A rare opportunity has allowed a team of biologists to evaluate corals and the essential, photosynthetic algae that live inside their cells before, during, and after a period in 2005 when global warming caused sea-surface temperatures in the Caribbean Ocean to rise.
The team, led by Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Todd LaJeunesse, found that a rare species of algae that is tolerant of stressful environmental conditions proliferated in corals as the more-sensitive algae were being expelled from corals. The results will be published in the online version of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B on 9 September 2009.
“Symbiodinium trenchi is normally a rare species of micro-alga in the Caribbean,” said LaJeunesse. “Because …

“Salt-loving algae could be the key to the successful development of biofuels as well as being an efficient means of recycling atmospheric carbon dioxide”, Professor John Cushman of the University of Nevada told the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
The current major limitation of biofuel production is the lack of adequate feedstocks, soybeans and corn, for biodiesel and ethanol production, respectively. Halophytic (salt-loving) micro-algae can be grown on marginal lands with brackish or salt water unsuitable for traditional agriculture.
Their growth is non-seasonal, making them 10-30 times more productive than terrestrial crops. They can be grown on municipal wastewater and have widespread potential for recycling carbon dioxide from biomass-, coal-, and gas-fired power …

Global climate trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.13 C per decade
August temperatures (preliminary)
Global composite temp.: +0.23 C (about 0.41 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year average for August.
Northern Hemisphere: +0.28 C (about 0.50 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year average for August.
Southern Hemisphere: +0.18 C (about 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year average for August.
July temperatures (revised):
Global Composite: +0.41 C above 20-year average
Northern Hemisphere: +0.21 C above 20-year average
Southern Hemisphere: +0.61 C above 20-year average
(All temperature variations are based on a 20-year average (1979-1998) for the month reported.)
Notes on data released September 8, 2009:
The tropics continued to respond in August to warming caused by the El Niño Pacific Ocean warming event, with the average temperature in the tropics warming from …

The prestigious journal Energy Policy has recently reported two studies that highlight some key issues for the future of wind energy in Spain.
A team of engineers from the University of Zaragoza believes it is “technically viable and economically reasonable” for wind energy to account for 30% of Spain’s overall energy production.
A report by two researchers from the University of Alcalá (UAH) and the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), meanwhile, says the number of jobs generated by this sector in the European Union has increased by 226% since 2003.
“Nowadays, wind farms supply around 12% of the electric energy produced in Spain, but by 2030 this could rise to 30%”, José Luis Bernal, of the Department of …

There are many fantastic advantages of using solar energy to fuel our world’s energy wishes. Currently the industrialized world depends on crude oil and coal to fuel our automobiles, houses, factories and even generators we use to make power themselves. While the technology is still being developed, there are lots of benefits to using solar energy.
For a start, solar electricity is clean. There’s no carbon footprint left when using the sun for power generation. Solar power does not make a contribution to acid rain, smog or global temperature rises. It is completely clean and’green,’ which is the way of the future.
Another great advantage to using the sun for power is the abundance of daylight. It’s …

The long-term effects of pesticides on living organisms in rivers and on water quality can now be assessed more easily.
Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) have developed a tool that can estimate the harmful effect of pesticides, such as those flushed into rivers and streams from agricultural land, within minutes.
“It used to be very difficult to detect which chronic effects occur,” explains Dr Matthias Liess, head of the UFZ’s System Ecotoxicology Department.
In their new approach, the Helmholtz researchers exploit the fact that pesticides cause characteristic changes to the composition of the life community that is affected.
“You just need to find out which living creatures, e.g. insects and crabs, are found at a …

Inaction already threatening multi-billion dollar coral reef services and livelihoods of half a billion people
Investing in restoration and maintenance of the Earth’s multi-trillion dollar ecosystems – from forests and mangroves to wetlands and river basins – can have a key role in countering climate change and climate-proofing vulnerable economies.
This is among the central findings of a new climate issues update by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), a project launched by Germany and the European Commission in response to a proposal by the G8+5 Environment Ministers (Potsdam, Germany 2007) to develop a global study on the economics of biodiversity loss. The study is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme. The issues update was …