State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Ecology49

  • For Rio+20, a Call to Preserve Biodiversity

    For Rio+20, a Call to Preserve Biodiversity

    An estimated 9 million species of living things inhabit the Earth. But those species are disappearing at an alarming rate, and this loss of biodiversity appears to be a major driver of environmental changes that can affect the biological and chemical processes that humans rely on.

  • In Your Own Backyard: Mapping Communities Near Superfund Sites

    In Your Own Backyard: Mapping Communities Near Superfund Sites

    The NPL Superfund Footprint Mapper is an interactive, online mapping application—a clickable map—that lets users visualize a rich variety of population and environment characteristics of areas in the vicinity of Superfund sites.

  • Fresh Evidence of Life on Mars?

    Fresh Evidence of Life on Mars?

    In a landscape shaped by wind and water, is it possible that microbial life was found on Mars in 1976? A new paper indicates life may be present, and a new mission to Mars may confirm the results.

  • Under Arctic Ice: Watch the Video

    Under Arctic Ice: Watch the Video

    The video depicts the activities of the LDEO Switchyard field team, which deploys annually and uses ski-equipped aircraft to reach a series of sample sites between the North Pole and Ellesmere Island in Canada.

  • Profile on TA for Ecosystem Experiences in Jordan

    Profile on TA for Ecosystem Experiences in Jordan

    As students pack and prepare for, and ponder the exciting adventures that lie ahead in, the 2012 Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates Program (SEE-U), Natalia Rossi, the Teaching Assistant for the Jordan field site, shares her enthusiasm for research, education, and conservation.

  • What’s a tree like you doing in a place like this? Or West meets East

    What’s a tree like you doing in a place like this? Or West meets East

    In the northeastern part of Turkey, the highest Pontic Mountains meet the Black Sea. Here altitude drops from more than 3900m to sea level in a less than 30 miles. Both the orographic effect of mountains and the lake effect (well, better sea effect) cause very high precipitation allowing for rich and productive temperate forest…

  • Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    by Kaci Fowler “Environmental politics is a part of who I am,” said Robert Eshelman, an aspiring journalist in Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Robert used an Earth Institute travel grant to learn and write about sustainability in his senior thesis. “I am telling stories that will have a true impact on the environment.” Robert…

  • Tree-Ring Science in a Log Yard?

    Tree-Ring Science in a Log Yard?

    The cool, snowy weather really put a crimp in our plans. Dario, Tuncay, Cengis, and others spent two days trying to find potential sampling locations before Nesibe and I arrived. Even though it had been well above freezing during the day and above freezing at night, the snow had only retreated so far in the…

  • Maybe not the Turkey you imagine

    Maybe not the Turkey you imagine

    Despite reading about these temperate rainforests, this is not the Turkey I imagined. This might not be the Turkey most people imagine. I’m really not sure what you envision when you think about Turkey. A dry, open landscape? That is what I thought.

  • For Rio+20, a Call to Preserve Biodiversity

    For Rio+20, a Call to Preserve Biodiversity

    An estimated 9 million species of living things inhabit the Earth. But those species are disappearing at an alarming rate, and this loss of biodiversity appears to be a major driver of environmental changes that can affect the biological and chemical processes that humans rely on.

  • In Your Own Backyard: Mapping Communities Near Superfund Sites

    In Your Own Backyard: Mapping Communities Near Superfund Sites

    The NPL Superfund Footprint Mapper is an interactive, online mapping application—a clickable map—that lets users visualize a rich variety of population and environment characteristics of areas in the vicinity of Superfund sites.

  • Fresh Evidence of Life on Mars?

    Fresh Evidence of Life on Mars?

    In a landscape shaped by wind and water, is it possible that microbial life was found on Mars in 1976? A new paper indicates life may be present, and a new mission to Mars may confirm the results.

  • Under Arctic Ice: Watch the Video

    Under Arctic Ice: Watch the Video

    The video depicts the activities of the LDEO Switchyard field team, which deploys annually and uses ski-equipped aircraft to reach a series of sample sites between the North Pole and Ellesmere Island in Canada.

  • Profile on TA for Ecosystem Experiences in Jordan

    Profile on TA for Ecosystem Experiences in Jordan

    As students pack and prepare for, and ponder the exciting adventures that lie ahead in, the 2012 Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates Program (SEE-U), Natalia Rossi, the Teaching Assistant for the Jordan field site, shares her enthusiasm for research, education, and conservation.

  • What’s a tree like you doing in a place like this? Or West meets East

    What’s a tree like you doing in a place like this? Or West meets East

    In the northeastern part of Turkey, the highest Pontic Mountains meet the Black Sea. Here altitude drops from more than 3900m to sea level in a less than 30 miles. Both the orographic effect of mountains and the lake effect (well, better sea effect) cause very high precipitation allowing for rich and productive temperate forest…

  • Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    Journalism Student Completes Thesis on Texas Drought and Wildfire

    by Kaci Fowler “Environmental politics is a part of who I am,” said Robert Eshelman, an aspiring journalist in Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Robert used an Earth Institute travel grant to learn and write about sustainability in his senior thesis. “I am telling stories that will have a true impact on the environment.” Robert…

  • Tree-Ring Science in a Log Yard?

    Tree-Ring Science in a Log Yard?

    The cool, snowy weather really put a crimp in our plans. Dario, Tuncay, Cengis, and others spent two days trying to find potential sampling locations before Nesibe and I arrived. Even though it had been well above freezing during the day and above freezing at night, the snow had only retreated so far in the…

  • Maybe not the Turkey you imagine

    Maybe not the Turkey you imagine

    Despite reading about these temperate rainforests, this is not the Turkey I imagined. This might not be the Turkey most people imagine. I’m really not sure what you envision when you think about Turkey. A dry, open landscape? That is what I thought.