By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comOctober 06, 2010 A new global assessment of forest stocks by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows a sharp acceleration of primary forest loss since 2005 despite gains in the extent of protected areas. FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 reveals some 13 million hectares of forest were cleared […]
By John Platt Oct 5, 2010 04:00 PM One of the world’s most critically endangered birds, Kenya’s taita apalis (Apalis fuscigularis), has suddenly and inexplicably become much, much rarer, according to BirdLife International. The organization, which has funded research into the species through its Preventing Extinctions Program, says that field work conducted in 2009 and […]
(PhysOrg.com) — The first detailed measurements of current extinction rates for a specific region have shown that birds are the best group to use to track the losses. The study also reveals Britain may be losing species over ten times faster than records suggest, and the speed of loss is probably increasing: the losses from […]
Destructive species hitching ride on cargo ships make Seaway a bigger threat By Dan Egan of the Journal SentinelOct. 3, 2010 For thousands of years, the Great Lakes were protected by Niagara Falls on the east and a subcontinental divide on the west, but those barriers to our grandest freshwater system were obliterated over the […]
By Laura Zuckerman; editing by Steve Gorman and Greg McCuneSat Oct 2, 2010 6:29pm EDT SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – Across the northern Rocky Mountains, bighorn sheep are dying by the hundreds from pneumonia and alarmed wildlife officials are hunting and killing the majestic animals to halt the spread of the disease. Since winter, nine disease […]
www.wildmadagascar.org September 30, 2010 One thousand endangered tortoises are being illegally collected each week in southern Madagascar, reports WWF. The trade, driven by international demand for the endemic radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) and the spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoids) as well as local consumption, is driving the slow-to-reproduce species toward extinction in the wild. Additionally, tortoise […]
By Ken Ward Jr.September 30, 2010 CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An independent science advisory team has issued a draft report [pdf] that supports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that mountaintop removal is causing serious damage to Appalachian streams. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s independent Science Advisory Board earlier this week issued a draft of its […]
By Joshua Schneyer; editing by David GregorioThu Sep 30, 2010 7:09pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) – University researchers said on Thursday they recently found alarming levels of cancer-causing toxins in an area of the Gulf of Mexico affected by BP’s oil spill, raising the specter of long-lasting health concerns. Oregon State University (OSU) researchers found […]
Thousands of walruses gathered together in a dangerous “haul out” on the coast of Alaska earlier this month. Scientists say the walruses came ashore in such large numbers because their normal habitats, Arctic ice floes, are melting. Walruses Swarm Beaches as Ice Melts Technorati Tags: sea ice,Arctic,Alaska,North America,global warming,climate change,climate refugees,habitat loss,ecosystem disruption,marine mammal,mammal decline
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science CorrespondentSep 29, 2010 6:43am EDT LONDON (Reuters) – One in five of the world’s 380,000 plant species is threatened with extinction and human activity is doing most of the damage, according to a global study published on Wednesday. Scientists from Britain’s Botanic Gardens at Kew, London’s Natural History Museum […]
