429 results
429 results for: grassland
- Anthropology
Our family tree does the splits…
Large-scale changes in climate and habitats may have sparked the evolution of many new animal species in Africa beginning 7 million to 5 million years ago, including a string of new species in the human evolutionary family.
- Ecosystems
State of U.S. Agro-ecosystems
About one-quarter of the United States’ land cover, excluding Alaska, is farmed–some 430 million to 500 million acres. A massive new project has just assessed this and other food-producing environments, such as coastal waters, fresh waters, and rangelands, to tally factors contributing to health. Released on Sept. 24, it indicates that most ecosystems are undergoing […]
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- Microbes
Prairie microbes could aid region’s restoration
Surveying the bacteria living in the soils of grassland ecosystems may help revive the habitats.
- Paleontology
Alaska in the ice age: Was it bluegrass country?
At the height of the last ice age, northern portions of Alaska and the Yukon Territory were covered with an arid yet productive grassland that supported an abundance of large grazing mammals, fossils suggest.
- Paleontology
Northern Extinction: Alaskan horses shrank, then disappeared
Horses that lived in Alaska shrank dramatically in body size before they went extinct at the end of the last ice age.
- Animals
Elephant diets changed millions of years before their teeth
The animals fed on grasses long before their molars could grind the tough plants.
- Climate
Wetter permafrost clings to carbon better
In 12-year lab study, moist soil samples released less greenhouse gas as they warmed.
- Genetics
When flowers died out in Arctic, so did mammoths
Genetic analysis finds vegetation change in the Arctic around same time as megafauna extinction.
- Humans
Letters from the March 31, 2007, issue of Science News
On the hoof Do cows and other domestic-herd animals really emit more methane than bison and other wild-herd animals emitted before people came along? Do grass, alfalfa, and other pasture plants remove less carbon dioxide than do forests? There were open grasslands before pastures replaced some forests. I hope the people who are researching these […]
- Life
Gene linked to commitment-phobia
A common gene variation in men is linked to marital crises and less bonding in a study of more than 500 long-term couples.
- Climate
Heat waves stunt grassland growth
An abnormally hot year can significantly suppress growth in grasslands, a stifling effect that lingers well into the next year even if temperatures return to normal. It can also hinder how well the grasslands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
