Hundreds of species are already going locally extinct because of global warming – “In some ways, this is just the beginning”

By Sean Greene13 December 2016 (The Los Angeles Times) – As the planet warms, species around the world are engaged in a race against time to either adapt or move to cooler habitats. Hundreds of them are already losing, according to a recent study in PLoS Biology. As animals and plants move to higher elevations […]

Global wildlife populations could drop two-thirds by 2020 as human demand continues to exceed Earth’s capacity

OAKLAND, California, 26 October 2016 (Global Footprint Network) – The overexploitation of ecological resources by humanity is directly contributing to the 67 percent plunge in wild vertebrate populations scientists forecast for the 50-year period ending in 2020, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016. The top threats to species identified in the report are directly […]

Food production, ecosystem services, and biodiversity: We can’t have it all everywhere

ABSTRACT: Debate about how sustainable intensification and multifunctionality might be implemented continues, but there remains little understanding as to what extent they are achievable in arable landscapes. Policies that influence agronomic decisions are rarely made with an appreciation of the trade-offs that exist between food production, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem service provision. We present an […]

Report revels 56 percent of UK species have declined since 1970 and 1,199 species are threatened with extinction

By Dr. Barnaby Smith14 September 2016 (CEH) – The State of Nature 2016 UK report is launched by Sir David Attenborough and UK conservation and research organisations at the Royal Society in London this morning (Wednesday, September 14). Following on from the first State of Nature report published in 2013 the report reveals that over […]

Neonicotinoid insecticides linked to wild bee decline across England – Study finds ‘increased population extinction rates in response to neonicotinoid seed treatment’

16 August 2016 (CEH) – Exposure to neonicotinoid seed treated oilseed rape crops has been linked to long-term population decline of wild bee species across the English countryside, according to research published today in Nature Communications. The research, led by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology using data provided by Fera Science Ltd and the […]

Study finds ‘catastrophic declines’ of wilderness worldwide – ‘The amount of wilderness loss in just two decades is staggering and very saddening’

9 September 2016 (UQ News) – A University of Queensland-led international study released today reports catastrophic declines in wilderness areas around the world over the past 20 years. UQ School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management and Wildlife Conservation Society in New York researcher Associate Professor James Watson said findings demonstrated alarming losses comprising a […]

Illegal gold mining threatens tropical forest in Peruvian Amazon

[Translation by Bing Translator.] By Francesca Garcia Delgado3 September 2016 (El Comercio) – Between October 2015 and July 2016, illegal gold mining deforested 238 hectares of forest (equivalent to 326 soccer fields) in the buffer of the Bahuaja Sonene National Park (USD35) zone, located between Madre de Dios and Puno regions. This protected area is […]

Climate change pledges not nearly enough to save tropical ecosystems

By Jeremy Hance16 August 2016 (mongabay.com) – The Paris Agreement marked the biggest political milestone to combat climate change since scientists first introduced us in the late 1980s to perhaps humanity’s greatest existential crisis. Last December, 178 nations pledged to do their part to keep global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius […]

Drought stalls tree growth and shuts down Amazon carbon sink

6 July 2016 (University of Exeter) – A recent drought completely shut down the Amazon Basin’s carbon sink, by killing trees and slowing their growth, a ground-breaking study led by researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Leeds has found. Previous research has suggested that the Amazon – the most extensive tropical forest on Earth […]

Ash tree set for extinction in Europe – ‘Between the fungal disease and a bright green beetle called the emerald ash borer, it is likely that almost all ash trees in Europe will be wiped out’

By Claire Marshall23 March 2016 (BBC News) – The ash tree is likely to be wiped out in Europe, according to a review of the evidence. The trees are being killed off by the fungal disease ash-dieback along with an invasive beetle called the emerald ash borer. According to the research, published in the Journal […]

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