Search Results for: desert ecosystem
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145 results
- Planetary Science
The desert planet in ‘Dune’ is plausible, according to science
Humans could live on the fictional planet Arrakis from Dune but (thankfully) no giant sandworms would menace them.
- Environment
Landscape Explorer shows how much the American West has changed
The online tool stitches together historical images into a map that’s helping land managers make decisions about preservation and restoration.
- Environment
Dust from a shrinking Great Salt Lake may be accelerating Utah’s snowmelt
About a quarter of the record-breaking, snow-melting dust on the Wasatch Mountains in 2022 may have come from exposed lakebed at Great Salt Lake.
- Life
How a mound-building bird shapes its Australian ecosystem
In Australia’s mallee woodlands, malleefowl dutifully construct mounds to incubate their eggs, redistributing nutrients across the landscape.
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50 years ago, scientists thought a desert shrub might help save endangered whales
Fifty years ago, scientists sought a sustainable alternative to prized oil from endangered sperm whales.
- Climate
Climate ‘teleconnections’ may link droughts and fires across continents
Far-reaching climate patterns like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation may synchronize droughts and regulate scorching of much of Earth’s burned area.
- Earth
A massive cavern beneath a West Antarctic glacier is teeming with life
A subglacial river has carved out the cavern beneath the Kamb Ice Stream, a West Antarctic glacier, and may be supplying nutrients necessary for life.
- Earth
The Great Salt Lake is shrinking. What can we do to stop it?
A dropping lake level affects agriculture, public health and the environment — but water conservation can halt the decline.
- Ecosystems
Biocrusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent
Lichens and other microbes construct biological soil crusts that concentrate nutrients and slash global dust emissions.
- Life
Lithium mining may be putting some flamingos in Chile at risk
Climate change and lithium mining are threatening the flooded salt flats that flamingos in Chile depend on, a study suggests.
- Earth
Rare earth mining may be key to our renewable energy future. But at what cost?
We take you inside Mountain Pass, the only rare earth mine in the United States.
- Animals
An Arctic hare traveled at least 388 kilometers in a record-breaking journey
An Arctic hare’s dash across northern Canada, the longest seen among hares and their relatives, is changing how scientists think about tundra ecology.
