Agroforestry systems, which integrate trees and shrubs into farming, are vital to achieving sustainable cocoa production in West Africa where 70 percent of the world cocoa is produced. Climate change induced drought means that it is ever more critical to adapt farming practices and find new approaches. Research led by scientists from the University of Göttingen sheds light on a promising new approach to improve climate resilience in cocoa agroforestry across West Africa; this focuses on the critical role of leaf “phenology” – the seasonal changes in leaf cycles – in trees providing shade in managing climate impacts. The study discovered that the seasonal leaf cycles of shade trees can significantly influence the productivity of cocoa agroforestry systems as well as their resilience to global environmental change. The results were published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment.

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today presented a 12-member team with the ACM Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modelling. The award recognizes innovative parallel computing contributions toward solving the global climate crisis.

A new study led by the University of Washington has for the first time quantified the risk for whale-ship collisions worldwide for four geographically widespread ocean giants that are threatened by shipping: blue, fin, humpback and sperm whales. In a paper published online Nov. 21 in Science, researchers report that global shipping traffic overlaps with about 92% of these whale species’ ranges. Only about 7% of areas at highest risk for whale-ship collisions have any measures in place to protect whales from this threat. These measures include speed reductions, both mandatory and voluntary, for ships crossing waters that overlap with whale migration or feeding areas.

Lithium ore and mining waste from a historic lithium mine located west of Charlotte, North Carolina, are unlikely to contaminate surrounding waters with common pollutants such as arsenic and lead, according to a new study. However, high levels of other metals — namely, lithium, rubidium and cesium — do occur in waters associated with the mine.