NewsRack: 'Ecosystems' news in 'Climate Change' topic for user demo

Study: Rising Lake Superior temperatures affecting fish species	21.5.2013	Minnesota Public Radio: Science
A new study shows that climate change could mean better conditions for some Lake Superior fish species, but worse for others.
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Obama's Arctic strategy sets off a climate time bomb \| Nafeez Ahmed	17.5.2013	Guardian: Science
US National Strategy for the Arctic Region prioritises corporate 'economic opportunities' at the expense of everyone else One week ago, the Obama administration launched its National Strategy for the Arctic Region , outlining the government's strategic priorities over the next 10 years. The release of the strategy came about a week after the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President at the White House Complex hosted a briefing with international Arctic scientists . Despite giving lip service to the values of environmental conservation, the new document focuses on how the US can manage the exploitation of the region's vast untapped oil, gas and mineral resources in cooperation with other Arctic powers. US hinges success of Arctic strategy on diminishing sea ice At the heart of the White House's new Arctic strategy is an elementary but devastating contradiction between what President Obama, in the document's preamble, describes as seeking "to ...
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China gains observer status on the Arctic Council	16.5.2013	New Scientist: Being Human
China gains observer status on the Arctic Council
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'Hope India will help tackle melting ice as Arctic Circle observer' (Cached)	16.5.2013	New Kerala: World News
New Delhi, May 16 : Norway hopes India, a "key player" in the deliberations on climate change, would help find a solution to the fast-melting ice cover in the Arctic region now that it has got observer status in the Arctic Council.
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Warming seas changing what fish are for dinner, study says	16.5.2013	MSNBC
Warming seas changing what fish are for dinner, study says
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World's fish are migrating to escape global warming	15.5.2013	New Scientist: Health
World's fish are migrating to escape global warming
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Today on New Scientist	15.5.2013	New Scientist: Health
Today on New Scientist
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Climate change brings disease threat for polar bears	15.5.2013	New Scientist: Health
Climate change brings disease threat for polar bears
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Report card: Great Lakes still have big problems	15.5.2013	Minnesota Public Radio: Science
A decades-old effort to nurse the battered Great Lakes to health has made progress toward reducing toxic pollution and slamming the door on invasive species, but the freshwater seas continue to face serious threats, a U.S.-Canadian agency said Tuesday.
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Report card: Great Lakes still have big problems	15.5.2013	Boston Globe: Latest
Report card: Great Lakes still have big problems
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World Bank rethinks stance on large-scale hydropower projects	14.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Despite their disruption, can dams help the organisation work towards ending poverty while keeping carbon emissions down? The World Bank is making a major push to develop large-scale hydropower, something it had all but abandoned a decade ago but now sees as crucial to resolving the tension between economic development and the drive to tame carbon use. Major hydropower projects in Democratic Republic of the Congo , Zambia , Nepal and elsewhere – all of a scale dubbed "transformational" to the regions involved – are part of the bank's fundraising drive among wealthy nations. Bank lending for hydropower has scaled up in recent years, and officials expect the trend to continue. Such projects were shunned in the 1990s, in part because they can be disruptive to communities and ecosystems. But the World Bank is opening the taps for dams and related infrastructure as its president, Jim Yong Kim, tries to resolve a quandary at the bank's core: how to eliminate poverty while adding as little as ...
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Environmental risks of leaving the EU are huge	14.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
Membership of the European Union has been a boon to the UK's wildlife and habitats – and human health is better as a result The UK's membership of the European Union has rocketed up the political agenda in recent weeks, but if Lord Lawson and Nigel Farage get their way, a go-it-alone Britain would be far from green and pleasant. An analysis for Friends of the Earth, published today by the EU policy expert Dr Charlotte Burns from the University of York, provides a damning critique of UK environmental performance over decades, and highlights the huge risks of EU withdrawal. The UK really was once the dirty man of Europe. We had the highest level of sulphur dioxide emissions in Europe, resulting in acid rain that devastated Scandinavian forests. Our seas were akin to open sewers as we pumped human effluent in them as part of a "dilute and disperse" approach to pollution – the result of which I vividly recall from family holidays. And our drinking water was contaminated with a cocktail of ...
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Arctic expedition to study impact of climate change on plankton	14.5.2013	Guardian: Science
French schooner returns to north as scientists research effects on organisms that form basis of marine ecosystem Tara will soon set sail for the Arctic again. The famous schooner will cast off from Lorient in Brittany on Sunday 19 May for a seven-month expedition via the Northeast Passage along Russia's Arctic coast, returning through the Northwest Passage. The goal of the 25,000km Tara Oceans Polar Circle Expedition , with some 15 scientist on board, is to search for planktonic organisms, including viruses, bacteria, protists and metazoans , all vital resources that need to be studied in their own environment while there is still time. "This is a vital and urgent task," said Chris Bowler, a biologist at the École Normale Supérieure graduate school and research centre, and head of research at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). "The Arctic is one of the most productive planktonic regions on the planet, so we have to get there before humans start interfering." The ...
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Great Barrier Reef is at risk even if it doesn't make Unesco's danger list \| Graham Readfearn	13.5.2013	Guardian: Environment
UN World Heritage Committee to rule on whether fossil fuel industry threatens Australia's reef, but its coral is already in peril It might be regarded as some sort of sick joke that the Great Barrier Reef happens to nestle beside the heart of Australia's fossil fuel export boom. When the coal ships leave the Queensland ports, the two become one as the captains make passage through the 2300 kilometre/1430 mile-long reef – the world's largest. Now environment groups and the United Nations World Heritage Committee have decided this joke just isn't funny any more. WWF Australia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and Greenpeace are all engaged in campaigns to "save the reef" from the ravages of climate change and the construction of multi-billion dollar port facilities to ship coal and gas around the world. Greenpeace describes it as "one of the biggest environmental battles in our nation's history" and is pushing a campaign of peaceful civil disobedience. Next month in ...
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One-third of animal species will be hit by climate change, scientists warn	13.5.2013	The Guardian -- World Latest
Plant and animal species could see dramatic losses as habitats become unsuitable and ecosystems collapse One-third of common land animals could see dramatic losses this century because of climate change, scientists predict. More than half of plants could be hit the same way as habitats become unsuitable for numerous species. The collapse of ecosystems would have major economic impacts on agriculture, air quality, clean water access, and tourism. Global temperatures are set to rise 4C above preindustrial levels by 2100 if nothing is done to stem greenhouse gas emissions. This could have a hugely destructive effect on thousands of common as well as rare and endangered species around the world, according to the researchers. An estimated 57% of plants and 34% of animals were likely to lose half or more of their habitat range. But the damage would be greatly reduced if emissions were scaled down in time, the study shows. Losses are reduced by 60% if global warming is cut to 2% ...
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UN seeks protection of habitats on Migratory Bird Day (Cached)	13.5.2013	New Kerala: India News
New York, May 12 : As an estimated 50 billion birds commence their annual migrations, the critical staging areas they need to complete these journeys continue to be degraded or are disappearing completely, the United Nations Saturday warned on this year's World Migratory Bird Day.
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Study says common plants, animals are threatened by climate change	13.5.2013	Twincities.com: Nation
WASHINGTON -- Climate change could lead to the widespread loss of common plants and animals around the world, according to a study released Sunday, May 12, in the journal Nature Climate Change.
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Decline fear for plants and animals	12.5.2013	BBC: Front Page
More than half of common plant species and a third of animals could see a serious decline in their habitat range because of climate change, a study suggests.
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Climate shifts birds' winter homes	11.5.2013	BBC News - Science & Environment
Three species of migratory ducks are shifting their wintering grounds northwards in response to warmer early winter temperatures, say scientists.
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Global carbon dioxide in atmosphere passes milestone level	10.5.2013	The Guardian -- World Latest
Climate warming greenhouse gas reaches 400 parts per million for the first time in human history For the first time in human history, the concentration of climate-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has passed the milestone level of 400 parts per million (ppm). The last time so much greenhouse gas was in the air was several million years ago, when the Arctic was ice-free, savannah spread across the Sahara desert and sea level was up to 40 metres higher than today. These conditions are expected to return in time, with devastating consequences for civilisation, unless emissions of CO2 from the burning of coal, gas and oil are rapidly curtailed. But despite increasingly severe warnings from scientists and a major economic recession, global emissions have continued to soar unchecked . "It is symbolic, a point to pause and think about where we have been and where we are going," said Professor Ralph Keeling, who oversees the measurements on a Hawaian volcano, which were begun by his father ...
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