The NAWQA trends assessment for nutrients in streams reflects periodic measurements of concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus from 1993 to 2003 (yellow vertical shaded area). This was a period of relatively small changes in nitrogen fertilizer use, which followed a more than 10-fold increase in fertilizer use between about 1950 and the early 1980s. There […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com September 27, 2010 A new study in the open access journal of Tropical Conservation Science finds that the Kasagala forest reserve in central Uganda is losing important tree species and suffering from low diversity of species. Researchers believe that forest degradation for charcoal and firewood has put heavy pressure on this […]
ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2010) — Tile drainage in the Mississippi Basin is one of the great advances of the 19th and 20th centuries, allowing highly productive agriculture in what was once land too wet to farm. In fact, installation of new tile systems continues every year, because it leads to increased crop yields. But a […]
By Amulya NagarajSeptember 22, 2010 8:14 AM EDT 2010 has been a year for extremes. Pakistan saw one of the worst floods in its history that affected over 21 million people, while Central Europe and the Baltics witnessed severe flash floods early in August that killed at least 15. And the small Indian town of […]
Ideal breeding conditions for grasshoppers are expected to cost farmers billions By Paul RodgersSunday, 26 September 2010 Australia’s Darling river is running with water again after a drought in the middle of the decade reduced it to a trickle. But the rains feeding the continent’s fourth-longest river are not the undiluted good news you might […]
By Staff WritersGish Abay, Ethiopia (AFP) Sept 26, 2010 Here in the shadow of Mount Gish, the spring water that forms the Blue Nile is believed to have healing powers, but Ethiopians say that is the only benefit they get from the mighty river. “These waters are sacred, they perform miracles for the sick,” Berhanu […]
AGU Release No. 10–3023 September 2010For Immediate Release WASHINGTON—In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use. These fast-shrinking subterranean reservoirs are essential to daily life […]
By Nicole EckersleySeptember 14, 2010 Author, journalist and science writer Julian Cribb has created a sobering text in The Coming Famine: The global food crisis and what we can do to avoid it, from CSIRO Publishing. Cribb’s view of the global food crisis paints a frightening picture: demand for food slowly outstripping supply, food production […]
Scientists and conservationists are waging an international campaign to save Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov’s Pavlovsk seed bank from being turned over to housing developers • Russia launches inquiry into Pavlovsk seed bank after Twitter campaign• Pavlovsk seed bank faces destruction By Fred Pearce for Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network, www.guardian.co.uk Monday […]
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological SurveyReleased: 9/20/2010 4:00:00 PM WASHINGTON — Dust caused by human activities in the American desert Southwest is a contributing factor in speeding up the melting of snow and reducing runoff in the mountains of the Colorado River basin, according to a new study led by NASA and co-authored […]
