After increasing during much of the 20th century, forest cover in the eastern United States in recent decades has resumed its previous decline, according to an exhaustive new analysis published in the April 2010 issue of BioScience. The work is described in an article by Mark A. Drummond and Thomas R. Loveland of the US […]
Solomons, Md. (April 6, 2010) – New research by a team of ecologists and hydrologists shows that water temperatures are increasing in many streams and rivers throughout the United States. The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, documents that 20 major U.S. streams and rivers – including such prominent rivers […]
By Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.comMarch 31, 2010 Urbanization may be having unexpected impacts in the Amazon rainforest by leaving forest areas vulnerable to exploitation by outsiders, report researchers writing in Conservation Letters. Conducting field surveys during the course of 10,000-kilometers of travel along remote Amazon rivers, Luke Parry of Lancaster University found that a sharp […]
Previous figures underestimated global deforestation rate for the 1990s. FRA 2010, like FRA 2005, did not directly compile data on deforestation rates, because few countries have this information. In FRA 2005 the global deforestation rate was estimated from net changes in forest area. Additional information on afforestation and on natural expansion of forest for the […]
By Louise Gray, Environment CorrespondentPublished: 7:00AM GMT 23 Mar 2010 Research in the Congo Basin in Africa found more than three million tonnes of ‘bush meat’ is being extracted from the area every year, the equivalent of butchering 740,000 bull elephants. Most of the animals are small antelopes like blue duiker or rodents like the […]
ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2010) — On 3-4 February 2010, tropical cyclone Oli hit western French Polynesia. From 7 February 2010, the Coral Observation Department at CNRS’s National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU), based at the Centre de recherches insulaires et observatoire de l’environnement (CRIOBE, CNRS/EPHE) in Moorea, rapidly undertook an inventory of the […]
By BRIAN SKOLOFF (AP) WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Coral reefs are dying, and scientists and governments around the world are contemplating what will happen if they disappear altogether. The idea positively scares them. Coral reefs are part of the foundation of the ocean food chain. Nearly half the fish the world eats make their […]
Disappearance of species points to catastrophic environmental damage, says Sir David. By Michael McCarthyFriday, 26 March 2010 Butterfly numbers are declining rapidly all around the world, Britain’s leading conservationist, Sir David Attenborough, warns today. The celebrated television presenter is sounding the alarm that butterfly loss, a concern in Britain for decades, has become a global […]
By Sunanda Creagh, Editing by David FogartyJAKARTAThu Mar 25, 2010 8:52am EDT (Reuters) – Indonesia would have to clear about 700,000 hectares of forest, an area 10 times the size of Singapore, if it proceeds with plans for a vast agricultural estate in Papua province, an activist group said on Thursday. Indonesia wants to […]
By BRIDIE SMITHMarch 25, 2010 THE world’s southernmost coral reef is on a knife edge, according to scientists who say this summer’s above-average water temperatures have left Lord Howe Island’s unique reef stressed and bleached. In parts of the reef, especially areas around the island’s lagoon, up to 95 per cent of corals have been […]