54,000 gallons of spilled bunker oil can be enough to devastate a commercial herring population

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Such an oil spill, which occurred during the 2007 Cosco Busan collision (container ship vs bridge) in San Francisco Bay, is (supposed to be) peanuts compared to for instance the 1989 Exxon Valdez’s 32,000,000 gallons of crude, or the BP … Continue reading →

Marine tropical ectotherms don’t like warming either

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Next time you fly to some tropical beach resort and step barefoot in a couple of sea urchin spines, you’ll know that’s karma.

One pine beetle outbreak can affect forest carbon flux for decades

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

For coral reefs it´s not just ocean acidification, but also local chemistry that counts

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

CO2 dissolves carbonate – so CO2 is bad. Sea cucumbers eat carbonate. But at least they do give something good back to the water.

Photo of the day: Jaguar with cubs, Christmas card from Bolivia

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone shows large predators help forests rejuvenate – and may increase biological diversity

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

NASA: climate change leads to enormous ecosystem shifts – 40% of biomes flip this century

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Bees manage to keep up with early springs

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

If we are to believe the world’s number one pollinators, spring currently starts about 10 days earlier than it did 130 years ago. Since 1880 bees have been keeping pace with rising temperatures by coming out of hibernation and starting … Continue reading →

African trees dying due to climate change

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

The Sahel, one of the hottest regions on Earth ranging from the Atlantic coast south of the Sahara Desert to the Red Sea to the east and the Horn of Africa to the southeast, is getting drier and drier and … Continue reading →

Marine biodiversity driven by environmental changes

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

Our most important source for knowledge about past life is the fossil record. But how exact is it in telling us about the history of life? According to a new study in Science the evolution of marine life over the … Continue reading →

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