PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Ozone affects forest watersheds

Scientists find ozone causes forests to use more water, reducing availability in the Southeast

2012-10-18
(Press-News.org) U.S. Forest Service and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) scientists have found that rising levels of ozone, a greenhouse gas, may amplify the impacts of higher temperatures and reduce streamflow from forests to rivers, streams, and other water bodies. Such effects could potentially reduce water supplies available to support forest ecosystems and people in the southeastern United States.

Impacts of ozone, a global scale pollutant, on forests are not well understood at a large scale. This modeling study indicates that current and projected increases in ozone in the 21st century will likely enhance the negative effects of warming on watersheds, aggravating drought and altering stream flow. Using data on atmospheric water supply and demand and statistical models, researchers with the Forest Service and ORNL were able to show what effects ozone can have on stream flow in dry seasons. Published in the November issue of the journal Global Change Biology, the study suggests that ozone has amplified the effects of warmer temperatures in reducing streamflow in forested watersheds in the southeastern United States.

"From previous studies, we know a lot about ozone's influences on crops and leaves of young trees. However, no studies have investigated the impacts of ozone on water flow in large forested watersheds," says Ge Sun, research hydrologist with the Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center. "Our studies show that ozone has a possible connection in the reduction of streamflow in late summer when flow is generally lowest, particularly in areas with high ozone levels such as the Appalachian Mountains in the Southeast."

Researchers developed models based on 18 to 26 years of data and observed streamflow in response to climate and atmospheric chemistry during the growing season. The research team evaluated individual and interactive effects of ozone on late season streamflow for six southeastern forested watersheds ranging in size from 38 acres to more than 3,700 square miles. Estimates of ozone's influence on streamflow ranged from 7 percent in the area of lowest ozone in West Virginia to 23 percent in the areas of highest exposure in Tennessee.

The findings from this study along with a wide range of previous field studies challenge assumptions derived from small controlled studies that ozone exposure reduces water loss from trees and forests.The present study of mature forests under moderate ozone exposure shows that those ecosystems may react in a different way than can be predicted by short-range, intensive studies.

"We're predicting that forests under high ozone conditions will use more water instead of less, as was previously assumed," says Samuel "Sandy" McLaughlin, scientist emeritus from the ORNL Environmental Sciences Division. "The concern is that ozone-induced increases in plant water loss could aggravate drought impacts on forests, and reduce the water available for people and stream life dependent on water flow during the dry seasons."

### Forest Service and ORNL scientists also collaborated with researchers from the University of Virginia, Lamont Doherty Observatory, and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Access the article online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02787.x/abstract

Forest Service Contacts:

Ge Sun
Eastern Threat Center research hydrologist
(919) 515-9498; gesun@fs.fed.us
http://www.forestthreats.org

Stephanie Worley Firley
Eastern Threat Center Communications
(828) 257-4380; sworleyfirley@fs.fed.us
http://www.forestthreats.org

ORNL Contact:

Ron Walli
ORNL Communications
(865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov
http://www.ornl.gov

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Ongoing disparities in breastfeeding highlighted at Fourth Annual Summit on Breastfeeding

Ongoing disparities in breastfeeding highlighted at Fourth Annual Summit on Breastfeeding
2012-10-18
New Rochelle, NY, October 18, 2012—Despite efforts to reduce disparities in breastfeeding, only 44% of African-American women report that they breastfeed compared with 66 and 68% of Hispanic and white women, respectively. According to UNICEF, there is a 14-fold difference in survival rates in the first 6 months, in developing countries, between children who have been breastfed exclusively and non-breastfed children. These disparities in breastfeeding and other key challenges and opportunities in the ongoing mission to encourage and support breastfeeding are discussed in ...

New tools for assessing the patient's experience with health care--progress report

2012-10-18
Philadelphia, Pa. (October 18, 2012) - An ongoing program is developing new tools for assessing health care quality from the most important viewpoint—that of the patient receiving care, according to a special supplement to Medical Care. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. The special issue presents a progress report on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) surveys —an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) initiative to capture patients' perspectives on healthcare. The ...

A*Star scientists identify mutation that causes skin hyperproliferation

A*Star scientists identify mutation that causes skin hyperproliferation
2012-10-18
1. Scientists have identified a mutation in a gene that causes patches of very thick skin to appear on the palms and soles of affected people. This skin disorder is related, albeit in a much milder form, to that of the Indonesian 'Tree Man', Dede Koswara . These thick rough skin patches on hands and feet steadily increase in number as a person ages and often coalesce to form larger lesions. In severe cases, these lesions can be painful and debilitating. 2. The team of scientists from A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), in collaboration with hospitals and research ...

Developed a technology that predicts metastasis in breast cancer

2012-10-18
Researchers at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) have collaborated on the development of a diagnostic tool that identifies the metastatic ability of breast cancer cells. The analysis is based on the characterization of the lipid component of the cells, which is indicative of malignancy. This has allowed the researchers to develop a classifier to discriminate cells capable of inducing metastasis. The results of the study have been published in the online version of the scientific journal PLoS ONE. The characterization ...

New study shows reprogrammed amniotic fluid cells could treat vascular diseases

2012-10-18
NEW YORK (Oct. 18, 2012) -- A research team at Weill Cornell Medical College has discovered a way to utilize diagnostic prenatal amniocentesis cells, reprogramming them into abundant and stable endothelial cells capable of regenerating damaged blood vessels and repairing injured organs. Their study, published online today in Cell, paints a picture of a future therapy where amniotic fluid collected from thousands of amniocentesis procedures yearly, during mid-pregnancy to examine fetal chromosomes, would be collected with the permission of women undergoing the test. These ...

From the Alps to the Deep Mantle

From the Alps to the Deep Mantle
2012-10-18
Boulder, Colo., USA – Geology articles posted online ahead of print this month survey topography, minerals, faults and tectonics, alluvium, modeling, snowball Earth, fossils and extinction, and pyrite-filled worm burrows. One notable study provides a new eruption date for the Salton Buttes (Calif., USA) of 30,000 years later than that determined by earlier studies, coinciding with the appearance of the earliest known obsidian tools there. Highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. ...

Germs in space: Preventing infection on long flights

2012-10-18
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —The cabin of a spacecraft halfway to Mars would be the least convenient place -- one cannot say "on earth" -- for a Salmonella or Pneumococcus outbreak, but a wide-ranging new paper suggests that microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs. What's a space agency to do? Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel offers several ideas. And no, they are not to add more Vitamin C to the Tang, or to give each crew member a bottle of Purell. It's a lot more complicated ...

Technology has improved voting procedures

Technology has improved voting procedures
2012-10-18
PASADENA, Calif.—Thanks to better voting technology over the last decade, the country's election process has seen much improvement, according to a new report released today by researchers at Caltech and MIT. However, the report notes, despite this progress, some problems remain. Spurred by the debacle of hanging chads and other voting problems during the 2000 presidential election, the Voting Technology Project (VTP) was started by Caltech and MIT to bring together researchers from across disciplines to figure out how to improve elections. The VTP issued its first report ...

Might lefties and righties benefit differently from a power nap?

2012-10-18
NEW ORLEANS, La. — People who like to nap say it helps them focus their minds post a little shut eye. Now, a study from Georgetown University Medical Center may have found evidence to support that notion. The research, presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, found that when participants in a study rested, the right hemisphere of their brains talked more to itself and to the left hemisphere than the left hemisphere communicated within itself and to the right hemisphere – no matter which of the participants' hands was dominant. ...

Antidepressants linked to increased risk of stroke, but risk is low

2012-10-18
MINNEAPOLIS – Research shows that use of popular antidepressants is linked to an increased risk of some strokes caused by bleeding in the brain, but that the risk is low, according to a multi-study analysis published in the October 17, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. For the research, scientists analyzed all of the studies that have looked at antidepressant use and stroke, which included 16 studies with more than 500,000 total participants. They found that people taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Post-LLM era: New horizons for AI with knowledge, collaboration, and co-evolution

“Sloshing” from celestial collisions solves mystery of how galactic clusters stay hot

Children poisoned by the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, has risen in the U.S. – eight years of national data shows

USC researchers observe mice may have a form of first aid

VUMC to develop AI technology for therapeutic antibody discovery

Unlocking the hidden proteome: The role of coding circular RNA in cancer

Advancing lung cancer treatment: Understanding the differences between LUAD and LUSC

Study reveals widening heart disease disparities in the US

The role of ubiquitination in cancer stem cell regulation

New insights into LSD1: a key regulator in disease pathogenesis

Vanderbilt lung transplant establishes new record

Revolutionizing cancer treatment: targeting EZH2 for a new era of precision medicine

Metasurface technology offers a compact way to generate multiphoton entanglement

Effort seeks to increase cancer-gene testing in primary care

Acoustofluidics-based method facilitates intracellular nanoparticle delivery

Sulfur bacteria team up to break down organic substances in the seabed

Stretching spider silk makes it stronger

Earth's orbital rhythms link timing of giant eruptions and climate change

Ammonia build-up kills liver cells but can be prevented using existing drug

New technical guidelines pave the way for widespread adoption of methane-reducing feed additives in dairy and livestock

Eradivir announces Phase 2 human challenge study of EV25 in healthy adults infected with influenza

New study finds that tooth size in Otaria byronia reflects historical shifts in population abundance

nTIDE March 2025 Jobs Report: Employment rate for people with disabilities holds steady at new plateau, despite February dip

Breakthrough cardiac regeneration research offers hope for the treatment of ischemic heart failure

Fluoride in drinking water is associated with impaired childhood cognition

New composite structure boosts polypropylene’s low-temperature toughness

While most Americans strongly support civics education in schools, partisan divide on DEI policies and free speech on college campuses remains

Revolutionizing surface science: Visualization of local dielectric properties of surfaces

LearningEMS: A new framework for electric vehicle energy management

Nearly half of popular tropical plant group related to birds-of-paradise and bananas are threatened with extinction

[Press-News.org] Ozone affects forest watersheds
Scientists find ozone causes forests to use more water, reducing availability in the Southeast