the most important greenhouse gas, averaged more than 400 parts per million (ppm) for the entire month of April across the Northern Hemisphere, the first time scientists have seen levels that high and that widespread for an entire month. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced the new milestone on Monday. CO₂ levels above 400 ppm were recorded for the first time in 2012 in the Arctic. On a few days in the spring of 2013 they exceeded that threshold at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, where measurements have been made since 1958. He notes that environmental groups have been talking up the 400-ppm threshold because "humans like big round numbers. " Climate change to boost summer flash floods, says study. 1 June 2014Last updated at 13:00 ET By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News Flash flooding struck the north Cornwall village of Boscastle in the summer of 2004 Global warming will lead to a significant increase in extreme summer downpours in the UK, a study suggests.
The Met Office and Newcastle University researchers say there could be five times the number of "extreme rainfall events" per hour, under extreme warming projections. This would cause "really severe" flash flooding in many parts of the UK, according to the scientists. However, they caution that this result is based on only one computer model. Flash flooding in Britain has had devastating impacts on communities in recent years. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote We are talking about thresholds of 30mm and above in an hour over quite a large area here, which would be associated with really severe flash flooding”
This fracking zeal overshadows the perfect energy solution – solar. The government's consultation on the rights of fracking companies to drill under your home was published the day after the local and European elections, hours after the polls closed.
Perhaps that was a wise move given that public support for fracking seems to be falling. It hardly needs former Conservative energy secretary Lord Howell to warn that fracking "could prove extremely dangerous politically". The careful timing on the latest announcement shows he may not be the only one who thinks so. The British Geological Survey has said there could be 4.4bn barrels of oil in the shale rocks of southern England. As a result, the announcement proposes a 12-week consultation on a law that would bypass the law of trespass when it comes to work carried out 300 metres or more below ground, and payments to affected communities of £20,000 for each well drilled. The government's enthusiasm for fracking sits in stark contrast to its erratic rhetoric and actions on solar energy. Carbon loss from tropical forests 'underestimated' 21 May 2014Last updated at 20:54 ET By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News Selective logging and small scale forest fires are having a big impact on forest emissions The amount of carbon lost from tropical forests is being significantly underestimated, a new study reports.
In addition to loss of trees, the degradation of tropical forests by selective logging and fires causes large amounts of "hidden" emissions. The slow moving process has remained almost invisible to satellite observations in the Amazon. Researchers say degradation in Brazil causes additional emissions equivalent to 40% of those from deforestation. Climate Change. Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Triggered Global Winter 66 Million Years Ago. The massive asteroid impact that ended the age of dinosaurs some 66 million years ago triggered a decades-long, deadly, global "impact winter," an analysis of ancient sediment confirmed on Monday.
(Related: "What Killed Dinosaurs: New Ideas About the Wipeout. ") Sea temperatures dropped as much as 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) after the Chicxulub crater blast blanketed the planet in ashy darkness, halting photosynthesis, concludes the team led Johan Vellekoop of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. 2. Think-Act resources. Impact on the poorest.