Tree buds in the Apothecary Garden, also known as the Botanic Garden of Moscow State University, in Moscow, Russia, 18 December 2019. Photo: Shamil Zhumatov / REUTERS

Moscow wonders where winter has gone as temperatures hit 133-year high – “This is not our winter. It came from somewhere else.”

By Dmitry Antonov, Gennadiy Novik, and Dmitry Madorsky 18 December 2019 MOSCOW (Reuters) – Residents of Moscow are wondering where winter has gone as the highest December temperatures for 133 years deprive the Russian capital of its customary covering of snow. “This is not our winter,” said pensioner Ludmila Biryukova. “It came from somewhere else.” […]

Micrographs showing microplastic particles embedded within a marine organism: (a) fluorescent PET MFs (23 × 100 μm) at 515–560 nm excitation; (b) fluorescent PP MF (28 × 100 μm) at 450–490 nm excitation; (c) fluorescent Nylon MFs (10 × 40 μm; yellow arrows) in the intestinal tract of a 50 h.p.f. brine shrimp (Artemia sp.), with 515–560 nm fluorescent excitation. Images taken at x25–200 magnification (Zeiss Observer Z1; AxioVision LE). Photo: Cole, 2016 / Scientific Reports

Microplastics are a million times more abundant in the ocean than previously thought

By MacKenzie Elmer 3 December 2019 (UCSD News Center) – Nothing seems safe from plastic contamination. It is pulled from the nostrils of sea turtles, found in Antarctic waters and buried in the fossil record. But a new study by researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego suggests there could […]

Repparfjord is near the northernmost point of Norway. On 30 November 2019, Norway greenlit a copper mine that will dump two million tons of tailings in Arctic fjord each year. Photo: Thomas Nilsen / The Barents Observer

Norway greenlights copper mine that will dump two million tons of tailings in Arctic fjord each year – “Dumping of mining waste will kill every living thing on the ocean floor in the immediate area and disturb spawning grounds over a much greater distance”

ByThomas Nilsen 30 November 2019 (The Barents Observer) – “Allowing this to happen with a protected national salmon fjord doesn’t make sense at all,” said Silje Lundberg, head of Naturvernforbundet. The organisation is the Norwegian branch of Friends of the Earth. Lundberg said the planned dumping of tailings from the copper mine to the fjord […]

A koala with burns suffered from Australia’s unprecedented early bushfires receives treatment for dehydration at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital in November 2019. Photo: Saeed Khan / AFP / Getty Images

Koalas are not functionally extinct, but they need our help

By Jackson Ryan 24 November 2019 (CNET) – The koala is one of the most iconic Australian marsupials. The grey fuzzballs spend nearly all their time in the trees, surviving on a diet of toxic gum leaves and a healthy routine of extended naps. As Australia suffered through unprecedented bushfires in the past two weeks, […]

An aerial view of the Cachimbo Biological Reserve in Altamira, Brazil, reveals the scale of the burned land in the Amazon basin, in August 2019. Critics of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro trace the recent spike in fires to his administration’s anti-environmental policies. Photo: João Laet / AFP / Getty Images

Amazon rainforest sees biggest spike in deforestation in more than a decade – “Forests fall, indigenous leaders are killed, and environmental laws are shattered”

By Colin Dwyer 18 November 2019 (NPR) – Picture, for a second, just how vast New York City is. All told, including Staten Island, the Bronx and every block in between, the massive metropolis takes up more than 300 square miles. Now, try to picture a hunk of land more than 12 times that size. That’s […]

Likelihood of observing various butterfly species in California, 1980-2015. Graphic: Shaffer Grubb / Los Angeles Times

Scientist has been counting California butterflies for 47 years and now sees them disappearing

By Deborah Netburn 12 November 2019 DONNER PASS, California (Los Angeles Times) – Art Shapiro stands on the edge of a Chevron gas station in the north-central Sierra, sipping a large Pepsi and scanning the landscape for butterflies. So far he’s spotted six species — a loping Western tiger swallowtail, two fluttering California tortoiseshells, a […]

(a) Estimated distances animals can travel during the Phocine distemper virus (PDV) latent and infectious period (1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks) illustrating the areas where viral transmission could occur, based on median travel speeds calculated for satellite-tagged bearded seals (green circles), spotted seals (orange), Steller sea lions (blue), and northern fur seals (purple). (b) Recorded tracks of a PDV seropositive bearded seal followed in July 2009 and a seropositive northern fur seal followed in November 2010 shown with sympatric PCR positive spotted seals, ribbon seals, and northern fur seals sampled 2009–2010. Sea ice is shown at its minimum extent in September (panel a) and retreating the following July after reaching a maximum winter extent (panel b). Graphic: VanWormer, et al., 2019 / Scientific Reports

Deadly virus spreads among marine mammals as Arctic sea ice melts – Scientists fear the virus, once found only in European waters, could spread to the U.S. West Coast

By Sarah Gibbens 7 November 2019 (National Geographic) – When sea otters in Alaska were diagnosed with phocine distemper virus (PDV) in 2004, scientists were confused. The pathogen in the Morbillivirus genus that contains viruses like measles had then only been found in Europe and on the eastern coast of North America. “We didn’t understand how a […]

Map showing average surface sea temperature in the Sea of Okhotsk, compared with the late 1800s. Data: Berkeley Earth. Graphic: John Muyskens / The Washington Post

The climate chain reaction that threatens the heart of the Pacific – “When are the fish coming?”

By Simon Denyer and Chris Mooney 12 November 2019 SHIRETOKO PENINSULA, Japan (The Washington Post) – Lined up along the side of their boat, the fishermen hauled a huge, heavy net up from swelling waves. At first, a few small jellyfish emerged, then a piece of plastic. Then net, and more net. Finally, all the […]

A Brazilian soldier puts out fires at the Nova Fronteira region in Novo Progresso, Brazil, on 3 September 2019. Photo: Leo Correa / AP

The Amazon hasn’t stopped burning. There were 19,925 fire outbreaks last month, and “more fires” are in the future – “The government is looking to promote mining and ranching in the Amazon”

By Jorge L. Ortiz 18 October 2019 (USA Today) – The proliferation of fires in the Amazon rainforest drew international attention in August, especially when French President Emmanuel Macron called for urgent action. Since then, the eyes of the world have shifted elsewhere as House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, Hurricane […]

A spotted seal (Phoca largha) trapped in discarded fishing net in the Sea of Japan. Kilometers of nets thrown overboard monthly, junked by North Korean poachers, kill marine life in Russian waters. Photo: Igor Katin

Fishing nets junked by North Korean poachers kill marine life in Russian waters – Kilometers of nets thrown overboard monthly, expert warns – “We are currently in the state of a permanent ecological catastrophe”

24 October 2019 (The Siberian Times) – Anthropogenic rubbish – most of which is left in the sea by North Korean fishermen – is making deadly impact on marine life in Russian Far East. A warning of a ‘permanently ongoing ecological catastrophe’ and a call for action comes from Igor Katin, researcher at the Far […]

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