Skip to content

Topics: Nature issues

Aerial image of of mangrove dieback in the Maldives, on the island HDh Neykurendhoo.  Credit: Maldives Resilient Reefs

“Drowning” mangrove forests in Maldives signal global coastal threat

Researchers have found evidence that mangrove forests – which protect tropical and subtropical coastlines – are drowning in the Maldives. Their findings, published today (Tuesday 12 December) in Scientific Reports, indicate that rising sea level and a climate phenomenon known as the Indian Ocean Dipole have led to some Maldivian islands losing over half of their mangrove cover since 2020.

Ice on the Antarctic peninsula flowing along a channel into an ice shelf in the ocean. Hilmar Gudmundsson

EXPERT COMMENT: Antarctic study proves glacier has undergone irreversible retreat – highlighting potential for widespread ice loss

In an article written for The Conversation*, both from Northumbria University, Hilmar Gudmundsson, Professor of Glaciology and Dr Brad Reed, Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, alongside Mattias Green, Professor in Physical Oceanography at Bangor University discuss developments in the activity of the Pine Island glacier in the west Antarctic ice sheet.

Sea ice reflections around Rothera Point, home to a research station and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base on the Antarctic Peninsula. Photo by Steve Gibbs.

Increased West Antarctic ice sheet melting is ‘unavoidable’, say scientists

The West Antarctic ice sheet will continue to increase its rate of melting over the rest of the century, no matter how much we reduce fossil fuel use, according to British Antarctic Survey (BAS) research, supported by Northumbria University, and published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Dr Mark Goddard believes the importance of gardens for protecting wildlife and connecting people to nature is too often overlooked. Photo by Ellen Moran, Getty Images.

Humanity for Habitat – saving nature at home

The important role of managing residential gardens and yards to promote biodiversity is the focus of a new study led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and co-authored by an academic from Northumbria University.

Dr Tanya Wyatt.

A Northumbria University academic has been made a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

The accolade is conferred upon the most outstanding social scientists from around the UK each year, and Professor of Criminology, Dr Tanya Wyatt will this autumn join an elite group of distinguished individuals representing the full spectrum of the social sciences across academia, the public sector, business, and the area of Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE).

EXPERT COMMENT: Six lessons to change the climate of climate change narratives

EXPERT COMMENT: Six lessons to change the climate of climate change narratives

One of the key topics of discussion at COP26 is on how we can work with nature to improve our responses to the climate emergency.  As part of our coverage of climate related research undertaken by Northumbria University, we asked Alister Scott, Professor in Environmental Geography, to share his views on the six lessons that governments and decision makers can take from his research.

Radar surveys across the Transantarctic Mountains

Subglacial valleys and mountain ranges discovered near South Pole

Researchers have discovered mountain ranges and three huge, deep subglacial valleys from data collected during the first modern aerogeophysical survey of the South Pole region. The findings are the first to emerge from extensive ice penetrating radar data collected in Antarctica as part of the European Space Agency PolarGAP project and have been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

From l-r: Matthew Pound, Helen Hooper and Rinke Vinkenoog of Northumbria University, with urban beekeeper Ian Campbell

Apiary opportunities for busy beekeepers

Beekeepers in the North East are being invited to take part in a Northumbria University research project exploring the difference between the plants favoured by city and country bees.

Show more

#TakeOnTomorrow

Northumbria University is a research-intensive university that unlocks potential for all, changing lives regionally, nationally and internationally.

Northumbria University, Newcastle

Northumbria University, Newcastle
NE1 8ST Newcastle upon Tyne
United Kingdom