Ocean Conservation

Study of wolves will help scientists predict climate effects on endangered animals: Click here

Scientists studying populations of grey wolves in the USA's Yellowstone National Park have developed a way to predict how changes in the environment will impact on the animals' number, body size and genetics, amongst other biological traits...

Climate sensitivity to CO2 more limited than extreme projections: Click here

A new study suggests that the rate of global warming from doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be less than the most dire estimates of some previous studies - and, in fact, may be less severe than projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in 2007...

Saving Da Vinci's Last Supper from air pollution: Click here

Having survived long centuries, political upheaval, and even bombings during World War II, Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece Last Supper now faces the risk of damage from air pollution due to its location in one of Western Europe's most polluted cities...

After 25 years, sustainability is a growing science that's here to stay: Click here

Sustainability has not only become a science in the past 25 years, but it is one that continues to be fast-growing with widespread international collaboration, broad disciplinary composition and wide geographic distribution, according to new research from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Indiana University...

Markets drive conservation in Central Africa: Click here

Certification has shown that commercial forestry can co-exist with conservation objectives in the Congo Basin, according to conclusions reached at an international seminar 'Forest management as a tool for cooperation and rural development in Central Africa,' organised yesterday in Madrid by WWF/Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs of Spain...

Great Plains river basins threatened by pumping of aquifers: Click here

Suitable habitat for native fishes in many Great Plains streams has been significantly reduced by the pumping of groundwater from the High Plains aquifer - and scientists analysing the water loss say ecological futures for these fishes are 'bleak'...

Rivers may aid climate control in cities: Click here

Speaking at the URSULA (Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agendas) Conference, in Sheffield, Dr Abigail Hathway, of the University of Sheffield, will demonstrate how rivers can cool their local environment. Urban areas suffer increased temperatures as a result of traffic, air-conditioning systems and modern building materials which can absorb and re-radiate heat from the sun...

Vultures dying at alarming rate: Click here

Vultures in South Asia were on the brink of extinction until Lindsay Oaks and Richard Watson, from The Peregrine Fund in the US, undertook observational and forensic studies to find out why the number of birds was falling so rapidly. They discovered the vultures were being poisoned by residues of an anti-inflammatory drug (diclofenac) used in cattle and other livestock, whose carcasses they feed on. The work is presented in a chapter of the new book, 'Wildlife Ecotoxicology - Forensic Approaches,' published by Springer...

Predicting future threats for global amphibian biodiversity: Click here

Amphibian populations are declining worldwide, and their declines far exceed those of other animal groups: more than 30% of all species are listed as threatened according to the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Multiple factors threaten global amphibian diversity but the spatial distribution of these threats and their interactions are poorly known. A new study published in Nature with Dr Christian Hof as lead author indicates that, worryingly, areas of greatest amphibian species richness are the areas subject to the greatest threat...

Study shows deforestation causes cooling: Click here

Deforestation, considered by scientists to contribute significantly to global warming, has been shown by a Yale-led team to actually cool the local climate in northern latitudes, according to a paper published today in Nature...

Biodiversity improves water quality in streams through a division of labour: Click here

Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and Bradley Cardinale, an assistant professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment, says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so. Cardinale reports his findings in the 7 April edition of the journal Nature...

Climate change is making our environment 'bluer': Click here

The 'colour' of our environment is becoming 'bluer,' a change that could have important implications for animals' risk of becoming extinct, ecologists have found. In a major study involving thousands of data points and published this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology, researchers examined how quickly or slowly animal populations and their environment change over time, something ecologists describe using 'spectral colour'...