In the last four decades, dugong (Dugong dugon) aggregations have been rarely reported from the geographically isolated, vast seascape of the Andaman Islands, India. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, hunting, coastal development, and habitat loss are the major causes of this change in the social system of dugongs in …
Cats that live in the wild may be in danger. Scientists have found that almost half of the 36 species of felids that live in the wild in the world are at risk. However, a lack of studies regarding their main hurdle, the loss and fragmentation of their habitat, limits …
Mercury pollution has risen nearly 50-fold in the feathers of a breed of Arctic bird over the past 130 years, say scientists. Analysis of museum specimens shows high mercury levels in the endangered ivory gull. It could have implications for the bird's ability to breed and raise chicks, says a …
Do the wet savannahs and shrublands of Africa provide a large reserve of potential croplands to produce food staples or bioenergy with low carbon and biodiversity costs? We find that only small percentages of these lands have meaningful potential to be low-carbon sources of maize (~2%) or soybeans (9.5–11.5%), meaning …
In polar environments, a lack of empirical knowledge about biodiversity prompts reliance on species distribution models to predict future change, yet these ignore the role of biotic interactions including the role of long past human exploitation. To explore how mammals of extreme elevation respond to glacial recession and past harvest, …
A variety of hydrokinetic turbines are currently under development for power generation in rivers, tidal straits and ocean currents. Because some of these turbines are large, with rapidly moving rotor blades, the risk of collision with aquatic animals has been brought to attention. The behavior and fate of animals that …
Thanks to climate change, habitat loss and hunting, the number of Borneo mammals at near-extinction is expected to double by the year 2080, an astonishing new report says. However, researchers say if we take action now and focus conservation efforts on protecting vital rainforest habitat, some of these species may …
Scientists have found the number of animals moved to make way for building projects far outnumber science-led relocations to recover populations The relocation of animals to make way for land development rarely succeeds and could be driving some species towards extinction, according to a new study. An international team of …
Mass mortality events (MMEs), the rapid, catastrophic die-off of organisms, are an example of a rare event affecting natural populations. Individual reports of MMEs clearly demonstrate their ecological and evolutionary importance, yet our understanding of the general features characterizing such events is limited. Here, we conducted the first, to our …
Wanted – Dead or Alive, Exposing Online Wildlife Trade reveals that, in early 2014, an intense six-week investigation found a total of 33,006 endangered wildlife and wildlife parts and products for sale via 280 online market places across 16 countries.
The laboratory mouse shares the majority of its protein-coding genes with humans, making it the premier model organism in biomedical research, yet the two mammals differ in significant ways. To gain greater insights into both shared and species-specific transcriptional and cellular regulatory programs in the mouse, the Mouse ENCODE Consortium …
The environment minister, Greg Hunt, has set out his vision to reverse the precipitous decline in the number of Australian species, pledging to end the loss of native mammal species by 2020. Hunt admitted Australia has a legacy of “clear and significant failures” in protecting its wildlife, citing the fact …
International efforts to meet targets to stem the loss of wildlife and habitats are failing miserably, according to a UN report. The Global Biodiversity Outlook 4, published as nearly 200 countries meet on Monday in South Korea in a bid to tackle biodiversity loss, paints a damning picture of governments’ …
International efforts to meet targets to stem the loss of wildlife and habitats are failing miserably, according to a UN report. The Global Biodiversity Outlook 4, published as nearly 200 countries meet on Monday in South Korea in a bid to tackle biodiversity loss, paints a damning picture of governments’ …
About 3,000 species of wildlife around the world have seen their numbers plummet far worse than previously thought, according to a new study. The study from the Swiss-based WWF largely blamed human threats to nature for a 52 percent decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2010. It says improved …
The world populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles fell overall by 52 percent between 1970 and 2010, far faster than previously thought, the World Wildlife Fund said on Tuesday. The conservation group's Living Planet Report, published every two years, said humankind's demands were now 50 percent more than …
Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long-term forest dynamics research sites (CTFS-ForestGEO) useful for characterizing forest responses to global change. Within very …
Protected areas are working. That's the conclusion of a new analysis of over 80 different studies on the efficacy of parks and nature reserves in safeguarding wildlife. Published in the open access journal, PLOS ONE, the new study finds that in general protected areas house higher abundances of wildlife as …
Offshore wind power provides a valuable source of renewable energy that can help reduce carbon emissions. Technological advances are allowing higher capacity turbines to be installed and in deeper water, but there is still much that is unknown about the effects on the environment. Here we describe the lessons learned …
Primary tropical forests are lost at an alarming rate, and much of the remaining forest is being degraded by selective logging. Yet, the impacts of logging on biodiversity remain poorly understood, in part due to the seemingly conflicting findings of case studies: about as many studies have reported increases in …
The Rajaji national park authorities have started installing camera traps as part of an annual exercise undertaken for keeping an eye on the wildlife and wildlife criminals in the rainy season. It is worth mentioning here that about 13 tigers are estimated to be living in the national park which …
