During ten years surveying small mammal populations in Bolivia’s cerrado, Dr. Louise Emmons with the Smithsonian Institute found that the mammals were suffering precipitous declines, even local extinctions. After ruling out the usual suspects—local fires, rainfall, and flooding—Emmons formed a novel hypothesis regarding the decline. Could a sudden lack of nighttime dew caused by the […]
By Becky Kramer, The Spokesman-Review ROSE LAKE, Idaho — Even near death, tundra swans are graceful. Snowy necks arch and flex as the birds — victims of lead poisoning — gasp for breath. Wings rise and fall in rhythmic sweeps, but the birds are too weak to take flight. Their cries are soft, trilling sounds. […]
Low-oxygen “dead zones” in the ocean could expand significantly over the next century, according to marine chemists. These predictions are based on the fact that, as more and more carbon dioxide dissolves from the atmosphere into the ocean, marine animals will need more oxygen to survive. Concentrations of carbon dioxide are increasing rapidly in the […]
Already threatened by global warming, harvesting krill to supply omega-3 oil means danger for Antarctica’s penguins By Gerry Leape Fifty years ago, delegates from 12 nations – including the United States, Norway and Japan – gathered in Washington DC to discuss how to protect Antarctica, the only continent without a native human population. The result […]
Gangs of illegal rosewood loggers continue to pillage the wildlife-rich forests of northeastern Madagascar, reports a local source. “More and more people are entering the [protected area] to cut wood,” said the source, whose identity has been concealed for protection. “All the rosewood — regardless of its diameter — will disappear.” The source adds that […]
Tory dismissal of findings angers scientists Via Treehugger: By Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service Half of Canada’s boreal caribou herds are in decline and could die off unless their habitat is better protected, says a federal report that points to logging and energy production as big threats to the reclusive creatures. Environment Canada released […]
From Climate Progress: The prestigious journal Nature is publishing important new research on “Rapid sea-level rise and reef back-stepping at the close of the last interglacial highstand” (subs. req’d, abstract below). As Nature explains in a summary and author interview (subs. req’d): Some consequences of climate change are already unfolding. Glaciers and ice sheets are […]
KAMPALA (Reuters) – Overfishing on Lake Victoria has seen Nile Perch stocks drop 81 percent to 370,000 metric tons in 2008 from 2 million metric tons three years ago, “annihilating” the species, Uganda said Thursday. Fishing is one of Uganda’s leading export earners. The east African nation boasts four major lakes — Victoria, Lake […]
By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News The Sidamo lark could soon be the first bird on mainland Africa to die out since modern records began, a survey shows. A survey has found that just a few hundred of the larks survive in Ethiopia. Unless action is taken to save it, the bird will disappear. While […]
HOR AL-HAMMAR, Iraq – A severe drought is threatening Iraq’s southern marshes — the traditional site of the biblical Garden of Eden — just as the region was recovering from Saddam Hussein’s draining of its lakes and swamps to punish a political rebellion. Marshes that were coming back to life a few years ago with […]
