Climate change expected to occur in the coming decades may cause forests in northern stretches of the U.S. Rockies to stop absorbing carbon dioxide and even to release some to the atmosphere, exacerbating the planet's warming.
Trees pull carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. Much of the carbon from that gas is stored in wood and foliage, but some ends up in material littering the forest floor and in the underlying soil. From there, it can make its way back into general circulation, says Céline Boisvenue, an ecologist at the University of Montana in Missoula. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.ORG
She and her colleague Steven W. Running used computer models to estimate how three climate-change scenarios might affect carbon storage at forest sites in Idaho, western Montana, and northwestern Wyoming.http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.ORG
The good news: By 2089, the growing season in the forests will be at least 3 weeks longer than it was in 1950. The bad news: Over that same period, higher temperatures will cause the trees to suffer water stress—slowing or stopping their growth—for an additional 8 weeks each year. Even under a climate scenario with higher precipitation than at present, trees will have insufficient water for 54 more days each year in 2089 than they did in 1950.
By the year 2020, under a scenario with reduced precipitation, dieback of trees and decomposition of leaf litter at three of the six studied sites will cause the forests to emit more carbon dioxide than they absorb. By the year 2070, the forests at five of those sites will be net producers of carbon, says Boisvenue. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
nanoparticles 99.nan.00003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Bacteria found lurking in the bowels of an abandoned Wisconsin mine might have a role in cleaning up toxic metals. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO A new study shows that these bacteria make compounds that cement minute metallic particles into balls that naturally drop out of contaminated water.
As part of their metabolic cycles, certain bacteria that live in watery, oxygenfree environments take up one type of sulfur-containing chemical, a sulfate, and transform it into another type, a sulfide, that they then release. The sulfide binds to metals dissolved in water to form nanoparticles.
John Moreau of the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, Wis., and his colleagues studied the activity of such bacteria in a flooded lead-and-zinc mine. They discovered that zinc sulfide nanoparticles "were being scooped up and glommed together into spheroids," he says. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO
The larger spheroids tend to settle out long before they get into the water supply.
The researchers found that, by weight, proteinlike material formed 10 to 15 percent of the metal spheroids. In lab tests, zinc sulfide nanoparticles clumped when placed in contact with the amino acid cysteine, a protein component. The team reports its findings in the June 15 Science. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO
Scientists had previously come across metal spheroids in other oxygen-deprived environments and had proposed that heat, pressure, or magnetism might have formed the balls. Moreau and his colleagues now say that the bacteria can do double duty, creating a sulfide that leads to nanoparticle formation as well as making the proteinlike compounds that appear to promote nanoparticle clumping. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
As part of their metabolic cycles, certain bacteria that live in watery, oxygenfree environments take up one type of sulfur-containing chemical, a sulfate, and transform it into another type, a sulfide, that they then release. The sulfide binds to metals dissolved in water to form nanoparticles.
John Moreau of the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, Wis., and his colleagues studied the activity of such bacteria in a flooded lead-and-zinc mine. They discovered that zinc sulfide nanoparticles "were being scooped up and glommed together into spheroids," he says. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO
The larger spheroids tend to settle out long before they get into the water supply.
The researchers found that, by weight, proteinlike material formed 10 to 15 percent of the metal spheroids. In lab tests, zinc sulfide nanoparticles clumped when placed in contact with the amino acid cysteine, a protein component. The team reports its findings in the June 15 Science. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO
Scientists had previously come across metal spheroids in other oxygen-deprived environments and had proposed that heat, pressure, or magnetism might have formed the balls. Moreau and his colleagues now say that the bacteria can do double duty, creating a sulfide that leads to nanoparticle formation as well as making the proteinlike compounds that appear to promote nanoparticle clumping. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
wilson 88.wil.44413 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
One of the century’s most influential scientists and thinkers, Edward O. Wilson first came to widespread attention with the publication of his landmark book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis in 1975. http://louis9j9sheehan.blog.com In it he describes sociobiology as “the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior.” The work’s most debated tenet was that all human behavior is ultimately genetically based—or, as Wilson once put it, that “genes hold culture on a leash.” Extremely influential and wildly controversial, Sociobiology changed the way animal and human behavior was researched and viewed. http://louis9j9sheehan.blog.com In fact, with this work Wilson accomplished what few scientists before him had done: He created a new paradigm of science. A recipient of the National Medal of Science and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, Wilson began his scientific life as an authority on ants and later turned his attention to the welfare of the entire living world. In works such as The Diversity of Life (1992), Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998), and The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth (2006), he pleads for a union of science, religion, and the humanities to protect the biodiversity on which all earthly life depends.
An appreciation of Wilson by Richard Machalek, sociobiologist, University of Wyoming:
Once, on a visit to San Antonio, Texas, Ed Wilson asked me to take him to the Alamo, that iconic old mission now famous as the site of a desperate battle for independence waged by “Texians” and Tejanos against a powerful Mexican army. Upon entering the sanctum, Wilson approached and leaned over a diorama depicting the battle in miniature. After closely scrutinizing the lines drawn by the toy soldiers as if they were ants, Wilson straightened up and in sad resignation commented, “The poor devils never stood a chance.” http://louis9j9sheehan.blog.com
A career devoted to close observation of miniature lives has endowed this world-class scientist with the following inclinations: His gaze is drawn routinely not to the panoramic but to the minute, in which he sees elemental structures and processes comprising the basic ingredients of life. He is never content with knowing only what the books say but rather is determined, whenever possible, to go on-site to probe the fortresses of orthodoxy so as to see what might crumble and collapse. And he has become an inveterate disturber of the intellectual peace who has shown us with crystal clarity that any effort to fathom the human condition, absent an understanding of our place in nature, is doomed. This is Ed Wilson, Lord of the Ants, who has changed forever both our understanding of human nature and the fragile biosphere in which it evolved. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
An appreciation of Wilson by Richard Machalek, sociobiologist, University of Wyoming:
Once, on a visit to San Antonio, Texas, Ed Wilson asked me to take him to the Alamo, that iconic old mission now famous as the site of a desperate battle for independence waged by “Texians” and Tejanos against a powerful Mexican army. Upon entering the sanctum, Wilson approached and leaned over a diorama depicting the battle in miniature. After closely scrutinizing the lines drawn by the toy soldiers as if they were ants, Wilson straightened up and in sad resignation commented, “The poor devils never stood a chance.” http://louis9j9sheehan.blog.com
A career devoted to close observation of miniature lives has endowed this world-class scientist with the following inclinations: His gaze is drawn routinely not to the panoramic but to the minute, in which he sees elemental structures and processes comprising the basic ingredients of life. He is never content with knowing only what the books say but rather is determined, whenever possible, to go on-site to probe the fortresses of orthodoxy so as to see what might crumble and collapse. And he has become an inveterate disturber of the intellectual peace who has shown us with crystal clarity that any effort to fathom the human condition, absent an understanding of our place in nature, is doomed. This is Ed Wilson, Lord of the Ants, who has changed forever both our understanding of human nature and the fragile biosphere in which it evolved. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
molten 55.molt.1 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
A new approach for breaking down cellulose could improve prospects for energy-efficient biofuels, researchers report.http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/purposeforporpoise
Although making biofuels from the cellulose in cell walls of switchgrass or wood chips should require less energy than making corn-based ethanol, finding efficient ways to degrade cellulose has been difficult.
But molten salts can help break down the tough, energy-containing cellulose molecules without creating unwanted by-products, researchers said Monday at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing in Chicago.
The process “gives a much cleaner biomass than we’ve seen with these other processes,” said Jay Keasling of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. “It looks really promising.”
Keasling heads the Joint BioEnergy Institute, one of three biofuel research centers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Existing techniques use strong acids or high temperatures to start degrading cellulose into simple sugars, but these methods also produce toxic chemical by-products. For reasons that aren’t well understood, those unwanted chemicals inhibit the microbes that ferment the sugars into fuels, thus reducing yields.
“It’s a good potential use because molten salts are such strong and unique solvents,” comments Bruce Hammock, an agricultural biotechnology researcher who has worked with molten salts at the University of California, Davis.
Also called ionic liquids, molten salts consist almost entirely of electrically charged atoms or molecules called ions. The electrostatic forces exerted by these charged particles make the liquids exceptionally good for dissolving a wide range of substances.
The liquid “completely disrupts the crystalline structure of the cellulose,” says Blake Simmons, a biochemical engineer at JBEI and leader of the group performing the research. The resulting amorphous structure “is much easier to break down into glucose,” a simple sugar.http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/purposeforporpoise
Chemists have studied ionic liquids as a “green” alternative to other industrial solvents for years, but Simmons says research on using ionic liquids to help break down plant matter for making fuels began only a few months ago.
Although making biofuels from the cellulose in cell walls of switchgrass or wood chips should require less energy than making corn-based ethanol, finding efficient ways to degrade cellulose has been difficult.
But molten salts can help break down the tough, energy-containing cellulose molecules without creating unwanted by-products, researchers said Monday at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing in Chicago.
The process “gives a much cleaner biomass than we’ve seen with these other processes,” said Jay Keasling of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. “It looks really promising.”
Keasling heads the Joint BioEnergy Institute, one of three biofuel research centers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Existing techniques use strong acids or high temperatures to start degrading cellulose into simple sugars, but these methods also produce toxic chemical by-products. For reasons that aren’t well understood, those unwanted chemicals inhibit the microbes that ferment the sugars into fuels, thus reducing yields.
“It’s a good potential use because molten salts are such strong and unique solvents,” comments Bruce Hammock, an agricultural biotechnology researcher who has worked with molten salts at the University of California, Davis.
Also called ionic liquids, molten salts consist almost entirely of electrically charged atoms or molecules called ions. The electrostatic forces exerted by these charged particles make the liquids exceptionally good for dissolving a wide range of substances.
The liquid “completely disrupts the crystalline structure of the cellulose,” says Blake Simmons, a biochemical engineer at JBEI and leader of the group performing the research. The resulting amorphous structure “is much easier to break down into glucose,” a simple sugar.http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/purposeforporpoise
Chemists have studied ionic liquids as a “green” alternative to other industrial solvents for years, but Simmons says research on using ionic liquids to help break down plant matter for making fuels began only a few months ago.
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