Wetlands are characterized by saturation levels, hydric soils, and hydrophytic plants
Tag: water
China’s ecological restoration projects deplete terrestrial water stores
Irvine, Calif., Sept. 10, 2020 – Through concerted, policy-driven efforts, China has converted large swaths of desert into grassland over the past few decades, but this success has come at a cost. In a study published recently in Nature Sustainability, scientists at the University of California, Irvine report that the Asian nation’s environmental reclamation programs have substantially diminished terrestrially stored water.
New Device Can Measure Toxic Lead Within Minutes
Rutgers researchers have created a miniature device for measuring trace levels of toxic lead in sediments at the bottom of harbors, rivers and other waterways within minutes – far faster than currently available laboratory-based tests, which take days. The affordable lab-on-a-chip device could also allow municipalities, water companies, universities, K-12 schools, daycares and homeowners to easily and swiftly test their water supplies. The research is published in the IEEE Sensors Journal.
Argonne scientists create water filtration membranes that can clean themselves
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have designed a new, low-cost means to address membrane fouling through the application of a light-activated coating that can make the membrane self-cleaning.
Bacteria Can Defuse Dangerous Chemical In Passaic River
Bacteria that can help defuse highly toxic dioxin in sediments in the Passaic River – a Superfund hazardous waste site – could eventually aid cleanup efforts at other dioxin-contaminated sites around the world, according to Rutgers scientists. Their research, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, needs further work to realize the full potential of the beneficial bottom-dwelling microbes.
Water, conservation and policy experts warn new federal rule could harm U.S. waters
A group of aquatic scientists and policy experts warns that the Navigable Waters Protection Rule recently adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could profoundly degrade the nation’s water quality.
How clean water technologies could get a boost from X-ray synchrotrons
In a new perspective, SLAC and University of Paderborn scientists argue that research at synchrotrons could help improve water-purifying materials in ways that might not otherwise be possible.
How much fluorine is too much fluorine?
Research investigates how fluorine levels affect beneficial soil microbes
Quenching the need for water quality data in West Virginia
A new portal is increasing access to surface and groundwater water quality data from shale gas regions around the state to inform stakeholders about trends in water quality.
Water-Saving Alternative Forage Crops for Texas Livestock
With increasing drought conditions in the Texas High Plains, researchers test sorghum and pearl millet as alternatives to corn
Rutgers Expert Can Discuss Dry, Warm June in N.J., Potential Drought
New Brunswick, N.J. (July 8, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick climatologist David A. Robinson is available for interviews on the dry, unusually warm June in New Jersey, the dry and very warm first six months of 2020 and the potential for drought…
Purifying water with the help of wood, bacteria and the sun
Researchers reporting in Nano Letters have developed a wood-based steam generator that, with the help of bacterial-produced nanomaterials, harnesses solar energy to purify water.
How to Tackle Climate Change, Food Security and Land Degradation
How can some of world’s biggest problems – climate change, food security and land degradation – be tackled simultaneously? Some lesser-known options, such as integrated water management and increasing the organic content of soil, have fewer trade-offs than many well-known options, such as planting trees, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Global Change Biology.
How are oysters farmed – and what’s the effect on subaqueous soils?
Oyster aquaculture poses minor changes to soils and bottom-dwelling communities
Rutgers Expert Can Discuss Benefits of Backyard Composting
New Brunswick, N.J. (June 29, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Michele Bakacs can discuss the benefits of composting for soil health and reducing waste going to landfills, how to get started with composting in your backyard, the correct ingredients for success…
Carbon Cycling in Wet Soils
Testing microbial activity in soil columns helps researchers understand how carbon is stored in soils that are periodically waterlogged.
23 Years of Water Quality Data from Crop-Livestock Systems
Researchers summarize runoff water quantity and quality data from native tallgrass prairie and crop-livestock systems in Oklahoma between 1977 and 1999
Steady Streams: Bringing Safe Water to California Communities
With a mix of research and outreach, the CSU is addressing one of California’s greatest challenges by securing access to safe drinking water for some of the state’s most vulnerable populations.
Solving the mysteries of water and air underground
The mysterious capillary fringe has huge effects on the soil, and new research tells us how it works.
Global glacier melt raises sea levels and depletes once-reliable water source
Irvine, Calif., June 1, 2020 – The melting of glaciers and ice caps in places as diverse as the Himalayas and Andes mountain ranges, the Svalbard island group and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has the dual effect of raising global sea levels and depleting freshwater resources that serve millions of people around the world.
What’s being done to restore wetlands?
Restoration projects bring back the ecological and societal benefits of wetland ecosystems
Can newer irrigation techniques save water?
Using technology makes the best out of every drop
Soil pores hold the key to stability for desert soils
Study shows which desert soils better recover from disturbance
Microorganisms in parched regions extract needed water from colonized rocks
Irvine, Calif., May 4, 2020 – In Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, microorganisms are able to eke out an existence by extracting water from the very rocks they colonize. Through work in the field and laboratory experiments, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, as well as Johns Hopkins University and UC Riverside, gained an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms by which some cyanobacteria survive in harsh surroundings.
Climate change’s toll on freshwater fish: A new database for science
Researchers, fisheries managers, conservationists, journalists and others can use FiCli to find scientific articles based on factors such as fish species, habitat type, location and type of climate change impact (such as a change in temperature or precipitation). Database: https://ficli.shinyapps.io/database/
Study describes cocktail of pharmaceuticals in waters in Bangladesh
An analysis revealed that water samples held a cocktail of pharmaceuticals and other compounds, including antibiotics, antifungals, anticonvulsants, anesthetics, antihypertensive drugs, pesticides, flame retardants and more. Not all chemicals were found at every test site.
Hubble Probes Alien Comet’s Chemical Makeup
Zooming through space, the first bonafide interstellar comet discovered passing through our solar system is yielding chemical clues to its origin. An abundance of carbon monoxide contained in comet Borisov suggests it was born around a cool red dwarf star.
Rutgers Experts Available to Discuss Environmental Protection During COVID-19 Crisis
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 15, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick professors Nicole Fahrenfeld and John Reinfelder are available for interviews on environmental protection issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fahrenfeld can discuss issues including microbial water quality, sewer issues (including what…
Rutgers Experts Can Discuss Emissions, Climate Change During COVID-19 Crisis
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 13, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick experts are available for interviews on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and efforts to promote a greener economy and lifestyles. “During the 2007…
Soil Science Society publishes blogs about Deepwater Horizon’s Anniversary
Blogs look at the immediate and long-term impacts on the Gulf’s coastal soils
Rutgers Experts Available to Discuss Healthy Eating During COVID-19 Pandemic
New Brunswick, N.J. (March 27, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick experts are available for interviews on healthy eating during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Visualize breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least five days. What will you serve? What do you need?” according…
Beef consumption hurting river quality
A new study shows irrigation of cattle feed crops is the greatest consumer of river water in the Western United States, implicating beef and dairy consumption as the leading driver of water shortages and fish imperilment in the region.
To help students think in 3D, a geologist turns to paper model making
“Geology is a 3D science, but everything we give to students is on a 2D piece of paper,” says University at Buffalo geologist Chris Lowry, creator of the Foldable Aquifer Project. “With the foldable aquifers, students don’t have to imagine what a 2D drawing looks like in 3D.”
Do soils need a low-salt diet?
New findings suggest soils exposed to salt release more greenhouse gas
Citizen scientists may be an untapped resource for water quality improvement
Raising awareness and offering technological tools to the thousands of citizens groups in the U.S. that monitor water quality might help community leaders tap these volunteers as a way to improve access to plentiful, clean water and possibly avoid water-related crises, according to a team of researchers.
Forest soils recovering from effects of acid rain
Study shows improvement of soils and streams in the southern Appalachians
Global Cooling After Nuclear War Would Harm Ocean Life
A nuclear war that cooled Earth could worsen the impact of ocean acidification on corals, clams, oysters and other marine life with shells or skeletons, according to the first study of its kind.
Scientists Find Far Higher than Expected Rate of Underwater Glacial Melting
Tidewater glaciers, the massive rivers of ice that end in the ocean, may be melting underwater much faster than previously thought, according to a Rutgers co-authored study that used robotic kayaks. The findings, which challenge current frameworks for analyzing ocean-glacier interactions, have implications for the rest of the world’s tidewater glaciers, whose rapid retreat is contributing to sea-level rise.
What’s in Your Water?
Mixing drinking water with chlorine, the United States’ most common method of disinfecting drinking water, creates previously unidentified toxic byproducts, says Carsten Prasse from Johns Hopkins University and his collaborators from the University of California, Berkeley and Switzerland.
New Portable Tool Analyzes Microbes in the Environment
Imagine a device that could swiftly analyze microbes in oceans and other aquatic environments, revealing the health of these organisms – too tiny to be seen by the naked eye – and their response to threats to their ecosystems. Rutgers researchers have created just such a tool, a portable device that could be used to assess microbes, screen for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and analyze algae that live in coral reefs. Their work is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Trump pollution control cuts ‘not consistent with science,’ will cost Americans
The Trump Administration is expected to finalize a plan on Thursday to remove Obama era environmental protections for streams and wetlands, and cut pollution controls in place since the 1972 Clean Water Act. Catherine Kling is an environmental economist at…
What’s in Puget Sound? New technique casts a wide net for concerning chemicals
Using a new “non-targeted” approach, University of Washington and UW Tacoma researchers screened samples from multiple regions of Puget Sound to look for potentially harmful compounds that might be present.
Helping roadside soils bounce back after construction
Research shows tillage and vegetation can help alleviate compaction
NSF grant funds research to study nature-based solutions for river restoration
Xiaofeng Liu, associate professor of civil engineering, received a $297,791 NSF grant to study how water and sediment move around nature-based solutions for river restoration.
Scientists observe ultrafast birth of radicals
An international team of researchers have, for the first time, glimpsed the ultrafast process of proton transfer following ionization of liquid water, shedding light on how radical cations separate from their electron partners, neutralize and subsequently drift about creating damage.
Study: How U.S. sewage plants can remove medicines from wastewater
A study of seven wastewater treatment plants points to two treatment methods — granular activated carbon and ozonation — as being particularly promising for reducing the concentration of pharmaceuticals including certain antidepressants and antibiotics.
Rural decline not driven by water recovery
New research from the University of Adelaide has shown that climate and economic factors are the main drivers of farmers leaving their properties in the Murray-Darling Basin, not reduced water for irrigation as commonly claimed.
Water management grows farm profits
Study investigates effects of irrigation management on yield and profit
Water scarcity could impact 85% of Africa by 2050, new research shows
Twenty-eight countries in Africa could face water stress or scarcity by 2050, according to research led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Red Algae Thrive Despite Ancestor’s Massive Loss of Genes
You’d think that losing 25 percent of your genes would be a big problem for survival. But not for red algae, including the seaweed used to wrap sushi. An ancestor of red algae lost about a quarter of its genes roughly one billion years ago, but the algae still became dominant in near-shore coastal areas around the world, according to Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Debashish Bhattacharya, who co-authored a study in the journal Nature Communications.