Vultures can prevent tens of millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and methane emissions each year, a new study finds. The study, published in Ecosystem Services, found that the scavengers who feed on dead animals are helping out the environment. There are 22 species of vultures around the world, and they are often […]
Tag: ecosystem services
Deforestation intensifies in northern Malaysia’s most important water catchment
Spanning more than 1,600 square kilometers (620 square miles), the Ulu Muda rainforest is one of the last large, continuous tracts of forest in the Malay Peninsula, and provides vital habitat for countless species as well as water for millions of people in northern Malaysia. But deforestation, due in large part to logging, is threatening […]
Europe bans pesticides linked to bee collapse
The EU has banned three neonicotinoid pesticides (imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam) linked to the decline of bees for two years. The ban will apply to all flowering crops, such as corn, rape seed, and sunflowers. The move follows a flood of recent studies, some high-profile, that have linked neonicotinoid pesticides, which employ nicotine-like chemicals, to […]
An insidious threat to tropical forests: over-hunting endangers tree species in Asia and Africa
A fruit falls to the floor in a rainforest. It waits. And waits. Inside the fruit is a seed, and like most seeds in tropical forests, this one needs an animal—a good-sized animal—to move it to a new place where it can germinate and grow. But it may be waiting in vain. Hunting and poaching […]