Stony Corals More Resistant to Climate Change Than Thought

Researchers show how corals create rock-hard skeletons Stony corals may be more resilient to ocean acidification than once thought, according to a Rutgers University study that shows they rely on proteins to help create their rock-hard skeletons. “The bottom line is that corals will make rock even under adverse conditions,” said Paul G. Falkowski, EOAS member researcher and a distinguished …

Springs were Critical Water Sources for Early Humans in East Africa, Rutgers Study Finds

Scientists show how groundwater-fed springs may have influenced human evolution.  About 1 to 2 million years ago, early humans in East Africa periodically faced very dry conditions, with little or no water in sight. But they likely had access to hundreds of springs that lingered despite long dry spells, allowing our ancestors to head north and out of Africa, according …

EOAS Graduate Fellow Wins NSF Fellowship!

Congratulations to EOAS Graduate Fellow Alexandra Ramos for receiving an NSF Graduate Research fellowship! She is one of only 2,000 selected nationally for an NSF graduate fellowship for 2017 (and one of only 4 to receive it for Physical and Dynamical Meteorology!). Alexandra joins 11 other Rutgers-New Brunswick graduate students from other disciplines this year who are receiving this prestigious …

After Deepwater Horizon Spill: Which Animals Weathered The Disaster

After Deepwater Horizon Spill: Which Animals Weathered the Disaster A new study from a Coastal Waters Consortium team of researchers led by Rutgers University postdoctoral researcher, Michael McCann, has found which birds, fish, insects and other animals affected by the Deepwater Horizon explosion should be given top priority for conservation, protection and research. Until now scientists didn’t know which kinds …

Evidence of Sea-Level Change in Southeast Asia 6,000 Years Ago Has Implications for Today’s Coastal Dwellers, Rutgers Study Finds

For the 100 million people who live within 3 feet of sea level in East and Southeast Asia, the news that sea level in their region fluctuated wildly more than 6,000 years ago is important, according to research published by a team of ocean scientists and statisticians, including Rutgers professors and EOAS members Benjamin Horton and Robert Kopp and Rutgers …

How Evolution Alters Biological Invasions

Rutgers graduate student Cara Faillace and Professor Peter Morin studied evolution in models of invaded ecosystems.  Biological invasions pose major threats to biodiversity, but little is known about how evolution might alter their impacts over time. Now, Rutgers scientists have performed the first study of how evolution unfolds after invasions change native systems. The experimental invasions – elaborate experiments designed …

Tallying the Social Cost of Climate-Changing Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel power plants, motor vehicles and other human sources are the primary driver of global climate change, which threatens people and ecosystems around the world. But what, quantitatively, is the social cost of carbon dioxide – the economic damage caused by a 1-ton increase in emissions, or the benefits of cutting emissions by 1 ton? A …

EOAS Graduate Fellow wins AGU Award!

Congratulations to Sasha Leidman for winning the 2016 AGU Cryosphere Science Innovation Aware for Students,  also known as the “Flash-freeze” award presented at last week’s AGU meeting in San Francisco. Students interested in competing for the award has to submit a letter of intent. About 20 students are selected to present a 2 minute pitch of their of their innovative …

Finding Nemo: Scientifically!

It is a well known fact that baby fish will often float with ocean currents, following them wherever they may take them. But just how far from ‘home’ do they usually travel? DEENR professor and EOAS member Dr. Malin Pinsky along with some of his colleagues think they’ve found the answer. In their recent paper published in Current Biology (see link …

Asteroid Impacts Could Create Habitats for Life

An international team of 38 scientists, including Rutgers’ and EOAS member scientist Sonia Tikoo, has shown how large asteroid impacts deform rocks and possibly create habitats for early life on Earth and elsewhere. Around 65 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, causing an impact so huge that the blast and its aftermath wiped out …