ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Neurotoxins in shark fins: A human health concern
• Climate change, increasing temperatures alter bird migration patterns
• Key to growth differences between species
• Earliest horses show past global warming affected body size of mammals
• Classic Maya Civilization collapse related to modest rainfall reductions, research suggests
• Illegal orangutan trader prosecuted
• U.S. urban forests losing ground
• How cells brace themselves for starvation
• Surprising diversity at a synapse hints at complex diversity of neural circuitry
• Even in winter, life persists in Arctic Seas
• Predator-prey relationships make possible the rich biodiversity of complex ecosystems
• Theory of the 'rotting' Y chromosome dealt a fatal blow
• A new, beautifully colored lizard discovered in the Peruvian Andes

Neurotoxins in shark fins: A human health concern Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:25 PM PST Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. They are primarily killed for their fins to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS). The study suggests that consumption of shark fin soup and cartilage pills may pose a significant health risk for degenerative brain diseases.

Climate change, increasing temperatures alter bird migration patterns Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:26 AM PST Birds in eastern North America are picking up the pace along their yearly migratory paths. The reason, according to researchers, is rising temperatures due to climate change.

Key to growth differences between species Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:26 AM PST The tiny, little-noticed jewel wasp may provide some answers as to how different species differ in size and shape. And that could lead to a better understanding of cell growth regulation, as well as the underlying causes of some diseases.

Earliest horses show past global warming affected body size of mammals Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:26 AM PST As scientists continue developing climate change projection models, paleontologists studying an extreme short-term global warming event have discovered direct evidence about how mammals respond to rising temperatures. Researchers have now found a correlation between temperature and body size in mammals by following the evolution of the earliest horses about 56 million years ago: As temperatures increased, their body size decreased.

Classic Maya Civilization collapse related to modest rainfall reductions, research suggests Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:24 AM PST The disintegration of the Maya Civilization may have been related to relatively modest reductions in rainfall, according to new research. Rather modest rainfall reductions between times when the Classic Maya Civilization flourished and its collapse - between AD 800-950, seems to have caused the collapse. These reductions amount to only 25 to 40 per cent in annual rainfall, but they were large enough for evaporation to become dominant over rainfall, and open water availability was rapidly reduced, researchers say.

Illegal orangutan trader prosecuted Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:24 AM PST Sumatra has made its first ever successful sentence of an illegal orangutan owner and trader in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

U.S. urban forests losing ground Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:40 AM PST National results indicate that tree cover in urban areas of the United States is declining at a rate of about 4 million trees per year.

How cells brace themselves for starvation Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:39 AM PST Cells that repress their "bad time" pumps when a nutrient is abundant were much more efficient at preparing for starvation and at recovering afterward than the cells that had been genetically engineered to avoid this repression.

Surprising diversity at a synapse hints at complex diversity of neural circuitry Posted: 22 Feb 2012 05:42 PM PST A new study reveals a dazzling degree of biological diversity in an unexpected place – a single neural connection in the body wall of flies.

Even in winter, life persists in Arctic Seas Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:46 PM PST Despite brutal cold and lingering darkness, life in the frigid waters off Alaska does not grind to a halt in the winter as scientists previously suspected. Microscopic creatures at the base of the Arctic food chain are not dormant as expected, according to new findings.

Predator-prey relationships make possible the rich biodiversity of complex ecosystems Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:46 PM PST As scientists warn that the Earth is on the brink of a period of mass extinctions, they are struggling to identify ecosystem responses to environmental change. But to truly understand these responses, more information is needed about how the Earth's staggering diversity of species originated.

Theory of the 'rotting' Y chromosome dealt a fatal blow Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:43 PM PST If you were to discover that a fundamental component of human biology has survived virtually intact for the past 25 million years, you'd be quite confident in saying that it is here to stay. Such is the case for a team of scientists, whose latest research on the evolution of the human Y chromosome confirms that the Y -— despite arguments to the contrary —- has a long, healthy future ahead of it.

A new, beautifully colored lizard discovered in the Peruvian Andes Posted: 17 Feb 2012 08:55 AM PST Researchers in Peru have discovered a new species of a beautifully-colored lizard, living in the mountainous regions of the country. The new species was named Potamites montanicola, or "mountain dweller" for its exclusive mountain distribution.

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