ScienceDaily: Evolution too slow to keep up with climate change

Jay OwenEarth Systems Science

Evolution too slow to keep up with climate change

Posted: 09 Jul 2013 02:57 PM PDT

Many vertebrate species would have to evolve about 10,000 times faster than they have in the past to adapt to the rapid climate change expected in the next 100 years, a new study has found.

Wildfires may contribute more to global warming than previously predicted

Posted: 09 Jul 2013 09:41 AM PDT

Wildfires produce a witch’s brew of carbon-containing particles, as anyone downwind of a forest fire can attest. But measurements taken during the 2011 Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos National Laboratory show that the actual carbon-containing particles emitted by fires are very different than those used in current computer models, providing the potential for inaccuracy in current climate-modeling results.

Scientists image vast subglacial water system underpinning West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier

Posted: 09 Jul 2013 06:48 AM PDT

In a development that will help predict sea level rise, scientists have used an innovation in radar analysis to accurately image the vast subglacial water system under West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, detecting a swamp-like canal system several times as large as Florida’s Everglades. The new observations suggest dynamics of the subglacial water system may be as important as ocean influences in predicting the fate of Thwaites, which holds substantial potential for triggering sea-level rise.

How nature maintains diversity: Temporal niches are important, study finds

Posted: 09 Jul 2013 06:14 AM PDT

By studying rapidly evolving bacteria as they diversify and compete under varying environmental conditions, researchers have shown that temporal niches are important to maintaining biodiversity in natural systems.