Most recent 10 articles: Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems
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Hoopa Tribal member fights to save California’s Trinity River and its salmon - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
For 19-year-old Danielle Frank, California’s Trinity River is a cultural lifeline.
“We are water people. We are river people,” she says. “And we believe that when our river drains and there is no more water left, we will no longer be here.”
Frank is a Hoopa tribal member and Yurok descendant. The Trinity River runs through her homeland.
“Our river has been declining in health for decades,” she says.
The river has been dammed, and water from the Trinity is often diverted to the Central Valley. Frank says those diversions - combined ... Read more ...
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12 books for Earth Day - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
Climate change was not on the agenda for the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Pollution, population, and wildlife preservation were the causes proclaimed on the posters. Now those causes cannot be separated from climate change. For Earth Day 2023, Yale Climate Connections offers a bookshelf on the intersections between climate change and the issues that animated the participants in that founding event of modern environmentalism.
The list begins with two looks back.
The United States was still fighting in Vietnam on that first Earth Day. In ... Read more ...
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Trout-stocking programs could aid fish populations as the climate warms - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 31) |
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Mar 31 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
In spring, many anglers head to northern streams to fish for trout. They often find plenty to catch because state agencies stock popular fishing locations. This means they supplement the natural trout population with fish that were raised in captivity.
“We want to make sure that there’s enough out there to both support the environment as well as the take that’s going to happen of fish being harvested,” says Amy Teffer, a researcher from the University of Massachusetts.
She says existing stocking programs could provide an opportunity ... Read more ...
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‘How will global warming change springtime?’ - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 28) |
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Mar 28 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
Dear Sara,
I would like to read your prediction of the effects of climate change on the traditional four weather seasons.
From a lifestyle preference, it has been nice for me to know that in the summer, there will be the warmth of the ocean. In the fall, we see the shedding of the leaves and the beauty of the trees when they’re bare. In the winter, there may be snow or outdoor sports. In the spring, we see the wonderful flower gardens that people have planted – and the beauty of that can be predicted.
I ask the question because I have some ... Read more ...
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Can saving animal and plant species help protect the climate? - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 27) |
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Mar 27 · Take the Yale Climate Connections audience survey today.
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Yale Climate Connections
Does helping animals also help the climate? Yes!
The climate and biodiversity crises overlap in many ways, and so attention to one can create solutions to both. Keeping in mind that the term biodiversity may encompass both the variety and the abundance of living animals, plants, and even ecosystems, read on for an introduction to the big picture, several fascinating (and surprising) examples, and some promising new policy developments.
Start here for some ways attention to ... Read more ...
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Armadillos are showing up farther north as the climate warms - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 21) |
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Mar 21 · Take the Yale Climate Connections audience survey today.
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Yale Climate Connections
When homeowners in Illinois see a freshly dug hole in their lawn, few suspect it’s an armadillo. But in recent decades, these small, armored animals have established populations as far north as southern Illinois and Indiana.
These areas were once thought to be too chilly. Armadillos are hairless, so they’re vulnerable to low temperatures. When it’s cold, they also struggle to find food because the worms and bugs they eat burrow deep underground.
But Agustín Jiménez of Southern ... Read more ...
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You can help track the impacts of climate change in your yard - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 17) |
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Mar 17 · Take the Yale Climate Connections audience survey today.
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Yale Climate Connections
As global temperatures warm, many plants flower earlier in the spring. And lots of animals are changing their migration or nesting schedules.
It’s impossible for professional scientists to be on the ground everywhere tracking all the changes.
So trained volunteers are helping monitor more than 1,000 species through a program called Nature’s Notebook.
Alyssa Rosemartin is with the USA National Phenology Network, which runs the program.
“Folks go out in their backyards or ... Read more ...
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Free online tool helps people identify tree species that will thrive in a warmer climate - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 10) |
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Mar 10 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
As the climate warms, some tree species may no longer thrive in areas where they once flourished.
“A tree species may have a threshold in terms of the amount of heat it can tolerate, the amount of drought it can tolerate,” says Maria Janowiak of the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. “For instance, a northern conifer species that is adapted to cold conditions, it may not be able to persist or be competitive in a hotter climate.”
Her colleagues in the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station developed a free online tool called the ... Read more ...
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Protecting sagebrush habitat can help wildlife and the climate - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 7) |
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Mar 7 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
The sagebrush rangelands of the western U.S. may look empty, almost desolate. But these vast treeless landscapes are rich with life - from sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, and trout to pronghorn, mule deer, and elk.
“So hunters and anglers find the sagebrush ecosystem super important to them because this is a part of their way of life,” says Tiffany Turner of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
But she says sagebrush habitat is in peril.
According to a U.S. Geological Survey study, about 1.3 million acres are lost each year to ... Read more ...
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What is a 'blue carbon’ ecosystem? - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems (Mar 3) |
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Mar 3 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
Salt marshes, mangrove swamps, and sea grass meadows teem with birds and fish.
With thick vegetation and rich soils, these habitats also absorb a lot of planet-warming carbon dioxide, helping to reduce climate change. So they’re often referred to as “blue carbon” ecosystems.
“Some of these coastal blue carbon ecosystems have been shown to draw down carbon at 10 times the rate per area of tropical forests,” says Zachary Cannizzo of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
He says mangrove swamps, salt marshes, and sea grass ... Read more ...
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