Current regulations and reservoir management practices impede efforts to deal with sediment accumulation behind U.S. dams. New approaches are needed to improve reservoir sustainability.
ecosystems
Posted inNews
A Reminder of a Desert’s Past, Before Dingo Removal
A fence spans Australia’s Strzelecki Desert, keeping dingoes out of the southern side. Drone and satellite technology have illustrated how removing this top predator changes vegetation growth.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Dueling Eyes on Ecosystem Metabolism Tell Diverging Stories
Multiple state-of-the-art independent observing systems consistently disagree on magnitudes and patterns of ecosystem metabolism of carbon dioxide, but together can shed new insight.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Coastal Ecosystems Under Pressure Worldwide
A new book explores how two river-dominated coastal estuaries are responding to the pressures of human expansion and climate change.
Posted inNews
Vicuña Poop Nourishes “Dung Gardens” High in the Andes
The excrement delivers nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen, kick-starting islands of vegetation at the edge of the cryosphere.
Posted inNews
Sea Cucumbers: The Excremental Heroes of Coral Reef Ecosystems
Drone surveillance reveals just how big a contribution sea cucumbers make to reef habitats.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Role of Midsized Phytoplankton in Earth’s Biological Pump
New research finds that nanoplankton may have a larger influence on carbon cycling than previously thought.
Posted inNews
Waterways Change as Cities Grow Nearby
Using multidecadal data sets, researchers have traced how urbanization affects streamflow across the continental United States.
Posted inNews
Hurricane Maria Killed Mangroves Months After Storm
An overgrown channel between a lagoon and the ocean on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques created a backup of freshwater, disrupting the delicate balance of salinity in coastal mangrove forests.
Posted inNews
La Geología y la Química Impulsan la Migración Animal en el Serengueti
Trabajo de campo en Tanzania sugiere que la química del suelo—influenciada por el vulcanismo local y la actividad tectónica—podría ayudar a determinar la migración sin precedentes de más de un millón de ñus.