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Conservation Research Institute

 

Offshore wind in the Mediterranean: renewables can, and must, protect biodiversity – here’s how

Biodiversity News - Mon, 30/06/2025 - 17:24
Offshore wind farms threaten local biodiversity, but also protect it by reducing emissions. Paul Wawrzynkowski, PhD candidate, Universitat de Barcelona Josep Lloret, Investigador científico (senior researcher)., Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC) Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

What’s at risk for Arctic wildlife if Trump expands oil drilling in the fragile National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

Biodiversity News - Mon, 30/06/2025 - 13:32
Caribou, migrating birds and many other types of wildlife rely on this expanse of wetlands and tundra. Humanity and the climate depend on a healthy Arctic, too. Mariah Meek, Associate Professor of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Wed 02 Jul 14:00: Rethinking Antarctic Polynya Productivity: The Impact of Ice-Adjacency Effects on NPP Estimates along Icy Coasts

Conservation-related talks - Sun, 29/06/2025 - 11:53
Rethinking Antarctic Polynya Productivity: The Impact of Ice-Adjacency Effects on NPP Estimates along Icy Coasts

Ocean color-based estimates of Antarctic net primary productivity (NPP) have indicated low nearshore productivity in ice-adjacent waters, contrasting with coupled physical-biogeochemical models. To understand this discrepancy, we assessed satellite records of polynya NPP by comparing field data with two satellite imagery datasets derived using different processing schemes. Our results indicate historical underestimation of chlorophyll a (Chl) for imagery obtained using default atmospheric correction processing within approximately 100 km of ice-covered coastlines due to adjacency effects. Using radiative transfer modeling, we find that biases in ocean color polynya observations due to adjacency effects correspond to the high albedo of ice and snow. When applying an atmospheric correction processing scheme more robust to adjacency contamination, estimates of NPP more than doubled in 65 % of polynyas, especially smaller eastern Antarctic polynyas. Adjacency effects should therefore be managed when analyzing spatial and temporal trends in Antarctic coastal primary productivity.

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Wed 02 Jul 14:00: Rethinking Antarctic Polynya Productivity: The Impact of Ice-Adjacency Effects on NPP Estimates along Icy Coasts

Conservation Talks - Sun, 29/06/2025 - 11:53
Rethinking Antarctic Polynya Productivity: The Impact of Ice-Adjacency Effects on NPP Estimates along Icy Coasts

Ocean color-based estimates of Antarctic net primary productivity (NPP) have indicated low nearshore productivity in ice-adjacent waters, contrasting with coupled physical-biogeochemical models. To understand this discrepancy, we assessed satellite records of polynya NPP by comparing field data with two satellite imagery datasets derived using different processing schemes. Our results indicate historical underestimation of chlorophyll a (Chl) for imagery obtained using default atmospheric correction processing within approximately 100 km of ice-covered coastlines due to adjacency effects. Using radiative transfer modeling, we find that biases in ocean color polynya observations due to adjacency effects correspond to the high albedo of ice and snow. When applying an atmospheric correction processing scheme more robust to adjacency contamination, estimates of NPP more than doubled in 65 % of polynyas, especially smaller eastern Antarctic polynyas. Adjacency effects should therefore be managed when analyzing spatial and temporal trends in Antarctic coastal primary productivity.

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Wed 02 Jul 14:00: Rethinking Antarctic Polynya Productivity: The Impact of Ice-Adjacency Effects on NPP Estimates along Icy Coasts

Conservation at Cambridge - Sun, 29/06/2025 - 11:53
Rethinking Antarctic Polynya Productivity: The Impact of Ice-Adjacency Effects on NPP Estimates along Icy Coasts

Ocean color-based estimates of Antarctic net primary productivity (NPP) have indicated low nearshore productivity in ice-adjacent waters, contrasting with coupled physical-biogeochemical models. To understand this discrepancy, we assessed satellite records of polynya NPP by comparing field data with two satellite imagery datasets derived using different processing schemes. Our results indicate historical underestimation of chlorophyll a (Chl) for imagery obtained using default atmospheric correction processing within approximately 100 km of ice-covered coastlines due to adjacency effects. Using radiative transfer modeling, we find that biases in ocean color polynya observations due to adjacency effects correspond to the high albedo of ice and snow. When applying an atmospheric correction processing scheme more robust to adjacency contamination, estimates of NPP more than doubled in 65 % of polynyas, especially smaller eastern Antarctic polynyas. Adjacency effects should therefore be managed when analyzing spatial and temporal trends in Antarctic coastal primary productivity.

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Australia’s native bees struggled after the Black Summer fires – but a world-first solution brought them buzzing back

Biodiversity News - Wed, 25/06/2025 - 05:54
A researcher left 1,000 artificial bee nests in a forest devastated by bushfire … and then began an anxious wait. Kit Prendergast, Postdoctoral Researcher, Pollination Ecology, University of Southern Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Thu 26 Jun 13:00: Statistical physics for climate sciences: applications to wave turbulence, extreme heat waves, and extremes of renewable energy production

Conservation at Cambridge - Mon, 23/06/2025 - 12:10
Statistical physics for climate sciences: applications to wave turbulence, extreme heat waves, and extremes of renewable energy production

Climate changes impacts and the need for its mitigation and adaptation will change deeply many aspects of our society. Physicists can contribute decisively to this endeavor. Indeed, the theoretical aspects of climate science are a new and highly multidisciplinary field, with contributions from statistical physics, mathematics, data and computer sciences, as well as hydrodynamics and turbulence. Research In this field are performed at the forefront of many contemporary subjects connected to statistical physics: effective dynamics, inference of stochastic processes, and inference of causality relations, and of their connection with machine learning, large deviation theory, to cite just of few examples.

In this talk I will discuss several examples where statistical physics and large deviation theory can be useful to solve fundamental problems for the dynamics of the climate system. The first example will be a theoretical contribution to the kinetic theory of wave turbulence. Wave turbulence plays an important role for atmosphere/ocean physical exchanges and for mixing of the ocean interior. I will explain how large deviation theory allows to extend this classical theory to compute effects of typical and rare spontaneous fluctuations. I will explain how this can be used for stochastic parameterization for wave energy propagation.

A large part of the talk will be dedicated to extreme heat waves. Extreme events or transitions between climate attractors are of primarily importance for understanding the impact of climate change. Recent extreme heat waves, with huge impact, are striking examples. However, they cannot be studied with conventional approaches, because they are too rare and realistic models are too complex. We will discuss several new algorithms and theoretical approaches, based on large deviation theory, rare event simulations, and machine learning for stochastic processes, which we have specifically designed for the prediction of extreme heat waves. Using the best available climate models, our approach sheds new light on the fluid mechanics processes which lead to these events. We will describe quasi-stationary patterns of turbulent Rossby waves that lead to global teleconnection patterns in connection with heat waves and analyze their dynamics.

At the end of the talk, I will briefly outline current projects where we use the same tools to study extremes of renewable energy production and their connection with climate dynamics. Those rare events are key for the future of the European electricity system

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Jaws helped spur a fishing frenzy – so how have the world’s sharks fared since the 1975 release?

Biodiversity News - Thu, 19/06/2025 - 18:29
The film made us afraid to go back in the water. It ultimately gave sharks more to fear from us. David Sims, Professor of Marine Ecology, University of Southampton Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

As the federal government fumbles on nature law reform, the states are forging ahead

Biodiversity News - Thu, 19/06/2025 - 05:12
South Australia’s new Biodiversity Act will achieve things no federal or state law has done before. It shows states and territories can achieve ambitious reform. Phillipa C. McCormack, Future Making Fellow, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

AI helps tell snow leopards apart, improving population counts for these majestic mountain predators

Biodiversity News - Wed, 18/06/2025 - 13:45
Conservationists have to search rough terrain and thousands of automated photographs to find the elusive cats. Artificial intelligence can help them work more accurately and more efficiently. Eve Bohnett, Assistant Scholar, Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, University of Florida Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Saving species starts at home: how you can help Australia’s 1,000 threatened invertebrates

Biodiversity News - Wed, 18/06/2025 - 03:28
Every week, one or two species of Australian invertebrate go extinct. Many species on the brink live in cities – where we can help. Kate Umbers, Associate Professor in Zoology, Western Sydney University Kenny Wolfe, Research Fellow in Marine Biology, University of Sydney Megan Head, Associate Professor in Evolutionary Biology, Australian National University Shawan Chowdhury, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Conservation Biology, Monash University Tanya Latty, Associate Professor in Entomology, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A weird group of boronias puzzled botanists for decades. Now we’ve solved the pollination mystery

Biodiversity News - Mon, 16/06/2025 - 21:08
A team of scientists has discovered the secret to making ‘Boronia Babies’ is a tiny moth. Heliozelidae pollinate the weird flowers made famous by May Gibbs. Douglas Hilton, Chief Executive, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Wed 18 Jun 16:00: Decadal changes in Southern Ocean Water Masses inferred from observations

Conservation-related talks - Wed, 11/06/2025 - 19:32
Decadal changes in Southern Ocean Water Masses inferred from observations

In this talk I will present how using a combination of data-driven and machine learning methods we infer a slowdown of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) and an expansion and poleward shift of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). In particular, I will present analyses based on four decades of CFCs and SF6 observations to reconstruct global tracer budgets and infer decadal variability of deep ocean circulation and tracer ventilation rates.

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Wed 18 Jun 16:00: Decadal changes in Southern Ocean Water Masses inferred from observations

Conservation Talks - Wed, 11/06/2025 - 19:32
Decadal changes in Southern Ocean Water Masses inferred from observations

In this talk I will present how using a combination of data-driven and machine learning methods we infer a slowdown of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) and an expansion and poleward shift of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). In particular, I will present analyses based on four decades of CFCs and SF6 observations to reconstruct global tracer budgets and infer decadal variability of deep ocean circulation and tracer ventilation rates.

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Wed 18 Jun 16:00: Decadal changes in Southern Ocean Water Masses inferred from observations

Conservation at Cambridge - Wed, 11/06/2025 - 19:32
Decadal changes in Southern Ocean Water Masses inferred from observations

In this talk I will present how using a combination of data-driven and machine learning methods we infer a slowdown of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) and an expansion and poleward shift of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). In particular, I will present analyses based on four decades of CFCs and SF6 observations to reconstruct global tracer budgets and infer decadal variability of deep ocean circulation and tracer ventilation rates.

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Wed 02 Jul 14:00: TBD

Conservation-related talks - Wed, 11/06/2025 - 19:31
TBD

Abstract not available

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Wed 02 Jul 14:00: TBD

Conservation Talks - Wed, 11/06/2025 - 19:31
TBD

Abstract not available

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