Seabirds face big problems as sea levels rise
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Migratory shorebird populations are at great risk from rising sea levels due to global climate change, warns a recent paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. These birds play an important role in the distribution of nutrients within wetland and coastal ecosystems, and their loss could have unknown consequences for the rest of the world.
Mongabay.com News
Featured video: Rare Syrian Brown Bear caught on camera
New camera-trap footage from the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge in Armenia,
has captured rare footage of a Syrian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos syriacus),
a subspecies of Brown Bear native to Eurasia. This is an important
recording as there may be just one or two bears in this reserve and are
listed as vulnerable in Armenia. The exact population of this subspecies is
unknown and likely to be declining due to poaching, habitat destruction
and diminishing sources of food in the wild.
Mongabay.com News
Conserving top predators results in less CO2 in the air
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What does a wolf in Yellowstone National Park have in common with an ambush spider on a meadow in Connecticut? Both are predators and thus eat herbivores, such as elk (in the case of wolves) and grasshoppers (in the case of spiders). Elk and grasshoppers also have more in common than you probably imagine: they both consume large quantities of plant matter. While scientists have long-known that predators lead to carbon storage by reducing herbivore populations, a new study reveals a novel way in which top predators cause an ecosystem to store more carbon.
Mongabay.com News
Seabirds face big problems as sea levels rise
|
Migratory shorebird populations are at great risk from rising sea levels due to global climate change, warns a recent paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. These birds play an important role in the distribution of nutrients within wetland and coastal ecosystems, and their loss could have unknown consequences for the rest of the world.
Mongabay.com News
Warming world hits fig wasps and figs
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Recent experiments concerning hugely-important fig plants (Ficus, Moraceae) and their relationship with small, short-lived fig wasps suggest dire potential consequences due to human induced climate change, finds a study published in the journal Biology Letters. The researchers collected four species of adult female fig wasps from the lowland tropical forests of Singapore to test their tolerance to gradually increased temperatures.
Mongabay.com News
Pesticides decimating dragonflies and other aquatic insects
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While recent research (and media attention) has focused on the alleged negative impacts of pesticides on bees, the problem may be far broader according to a new study in the Proceedings of the US Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Looking at over 50 streams in Germany, France, and Australia, scientists in Europe and Australia found that pesticide contamination was capable of undercutting invertebrate biodiversity by nearly half.
Mongabay.com News