High-starch algae are important in biofuel production, as a feed supplement in agriculture and as an efficient way to bind carbon dioxide. Researchers have now found a new method to control starch storage in algae - a finding with potential applications in areas such reducing greenhouse gases.
Seven of the most common forest trees in Europe have been shown to be able to shelter their genetic diversity from major shifts in environmental conditions. This is despite their ranges having shrunk and the number of trees having fallen sharply during ice age cycles. These are the findings of a study jointly led by Uppsala and Helsinki Universities, published in Nature Communications.
Rationing of goods such as meat and fuel can both effectively and fairly reduce consumption with high climate impact. Almost 40 percent of the public say they could accept such measures. These are the findings of new research from the Climate Change Leadership Group at Uppsala University.
Krill in our northern waters show how key marine species can adapt genetically to cope with climate change. This is the discovery made by researchers at Uppsala University in collaboration with an international research group. According to the researchers, their study, published in Nature Communications, provides important knowledge that can help protect marine ecosystems when the climate changes.
Despite marine sponges being widespread on our planet, their biodiversity and distribution is still poorly known. Even though the Mediterranean Sea is the most explored sea on Earth, a study by Díaz et al. (2024) reveals the presence of new sponge species and new records in unexplored habitats such as underwater caves or mountains around the Balearic Islands.
Increasing access to water in extremely arid parts of sub-Saharan Africa can help nomadic livestock farmers in the short term. However, in the long run it may lead to serious consequences for their livelihoods. This is shown by new research from Uppsala University, published in Nature Climate Change.
Rich elites with large swimming pools and well-maintained lawns are leaving poorer communities without basic access to water in cities across the world. New research, led by Uppsala University, published in Nature Sustainability has found social inequalities are driving urban water crises more than environmental factors, such as climate change or the growth of urban populations.
Researchers from Uppsala University and elsewhere have been studying the effect of rising temperatures on the lifespan of pollinating fig wasps. The findings show that the wasps lived much shorter lives at high temperatures, which would make it difficult for them to travel the long distances between the trees they pollinate.
Sverker C Jagers, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Collective Action Research at the University of Gothenburg, will hold Uppsala University's fifth Zennström Visiting Professorship in Climate Change Leadership. The ten-year visiting professorship, through which a new professor is invited every year or every other year, is funded by an earlier donation to Uppsala Univ
Coral species exhibit different temperature tolerances. This is in part due to the composition of their microalgae symbionts. With a new method, researchers from Uppsala University were able to predict how individual microalgae might behave under future temperature stress and identify more tolerant coral symbionts. In combination with forthcoming single cell selection and growth experiments, the
Swedish researchers from institutions including Uppsala University have spent four years gathering data from the areas affected by the major forest fire of 2014. In their study of how the ecosystem as a whole has been altered, they could see that water quality in watercourses quickly returned to normal, while forested areas continued to lose carbon for many years after the fire.
Hydrogen for energy use can be extracted in an environmentally friendly way from water and sunlight, using photocatalytic composite polymer nanoparticles developed by researchers at Uppsala University. In laboratory tests, these “polymer dots” showed promising performance and stability alike. The study has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
European eels spend most of their adult life in a range of fresh- and brackish waters, across Europe and Northern Africa. Using whole-genome analysis, a new study finds that all European eels belong to a single panmictic population, an extraordinary finding for a species living under such variable environmental conditions. The study is published in PNAS.
The European research initiative BATTERY 2030+ is now getting going. The ambition is to make Europe a world-leader in the development and production of the batteries of the future. These batteries need to store more energy, have a longer life, and be safer and more environmentally friendly than today’s batteries in order to facilitate the transition to a more climate-neutral society.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.