Ecosystem
hideAn ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. An ecosystem is a unit of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs which show the interdependence of the organisms within the ecosystem.
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News tagged with ecosystems
How much is nature worth?
Nov 13, 2009 |
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How much is nature worth? £1 billion? £100 billion? £1 trillion? The loss of our forests and biodiversity in general could cost us between £1.2-2.8 trillion a year, according to Pavan Sukhdev, who is giving ...
Sponges recycle carbon to give life to coral reefs
Nov 13, 2009 |
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Coral reefs support some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, yet they thrive in a marine desert. So how do reefs sustain their thriving populations?
Climate Change, Nitrogen Loss Threaten Plant Life in Arid Desert Soils
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the Mojave Desert winds howl across this hottest place in North America, blowing sands across Death Valley and through empty ghost towns, swirling across treeless land for hundreds of miles. ...
Timber harvest impacts amphibians differently during life stages
Nov 03, 2009 |
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Frogs are croaking in clear-cut forests, but not exactly in their traditional manner. University of Missouri researchers found that removing all of the trees from a section of the forest had a negative effect ...
Over 1,000 fish species 'threatened with extinction'
Nov 03, 2009 |
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More than 1,000 freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction, reflecting the strain on global water resources, an updated global "Red List" of endangered species showed Tuesday.
Data point to some improvements in China's environment
Nov 02, 2009 |
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The rapid growth of China's forests over the past 20 years makes them the fastest growing forest resources in the world, according to an assessment published in the November issue of BioScience.
Forest clearances sealed ancient civilisation's downfall
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Nov 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An ancient South American civilisation which disappeared around 1,500 years ago helped to cause its own demise by damaging the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study has found. ...
Robot fish could monitor water quality
Nov 02, 2009 |
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Nature inspires technology for an engineer and an ecologist teamed up at Michigan State University. They're developing robots that use advanced materials to swim like fish to probe underwater environments.
Model microbial community for studying expanding dead zones characterized
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 22, 2009 |
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Among the many changes in the ocean is the expansion of oxygen-deficient or oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), also known as dead zones, which affect the processes by which carbon is captured and sequestered on ...
Oases for Life on the Mid-Caymen Rise
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 21, 2009 |
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A team of oceanographers and astrobiologists is currently exploring one of the deepest points in the Caribbean Sea. Follow their blog as they search for life in this extreme seafloor environment.
The White Stuff: Marine Lab Team Seeks to Understand Coral Bleaching
Oct 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- With technology similar to that used by physicians to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, researchers from six institutions -- including the National Institute of Standards and ...
Finding the ASX200 for marine ecosystems
Oct 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are building the environmental equivalent of the ASX200 as a means of monitoring the health of Australian marine ecosystems.
Killer algae a key player in mass extinctions
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 19, 2009 |
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Algae, not asteroids, were the key to the end of the dinosaurs, say two Clemson University researchers. Geologist James W. Castle and ecotoxicologist John H. Rodgers have published findings that toxin producing ...
A new day dawned fast: Recovery from marine mass extinction happened much faster than thought
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1979, Luis Alvarez and his collaborators stunned the world with their discovery that an asteroid impact 65 million years ago probably killed off the dinosaurs and much of the the world's ...
Loss of top predators causing surge in smaller predators, ecosystem collapse
Oct 01, 2009 |
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The catastrophic decline around the world of "apex" predators such as wolves, cougars, lions or sharks has led to a huge increase in smaller "mesopredators" that are causing major economic and ecological disruptions, ...
