News by Subject Biology

Thomas Crowther, ETH Zurich identifies long-disappeared forests available for restoration across the world. In his AAAS session, Crowther describes how such an effort, could absorb as much as 135 gigatons of atmospheric carbon. Crowther will also describe data from thousands of soil samples collected by local scientists that reveal the world's most abundant population of soil organisms in arctic and sub-arctic regions and the most dominant populations of plants and animals in tropical regions.

While previous studies showed elk often move into areas disturbed by fires or timber harvest to take advantage of new plant growth, that isn't happening in Wyoming's Sierra Madre Mountains, where elk strongly avoid beetle-killed areas in the summer.

Scientists from seven countries published an article on the study of the sources of black carbon (BC) emissions in the Arctic. BC aerosols are formed under incomplete fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning. Soot which is the main component of BC amplifies the melting of snow and ice cover, accelerating global warming. Based on the complex elemental and isotopic analysis the scientists revealed the seasonal contribution of various Arctic areas to BC emissions.

Coccolithophores are microscopic marine algae that use carbon dioxide to grow and release carbon dioxide when they create their miniature calcite shells. Scientists from the CNRS, Le Mans Université, Sorbonne Université, Aix-Marseille Université and the ESRF, the European Synchrotron, have revealed the nano-level 3D structure of their calcite shells, providing new perspectives for assessment of the role of these tiny microorganisms in the global carbon cycle.

Does a drier and hotter climate present a threat to the meerkats in the Kalahari Desert? Researchers from UZH and Cambridge show that climate change is likely to impact meerkats, and seasonal rainfall and temperature will be the key factors.

Geologic carbon and hydrate reservoirs in the ocean pose a climate threat beyond manmade greenhouse gases.