In a study published today in PNAS, scientists in Sweden and Canada have studied the genetic basis of reproduction in 25 populations of herring from both sides of the North Atlantic. They revealed a number of genes associated with the timing of reproduction, and the genetic variants associated with spring or autumn spawning were found to be largely shared between geographically distant populations
With their measurements and samples, nearly 3,500 schoolchildren have assisted a research study on lakes and global warming, now published in the journal Scientific Reports. The results show that water temperatures generally remain low despite the air becoming warmer. This helps to curb the emission of greenhouse gases.
Household electricity use falls by more than 30% when residents are obliged to pay for their own personal consumption. This is shown in a new study by researchers at Uppsala University’s and the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS).
The history of people and landscapes, whether natural or cultural, is fundamentally connected. Answering key historical questions about this relation will allow us to approach our most important environmental issues in novel ways. Today in the open access journal PLOS ONE archeologists present a list of 50 priority issues for historical ecology.
In a collaborative effort, researchers at Uppsala and Umeå University now show that the formation of methylmercury in sediment is controlled by the molecular composition of the organic matter. The study has been published in Nature Communications.
Researchers have now found an explanation for what triggered the largest volcanic eruption witnessed by humankind. The volcano’s secret was revealed by geochemical clues hidden inside volcanic quartz crystals.
In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University have found evidence of that climate change upends selection of face characteristics in the collared flycatcher. During the study the annual fitness selection on forehead patch size switched from positive to negative, a reversal that is accounted for by rising spring temperatures at the breeding site.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden have put together all known information about the endangered Rufous-headed Robin. Very few observations have been made since it was first discovered in 1905. The researchers suggest that its distribution might be larger than previously thought.
In a new study, an international team of researchers made significant progress in visualizing the process how plants split water to produce oxygen. The results are published in Nature.
Cooperating sailfish catch more fish per time than if they hunt individually, a new study from Uppsala University, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B has shown.
In a new thesis in psychology, Kirsti Jylhä at Uppsala University has studied the psychology behind climate change denial. The results show that individuals who accept hierarchical power structures tend to a larger extent deny the problem. The papers in the thesis are published in the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Climate researcher Kevin Anderson will be Uppsala University’s second holder of the Zennström visiting professorship in Climate Change Leadership. He will continue the work of Doreen Stabinsky in establishing an environment that will be unique, both in Sweden and in the world.
In a new study, published in Science, researchers from Uppsala University found that larval fish exposed to microplastic particles during development displayed changed behaviors and stunted growth which lead to greatly increased mortality rates. Larval perch that had access to microplastic particles only ate plastic and ignored their natural food source of free-swimming zooplankton.
A simple paper sheet made by scientists at Uppsala University can improve the quality of life for millions of people by removing resistant viruses from water. The sheet, made of cellulose nanofibers, is called the mille-feuille filter as it has a unique layered internal architecture resembling that of the French puff pastry mille-feuille (Eng. thousand leaves).
How species genetically adapt to their environment is a central question related to the evolution of biodiversity. In a new study scientists at Uppsala University and their colleagues report that whole genome sequencing of Atlantic and Baltic herring revealed hundreds of loci underlying adaptation to the brackish Baltic Sea or timing of reproduction. The study is published today in eLife.
A new species of bird has been described in north-eastern India and adjacent parts of China by a team of scientists from Sweden, China, the US, India and Russia, headed by Professor Per Alström, Uppsala University, and Swedish University of Agricultural Science, SLU. The bird has been named the Himalayan Forest Thrush, Zoothera salimalii.
Harmful organic molecules in the indoor air can cause adverse health effects – a problem known as the “sick building syndrome”. A promising new solution is being developed at Uppsala University – window glass with a nanostructured coating based on titanium dioxide which uses sunlight to remove organic pollutants from the indoor air by passing it between the inner panes of the window.
The ruff is a Eurasian shorebird that has a spectacular lekking behaviour where highly ornamented males compete for females. Now two groups report that males with alternative reproductive strategies carry a chromosomal rearrangement that has been maintained as a balanced genetic polymorphism for about 4 million years.
Many of the world’s approximately 117 million lakes act as wet chimneys releasing large amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The most recent estimates show that CO2 emissions from the world’s lakes, water courses and reservoirs are equivalent to almost a quarter of all the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels.
By meticulously examining sediments in China’s Yellow River, a Swedish–Chinese research group are showing that the history of tectonic and climate evolution on Earth may need to be rewritten. Their findings are published today in the highly reputed journal Nature Communications.