How to Get a Handle on Carbon Dioxide Uptake by Plants

A tall tower with instruments to measure carbon dioxide and light at Niwot Ridge, Colorado. Photo: Christian Frankenberg

Combining two tools would boost understanding of climate change How much carbon dioxide, a pivotal greenhouse gas behind global warming, is absorbed by plants on land? It’s a deceptively complicated question, so a Rutgers-led group of scientists recommends combining two cutting-edge tools to help answer the crucial climate change-related question. “We need to understand how the Earth is breathing now …

Ocean Algae Get “Coup de Grace” from Viruses

This image depicts viral infection of an Emiliania huxleyi cell superimposed on a satellite image of an E. huxleyi bloom in the Barents Sea. Credits: MODIS, NASA; Steve Gschmeissner, Photo Researchers Inc.; Kay Bidle & Christien Laber, Rutgers University

Viruses don’t immediately kill algae but live in harmony with them Scientists have long believed that ocean viruses always quickly kill algae, but Rutgers-led research shows they live in harmony with algae and viruses provide a “coup de grace” only when blooms of algae are already stressed and dying. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, will likely change how scientists view …

Author Kim Stanley Robinson to Read and Discuss “The Ministry for the Future” October 8

Author Kim Stanley Robinson to Read and Discuss “The Ministry for the Future” October 8

By Carol Peters Discover the insights science fiction can provide about climate change and its impacts when best-selling author Kim Stanley Robinson reads from his new book, followed by a panel discussion featuring Rutgers faculty members Naomi Klein, Robert Kopp, Jorge Marcone, and Cymie Payne. To have a chance of stabilizing the global climate, climate scientists tell us, humanity needs …

Land Development in New Jersey Continues to Slow

Coastal flooding in Tuckerton, New Jersey, from a storm off the East Coast in October 2019. Such flooding, which occurred during a high tide, is expected to increase as a result of sea-level rise. Image: Life on the Edge Drones

It’s unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to fight inequality will affect future trends Land development in New Jersey has slowed dramatically since the 2008 Great Recession, but it’s unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to fight societal and housing inequality will affect future trends, according to a Rutgers co-authored report. Between 2012 and 2015, 10,392 acres in the …

Indigenous People Vital for Understanding Environmental Change

Indigenous People Vital for Understanding Environmental Change

Rutgers-led research shows how local knowledge can help manage ecosystems and wildlife Grassroots knowledge from Indigenous people can help to map and monitor ecological changes and improve scientific studies, according to Rutgers-led research. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, shows the importance of Indigenous and local knowledge for monitoring ecosystem changes and managing ecosystems. The team collected more than …

Climate change: The South Pole feels the heat

The South Pole has warmed at over three times the global rate since 1989, according to a paper published in Nature Climate Change.

The extreme South Pole warming is within the range of natural variability, based on climate modeling simulations, but warming caused by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions likely intensified it. By Todd Bates The South Pole has warmed at over three times the global rate since 1989, according to a paper published in Nature Climate Change. This warming period was mainly driven by …

Rutgers Moves Toward a Climate Action Plan

Rutgers has taken the next step toward developing a climate action plan to reduce the university’s carbon footprint and to enhance the ability of Rutgers and the state of New Jersey to manage the risks of a changing climate.

Rutgers climate task force tackles solutions; committee to evaluate fossil fuels divestment Rutgers has taken the next step toward developing a climate action plan to reduce the university’s carbon footprint and to enhance the ability of Rutgers and the state of New Jersey to manage the risks of a changing climate. The President’s Task Force on Carbon Neutrality and Climate Resilience this …