By Jeremy Hance18 September 2013 (mongabay.com) – One of the richest ecosystems on the planet may not survive a hotter climate without human help, according to a sobering new paper in the open source journal PLoS ONE. Although little-studied compared to lowland rainforests, the cloud forests of the Andes are known to harbor explosions of […]
By Carolyn Kormann3 July 2013 (The New Yorker) – “We don’t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society,” President Obama said last week as he outlined his climate-change plan. The gibe was widely tweeted and repeated, the message clear: when it comes to global warming, Obama won’t tolerate any more anti-science bunk. […]
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. […]
[Guest blogger Melissa Hathaway discusses the IUCN Red List of Threatened Ecosystems, which Desdemona was unaware of. Thanks for the 411, Melissa!] By Melissa Hathaway9 June 2013 The focus on environmental conservation is expanding from the need to conserve individual species of flora and fauna to encompass entire ecosystems. DesdemonaDespair.net is dedicated to comprehensive and […]
By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent12 May 2013 (BBC News) – More than half of common plant species and a third of animals could see a serious decline in their habitat range because of climate change. New research suggests that biodiversity around the globe will be significantly impacted if temperatures rise more than 2C. But the […]
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent11 October 2012 (Reuters) – Governments need to spend $80 billion a year to halt extinctions of endangered animals and plants, many times current levels and only half the amount paid to bankers in bonuses last year, a study showed. The extra spending is vital to protect natural services such as […]
26 September 2012 (University of Bristol) – Speaking at the Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World this week in Monterey, California, Dr Daniela Schmidt, a geologist from the University of Bristol, warned that current rates of ocean acidification are unparalleled in Earth history. Dr Schmidt of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences […]
By Alister Doyle; editing by Tim Pearce31 August 2012 OSLO (Reuters) – The vital tasks carried out by tiny “engineers” like earthworms that recycle waste and bees that pollinate crops are under threat because one fifth of the world’s spineless creatures may be at risk of extinction, a study showed on Friday. The rising human […]
Contact: Jenny Lappin, CoECRS, +61 417 741 638 Jan King, UQ Communications Manager, +61 (0)7 3365 1120 Professor John Pandolfi, CoECRS and UQ, +61 7 3365 3050 or (m) +61 400 982 301 Life in the world’s oceans faces far greater change and risk of large-scale extinctions than at any previous time in human history, […]
By KELLY SLIVKA14 August 2012 The Atlantic Forest in Brazil, which runs along the country’s southeastern shore near Rio de Janeiro, has been fragmented by centuries of human habitation. While the rain forest originally spanned over half a million square miles – an area comparable to the size of South Africa – almost 90 percent […]
