Author: postMigrator

Bush Plan Takes Scientists Out of Decision Making On Endangered Species Status

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Published on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 by MSNBC
Bush Plan Takes Scientists Out of Decision Making On Endangered Species Status
MSNBC staff and news service reports

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration on Monday said it plans to let federal agencies decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.

The proposal, which does not require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years. Developers welcomed the plan, while environmentalists derided it.

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Climate and Mountain Forests Study: Abstract

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Background analysis
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“Climate change is not a new topic in
biology….. Observations of range shifts in
parallel with climate change … date back to the
mid-1700s.”

Parmesan, Camille. “Ecological and Evolutionary
Responses to Recent Climate Change.” The Annual
Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics
2006.
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Recent paper available as PDF file

Proceedings National Academy of Sciences
August 19, 2008
vol. 105  no. 33  pp. 11823-11826

“Rapid shifts in plant distribution with recent climate change”
Anne E. Kelly and Michael L. Goulden

Edited by Christopher B. Field, Carnegie
Institution of Washington, Stanford, CA, and
approved June 6, 2008 (received for review March
24, 2008)

ABSTRACT: A change in climate would be expected
to shift plant distribution as species expand in
newly favorable areas and decline in increasingly
hostile locations. We compared surveys of plant
cover that were made in 1977 and 2006 -2007 along
a 2,314-m elevation gradient in Southern
California’s Santa Rosa Mountains. Southern
California’s climate warmed at the surface, the
precipitation variability increased, and the
amount of snow decreased during the 30-year
period preceding the second survey. We found that
the average elevation of the dominant plant
species rose by appox 65 meters between the
surveys. This shift cannot be attributed to
changes in air pollution or fire frequency and
appears to be a consequence of changes in
regional climate.

KEYWORDS: plant migration  range shift

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Group Concerned About Climate Change Challenges Oil Sands Development

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Published on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 by The Leader-Post (Saskatchewan)
Group Concerned About Climate Change Challenges Oil Sands Development
by Angela Hall

SASKATCHEWAN – As companies bid Monday for the chance to explore Saskatchewan’s oilsands, those opposed to such development made their voices heard at the Legislative Building.

About a dozen people with placards reading “Tar Sands = Climate Change” and “Get informed Saskatchewan” urged the provincial government to stop issuing exploratory permits for the oilsands until further study is done.

The event, organized by the local chapter of the Council of Canadians, coincided with the province’s August sale of oil and natural gas rights, which offered oilsands rights for only the second time.

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Human Activity, El Nino Warming West Antarctic

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Human activity, El Nino warming West Antarctic: study
Tue Aug 12, 2008 5:37pm EDT 

.NEW YORK (Reuters) – Human activity and the El Nino weather pattern over the last century have warmed West Antarctica, part of the world’s coldest continent, according to a study based on four years of collecting ice core data.

The West Antarctic warmed in response to higher temperatures in the tropical Pacific, which itself has been warming due to weather patterns like a major El Nino event from 1939 to 1942 and greenhouse emissions from cars and factories, according to the study.

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