Pearl mussels can vary greatly in lifespan over latitudinal and temperature gradients. Bergmann’s rule within physiological ecology postulates that animals get larger at higher latitudes and altitudes. Similarly, the temperature-size rule predicts that although animals grow more slowly at cold temperatures, they reach a larger adult size (but see Angiletta and Dunham 2003). A study [...]
Read more...As plants become starved for CO2, rock weathering diminishes. Credit: study coauthor David Beerling Earth is currently in an ice age. (People, especially climate change naysayers, sometimes forget that.) The growth of the Antarctic ice sheet began about 25 million years ago, and by about 3 million years ago we had a full-blown ice age. [...]
Read more...Christine Buckley Jun 23, 2009 No Comments
Some existing projections of global warming predict that by the year 2100, global sea levels will have risen by one meter due to polar ice cap melting and water expansion caused by rising temperatures. In a paper this week in Nature Geoscience, however, researchers determined that given our current levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, our [...]
Read more...If we want to convince people to take action against global warming, maybe we need to take advice from advertising. A report by the nonprofit EcoAmerica, as reported by The New York Times in early May, suggests that terms like “greenhouse gas” and “carbon dioxide” turn people off. Instead, they say, climate activists should change [...]
Read more...Geoengineering is the idea that humans can slow, stop or reverse the effects of climate change by altering the composition of Earth’s atmosphere and biosphere. While controversial, these methods, including reducing sun exposure by injecting aerosols into the atmosphere or using giant mirrors to reflect the sun’s rays, were identified as a high-priority area for [...]
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