By Fiona Harvey15 September 2015 (The Guardian) – Tuna and mackerel populations have suffered a “catastrophic” decline of nearly three quarters in the last 40 years, according to new research. WWF and the Zoological Society of London found that numbers of the scombridae family of fish, which also includes bonito, fell by 74% between 1970 […]
30 July 2015 (University of Utah) – In the virtual worlds of climate modeling, forests and other vegetation are assumed to bounce back quickly from extreme drought. But that assumption is far off the mark, according to a new study of drought impacts at forest sites worldwide. Living trees took an average of two to […]
By Cally Carswell5 September 2015 (The Guardian) – Last September, US Geological Survey ecologist Nate Stephenson hiked into Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest to look for dying seedlings. California was suffering through its third year of severe drought, and trees were dying in the park in greater numbers than usual. The roadside leading up to […]
By Ezra David Romero17 August 2015 (NPR) – The giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada are one of America’s treasures, but for the first time in Sequoia National Park’s history, the trees are showing visible signs of exhaustion due to the drought. On a hike last summer, a scientist noticed that the needles of the […]
By James Hataway14 July 2015 Athens, Georgia (UGA) – Unless humans slow the destruction of Earth’s declining supply of plant life, civilization like it is now may become completely unsustainable, according to a paper published recently by University of Georgia researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “You can think of the […]
By Adam Justice 7 July 2015 City officials in Los Angeles have said they don’t have enough water to irrigate all the trees in the city, so they are cutting down roughly 14,000 of those that are dead or dying from drought. ”It’s difficult to say the specific cause of death. But the drought is […]
By Julie Cohen9 June 2015 (UCSB) – A combination of drought, heat and insects is responsible for the death of more than 12 million trees in California, according to a new study from UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Members of the NCEAS working group studying environmental factors contributing to […]
19 March 2015 (IUCN) – With the majority (56.7%) of European bee species being listed as Data Deficient, any overview of the threats to the continental apifauna will necessarily be incomplete. However, for conservation and management of bee diversity to be undertaken effectively, it is critical to have a clear understanding of taxonomy and ecology […]
By Stephen Chen29 March 2015 (SCMP) – Thick smog could kill off most southern China’s natural forests within decades and threatens trees around the world unless nations take action, say scientists. A 13-year study by Chinese scientists has revealed strong evidence to show the danger is being caused by nitrogen emissions in the atmosphere. “It […]
10 February 2015 (Conservation Letters) – Drivers of declines in status for pollinator birds (1988-2012) and mammals (1996-2008). ABSTRACT: Biodiversity is declining, with direct and indirect effects on ecosystem functions and services that are poorly quantified. Here we develop the first global assessment of trends in pollinators, focusing on pollinating birds and mammals. A Red […]
