Watchlist Indicator showing the average population trend for 77 moths, 19 butterflies, 8 mammals and 51 birds listed as UK BAP priorities, 1968-2010. Species are weighted equally. The indicator starts at 100; a rise to 200 would show that, on average, the populations of indicator species have doubled, whereas if it dropped to 50 they […]
By Evan J. Berkowitz18 July 2013 (Boston Globe) – Rising sea levels brought on by climate change are threatening some of New England’s signature coastal birds, according to a new study. The National Wildlife Federation recently released Shifting Skies, a large study accompanied by a more local report by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, […]
By Trend T.Jafarov29 June 2013 Azerbaijan, Baku (Trend) – Lake Urmia’s water level has dropped by another 28 centimeters compared to the same period last year, the head of the department of water and water resources of Iran’s Ministry of Energy, Alireza Daimi said, the İRNA agency reported on Saturday. According to Daimi, the increased […]
By Craig Pittman16 June 2013 (Tampa Bay Times) – The Indian River Lagoon on Florida’s east coast has long been known as the most diverse ecosystem in North America. Its 156 miles of water boast more than 600 species of fish and more than 300 kinds of birds. The lagoon is not just an ecological […]
By Michael Marshall 13 June 2013 (New Scientist) – Between a quarter and a half of all birds, along with around a third of amphibians and a quarter of corals, are highly vulnerable to climate change. These findings have emerged from the most comprehensive assessment to date of the impact of global warming on life. […]
PORTLAND, Maine, 2 June 2013 (Associated Press) – The Atlantic puffin population is at risk in the United States, and there are signs the seabirds are in distress in other parts of the world. In the Gulf of Maine, the comical-looking seabirds have been dying of starvation and losing body weight, possibly because of shifting […]
31 May 2013 (mongabay.com) – The extinction of large, fruit-eating birds in fragments of Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest has caused palm trees to produce smaller seeds over the past century, impacting forest ecology, finds a study published in the journal Science. The researchers — led by Mauro Galetti from Brazil’s Universidade Estadual Paulista — looked at […]
[More info on that horrible blast-fishing incident in Chile.] 17 May 2013 (Reuters) – Residents in Chile discover around 600 dead animals washed up on the shore in Punta Choros, on the country’s northern coast. Officials fear the deaths were caused by blast fishing, explosions used by fishermen to rid the water of sea lions […]
By Jordan Greene16 May 2013 (Santiago Times) – Chilean Navy discovers more than 600 dead animals in Punta de Choros, a small fishing town north of La Serena. The bodies of sea lions, cormorants and penguins littered a seven mile stretch of beach in Punta de Choros, northern Chile on Sunday. The crime scene is […]
By Roberta Kwok8 May 2013 (The Guardian) – In the 1970s, a population of Arctic foxes on an island in the Bering Sea began to mysteriously decline. The animals were thin and mangy, and nearly all the cubs died. Today, only about 100 foxes remain. The animals were not felled by an infectious disease, a […]
