The three L’Oréal Fellows for 2011 have been busy since they were announced on 23 August 2011.
Eve McDonald-Madden is in France, working with researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Research to develop new strategies for the management of the impacts of climate change.
Read the full article →Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team led by Australians has found. Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes’ ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators. In their latest paper the researchers report world-first evidence that high CO2 levels in sea water disrupts a key brain receptor in fish, causing marked changes in their behaviour and sensory ability.
Prof Phillip Munday, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Nature Climate Change; http://www.coralcoe.org.au/news_stories/braindamage.html
Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents—including the East Australian Current—polewards beyond their known boundaries. The hotspots have formed alongside ocean currents that wash the east coast of the major continents and their warming proceeds at a rate far exceeding the average rate of ocean surface warming, according to an international science team, including an Australian. The authors say that while the finding has local ecological implications in the region surrounding the hotspots, the major influence is upon the ocean’s ability to take up heat and carbon from the atmosphere.
Dr Wenju Cai, CSIRO
Nature Climate Change; http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/Warming-in-the-Tasman-Sea-a-global-warming-hot-spot.aspx
Climate change models must be reworked in a bid to save some of the world’s smallest and slimiest creatures from extinction, a South Australian biologist argues. The majority of current global warming research is driven by air temperature, which does not necessary reflect the body temperature of animals, such as mobile organisms on rocky beaches like snails – and their capacity to survive the predicted rise in extreme conditions such as heatwaves. The work showed that rock and snail temperatures were strongly connected, suggesting snail body temperatures are largely determined by the temperatures of the rocks they are crawling on.
Ms Coraline Chapperon, PhD student, Biological Sciences, Flinders University
http://blogs.flinders.edu.au/flinders-news/2012/02/07/global-warming-could-kill-off-snails/
Thirty-thousand-year-old bison bones discovered in permafrost at a Canadian goldmine are helping scientists unravel the mystery about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change. They are playing a key role in a world-first study, led by Australian researchers, which analyses special genetic modifications that turn genes on and off, without altering the DNA sequence itself.
These ‘epigenetic’ changes can occur rapidly between generations – without requiring the time for standard evolutionary processes, and they could explain how animal species are able to respond to rapid climate change. The researchers have shown that it is possible to accurately measure epigenetic modifications in extinct animals and populations. They measured epigenetic modifications in 30,000-year-old permafrost bones from the Yukon, and compared them to those in modern-day cattle, and a 30-year-old mummified cow from New Zealand.
Prof Alan Cooper, Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide
PLoS ONE; http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news50641.html
Preserving diverse plant life will be crucial to buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in in the world’s drylands, according to a landmark study. The findings of the multi-author study are based on samples of ecosystems in every continent except Antarctica. They confirm for the first time that the more diverse an ecosystem is, the more ecological functions it performs. It also has implications for carbon sequestration and soil health.
Prof David Eldridge, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW
Science; http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-technology/ecosystem-biodiversity-key-climate-change-buffer
Queensland scientists have discovered that an ancient relative of rice contains genes that could potentially save food crops from the devastating effects of global warming. Wild rice plants in hotter and drier parts of Australia tend to be more genetically diverse, they found.
The genetic diversity found by the scientists is seen as a bulwark against climate change because some genes offer plants a degree of resistance to bacterial and fungal pathogens, both of which are known to attack plants under stress.
Prof Robert Henry, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=24218
Australian researchers have measured the relationship between current climate, climate change and habitat loss on plants and animals on a global scale. Their results indicate that areas with high temperatures and where average rainfall has decreased over time increase the chance of a species being negatively affected by habitat loss and fragmentation.
Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle, Dr Jonathan Rhodes, University of Queensland & Dr Tara Martin, CSIRO
Global Change Biology; http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.html?article=24242
Australian scientists have discovered that some tropical fish have a greater capacity to cope with rising sea temperatures than previously thought – by adjusting over several generations. The discovery sheds a ray of hope amid the rising concern over the future of coral reefs and their fish under the levels of global warming expected to occur by the end of the 21st century.
Understanding the ability of species to acclimatise to rising temperatures over longer time periods is critical for predicting the biological consequences of global warming – yet it remains one of the least understood aspects of climate science. The scientists were seeking to discover how fish would cope with the elevated sea temperatures expected by 2050 and 2100.
Professor Philip Munday, Ms Jennifer Donelson, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Nature Climate Change
http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/news/JCU_094504
Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by a record 5.9 per cent in 2010 following the dampening effect of the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), according to scientists working with the Global Carbon Project (GCP). The GCP annual analysis reported that the impact of the GFC on emissions has been short-lived owing to strong emissions growth in emerging economies and a return to emissions growth in developed economies.
Contributions to global emissions growth in 2010 were largest from China, USA, India, the Russian Federation, and the European Union, with a continuously growing global share from emerging economies. Coal burning was at the heart of the growth in fossil fuel and cement emissions accounting for 52% of the total growth.
Dr Pep Canadell, Dr Mike Raupach, CSIRO
Nature Climate Change
http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/Global-Carbon-Project.aspx
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels plunged by 40 per cent before and during the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet 34 million years ago, according to a new study. The finding helps solve a long-standing scientific puzzle and confirms the power of C02 to dramatically alter global climate.
The study by an international team is the first multidisciplinary research of its kind to show that C02 was tracking global cooling at that time. It confirms that significant falls in the greenhouse gas result in global cooling, just as rises result in global warming.
Dr Willem Sijp, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW
http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-technology/plunge-co2-put-freeze-antarctica
The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC has launched a synopsis of the latest scientific research into changes in the temperature, salinity, acidity and circulation in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in global and regional climate.
More than 90% of the extra heat energy stored by the planet in the past 50 years has been absorbed in the world’s oceans, with the Southern Ocean’s latitude band storing more heat and CO2 than any other latitude band.
Dr Steve Rintoul, Professor Nathan Bindoff, The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC
Position Analysis: Climate Change and the Southern Ocean
http://www.acecrc.org.au/access/cms/news/?id=91&full=true
Climate change is already harming health in Australia, and poses a significant threat for the future, according to a report released by the Climate Commission.
The critical decade: climate change and health
http://climatecommission.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/key-messages_FINAL-FOR-WEB1.pdf
Chemical clues absorbed from the atmosphere by Antarctic mosses during nuclear tests in the 1950s and 60s, have provided scientists with evidence of significant climate change in East Antarctica.
The discovery comes after researchers found that the dramatic increase in atmospheric radiocarbon (14C), known as the ‘bomb spike’, was detectable in living moss shoots 50 years after nuclear testing, and could be used to track changes in moss growth rates.
Prof Sharon Robinson, University of Wollongong
New research providing critical information about how climate change is affecting Australia’s Pacific island neighbours and East Timor has been released today by the Australian Government’s Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP). The landmark, peer-reviewed publication, Climate Change in the Pacific: Scientific Assessment and New Research, presents the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date of climate change in the Pacific region.
Dr Scott Power, Bureau of Meteorology; Kevin Hennessy, CSIRO
http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/New-insight-into-climate-change-in-the-Pacific.aspx
Changes in snow and rain caused by global warming dominate the effects of land-use change on regional climates, according to a new international study led by Australians. The study found that land-use and land-cover changes tend to act as regional cooling mechanisms at mid to high latitudes but amplify warming in tropical regions.
Prof Andy Pitman, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, UNSW
Nature Climate Science
http://www.science.unsw.edu.au/news/global-warming-dominates-regional-effects-of-land-use-change/
Australian scientists have thrown new light on the mechanism behind the mass death of corals worldwide as the Earth’s climate warms. A team of scientists from Townsville has shown that as sea water begins to warm a complex cascade of molecular signals is triggered leading up to the self-inflicted death of corals and their symbiotic algae .
Lead author Dr Tracy Ainsworth, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Scientific Reports, Nature
http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/news/JCU_093922
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented findings from its special report Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation on Friday 18 November. Three Australian lead authors were involved with the report.
Prof Neville Nicholls, Monash University; Prof John Handmer, RMIT University
Dr Kathleen McInnes, Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research
Human activity is significantly weakening the ability of coastal ecosystems to dampen the impacts of rising CO2 levels, according to a new study by Sydney environmental scientists. The team has recommended that a high priority be placed on protecting and conserving seagrass, salt marsh and mangrove ecosystems.
Dr Peter Macreadie, Prof Peter Ralph, Prof Greg Skilbeck, University of Technology Sydney
Global Change Biology
http://newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2011/11/human-activity-pulling-the-plug-on-a-vital-carbon-sink
Coral reefs can both positively and negatively influence the acidity of their surrounding seawater.
Two papers recently published provide the first look at how the ocean acidification threat to coral reefs varies with reef type.
Dr Ken Anthony, Research Team Leader – Climate Change and Ocean Acidification, AIMS
Global Change Biology
