News by Subject Biology

Following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011, the Japanese authorities decided to carry out major decontamination works in the affected area, which covers more than 9,000 km2. On Dec. 12, 2019, with most of this work having been completed, the scientific journal SOIL of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) is publishing a synthesis of approximately 60 scientific publications that provide an overview of the decontamination strategies used and their effectiveness.

By analysing almost daily water samples taken from the same river from 1940 until today, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have confirmed their hypothesis that the browning of lakes is primarily due to the increase in coniferous forests, as well as rainfall and sulphur deposits.

The forests in Europe provide habitat for around 80,000 colonies of wild honeybees. That is why more attention should be paid to preserving the nesting sites for these threatened insects, according to researchers.

Plants that can 'bounce back' after disturbances like ploughing, flooding or drought are the most likely to be 'invasive' if they're moved to new parts of the world, scientists say.

Research in the journal Biological Conservation, published by Elsevier, suggests fire, as it becomes more frequent and severe, poses a substantial risk to goshawks in the Sierra Nevada region.