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News Bin - October 26, 2017

Oct 26, 2017 |

News Roundup

| by Brittany Pendergrass

Bringing you the latest news, information, and resources from around the web. In the October 26th edition, read more about the following:

  • The World’s Driest Desert Blooms With Hundreds Of Flowers After Rare Rain
  • This Hotel Wants to Save the Rainforest
  • Life goes on for marine ecosystems after cataclysmic mass extinction
  • Rare tree species safeguard biodiversity in a changing climate
  • Bringing Communities Together to Build a Brighter Future

The World’s Driest Desert Blooms With Hundreds Of Flowers After Rare Rain

 The climate in the Atacama Desert is typically very dry, so much so that it has been used to help scientists gage what it would be like to live on Mars! Though recently, heavy rain in the area produced over 200 different types of flowers. This article allows you to browse through photos of this breathtaking change that usually only happens every 5-7 years.

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This Hotel Wants to Save the Rainforest

José Koechlin founded Inkaterra in 1975 and since then their rainforest tourism has grown immensely. Koechlin want to restore and protect two ecological corridors and through a partnership with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute his plan will be set in motion. José Koechlin said, “You need to develop wealth so that local people have a better quality of life. As you sustain, what are you sustaining? We need a good future for nature and for humans.”

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Life goes on for marine ecosystems after cataclysmic mass extinction

Dr. Dunhill from the School of Earth and Environment at Leeds, said: "While the Late Triassic mass extinction had a big impact on the overall number of marine species, there was still enough diversity among the remaining species that the marine ecosystem was able to function in the same way it had before." Happening 201 million years ago, the Late Triassic's volcanic eruptions killed nearly 50 percent of life on earth.

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Rare tree species safeguard biodiversity in a changing climate

According to Dr. Sandro Azaele, from the School of Mathematics at the University of Leeds, "Our new models can help predict the number of rare and unobserved species, a measure of fragile yet important biodiversity. We still do not know why the vast majority of Amazon tree species are so rare and only very few of them are very abundant. However, it's likely that hyper-rare species of trees, in places such as the Amazon Rainforest, are of great importance as the climate shifts, as some of them may become the common species of the future." This new method will hopefully better estimate biodiversity over larger areas like the vastly under researched Amazon Rainforest.

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Bringing Communities Together to Build a Brighter Future

"A solar-energy start-up is enabling a community in Brazil to build its own sustainable and affordable power supply." Santa Marta is anxious to create a better furture its residents by providing better lighting and power to help make life easier and more productive. According to the article, "Supported by funds and mentoring from Shell, Insolar worked with Santa Marta residents to understand their specific needs and how best to meet them. It then trained more than 35 residents in the skills required to install, run, and maintain the solar panels and local electrical grid. Helped by some 2,000 hours of sunshine every year, the community was able to take control of its own sustainable power supply."

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Photo by Andrea Holbrook
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