Pecologix

Terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP, the amount of atmospheric carbon fixed by plants and accumulated as biomass) increased from 1982 through 1999, which has been attributed to factors such as nitrogen deposition, CO2 fertilization, forest regrowth, and climatic changes. Zhao and Running (p. 940) used satellite data to estimate global terrestrial NPP over the past [...]

To evaluate water treatment residue (WTR) as a soil substitute material, its physical properties were investigated and compared with decomposed granite soil (DGS). For comparison purposes, relative gas diffusivity (D/D0), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), water retention curve, porosity and readily available water were measured for both the WTR and the DGS. The measured D/D0, Ks, [...]

Fossil fuels will have large impacts on ocean chemistry and climate during the period while they are being burnt (and carbon dioxide emitted) in large amounts. It is frequently assumed that these impacts will fade away soon thereafter. Recent model results, by contrast, suggest that significant impacts will persist for hundreds of thousands of years [...]

Because of changes in the Earth’s orbit, ice sheets might start to grow from the poles in a few thousand years — but there’s a good chance our greenhouse gas emissions already may prevent that, Archer argues. Even with the amount of CO2 emitted so far, another ice age will almost certainly start in about [...]

The researchers examined fish, oysters, crabs and shrimp, and showed that all these animals have a decreased ability to fight off infection of Vibrio bacteria when subjected to low oxygen, high carbon dioxide conditions. It takes about half as much bacteria to administer a lethal dose to a creature in a low oxygen, high carbon [...]

What is the environmentally sustainable approach to immigration and overpopulation? At root, immigration is a population problem: too many people are living in one geographical area and not enough economic production to meet their basic needs there. I decided to crunch some data to see what I could see. I started with a global statistics [...]

The paper notes that efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by constructing dams for hydropower generation can cause substantial damage to key freshwater ecosystems as well as to the flora and fauna in the flooded valleys. It also notes that the generally bogus concept that biofuels reduce carbon emissions is still being used as a [...]