BLOGS WEBSITE
Category: Evolution and Climate
UPCOMING EVENTS: Nature Festival 2023
Are you ready for Nature Festival 2023? đż The Environment Institute is excited to collaborate with leading experts and thought leaders at this year’s Nature Festival. Across five events we will explore South Australian nature – current trends, identify critical barriers, and local and state opportunities. Find out more about our events below. This series […]
Leave a comment
How algae conquered the world â and other epic stories hidden in the rocks of the Flinders Ranges
Earth was not always so hospitable. Evidence of how it came to be so beautiful and nurturing is locked in the rocks of South Australiaâs Flinders Ranges â a site now vying for World Heritage listing. Our new research seeks to better understand this near billion-year-old story. We discovered immense planetary upheaval recorded in the ranges. In two related […]
Comments Off on How algae conquered the world â and other epic stories hidden in the rocks of the Flinders Ranges
Climate change threatens to cause âsynchronised harvest failuresâ across the globe, with implications for Australiaâs food security
New research shows scientists have underestimated the climate risk to agriculture and global food production. Blind spots in climate models meant âhigh-impact but deeply-uncertain hazardsâ were ignored. But now that the threat of âsynchronised harvest failuresâ has been revealed, we cannot ignore the prospect of global famine. Climate change models for North America and Europe had previously suggested […]
Comments Off on Climate change threatens to cause âsynchronised harvest failuresâ across the globe, with implications for Australiaâs food security
Reef life decline following a decade of ocean warming
Dangers are lurking beneath the sea, but its not what you think. Our marine life may be out of sight, but it does not mean it is out of trouble. The majority of Australian shallow-reef species experienced steep population declines between 2008 and 2021, reports a study published in Nature this week. This trend, although not […]
Comments Off on Reef life decline following a decade of ocean warming
Ancient DNA reveals a hidden history of human adaptation
Humans may be just as vulnerable to environmental change as other animals, according to our new research analysing genetic data from more than a thousand people who lived across Europe and Asia over the past 45,000 years. We found traces of more than 50 âhard sweepsâ in which a rare genetic variant rapidly swept through […]
Comments Off on Ancient DNA reveals a hidden history of human adaptation
On a tiny Australian island, snakes feasting on seabirds evolved huge jaws in a surprisingly short time
A study by researchers from the University of Adelaide and other institutions has found that in a population of island tiger snakes the bones in their jaws increase in length after feeding on large prey, while their mainland counterparts show no change. The new study presents the first detailed examination of the effects that diet […]
Comments Off on On a tiny Australian island, snakes feasting on seabirds evolved huge jaws in a surprisingly short time
TREENET National Street Tree Symposium success
Over 330 delegates attended the recent TREENET 23rd National Street Tree Symposium, held in Adelaide in September, making it the most successful ever! The Environment Institute’s Professor Robert Hill delivered the Bob Such Keynote Address at the Symposium. Professor Hill is an expert on how Australian flora has changed in response to the changing climate […]
Comments Off on TREENET National Street Tree Symposium success
We helped fill a major climate change knowledge gap, thanks to 130,000-year-old sediment in Sydney lakes
Plants capture around half the carbon we emit by burning fossil fuels, making them a crucial part of mitigating climate change. But carbon is often released back into the atmosphere when plants die, decompose and eventually turn into dirt. Carbon is only permanently removed from the atmosphere if itâs stored in sediments that accumulate at the bottom […]
Comments Off on We helped fill a major climate change knowledge gap, thanks to 130,000-year-old sediment in Sydney lakes
History of modern human arrival in Europe rewritten, as new fossil discovered
An international research team including scientists from the University of Adelaide has found evidence of human occupation in Europe almost 10,000 years earlier than previously documented, a discovery that stands to rewrite modern human and Neanderthal histories on the continent. In a study published in Science Advances and led by Toulouse University, France, the authors dated distinctive stone tools and […]
Comments Off on History of modern human arrival in Europe rewritten, as new fossil discovered
Ancient DNA helps solve mystery disappearance of lions and bears
An international team of researchers led by the University of Adelaide, suggest a change in climate is the likely cause of the mysterious disappearance of ancient lions and bears from parts of North America for a thousand years or more prior to the last Ice Age. In a study in Molecular Ecology, the researchers sequenced DNA […]
Comments Off on Ancient DNA helps solve mystery disappearance of lions and bears
