Biodiversity

A new study maps areas designated for potential carbon dioxide removal projects, such as planting forests or bioenergy crops, that might conflict with biodiversity hotspots.

What began as a grassroots marine conservation effort in Kuruwitu in the Vipingo area has become a model for community-led reef restoration.

the frog news is hopping today

Even after more than a decade studying colour variations among European lizards, their differences still amaze Ábalos. “Who’d guess they’re the same species?” he says, smiling.

*This coverage is made possible through a partnership betweenGristandBPR*, a public radio station serving western North Carolina.

Last year, the network undertook its first major project: a large-scale survey of more than 50 partners across the region. The results were stark. They revealed that more than 500 native species in the Midwest are effectively unavailable for restoration. In some cases, it’s because no one grows them. In others, the seeds are available, but the cost — even at a couple of dollars per packet — becomes prohibitive when restoration projects require thousands of pounds. And for certain finicky species, the bottleneck is technical: Researchers and growers still don’t fully understand how to germinate them reliably or help them thrive in restoration settings.

Anderegg takes a bottom-up approach to ecology. He studies how characteristics and adaptations vary within a single species across its range. With this basic information, he builds up an understanding of the stress that this species faces from climate change. He repeats this process for more species, gradually sussing out the general patterns across many species. “My goal is to derive an understanding about where and why certain species will be vulnerable or resilient to climate change so that we can tailor proactive management strategies for them,” he said.

Half of nations have met a UN deadline to report on how they are tackling nature loss within their borders, Carbon Brief analysis shows.

The common or lawn daisy, Bellis perennis, is probably familiar to most people living in temperate climates. But there may be a few things you do not know about this fascinating and perhaps underestimated flower.

A new study has now provided the first proof of an ant species that lacks both workers and males and consists exclusively of queens.

Researchers in Uganda have discovered a complex network of animals feeding on bats infected with Marburg virus, for the first time capturing startling footage of potential spillover risks.

The casting of ‘invasives’ as ecological villains has long been backed by scientific and political consensus. Yet as species increasingly move into unfamiliar regions, a favouritism towards natives is growing harder to defend. The traditional approach of trying to stop invasions and eradicate successful invaders isn’t just costly and often ineffective. It may be entirely the wrong approach, if we’re concerned about the environment. While some invasive species are truly harmful and need to be fought, others are a healthy ecological response – they’re part of how the biosphere is adapting to humanity’s environmental impact.

“The biggest take home is let’s do a better job of managing our freshwater rivers so we never have to consider full fishing bans as the medicine,” said Cooke. “Although this seems to have been effective here, the collateral damage to fishing communities is immense.”

Note: Since deep-sea mining is mentioned in this article I thought of adding a few of links in an effort to sum up how vast and serious the problem is.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has said it will revoke the grazing permits that have allowed American Prairie to run bison on roughly 63,000 acres of federal public land in Montana. This decision would affect seven parcels managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Phillips County, and it would hinder the organization’s larger goals of conserving large swaths of intact grasslands while restoring the native grazers to those landscapes.

The study: The Cerrado crisis review: highlighting threats and providing future pathways to save Brazil’s biodiversity hotspot

Cooperative breeders remind us that success in nature doesn’t always come from independence—sometimes, it’s interdependence that keeps species thriving. These birds thrive not in isolation, but in networks of shared responsibility, patience, and long-term care.

In a new report published in Nature Plants, researchers based at more than 50 botanic gardens and living plant collections warn that a patchwork of incompatible, or even absent, data systems is undermining global science and conservation at a critical moment.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/18005

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/17077

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/17116

Three species of the melodic African warbler bird refuse to get up early and sing their customary daybreak songs when the weather is cold. This new discovery was made recently by a team of soundscape ecologists in South Africa’s mountainous Golden Gate Highlands National Park. The team’s research co-leader, Mosikidi Toka, studies how animals and the environment make and use sounds, especially in mountains, and is currently completing a PhD on the sounds of natural habitats. He deployed automated audio recorders to record the birdsong and find out how the birds were affected by freezing temperatures.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/32243294

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/13018

It’s really neat!

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/11958

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See: Calcifying plankton: From biomineralization to global change

The study: Floral scent chemodiversity is associated with high floral visitor but low bacterial richness on flowers

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October 20 marks International Sloth Day, a day dedicated to celebrating these enigmatic and often critically endangered creatures.

Gynandromorphs are rare organisms that are half-male and half-female, where each side of the body presents differently, split right down the middle. Gynandromorphs are distinct from hermaphrodites in that hermaphrodite organisms still have bilateral symmetry and naturally have both sex organs. Hermaphroditism is common in some organisms, while gynandromorphism is much rarer.

Less than two years after researchers at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom warned that the world was nearing numerous climate tipping points, a report out Monday warns that one such “point of no return” has already been reached, with warm-water coral reefs “experiencing unprecedented dieback.”

It’s official: the only Australian shrew is no more.

This king cobra was found in the midst of a well populated village and was promptly rescued by a team of professional snake handlers who afterwards safely released the snake into a nearby forested area away from any habitation. When threatened or stressed after immediately consuming a large meal, reptiles, particularly snakes will sometimes regurgitate the contents in their stomachs to lighten themselves to be able to make a quick getaway or defend themselves. King cobras are ophiophagous, with their diet consisting mainly of other snake species including several nonvenomous and venomous snake species, including other king cobras. This one was in the process of regurgitating a ratsnake that it had consumed.

There are some 2,700 wolves across Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, and seemingly just as many opinions about how they should be managed.

A trio of First Nations researchers is blending traditional knowledge and science to map whale migration and advocate for improved conservation.

Underwater noise is a serious threat to endangered southern resident killer whales, as shipping traffic intensifies through some of the busiest waters off “Vancouver Island.”

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On a tiny Italian island, scientists conducted a radical experiment to see if the bees were causing their wild cousins to decline.

cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/51800

The Atlas blue butterfly is found in the mountain ranges of Morocco and northeast Algeria.

All eight arms of an octopus can be used for whatever their cephalopod owner wishes, but some arms are favored for certain tasks.

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MBARI's advanced underwater technology is revealing the remarkable species that thrive in the deep sea. In 2019, MBARI researchers encountered an unfamiliar pink snailfish swimming just above the seafloor. New research from MBARI collaborators has confirmed this individual represents a species previously unknown to science: the bumpy snailfish (Careproctus colliculi).

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Standing on top of a small mountain, Kim Seung-ho gazes out over an expanse of paddy fields glowing in their autumn gold, the ripening grains swaying gently in the wind. In the distance, North Korea stretches beyond the horizon.

Death cap mushrooms are back in the news. Amanita phalloides has once again been linked to poisonings, this time lacing beef Wellingtons served at a family meal in Leongatha, Australia, which resulted in three fatalities. Such incidents inevitably reignite public fear surrounding this deadly mushroom – and mushrooms in general. The fact that death caps look so innocuous only adds to their malevolent mystique. With their pale yellow cap and white gills, they can be mistaken for several edible fungi – which might explain why they are responsible for almost all mushroom-related deaths. Just half of one is enough to kill you.

Wind turbines get a bad rap for killing birds—but they actually kill far more bats. Scientists estimate that millions of bats die every year after slamming into the giant blades, making turbines one of the top killers of the animals worldwide. But just what exactly lures bats to turbines in the first place is a mystery.

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Despite a federal protection law, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest lost a Washington, D.C.-sized area of mature forest every year between 2010 and 2020, with most of the deforestation occurring illegally on private lands for agriculture.