Browse Articles

Evidence supports that spiders have many ecological benefits including insect control and predation in the food chain. In this study the authors investigate that whether the percent of vegetation coverage and spider density are correlated. They determine that despite the trend there is no statistically significant correlation.

In this article, Harvell and Nicholson hypothesized that increased ocean acidity would decrease the photosynthetic ability of Chaetoceros gracilis, a diatom prolific in Monterey Bay, because of the usually corrosive effects of carbonic acid on both seashells and cells’ internal structures. They altered pH of algae environments and measured the photosynthetic ability of diatoms over four days by spectrophotometer. Overall, their findings indicate that C. gracilis may become more abundant in Monterey Bay as the pH of the ocean continues to drop, potentially contributing to harmful algal blooms.

This study tested whether calcite, a safe and naturally occurring mineral, can block ultraviolet (UV) radiation when used in solar geoengineering. Students launched a high‑altitude balloon carrying UV sensors and calcite‑coated sheets to measure how much UV light passed through different calcite concentrations. Their results showed that calcite significantly reduces UV transmission, suggesting it may be a promising material for future stratospheric aerosol injection to help mitigate climate change.

This study tested the impact over several days of air-water gas exchange on pH recovery in acidified Long Island Sound water treated with chemical, mineral, and biological buffers.

This study examined how prescribed fires affect arthropods in riparian zones surrounding wetlands in north-central Florida. Researchers found that spider abundance remained largely unchanged, while springtail abundance initially decreased but rebounded substantially one month after burning, suggesting early recovery of the riparian food web.

This study compared two commercial shower filters and three individual filtration media to evaluate their ability to reduce total residual chlorine under household flow conditions. By identifying which materials most effectively reduce chlorine during regular shower use, this research provides practical information for consumers and offers guidance for designing more affordable and reusable shower filtration systems.

Here the authors investigated the effectiveness of algal pretreatment in reducing nitrate toxicity and extending the survival of fish in contaminated river water. Their findings demonstrate that treating nitrate-polluted water with algae extended fish survival by up to 50%, suggesting that algae could serve as a valuable tool for mitigating the destructive impacts of agricultural and industrial runoff on aquatic ecosystems.

Multi-perspective drone imagery (adding oblique views to top-down shots) raised crop classification accuracy from 35.73% to 52.93% across five species. The improvement scaled with canopy complexity, from +4.2% for simple rice to +38.1% for structurally complex sugarcane.

The authors monitored water quality over time looking for influences from construction and deforestation.

We developed new eco-friendly membranes enriched with natural nanomaterials to clean iron and manganese from drinking water. Some nanocomposite membranes achieved over 95% metal removal while maintaining water flux, suggesting improved performance compared to the undoped control group.