Yearly Archives: 2015

PLEA Network

3 May 2015, Climate News Network: US braces itself for even worse wildfire season. Years of drought and higher temperatures mean the chance of devastating wildfires in the southwest US is higher than ever − particularly in southern California.  The firefighters are primed, hoses at the ready. May and June are often the peak months for forest fires in the southwest of the US, and the outlook for this year is grim. “I wish I could have some hope,” says Dr Wally Covington, director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at North Arizona University. “It’s just a terrible situation in southern California.” Read More here

 

PLEA Network

1 May 2015, The Conversation: Climate change could empty wildlife from Australia’s rainforests. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges that the world’s wildlife and those who want to conserve it have ever faced. To save wildlife, we are going to have to help animals, plants and ecosystems adapt. But first we need to know just how many species are at risk and why. A paper published today in Science by Mark Urban, Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut, estimates on average we will lose about 17% (or about one in six) of all species on Earth by 2100. This massive impact will be felt across all groups of species and ecosystems although it is predicted to be worse in South America, Australia and New Zealand. Australia is predicted to lose approximately 14% of its species…. Read More here

PLEA Network

1 May 2015, The Conversation: One in six species faces extinction as a result of climate change.The Earth is on course to lose up to one in six of all its species, if carbon emissions continue as they currently are. This global extinction risk masks very large regional variations. Up to a quarter of South American species may be doomed. These are some of the findings of a comprehensive piece of new research conducted by evolutionary ecologist Mark Urban and published in Science. Read More here

PLEA Network

“…The ICECAP (International Collaboration for Exploration of the Cryosphere through Aerogeophysical Profiling) project – a collaboration between US, British and Australian Antarctic researchers – has been mapping the East Antarctic ice sheet to look for changes….And it turns out that East Antarctica needs careful watching. The project is giving us a new look at the underside of the ice sheet in East Antarctica, and causing significant concerns for future increases in sea level. One of the project’s major recent discoveries is that the terrain under the region’s biggest and most important glacier may make it more vulnerable to melting than we thought….” Read More here