Home/Posts Tagged ‘species’
Posts Tagged ‘species’
Animals, Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 13th, 2012,
According to a piece in the New York Times, great white sharks are responsible for most overall shark attacks world wide as well as most fatal and unprovoked attacks. There have been 5 fatal shark attacks off the coast of Western Australia in the past 10 months, sparking speculation that the population of great whites is increasing and discussion about removing the shark’s protected status. Great whites have been protected in Australia since 1999. Despite the dangers that some varieties of sharks sometimes pose, experts recommend managing human behavior rather than reducing shark populations. A shark attack registry maintained by the University…
Tags: attack, endangered, great white, protected, shark, species
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 10th, 2012,
Ladybird, or ladybug as the Yanks call it, is a collective term for the family of beetles with the scientific name Coccinellidae. We know ladybirds as cute, round, flying insects that usually have a bright red shell with black polka dots. Harlequin ladybugs were introduced in North America from their native Asia to combat aphid infestations, but are now the most common ladybug species there. The same is now occurring in Europe, including the UK. Harlequin ladybirds eat all 46 of the UK’s native ladybird species. They also leave orange stains on curtains and wallpaper. This is a particular problem…
Tags: harlequin, invasive, ladybird, ladybug, species, UK
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Nov 21st, 2011,
Millions of bullfrogs imported into California carry an infectious fungus that, although not fatal to bullfrogs, can wipe out populations of native frogs. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis breeds in the conditions in which bullfrogs, many of which are imported from Taiwan, are shipped in. The main purpose for shipping the live bullfrogs is for use in traditional Asian cuisine. Bullfrogs carry the fungus but do not die from it. Most of the millions of bullfrogs imported to California each year for use in the food, pet and dissection trades are infected with the fungus, according to several recent studies. –LA Times…
Tags: American, Asian, bullfrog, California, Climate change, food, fungus, species
Conservation, Oct 25th, 2011,
Species come and go. It’s a normal, natural state of life on Earth since life began. Except since humanity has risen to prominence, more and more species have become extinct due to our behavior. Well, we are simply another species ourselves, right? A species of genocidal super-killers maybe, but just another animal nonetheless. Despite ongoing conservation efforts, there are now only 50 Javan rhinos left in the world. All of them live on Java, Indonesia’s (and the Earth’s) most populous island. There were some Javan rhinos also living in Vietnam, but now the last one has been killed by poachers,…
Tags: chinese medicine, horn, Javan Rhino, rhino, species, Vietnam
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 27th, 2011,
Arctic ice melt due to warming temperatures is causing marine plankton to migrate from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic via Arctic waters. This may have huge consequences for marine ecosystems of which plankton form the basis. An EU-funded study, the CLAMER project, discovered that a species of phytoplankton called Neodenticula seminae has returned to the Atlantic Ocean, where it has not lived for 800,000 years. And it’s not just algae. Warming ocean temperatures are also causing animal plankton to migrate into new waters – and they are bringing along larger animals that feed on them. The appearance of a…
Tags: algae, arctic, Atlantic, Northwest Passage, ocean, Pacific, plankton, species, warm
Conservation, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Oct 4th, 2010,
In terms of conservation, plants do not receive as much attention as cute cuddly animals like pandas or polar bears. Let’s face it – they don’t even rank up there with giant salamanders. But plants provide food for all living things and are essential to life on Earth. The untapped medicinal and technological resources in plant life around the world are unknown but potentially invaluable. Therefore preserving plant species and maintaining botanical biodiversity is an important, if often overlooked, issue. One fifth of the 380,000 plant species on Earth are threatened by extinction, mostly due to human activity. This month,…
Tags: biodiversity, biological, convention, diversity, japan, Nagoya, plants, species
Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Oct 3rd, 2010,
Human beings have severely impacted 80% of the world’s rivers to the point that 5 million people, along with thousands of aquatic species, are in danger. A new global study, published in the scientific journal Nature, identifies various types of human impact on the Earth’s waterways, such as pollution, irrigation and dams, and quantifies how they affect River Biodiversity and Human Water Security. From Rivers In Crisis: The Earth’s limited supplies of fresh water and irreplaceable biodiversity are vulnerable to human mismanagement of watersheds and waterways. Multiple environmental stressors, such as agricultural runoff, pollution and invasive species, threaten rivers that…
Tags: biodiversity, Europe, rivers, security, species, US, water, wildlife
Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 21st, 2010,
It’s been a rollercoaster of a project, and the results will be far from perfect but it will be the most comprehensive list to date. –Eimear Nic Lughadha, head of science policy and co-ordination, Kew Gardens (via BBC News) A rose by any other name is still, apparently, a rose. Scientists from the UK and US are reducing the ‘official’ number of flowering plant species by over 600,000 to around 400,000, according to estimates. Researchers from London’s Kew Gardens the Missouri Botanical Garden in the US are cooperating in a project to reclassify the plant list, which doesn’t contain ferns…
Tags: flowering, Kew Gardens, list, plant, species
Conservation, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 19th, 2010,
Researchers met last week at the NEOBIOTA conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to discuss the problem of invasive species in Europe. The 6th NEOBIOTA conference called on the EU to protect Europe’s native species against animals, plants and microorganisms that are deemed a threat. The participants are demanding that the EU enact legislation similar to that of New Zealand and Australia. Invasive species – which have, according to research, increased by 76% over the last 30 years – cost Europe an estimated €12 billion every year. A European inventory in 2008 found more than 10,000 alien species in Europe, with 1,300…
Tags: alien, conference, copenhagen, EU, Europe, invasive, NEOBIOTA, species
Pollution, Science & Technology, Aug 28th, 2010,
A study in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology – aka Satan’s Bible – is providing insight into how different species react to environmental contamination. Scientists studying the effects of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine on local populations of insects, birds and mammals have found that species’ success in terms of adapting to and surviving radioactive contamination is based on the ability to repair damaged DNA. What we have discovered is that when we look at the species in Chernobyl, we can predict, based on their substitution rates, which ones are most vulnerable to…
Tags: animals, chernobyl, contamination, DNA, environmental, species, Ukraine
Conservation, Jul 14th, 2010,
A recent study published in the scientific journal Nature found that quality is more effective than quantity when it comes to nature conservation strategies: Replacing the least cost-effective 1% of Australia’s 6,990 strictly protected areas could increase the number of vegetation types that have 15% or more of their original extent protected from 18 to 54, of a maximum possible of 58. This approach to conservation may seem businesslike or even Darwinian, but human beings have already, in a manner of speaking, ‘won’ in terms of outcompeting the rest of the world’s species. However, if humanity’s successes go too far,…
Tags: australia, biodiversity, Conservation, Philippines, rainforest, species
Climate Change, Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 12th, 2010,
Just as zoos underwent an image makeover in the 1990s from carnival-like places to gawk at exotic animals into ‘bastions of conservation,’ so are formal gardens similarly being re-branded. No longer just ornamental green urban escapes, the world’s leading botanical gardens are focusing on conservation and biodiversity. In a time when ecosystems and biodiversity are degrading at an alarming rate, formal gardens play an increasingly important role. Not only do they act as museums or places to conserve rare plants, but also as centers to build up plant species so that they might once again flourish in the wild. That’s…
Tags: assisted, biodiversity, botanic, botanical, botanist, change, climate, Conservation, formal, gardens, migration, plant, species, tree
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 29th, 2010,
According to a BBC News report from May, rats are the top invasive species in Europe. This should come as no big surprise as the crafty, rapidly multiplying rodents are everywhere and seem to thrive in any environment that contains people. The more people, the more rats. Surprisingly however, they haven’t even been in Europe for that long. The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is found across Europe in all habitats except high mountain ranges. It was believed to have been introduced in the 18th Century as maritime traffic increased. –BBC News Brown rats muscled out native rodent species, but also…
Tags: Asian clam, biodiversity, Brown, environment, Europe, grey, invasive, Ireland, native, rat, rats, species, squirrel
Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 22nd, 2010,
Raccoon dogs from East Asia, yellow-tailed scorpions from Italy, ringnecked parakeets from India and Australian red-necked wallabies are some of the more exotic non-native species now residing – and often thriving – in parts of the UK. Common invasive pests that folks often moan about include grey squirrels and minks from North America, which eat or outcompete some native species. No complaints about small numbers of Chinese muntjac deer, now endangered in Asia, however. Many non-natives walk the line between exotic curiosities and invasive pests, such as wallabies in Scotland and colorful parakeets in London parks. I doubt many Brits…
Tags: animals, exotic, indigenous, invasive, london, native, non-native, parakeets, Scotland, species, threat, UK, wallabies, wild, wildlife
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 14th, 2010,
The UK – particularly London – has been buzzing with wildlife news of late. There’s been a lot of man vs. beast, invasive beast vs. native beast and even man vs. himself. The biggest of these stories has to be the case of the urban fox attacking twin baby girls in an east London house. The young fox slipped into the open house one unusually warm evening and viciously bit the babies about the arms and face as they slept in their upstairs bedroom. The incident has inspired strong reactions – sometimes bordering on the hysterical – public debate and…
Tags: Britain, endangered, fox, foxes, grey, invasive, london, moles, red, species, squirrel, UK, urban
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 9th, 2010,
Everybody hates a tourist. Especially if you’re a Galápagos tortoise. Flocks of brightly glad, gawking tourists are proving to be an invasive species in the Galápagos Islands, located off the west coast of Ecuador. The endemic species of the islands, studied extensively by Charles Darwin due to their extensive variety, are struggling to exist under shadow of the fattest of the fittest. Humans left their mark on the Galapagos even before Darwin turned up. Whalers slaughtered the giant tortoises, and the few settlers brought rats, cats and goats, which crowded out local flora and fauna. Yet the pace of depredation…
Tags: darwin, Galápagos, invasive, penguins, species, tortoise, tourist
Climate Change, Nature, Weird Stuff, Jun 1st, 2010,
European beavers, which have been wiped out in parts of Europe, are now apparently taking revenge on humanity for once being hunted to near extinction. Since European nations – namely Germany, Romania and the Netherlands – have reintroduced beavers into the wild and dedicated time and money to help their recovery, the furry aquatic rodents have been gnawing on the hand that feeds. Typical, thankless behavior. From an article in the London Times: The rodents, Castor fiber, have been munching through dykes and aggravating the floods currently sweeping along the River Oder in Central Europe. They are also holding up…
Tags: beaver, beavers, Europe, European, extinction, flooding, floods, Poland, reintroduced, rodent, species
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, May 27th, 2010,
Yesterday, conservations confirmed the extinction of the Alaotra Grebe: a bird that was only found in the lakes of Madagascar. The announcement comes 25 years after the last confirmed sighting of the bird, also known as the Rusty Grebe and Delacour’s Little Grebe. The decline and ultimate extinction of this little bird can be contributed to habitat destruction, numerous accidental captures in nylon gill-nets, and the introduction of a predator: the Snakehead Murrel. This is a fish that can grow up to 1 meter (about 3 feet) in length and is native to the southeastern region of Asia. The status…
Tags: Africa, Alaotra Grebe, Birdlife International, Delacour's Little Grebe, extinct, extinction, IUCN Red List, Madagascar, Rusty Grebe, species
Uncategorized, May 17th, 2010,
A recent study claims that 20% of lizard species could be extinct by the year 2080, due to the effects of climate change. The research shows a correlation between rising temperatures and lizard extinctions since 1975. As more species become extinct, entire eco-systems will be thrown out of balance. From an article in the Telegraph: The drop in the lizard population could cause an explosion in the numbers of insect they normally feed on as well as devastating creatures higher up the food chain which rely on them for food. The international study is clear that climate change is at…
Tags: Climate change, extinct, lizard, lizards, species, study, temperature
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, May 10th, 2010,
Economic growth and the quest for raw materials in developing nations are threatening to devastate global biodiversity, according to a forthcoming UN Global Biodiversity Outlook report. Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the Convention on Biological Diversity is reported as claiming the current rate of extinction to be 1,000 times its ‘natural historical background rate’. From an article in the Telegraph: Population growth, pollution and the spread of Western-style consumption are also blamed for hitting plant and animal populations. The dangerous behavior already practiced by industrialized developed nations will increase dramatically as it is adopted by the developing world. China, India, Brazil…
Tags: animal, biodiversity, developing, extinction, global, nations, plant, report, species, UN
