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Scientists have studied changes in climate and environmental patterns for decades. More recently, the issue has been elevated to a higher public profile. Multiple research projects are tracing patterns of environmental change to climate change and using predictive models to give a glimpse of future rates of change and resultant effects on the vegetation and animals. Yosemite National Park is an area of interest, having elevations of over 9,000 feet, and is also extensively studied with historical records. Within the park, biologists have completed a detailed update of vegetation maps and have recently finished a 100-year resurvey of vertebrates, mapping both the historical and current ranges. When these maps are compared to maps of climate change, it suggests that ranges and climate changes may be linked. In these complex systems, there are several factors affecting distribution and changes in both flora and fauna but climate change is one factor that can be extensively measured. Join our team of high Sierra experts as we explore how the patterns of environmental and biotic changes may be tied to a changing climate and understand how their research affects management decisions. We will examine the Tuolumne Meadows, Tioga Crest, and the Sierra’s eastern slopes to better understand the detected changes. Lectures, examination of regional photo retakes, and field site visits will illustrate how scientists are documenting the role of climate in this environment. Course fee includes accommodations, meals, park fees, and transportation for the duration of the workshop. Camping will be on private property with running water and flush toilets.

Scientists have studied changes in climate and environmental patterns for decades. More recently, the issue has been elevated to a higher public profile. Multiple research projects are tracing patterns of environmental change to climate change and using predictive models to give a glimpse of future rates of change and resultant effects on the vegetation and animals. Yosemite National Park is an area of interest, having elevations of over 9,000 feet, and is also extensively studied with historical records. Within the park, biologists have completed a detailed update of vegetation maps and have recently finished a 100-year resurvey of vertebrates, mapping both the historical and current ranges. When these maps are compared to maps of climate change, it suggests that ranges and climate changes may be linked. In these complex systems, there are several factors affecting distribution and changes in both flora and fauna but climate change is one factor that can be extensively measured. Join our team of high Sierra experts as we explore how the patterns of environmental and biotic changes may be tied to a changing climate and understand how their research affects management decisions. We will examine the Tuolumne Meadows, Tioga Crest, and the Sierra’s eastern slopes to better understand the detected changes. Lectures, examination of regional photo retakes, and field site visits will illustrate how scientists are documenting the role of climate in this environment. Course fee includes accommodations, meals, park fees, and transportation for the duration of the workshop. Camping will be on private property with running water and flush toilets.

Scientists have studied changes in climate and environmental patterns for decades. More recently, the issue has been elevated to a higher public profile. Multiple research projects are tracing patterns of environmental change to climate change and using predictive models to give a glimpse of future rates of change and resultant effects on the vegetation and animals. Yosemite National Park is an area of interest, having elevations of over 9,000 feet, and is also extensively studied with historical records. Within the park, biologists have completed a detailed update of vegetation maps and have recently finished a 100-year resurvey of vertebrates, mapping both the historical and current ranges. When these maps are compared to maps of climate change, it suggests that ranges and climate changes may be linked. In these complex systems, there are several factors affecting distribution and changes in both flora and fauna but climate change is one factor that can be extensively measured. Join our team of high Sierra experts as we explore how the patterns of environmental and biotic changes may be tied to a changing climate and understand how their research affects management decisions. We will examine the Tuolumne Meadows, Tioga Crest, and the Sierra’s eastern slopes to better understand the detected changes. Lectures, examination of regional photo retakes, and field site visits will illustrate how scientists are documenting the role of climate in this environment. Course fee includes accommodations, meals, park fees, and transportation for the duration of the workshop. Camping will be on private property with running water and flush toilets.

Scientists have studied changes in climate and environmental patterns for decades. More recently, the issue has been elevated to a higher public profile. Multiple research projects are tracing patterns of environmental change to climate change and using predictive models to give a glimpse of future rates of change and resultant effects on the vegetation and animals. Yosemite National Park is an area of interest, having elevations of over 9,000 feet, and is also extensively studied with historical records. Within the park, biologists have completed a detailed update of vegetation maps and have recently finished a 100-year resurvey of vertebrates, mapping both the historical and current ranges. When these maps are compared to maps of climate change, it suggests that ranges and climate changes may be linked. In these complex systems, there are several factors affecting distribution and changes in both flora and fauna but climate change is one factor that can be extensively measured. Join our team of high Sierra experts as we explore how the patterns of environmental and biotic changes may be tied to a changing climate and understand how their research affects management decisions. We will examine the Tuolumne Meadows, Tioga Crest, and the Sierra’s eastern slopes to better understand the detected changes. Lectures, examination of regional photo retakes, and field site visits will illustrate how scientists are documenting the role of climate in this environment. Course fee includes accommodations, meals, park fees, and transportation for the duration of the workshop. Camping will be on private property with running water and flush toilets.

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal court on Tuesday overturned a rule that prevented state and local authorities from raising emissions monitoring requirements for polluting units such as chemical plants and oil refineries. Regulatory body Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had added a rule to the existing Clean Air Act in 1990 that prevented authorities from adding to monitoring requirements.

The impact of global warming in the Arctic may differ from the predictions of computer models of the region, according to a pair of Penn State biologists. The team has shown that grazing animals will play a key role in reducing the anticipated expansion of shrub growth in the region, thus limiting their predicted and beneficial carbon-absorbing effect.

Lead wheel weights, widely used to balance vehicle tires but considered a threat to drinking water, will be phased out in California by the end of next year under a court settlement approved Wednesday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a renewable energy program for New York city that would include placing windmills on city bridges, solar panels on skyscrapers, and the use of tidal, geothermal and nuclear energy. Bloomberg unveiled the outlines of his plan late Tuesday at a major clean energy summit in Las Vegas organized by the University of Nevada.

Japan is looking to introduce incentives for consumers buying clean diesel cars starting next fiscal year in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a government official said on Thursday. Details including the credit amount will be firmed up by the end of the year with an eye to implementing the incentives from next April, an official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said.

The field of particle physics is poised to enter unknown territory with the startup of a massive new accelerator--the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)--in Europe this summer. On September 10, LHC scientists will attempt to send the first beam of protons speeding around the accelerator.

In human fat tissues, bisphenol A (BPA) suppresses levels of a key hormone, adiponectin, that protects people from heart attacks and Type II diabetes. These results implicate BPA as a potential cause of metabolic syndrome, one of the most serious and costly public health problems in the US. Most Americans have levels of BPA within their serum within the range of concentrations sufficient to suppress adiponectin in these experiments. The BPA effect on adiponectin disappears at higher levels.

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents look like alien worlds, their landscapes and fauna unlike any on Earth. Now a new study suggests that life works differently there too. While studying the viruses that inhabit the scalding waters surrounding a vent in the Western Pacific, Eric Wommack noticed that a large proportion turned out to be docile tenants that lurk inside their bacterial hosts without causing much trouble.

Sales of electric bikes have spun into high gear this year — some merchants like Amazon are reporting a 6000% increase this summer from last year. This is good news, because, for short trips, the efficiency and convenience of electric bikes is hard to beat.

Air travelers may be fooling themselves with a feel-good green glow from offsetting their carbon emissions, according to critics of the system. A lack of rigor in the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions from air travel is undermining carbon offsetting as an approach to fight climate change, one expert said.

The Chinese government's energy policy has led to a large rise in investment in renewables, helping it to dislodge the UK in a ranking of the top five most attractive countries for investment in renewable energy, according to a study published on 19 August.

While each person in the UK drinks, hoses, flushes and washes their way through around 150 litres of mains water a day, they consume about 30 times as much in “virtual” water embedded in food, clothes and other items — the equivalent of about 58 bathtubs full of water every day.

Bali/Bangkok, 20 August 2008 - An innovative regional agreement is beginning to turn the tide for the 'ancient mariners' of the world's oceans. Marine turtles traverse the seas for thousands of kilometers, returning after decades to nest in the same area where they entered the world as tiny hatchlings.

Researchers here have found a way to convert ethanol and other biofuels into hydrogen very efficiently. A new catalyst makes hydrogen from ethanol with 90 percent yield, at a workable temperature, and using inexpensive ingredients.

A shipment of forest timber traveled around the southern tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean before it arrived at the Hong Kong dockyards two years ago. During a routine X-ray examination, customs officials discovered an even more lucrative cargo hidden behind a false wall: 605 elephant tusks.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hopes of saving a baby whale abandoned by its mother in a bay north of Sydney faded late on Wednesday as the calf continued to try to suckle from a moored yacht. International experts said it had just days to live. The humpback whale, nicknamed "Colin" by Australian media, was found at Pittwater after apparently being abandoned by its mother off Australia's east coast.