All posts tagged "Environmentalsciences"

SAN DIEGO — A new report from researchers at San Diego State University, citing "untreated sewage, industrial waste, and urban run-off due to inadequate infrastructure and urbanization," calls the Tijuana River "a public health crisis" that imperils the good health of a wide range of people who live, recreate and work near the polluted waterway, particularly when wet weather causes floods to spread. In a white paper that is not itself peer-reviewed research, authors synthesize the multiple studies that have documented pollution over the years, pausing on a recent paper documenting that the thr......

Plankton are not just a diabolical mastermind on a Nickelodeon show about a sponge who lives under the sea. Lake Tahoe is filled with them — the good kind. Tahoe native zooplankton are making a comeback in the more than 21-mile long lake, helping it look the clearest it has in 40 years. A comeback because until now, the microorganism’s population significantly decreased after it’s primary predator, the Mysis shrimp, was on the rise, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting. Here’s how zooplankton help make Lake Tahoe sparkle, and why they are important to the ecosystem: —What are zooplan......

PHILADELPHIA — Each year, Philadelphia’s waterways are forced to swallow a dirty mix containing 15 billion gallons of untreated sewage and rainwater during storms because of an antiquated city system, according to a report released Thursday by PennEnvironment. The waterways include the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, as well as Cobbs, Frankford, Tacony, and Pennypack Creeks. The outflow is no threat to drinking water because river water gets treated before residents drink it, but it does create health threats for aquatic life and recreational users, said the study by the nonprofit advocacy gro......

Often referred to as the father of modern fantasy, author J.R.R. Tolkien created a larger than life world inhabited by goblins, giant spiders and fire-breathing dragons. His namesake has now been given to a decidedly less terrifying creature, a l Zoo Keys. “It would seem that it lives in a universe of fantasies, like those created by Tolkien,” the researchers wrote in a news release. “The truth is that the tropical Andes are magical ecosystems where some of the most wonderful species of flora, funga, and fauna in the world are present.” Upon finding the frog, researchers named it Hyloscirtus t......

Over a third of species and ecosystems in the United States are at risk of disappearing, including hundreds of plants and animals in Washington. In a newly released report, conservation research group NatureServe analyzed data from its network of more than 1,000 scientists across the United States and Canada. The group said the report is its most comprehensive yet, synthesizing more than 50 years of biodiversity information and highlighting the urgency of biodiversity conservation. In Washington, the study identified 201 at-risk plants, or at least 7.9% of the state's 2,556 plant species. The ......

MIAMI — South Florida has always been hot, rainy and vulnerable to hurricanes. So it’s understandable that some longtime residents remain skeptical that climate change is doing anything to make the region’s age-old problems any worse. But scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) delivered a clear message Monday at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting in Denver: Climate change is — unequivocally — making extreme weather events worse. In fact, scientists can now go a step further and show that specific weather disasters were more likely or mor......