Florida lawmakers have approved a new plan to help pay for Everglades restoration.
The legislation was sent to Gov. Rick Scott on a 39-0 vote by the Senate. It cleared the House earlier in the session. The bill is backed by environmental groups and sugar farmers, and its sponsors have said it represents a truce in a decades-old dispute.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/lawmakers-ok-everglades-restoration-plan
Officials Hope Animals Reclaim Olympic Park
Environmentalists hopes that once the massive crowds go home, bats will find themselves taking up residence in little bat boxes around the park - part of a lasting environmental legacy for east London’s Olympic Park.
When the park was built, environmentalists painstakingly relocated all of the wildlife, such as newts, toads and lizards to nearby wildlife areas. But being relocated is traumatic for little creatures and they weren’t about to move them back when construction was complete. Instead, they tried to create the perfect little ecosystem for wildlife with the “Field of Dreams” mantra: if you build it, they will come. Or more to the point, if you create it, the toads, the birds, the newts - and the bats - will come back.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/08/officials-hope-animals-reclaim-olympic-park
Ocean Trash Disrupting Marine Insect Reproduction
An increase in plastic debris floating in a zone between Hawaii and California is changing the environment of at least one marine critter, scientists report. Over the past four decades, the amount of broken-down plastic has grown significantly in a region dubbed the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Most of the plastic pieces are the size of a fingernail.
During a seagoing expedition, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that a marine insect that skims the ocean surface is laying its eggs on top of plastic bits instead of natural flotsam like wood and seashells. Though plastic debris is giving the insects places to lay eggs, scientists are concerned about the manmade material establishing a role in their habitat.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Ocean-Trash-is-Impacting-Seas-Life-051012.aspx
Sea Levels, Cooling Caused Extinction According to Databases
The second-largest mass extinction in Earth’s history coincided with a short but intense ice age during which enormous glaciers grew and sea levels dropped. Although it has long been agreed that the so-called Late Ordovician mass extinction—which occurred about 450 million years ago—was related to climate change, exactly how the climate change produced the extinction has not been known. Now, a team led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has created a framework for weighing the factors that might have led to mass extinction and has used that framework to determine that the majority of extinctions were caused by habitat loss due to falling sea levels and cooling of the tropical oceans.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Sea-Levels-Cooling-Caused-Extinction-According-to-Databases-041112.aspx
Climate Changes too Quickly for Species to Adapt
The ranges of species will have to change dramatically as a result of climate change between now and 2100 because the climate will change more than 100 times faster than the rate at which species can adapt, according to a newly published study by Indiana Univ. researchers.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Climate-Changes-too-Quickly-for-Species-to-Adapt-120611.aspx
A common pest in the mainland United States known for its tropical smell now has a tropical habitat to go along with it. Odorous house ants-so called because they tend to invade houses and smell like coconut when smashed-have found their way to Hawaii. And, according to Purdue Univ. entomologist Grzegorz Buczkowski, it doesn’t seem as though they have plans to end their vacations.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Ants-in-Hawaii-Show-Invasive-Characteristics-110211.aspx
A species of toads, which quickly became extinct in the wild after it was discovered, is thriving in a laboratory. The Tanzanian government would like to reintroduce them but want to be sure the environment has been stabilized enough to provide a suitable habitat.
Source: SUNY ESF
Read more
