tagged w/ Flora
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PARIS — Fast-track warming in Europe is making butterflies and birds fall behind in the move to cooler habitats and prompting a worrying turnover in alpine plant species, studies published Sunday said.
The papers, both published by the journal Nature Climate Change, are the biggest endeavour yet to pinpoint impacts on European biodiversity from accelerating global temperatures.
A team led by Vincent Devictor of France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) found that from 1990 to 2008, average temperatures in Europe rose by one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
This is extremely high, being around 25 percent greater than the global average for all of the last century.
In order to live at the same temperature, species would have to shift northward by 249 kilometres (155 miles), they calculated.
But during this period, butterlies moved only 114 kms (71 miles), and birds by just 37 kms (23 miles).
The data derives from observations made by a network of thousands of amateur naturalists, amounting to a remarkable 1.5 million hours of fieldwork.
The study was not designed to say whether these species are suffering as a result of warming, which is one of the big questions in the climate-change saga.
However, the risk of population decline is clear, the authors say.
Species that lag behind a move to a more suitable habitat accumulate a "climatic debt."
Eventually, the impact of warming hits parts of the local food chain on which they depend, such as caterpillars or vegetation, and this cuts into their chances of being able to adapt. Finding a similar habitat is made more difficult by agriculture.
The second study looked at 867 samples of vegetation from 60 mountaintop sites across Europe in an assessment of the hottest decade on record.
Seen at local level, there was little apparent change during the 2001-2008 study period.
But when the picture zoomed out to continental level, it was clear that a major turnover was under way.
Cold-loving plants traditionally found in alpine regions were being pushed out of their habitats by warming-loving ones, which invaded higher altitudes that were now within their grasp.
"We expected to find a greater number of warm-loving plants at higher altitudes, but we did not expect to find such a significant change in such a short period of time," said study leader Michael Gottfried, a University of Vienna biologist.
"Many cold-loving species are literally running out of mountain. In some of the lower mountains in Europe, we could see alpine meadows disappearing and dwarf shrubs taking over within the next few decades."
The research was the biggest plant-count of its kind in Europe, gathering 32 researchers from 13 countries.PARIS — Fast-track warming in Europe is making butterflies and birds fall behind... more
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Modern botanic gardens are much more than just attractive strolling grounds. Many have labs in which botanists and taxonomists ply their trade. And many take an interest in conservation of the world's flora, often by fostering rare species.
link: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110318/full/news.2011.169.htmlModern botanic gardens are much more than just attractive strolling grounds. Many have... more
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eva2
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added this
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11 months ago
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Another outcry against the toxic, non biodegradable stuff, killing the poor innocent creatures of the ocean, blah blah blah. All this while sitting comfortably in my warm home, sipping tea to my heart’s content. What could I do while sitting in the confides of my petite abode...
Keep reading at: http://www.forgetthebox.net/mag/green-bean-tuesdays/the-swirling-vortex-of-death.phpAnother outcry against the toxic, non biodegradable stuff, killing the poor innocent... more
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Spring cleaning for elephants at Berlin Zoo: the nine Asian elephants took the first bath of the year in their outdoor enclosure. At still fairly low temperatures a few apples help the animals to overcome hesitation and step into the cold water. During the winter months, the elephants were given daily showers indoors because a daily wash helps elephants to keep their skin flora intact.Spring cleaning for elephants at Berlin Zoo: the nine Asian elephants took the first... more
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Sometimes you need to take time off and just focus on something of beauty, like the surf, or a mountain, or rain. Look at the wonder of nature and the world's problems seem so insignificant.Sometimes you need to take time off and just focus on something of beauty, like the... more
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The plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is believed to be the largest meat-eating shrub, dissolving rats with acid-like enzymes.
The team of botanists, led by British experts Stewart McPherson and Alastair Robinson, found the plant on Mount Victoria in the Philippines.
They were inspired to search for the plant after word that it is existed came from two Christian missionaries who described seeing a large carnivorous pitcher in 2000 after they climbed the mountain.
Mr McPherson, of Poole Dorset, said: "The plant produces spectacular traps which catch not only insects, but also rodents. It is remarkable that it remained undiscovered until the 21st century."
The team, which found the plant in 2007 following a two-month expedition, published details of their discovery in the Botanical Journal of Linnean Society earlier this year following a three-year study of all 120 species of pitcher plant.The plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is believed to be the largest... more
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For the past couple of weeks Tamils have been protesting outside Parliament 24 hours a day, and have gone as far as blocking traffic and hunger strikes. Unfortunately for the organisers of this weekend's London Marathon, the route passes very close to where they're protesting - so they might have to change to the route.
Or, of course, the government could change their policy and try to stop all of that killing that's going on.For the past couple of weeks Tamils have been protesting outside Parliament 24 hours a... more
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Ever wondered what would happen on earth if all the humans suddenly vanished or died? This documentary shows how such an event would affect the rest of life on earth. It is not all good news in the short run, but hopeful in the long run.Ever wondered what would happen on earth if all the humans suddenly vanished or died?... more
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Several species of fungi new to the UK have been unearthed by mushroom experts.
Conservationists say the wet summer means some species of fungi have thrived this year and the recent warmer winters means there could be even more exotic mushrooms to be found in this country.
One of the new species to be identified has the Latin name of Tuber mesentericum, which is also known as the Bagnoli truffle, which is prized in Italy for its intense flavour. However, another new discovery is from a family of fungi commonly known as pinkgills, some of which can be very poisonous.
Experts say it is likely these new discoveries have always been at the Nottinghamshire park, but that they flourished in the extremely wet August.
Several species of fungi new to the UK have been unearthed by mushroom experts.... more
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One of nature's most recognized wonders, the venus flytrap's ability to snatch living prey makes it a favorite of elementary school science classes everywhere. Yet the flytrap is falsely ferocious: It's hardly the man-eating Audrey Jr. from "The Little Shop of Horrors," but a tiny plant only a few inches tall with leaves no bigger than a thumbprint.
These days, the little plant is more vulnerable than ever. And despite its popularity, the people who could protect it seem focused on other problems.
The flytrap's natural habitat exists only within a hundred miles of the Carolinas' coast, where much larger and more territorial plants have always held forth. Booming growth and development along the coast threatens to overrun the few sensitive and thin populations of venus flytraps that still exist in the wild.
Plants exist in just one county
An Associated Press review of state botany records found that nearly 80 percent of the 117 identified wild populations of flytraps in North Carolina have little chance of surviving, have been wiped out altogether or haven't been seen in years. Most of the viable clusters are in nature preserves, yet experts believe some of those could be thinned by encroaching humans.
"When you go out looking for these populations that have been recorded, you find you're either in a golf course or a subdivision, or a road or a shopping center," said James Luken, a professor at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., who studies wetland ecology. "It's a biological hotspot, but it's a development hotspot. These areas are being transformed as fast as the bulldozers can roll."One of nature's most recognized wonders, the venus flytrap's ability to... more
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What will global warming do to wildflowers? One scientist has found the disturbing answer..
What will global warming do to wildflowers? One scientist has found the disturbing... more
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