Graph of the Day: SW Western Australia Rainfall, 1900-2007

Time series of rainfall in southwest Western Australia between May to July and between August to October. South-west Western Australia has experienced significant climate change since the mid-1970s which has impacted on surface water and groundwater yields, and water dependent ecosystems. Over central and northern parts of the project area, the mean annual rainfall has […]

Seal pups beached in ice-free Gulf of St. Lawrence

Pups seen on Quebec shores, as far north as Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula Last Updated: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | 1:24 PM ET The Canadian Press An exceptional lack of sea ice on the Gulf of St. Lawrence this winter has left seal mothers with few places to bear their young or to feed their pups. […]

Torrential rains in Australia desert cause 30-year floods

By NICKY PHILLIPSMarch 11, 2010 FOR most of the year Ethabuka Reserve, which abuts the Simpson desert in the far corner of western Queensland, is a dry, hostile place. But for the past week, since torrential rains fell across much of the middle of the state, the desert plains have looked more like an inland […]

U.K. imports insect species to tackle invasive plant

By John Platt For the first time in U.K. history, an alien species (meaning one that is not native to the area) will be let loose in the kingdom to combat the growth of another species–also introduced. Millions of sap-sucking psyllids (Aphalara itadori) will be imported into the U.K. to fight the Japanese knotweed (Fallopia […]

‘Doomsday’ seed vault sets record, over 500,000 samples

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Robin PomeroyWed Mar 10, 2010 7:12pm EST OSLO (Reuters) – A “doomsday” vault storing crop seeds in an Arctic deep freeze is surpassing 500,000 samples to become the most diverse collection of food seeds in history, managers said on Thursday. Set up on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard […]

Drought, agriculture, and pollution are rapidly destroying Kenya's Lake Naivasha

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comMarch 10, 2010 Heavily polluted and shrinking, Lake Naivasha is in dire trouble. Environmentalists say the cause is clear: flower farms. Some 60 flower farms line the entire lakeside, growing cut flowers for export largely to the EU. While the flowers industry is Kenya’s largest horticultural export (405.5 million last year) it […]

Venezuela drought reveals long-submerged town

By Charlie Devereux, Joshua Schneyer in Caracas; Editing by Cynthia OstermanPOTOSI, VenezuelaWed Feb 24, 2010 3:49pm EST POTOSI, Venezuela (Reuters) – For most Venezuelans, the El Nino-linked drought that has struck the country this year means inconveniences like power and water rationing. But for some, the extreme dry spell is stirring up bittersweet memories. The […]

Graph of the Day: Symptoms of Coastal Eutrophication, 1850s – 2000s

Period in which the symptoms of eutrophication and hypoxia / anoxia began in developed countries and how the symptoms are shifted to more recent years for developing countries (modified by N. N. Rabalais from Galloway and Cowling, 2002; Boesch, 2002). The occurrence of hypoxia in coastal areas is increasing, and the trend is consistent with […]

Historic Syria drought drags on, rivers polluted, aid funding dries up

DAMASCUS, Syria, March 8, 2010 (ENS) – Up to 60 percent of Syria’s land and over one million people are gripped by the worst drought in 40 years, but a deep funding shortfall for emergency assistance has left the United Nations aid agencies at a loss. The humanitarian arm of the United Nations is being […]

Drought ravages famous rice terraces in the northern Philippines

MANILA (AFP) – A WORSENING drought is exacting a terrible toll on the world-famous mountain rice terraces of the northern Philippines, local officials said Tuesday. A state of calamity was this week declared for the Banaue area that is home to many of the ancient stone-walled paddies and one of the Southeast Asian nation’s most […]

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