A new survey shows lemurs are far more threatened than previously thought. A group of specialists is in Madagascar – the only place where lemurs are found in the wild – to systematically assess the animals and decide where they sit on the Red List of Threatened Species. More than 90% of the 103 species…
When species lose their natural habitat to deforestation and other causes, they don’t immediately disappear. Instead, they gradually die off over several generations, racking up an “extinction debt” that must eventually be paid in full. New research shows that the Brazilian Amazon has accrued a heavy vertebrate extinction debt, with more than 80% of extinctions…
The hormone-disrupting chemical makes it hard for some fish to recognize their own species, a problem that could ripple throughout ecosystems.
The burning of fossil fuels emits some 35 billion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. That has already begun to change the fundamental chemistry of the world’s oceans, steadily increasing their level of acidity. Projections from a new high-resolution computer model show that over the next 4 decades, the combination of deep-water…
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) consistently disregarded scientific advice when determining how much land to protect for endangered species during the George W. Bush Administration, a new study shows. The analysis, which includes decisions made between 2002 and 2007, shows that the agency was much more likely to ignore expert advice to increase…
Coral reefs may be able to recover from disaster, according to a study that provides a bit of reassurance about the future of these endangered ecosystems. Coral reefs around the world are at risk as the ocean’s temperature continues to rise. Those trends could kill not only coral but also the fish and other species…
Two safeguards for communities’ rights to resources can help implement the Nagoya Protocol, argues biodiversity specialist Krystyna Swiderska. As the recent UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) showed, intergovernmental negotiations on the environment and development can be slow processes that lack ambition. But that is nothing new. One of the outcomes of the original Rio…
Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) reported in the journal Nature Climate Change encouraging new findings that some fish may be less vulnerable to high CO2 and an acidifying ocean than previously feared. “Human activity is expected to increase the acidity of the world’s oceans by 0.3 to 0.4…
A new study indicates that mass extinctions affect the pace of evolution, not just in the immediate aftermath of catastrophe, but for millions of years to follow. The study’s authors, University of Chicago’s Andrew Z. Krug and David Jablonski, will publish their findings in the August issue of the journal Geology. Scientists expected to see…
A rare and highly reactive iron mineral called green rust appears to have played an important role in ancient oceans, suggest new findings, which may have implications for the formation of Earth’s early atmosphere. The research team identified green rust in an Indonesian lake where conditions mimic those of the ancient oceans, and found the…