Author: Christopher Joyce, NPR

  • Rising sea levels will change the ecology of the Everglades

    The Florida Everglades is a swampy wilderness the size of Delaware. In some places along the road in southern Florida, it looks like tall saw grass to the horizon, a prairie punctuated with a few twisted cypress trees. The sky is the palest blue.But beneath the surface a different story is unfolding. Because of climate change and…

  • How do we know an extreme weather event might be caused by climate change?

    Nowadays, when there’s a killer heat wave or serious drought somewhere, people wonder: Is this climate change at work? It’s a question scientists have struggled with for years. And now there’s a new field of research that’s providing some answers. It’s called “attribution science” — a set of principles that allow scientists to determine when…

  • Atlantic Weather May Be Key Culprit In Fish Decline

    The striped bass is in trouble again. During the 1980s, wildlife managers said these big, full-bodied fish — favorites of anglers along the East Coast — were overfished. So they laid down severe catch limits. The population recovered, and fishing resumed in what is considered one of conservation’s great success stories. But now catches are…