23 February 2012 (AFP) – The collapse of the Mayan civilization was likely due to a relatively mild drought, much like the drier conditions expected in the coming years due to climate change, scientists said Thursday. Scholars have long believed that a major drought caused severe dry conditions that killed off the ancient culture known […]
Contact: Rachel Feldman, rfeldman@univ.haifa.ac.il, 972-482-88722, University of Haifa23 February 2012 A 28-year comparative study of wild emmer wheat and wild barley populations has revealed that these progenitors of cultivated wheat and barley, which are the best hope for crop improvement, have undergone changes over this period of global warming. The changes present a real concern […]
Cumulative rainfall anomalies for southeastern Australia starting from January 1997 to December 2011 in mm. Individual monthly anomalies are shown in the columns. An alternative way to consider the impact of the rainfall declines and recent rainfall is to look at the cumulative rainfall anomalies for southeastern Australia. The cumulative rainfall anomalies provide a measure […]
By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent19 February 2012 Biologists at the University of Sussex have been analysing how effectively different species of flowers attract foraging insects. Preliminary results have revealed there is a 100-fold difference in the lure that some popular garden plants have for honey bees and bumblebees. The best plants are the Mexican giant […]
In light of the exceptionally wet two-year period (2010–2011) we have updated maps from the Special Climate Statement 22 which previously reported on the extended dry in southern areas. Arguably, and by many measures such as increases in soil moisture, refilling of dams, and frequent flooding etc., the long dry can now be said to […]
By Katy Migiro; Editing by Rebekah Curtis13 February 2012 NAIROBI (AlertNet) – East Africa, still battling a hunger crisis, should be prepared for another dry spell and further food insecurity due to the persistence of La Niña weather conditions that last year brought severe drought to the region, weather forecasters have warned. “La Niña conditions […]
Scraped from Ex-SKF, 14 Feb 2012 to 30 May 2011. Note: “Bq/Kg” means Becquerels/kilogram. 14 February 2012: 91,600 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Sunflowers in Iitate-mura, Fukushima 58,000 Bq/Kg of Cesium in Recycled Farm Soil in Chiba: Unthinking, Mind-Numbing Urge to Recycle Even After Nuclear Disaster 3,000 Bq/kg of Radioactive Cesium in Dried Daikon in […]
Cupid’s Lament Technorati Tags: agriculture,global warming,climate change,Indonesia,Africa,crop failure
By John Nielsen-Gammon 13 February 2012 The University of Texas’s new Center for Integrated Earth System Science is hosting its first public event today: a water forum entitled “Texas Drought 2012 — Are We Prepared?” The morning talks featured status reports from various state and regional agencies, while the afternoon featured water research tools and capabilities […]
NIAMEY, Niger, 28 January 2012 (UPI) – An estimated 10 million people across Africa’s arid Sahel region are feeling the effects of drought, humanitarian agencies say. A survey by the U.N. Children’s Fund estimated there will be 1 million cases of severe malnutrition caused by the drought, with between 25 percent and 60 percent of […]
