Category archives: Ecology

How to investigate the effect of climate change on multiple species without a mechanistic model

How to investigate the effect of climate change on multiple species without a mechanistic model

EcologyMathematics

By BCAM

Species distribution models (SDM) are computer algorithms that relate species distribution, occurrence or abundance, with information on environmental conditions and spatial characteristics of locations where the species has been, or is suspected to be, found. These models can be used to predict or to have a better understanding of the species distribution, and are widely […]

Challenging predictions for the impact of elevated CO2 on eucalyptus woodlands

Challenging predictions for the impact of elevated CO2 on eucalyptus woodlands

EcologyPlant biology

By Invited Researcher

Author: Teresa E. Gimeno is an Ikerbasque Research Fellow at The Basque Centre for Climate Change One of the expected effects of rising atmospheric CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere is an increase in plant water use efficiency. This is due to the expected enhancement of photosynthesis under future atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, together with […]

Sunscreens, health and environment: a dangerous cocktail?

Sunscreens, health and environment: a dangerous cocktail?

EcologyHealth

By Sergio Laínez

Prolonged exposure to sunlight is not recommended. Even though is really important to synthesize vitamin D which helps us absorbing calcium or phosphate and maintain a mineralized skeleton, the effects of sun´s ultraviolet radiation (mainly UVA and UVB) can be prejudicial in the long term. Main issues may be sunburn (UVB), reduced skin elasticity leading […]

Can a Nitrate Transporter help to reduce the contamination associated to excessive fertilization in agriculture?

Can a Nitrate Transporter help to reduce the contamination associated to excessive fertilization in agriculture?

BiologyEcologyPlant biology

By Daniel Marino

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient for plant growth and most plants require 20-50 g of N taken up by their roots to produce 1 kg of dry biomass. Although N is one of the most abundant elements on earth, agricultural soils are deficient in N and thus, to sustain crops productivity soils require their […]

Nomadic plastics

Nomadic plastics

BiologyEcology

By Maialen Ruiz Prada

Bottles, bags, toys, clothes, prostheses… plastic is everywhere. Its global production has reached the quantity of 288,000,000 tonnes in 2012 . Day to day and year after year we only manage to get rid of a fraction of it by recycling, reusing or storing it in dumps but, sadly, some of that plastic ends up […]