The University of Liverpool has started Europe's largest climate change experiment ever to determine the impact of global warming on freshwater systems.
Heidrun Feuchtmayr and a team from the university's School of Biological Sciences will conduct a 2-year project in collaboration with scientists from Belgium, Germany, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. They will assess whether a predicted rise in climate temperature for the United Kingdom and parts of Europe will increase the growth of blue-green algae, many species of which are toxic and can affect fish, snails and other lake dwellers.
In addition, pets or livestock drinking such toxic lake water can suffer skin irritation and severe disorders involving their circulatory, nervous and digestive systems. Humans are also affected by blue-green algae, which can induce sickness such as vomiting, abdominal pain and sore throats.
Climate temperatures are predicted to rise by as much as 5 degrees Celsius across the United Kingdom and parts of Europe during the next 50 years.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
New clues to air circulation in the atmosphere
Air circulates above the Earth in four distinct cells, with two either side of the equator, says new research. The new observational study describes how air rises and falls in the atmosphere above the Earth's surface, creating the world's weather.
Professor Examines the Effects of Climate Change on Civilizations
Global warming is currently one the world's most pressing issues, but the phenomenon of climate change is not specific to the 21st century. A new book by anthropologist Brian Fagan takes a look at the global effects of climate change that occurred during the Medieval Warm Period and examines how subtle shifts in the environment had far-reaching effects on human existence.
Bugs put the heat in chili peppers
If you're a fan of habaņero salsa or like to order Thai food spiced to five stars, you owe a lot to bugs, both the crawling kind and ones you can see only with a microscope. New research shows they are the ones responsible for the heat in chili peppers.
Saving our bees: Ecologists assess the impact of people on pollinators
Most of the world's plant species rely on animals to transfer their pollen to other plants. The undisputed queen of these animal pollinators is the bee, made up of about 30,000 species worldwide, whose daily flights aid in the reproduction of more than half of the world's flowering plants. In recent years, however, an unprecedented and unexplained decline in bee populations across the U.S. and Europe has placed the health of ecosystems and the sustainability of crops in peril.
Measures to help species cope with climate change?
Many species must move to new areas to survive climate change. Often, this seems impossible. Species stranded on mountain tops in southern Europe that are becoming too hot for them, for instance, are unlikely to be able to reach northern Europe unaided. So should WE step in to help?
NOAA takes first broad look at soot from ships
Tugboats puff out more soot for the amount of fuel used than other commercial vessels, and large cargo ships emit more than twice as much soot as previously estimated, according to the first extensive study of commercial vessel soot emissions. Scientists from NOAA and the University of Colorado conducted the study and present their findings in the July 11 issue of the journal
Geophysical Research Letters.
Climate deadlock seen at G8 despite 'constructive' Bush
US President George W. Bush pledged Sunday to play a "constructive" role on climate change at a summit of rich nations, but hopes for a breakthrough were dim as he pressed developing countries.
UN's climate change guru sees record oil price as a positive
The UN's top climate change official said Thursday that record oil prices, which have surged to 146 dollars a barrel, were positive for the environment.