Tundra Turns Traitor: Warming Climate Shifts Carbon Sink To Source
Recent research shows that global warming may convert tundras from carbon sinks into sources, intensifying climate change. The study highlights the need for detailed climate…
Ecosystems are dynamic complexes of living organisms, such as plants, animals, and microorganisms, interacting with their physical environment in a specific area. These interactions form a network of relationships through which energy flows and nutrients cycle, sustaining the community. Ecosystems vary widely in scale and type, encompassing diverse environments like forests, deserts, grasslands, wetlands, oceans, and even urban areas. Each ecosystem has its own unique combination of biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components that interact and influence each other. Biotic components include all organisms within the ecosystem, while abiotic components consist of physical factors such as climate, soil, water, and sunlight. Ecosystems provide essential services that support life on Earth, including the production of oxygen, purification of air and water, pollination of plants, and decomposition of waste. They also offer resources such as food, fuel, and raw materials. However, ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human activities like deforestation, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction, making their conservation vital for maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance.
Recent research shows that global warming may convert tundras from carbon sinks into sources, intensifying climate change. The study highlights the need for detailed climate…
A study identifies over 3,700 species at risk of extinction due to natural disasters, with urgent conservation actions needed to preserve ecosystem functions and prevent…
New research by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and other institutions reveals that human activities have contributed significantly to the presence of…
New research conducted by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and the University of Toronto in Canada, estimates up to 11 million tons of plastic pollution…
Mangroves and salt marshes capture significant quantities of carbon, thereby reducing the greenhouse effect. New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that these environments…
A distinctive photosynthetic machinery characterizes a unicellular organism present in algal blooms. What are the cellular mechanisms within a single-celled marine algae species responsible for…
To learn about the first organisms on our planet, researchers have to analyze the rocks of the early Earth. These can only be found in…
An alien invasion capable of triggering catastrophic changes is underway across North America. At least 70 imported earthworm species have colonized the continent, and represent…
The reintroduction of sea otters in Central California significantly slows erosion, offering a promising, low-cost approach to coastal ecosystem conservation. In a groundbreaking study published…
A global study examining temperature changes in 12 caves across the world indicates that a significant portion of the Earth’s readily available freshwater supplies may…
Otters prey on crabs, giving shoreline plants a chance to spread their roots, In the several decades since sea otters began to recolonize their former…
Peatlands experience greater impacts from drought than previously anticipated, raising concerns due to their crucial role in combating climate change. Prolonged drought conditions significantly reduce…
Leading experts in science are urgently advocating for a significant transformation in global governance to safeguard the future of cities around the world and the…
After extensive research and unsatisfactory alternative explanations, Prof. Ehud Meron and his team believe pairing spatial patterning and phenotypic changes provides the answer. Fairy circles,…
A herring swimming in the North Sea, a crab scuttling across the Wadden Sea, or an anemone fish nestled among a coral reef… biologists often…
A former goldmine serves as a gateway to explore microbial life deep within the Earth’s crust. If you totaled the mass of all microbes dwelling…
Researchers from Nagoya University in Japan, including Hanami Suzuki and Professor Hisashi Kajimura, have revealed new insights into the relationship between mast-seeding plants and the…
The escalating climate crisis has spurred a surge in commercial tree-planting endeavors to counterbalance excessive carbon emissions. Yet, authors of a peer-reviewed opinion paper recently…