fertilizers news from mongabay.com

Growing cardamom impacts forests for decades

2012-05-17T16:10:00Z

Over 25 years after people stopped growing cardamom in Sri Lanka's Knuckles Forest Reserve (KFR), the spice crop is still having an impact on the forest, according to a recent study in Forest Ecology and Management. The clearing of understory plants and the use of fertilizers continue to shape the forest in the protected area.

Eco-toilets help save hippos and birds in Kenya

2012-01-04T21:09:00Z

It may appear unintuitive that special toilets could benefit hippos and other wetland species, but the Center for Rural Empowerment and the Environment (CREE) has proven the unique benefits of new toilets in the Dunga Wetlands on Lake Victoria's Kenyan side. By building ecologically-sanitary (eco-san) toilets, CREE has managed to alleviate some of the conflict that has cropped up between hippos and humans for space.

Study calls for REDD+ money to boost yields in West Africa using agrochemicals

2011-04-10T23:17:00Z

Small-scale agriculture 𔃐 including cocoa, cassava, and oil palm farming 𔃐 has driven large-scale conversion West Africa tropical forests, reports new research published in the journal Environmental Management.

Growing Atlantic dead zone shrinks habitat for billfish and tuna, may lead to over-harvest

2010-12-29T20:16:00Z

A dead zone off the coast of West Africa is reducing the amount of available habitat for Atlantic tuna and billfish species, reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a study published in Fisheries Oceanography. The zone is growing due to global warming and is expected to cause over-harvest of tuna and billfish as the fish seek higher levels of oxygen in areas with greater fisheries activity.

Coral reef survival depends on the super small, an interview with Forest Rohwer

2010-08-30T21:10:00Z

If you take a teaspoon and dip it into the ocean what will you have? Some drops of lifeless water? Only a few decades ago this is what scientists would have said, however, the development of increasingly powerful microscopes have shown us a world long unknown, which has vital importance for the survival of one of the world's most threatened and most treasured ecosystems: coral reefs. A single milliliter of water is now known to contain at least a million living microbes, i.e. organisms too small to see without a microscope. After discovering their super-abundant presence, researchers are now beginning to uncover how these incredibly tiny life-forms shape the fate of the world's coral reefs.

Nation's wealth does not guarantee green practices

2010-08-11T18:24:00Z

Developing countries are not the only ones that could benefit from a little environmental support. Wealthier countries may need to 'know themselves' and address these issues at home too. According to a recent study in the open access journal PLoS ONE, wealth may be the most important factor determining a country’s environmental impact. The team had originally planned to study "country-level environmental performance and human health issues," lead author Corey Bradshaw, Director of Ecological Modeling and professor at the University of Adelaide, told mongabay.com. Once they began looking at the available indexes, however, they saw the need for a purely environmental analysis.

New NASA image reveals the oceans' dead zones

2010-07-22T20:12:00Z

A new image by NASA reveals the extent of the world's marine dead zones, which a study in 2008 found were doubling every decade. At that time 415 dead zones had been identified worldwide. Dead zones are regions of the ocean where dissolved oxygen has fallen to such low levels that most marine species can no longer survive. Such conditions are often seasonal.

Chinese farming practices are acidifying soils

2010-02-11T18:54:00Z

A new study in Science shows that farming practices in China are acidifying the nation's soils and threatening long term productivity at a time when food concerns worldwide have never been higher. The culprit is the increasing use of nitrogen fertilizer.

Unique acacia tree could play vital role in turning around Africa's food crisis

2009-08-24T20:29:00Z

Scientists have discovered that an acacia tree, long used by farmers in parts of Africa, could dramatically raise food yields in Africa. The acacia tree Faidherbia albida, also known as Mgunga in Swahili, possesses the unique ability to provide much-needed nitrogen to soil.

What is the crop productivity and environmental impact of too much or too little fertilizer?

2009-06-18T17:55:00Z

While the use of synthetic fertilizer has greatly increased agricultural production globally—helping to feed a global population that is not slowing down—it has brought with it high environmental costs. Fertilizer runoff has polluted many coastal regions creating ‘dead zones’ where the ocean is starved of oxygen by the influx of nitrogen. Synthetic fertilizers have also polluted the air with ammonia, and sent emissions of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

The long-ignored ocean emergency and what can be done to address it

2008-08-18T14:30:39Z

This year has been full of bad news regarding marine ecosystems: one-third of coral species threatened with extinction, dead-zones spread to 415 sites, half of U.S. reefs in fair or bad condition, increase in ocean acidification, tuna and shark populations collapsing, and only four percent of ocean considered pristine. Jeremy Jackson, director of the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of California, San Diego, synthesizes such reports and others into a new paper, published in the journal Proceedings of the Naional Academy of Sciences, that boldly lays out the scope of the oceanic emergency and what urgently needs to be done.

Marine 'dead zones' double every decade

2008-08-14T14:30:39Z

Dead zones have spread across the ocean at alarming rates. Currently 415 sites, usually along coastlines, have shown signs of seasonal to persistent hypoxia—a severe lack of oxygen. In a new essay in Science, researchers Robert Diaz and Rutger Rosenberg argue that marine dead zones have "become a major worldwide environmental problem". Marine dead zones now occupy a portion of the ocean equal to that of the United Kingdom and continue to grow, doubling every decade since the 1960s and showing no sign of abating.

Fertilizer prices increase 235% over past year

2008-07-23T14:30:39Z

Fertilizer prices continue to surge according to data released by the World Bank.

U.S. dead zones may reach record levels this summer

2008-07-15T14:30:39Z

"Dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay will likely expand to record levels this summer due to rising rising agricultural runoff in part triggered by large-scale flooding in the Midwest, according to a forecast by a researcher from the University of Michigan.

Corn ethanol is worsening the Gulf dead zone

2008-03-10T14:30:39Z

Proposed legislation that will expand corn-ethanol production in the United States will worsen the growing "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico and hurt marine fisheries, report researchers writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).