Unchecked global emissions on track to initiate mass extinction of marine life
April 28, 2022 ・ Liana WaitAs greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the world’s oceans, marine biodiversity could be on track to plummet within the next few centuries to levels not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs, according to a recent study in the…
Ramaswami receives AAEES Science Award for pioneering models for sustainable, equitable cities
April 7, 2022 ・ Morgan KellyAnu Ramaswami, the Sanjay Swani ’87 Professor of India Studies and professor of civil and environmental engineering and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, has received the 2022 AAEES Science Award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. Ramaswami,…
Allison Carruth maps imaginative new blueprints for the future of the planet
March 21, 2022 ・ Jeff LabrecqueNorthwest of Denver, there’s a stretch of U.S. Highway 40 called Rabbit Ears Pass that cuts through the Rocky Mountains. It’s named for the prominent Leporidae-shaped igneous rock formations that stand prominently atop a nearby peak, and the volcanic geology of…
Study reveals how inland and coastal waterways influence climate
March 16, 2022“Streams to the river, river to the sea.” If only it were that simple. Most global carbon-budgeting efforts assume a linear flow of water from the land to the sea, which ignores the complex interplay between streams, rivers, lakes, groundwater,…
World’s thinnest roots are ‘underground weapons’ in ecological competition
February 14, 2022 ・ Liz Fuller-WrightMost of us only think about the easily visible parts of plants — stems, flowers, leaves — but in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Princeton ecologists Lars Hedin and Mingzhen Lu show that the hidden root…
Simon Levin receives BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology
February 7, 2022 ・ Morgan KellySimon Levin, Princeton’s James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, has been awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for ecology and conservation biology. Levin, who is director of the Center for BioComplexity based in…
Future hurricanes likely to pose much greater flood risk to U.S. East and Gulf coasts
February 3, 2022 ・ Adam HadhazyExtreme flooding events spawned by hurricanes are likely to become far more frequent along the Eastern and Southern U.S. coastlines because of a combination of sea-level rise and storm intensification. The findings, contained in new research from Princeton University, show…
Birds’ dazzling iridescence tied to nanoscale tweak of feather structure
December 21, 2021 ・ Morgan KellyThe iridescent shimmer that makes birds such as peacocks and hummingbirds so striking is rooted in a natural nanostructure so complex that people are only just beginning to replicate it technologically. The secret to how birds produce these brilliant colors…
With DNA toolkit, Rob Pringle is learning how to rebuild broken ecosystems
December 13, 2021 ・ Jeff LabrecqueIn the beginning, Rob Pringle didn’t have a choice. His grandparents were passionate naturalists who loved exploring the outdoors with him and his younger sister, and his parents’ idea of vacations when he was growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan,…
