Graph of the Day: Planetary Boundaries and Status of the Phosphorus Cycle, 2010

Planetary boundaries and current status of the phosphorus (P) cycle. (A) Planetary boundary and current status for P input to freshwaters from terrestrial ecosystems, Tg y–1. (B) Planetary boundary and current status for P input to terrestrial soils, Tg y–1. (C) Planetary boundary and current status for P mass in terrestrial soils, Tg. In each […]

Global warming ‘may increase water-borne diseases’

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Climate change could increase exposure to water-borne diseases originating in oceans, lakes and coastal ecosystems, and the impact could be felt within 10 years, US scientists told a conference in Washington on Saturday. Several studies have shown that shifts brought about by climate change make ocean and freshwater environments more susceptible to […]

Study finds massive flux of gaseous hydrocarbons, in addition to liquid oil, at BP well blowout in Gulf

Paper has implications for oxygen depletion, provides photographic evidence of plumes By Sam Fahmy, sfahmy@uga.eduFeb 13, 2011, 13:04 Athens, Ga. – A new University of Georgia study that is the first to examine comprehensively the magnitude of hydrocarbon gases released during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil discharge has found that up to 500,000 […]

Toxic blob drifting in Gulf mystifies scientists

By Kate SpinnerThursday, February 3, 2011 at 1:00 a.m. From a distance the toxic goo looks like oil, but up close it smells like rotten eggs and wiggles like jelly. Scientists have no idea what it is or how it wound up in the northern Gulf of Mexico, near Perdido Pass. Just off the Florida […]

Bacteria gobbled methane from BP spill: scientists

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Peter CooneyThu Jan 6, 2011 4:17pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Bacteria ate nearly all the potentially climate-warming methane that spewed from BP’s broken wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico last year, scientists reported on Thursday. Nearly 200,000 tons of methane — more than any other single hydrocarbon emitted […]

Graph of the Day: Dissolved Oxygen Percent of Goal Achieved in Chesapeake Bay, Summer 2007 – Summer 2009

Most of the Chesapeake Bay fails to meet dissolved oxygen goals in the Summer. From 2007 to 2009, only 12 percent of the Chesapeake Bay had sufficient levels of dissolved oxygen in the summer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describes the Chesapeake Bay as “highly eutrophic,” meaning that it is highly susceptible to […]

West Africa hypoxic zone ‘roughly the size of the continental United States, and it’s growing’

December 22, 2010 — Billfish and tuna, important commercial and recreational fish species, may be more vulnerable to fishing pressure because of shrinking habitat according to a new study published by scientists from NOAA, The Billfish Foundation, and University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. An expanding zone of low oxygen, known […]

Eutrophication makes toxic cyanobacteria more toxic

Gothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Dec 09, 2010 – Continued eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, combined with an ever thinner ozone layer, is favouring the toxic cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. “There are several species of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, that can form surface blooms in the Baltic Sea,” explains Malin […]

Phosphorus pollution from farms causing Chesapeake Bay dead zones

CONTACT: Contact EWG Public Affairs 202-667-698212-07-2010 WASHINGTON – For more than thirty years, contamination from high-intensity farming has been adding to the pollution that fouls Chesapeake Bay, one of America’s most storied waterways. A new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows that weakly regulated agricultural practices in the six states of the Chesapeake […]

Microbes may consume far more oil-spill waste than earlier thought

Study near Gulf of Mexico spill site finds surprisingly high methane uptake by microbes Contact: Steve Bradt, steve_bradt@harvard.edu, Harvard University 20 October 2010 CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 20, 2010 — Microbes living at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico may consume far more of the gaseous waste from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill than previously […]

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