Ellie Harrison of BBC’s Countryfile goes ormering around Lihou Island

January 27th, 2012 by Richard Lord

Richard Curtis, Lihou Island Warden, shows Ellie Harrison of BBC's Countryfile some of the edible seaweeds growing inter-tidally around Lihou Island (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

BBC One’s Countryfile came to Guernsey in early January 2012 to film island life.

Countryfile presenter Ellie Harrison searched the intertidal area around Lihou Island off Guernsey’s west coast for the ormer, Haliotis tuberculata, which is a large marine snail that is a culinary delicacy. Continue reading

Please help plant 500 trees at St Germain nature reserve in Castel on 17, 18 and 21 January 2012

January 15th, 2012 by Andrew McCutcheon

Trees will be planted to create Sigma Wood at the St Germain Nature Reserve on the 17, 18, and 21 January 2012 with the help of Castel Primary School, Guernsey Tree Wardens, members of The Guernsey Society of the Men of the Trees & parish representatives with the support of the Sigma Group and the States of Guernsey Environment Department.

Please come along to plant one or more trees anytime between 11 am and 3 pm on Tuesday 17, Wednesday 18 or Saturday 21 January 2012. Continue reading

Insurance Corporation launches Guernsey Conservation Awards 2012

December 15th, 2011 by Insurance Corporation

(click on image to download Guernsey entry form to your computer)

There is to be a different emphasis to the 2012 Insurance Corporation Conservation Awards which launched on 12 December 2011.

Environmentalists and eco-friendly gardeners will again have the chance to win £2,000 and schools could earn £1000 in funding if their entries are successful in the competition which has been running in the Channel Islands for 22 years. Continue reading

Increased carbon dioxide emissions may significantly decrease survival and growth of some fishes

December 15th, 2011 by Stony Brook University

Fossil fuel combustion, and with it the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2), is still growing globally.

Beyond climate change, this is also causing the world’s “other CO2 problem,” ocean acidification, i.e., the formation of carbonic acid when CO2 from the atmosphere enters seawater.

Previous studies have demonstrated a multitude of negative effects of elevated CO2 conditions for many groups of marine organisms such as corals, plankton, shellfish and sea urchins. Continue reading

Atlantic cod larvae vulnerable to ocean acidification

December 14th, 2011 by Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences

Fish stocks are not only threatened by over-fishing.

An international research group led by the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) has found evidence for potentially harmful effects the increasing acidification of the oceans may have on larvae of commercially important fish species such as cod.

The study, ‘Severe tissue damage in Atlantic cod larvae under increasing ocean acidification‘, was published in the internationally renowned journal Nature Climate Change. Continue reading

Climate change expanding ocean dead zones

December 14th, 2011 by United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The science behind counting fish in the ocean to measure their abundance has never been simple. A scientific paper authored by NOAA Fisheries biologist Eric Prince, Ph.D., and eight other scientists shows that expanding ocean dead zones – driven by climate change – have added a new wrinkle to that science.

In the 4 December 2011 paper, “Expansion of oxygen minimum zones may reduce available habitat for tropical pelagic fishes,” published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, these scientists sound an alarm that expanding ocean dead zones are shrinking the habitat for high value fish such as marlins in the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean. Continue reading

Some fishes have to travel farther to adapt to a changing climate

December 2nd, 2011 by Technical University of Denmark

Even though the oceans warm up slower than land, a recent study, The Pace of Shifting Climate in Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems, published in the scientific journal, Science, shows that marine life has to move their ranges just as quickly as species on land to cope with the changing temperatures.

This is the first time that the rate at which marine species have to change to cope with global warming has been quantified.

Animals and plants are optimally adapted to their surroundings. Therefore, when temperatures change due to global warming, plants and animals have to find ways of coping. Continue reading

Meeting Europe’s renewable energy targets in harmony with nature

November 28th, 2011 by Birdlife Europe

(click report cover to download report from Birdlife International webpage)

Better policies and planning will protect birds, reduce conflicts and cut carbon faster

Energy from the sun, wind and oceans can be harnessed without harm to Europe’s birds and other wildlife, but European and national governments must step up to the challenge, according to a report released on Tuesday 22 November, in Brussels.

Leading conservation body BirdLife Europe has added its voice to call for a renewables revolution to combat climate change. Continue reading

Shrinking body size an ecological response to climate change

November 24th, 2011 by Nature

Organisms from primary producers to top predators are shrinking in size in response to climate change, according to a Perspective published in Nature Climate Change.

It is well established that species are shifting their distributions to higher elevations and latitudes in response to warming, and that key life events such as migration are happening earlier in the year. What is less appreciated is that many species are also becoming smaller, as an ecological and metabolic response to increased temperatures and variability in precipitation. If this trend continues, it could have profound implications for food security and the stability of ecosystems. Continue reading

Resolution Ltd provides funding for Floral Guernsey

October 28th, 2011 by Floral Guernsey

A MAJOR sponsorship deal has been struck to secure the future of Floral Guernsey.

Resolution Limited, the FTSE 100 listed company which owns the Friends Life insurance group, is Guernsey incorporated, and has agreed to help the local charity, as part of its corporate social responsibility policy, and to ensure its involvement in the local Guernsey community. Continue reading