Humans aren’t the only ones feeling anxiety about environmental destruction. As forests shrink, small mammals are also feeling stressed, and we can tell by their fur. A team of scientists collected fur samples from 106 small rodents and marsupials in six forest fragments in the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay. After grinding each fur sample into […]
Tag: Liz Kimbrough
Death by 1,000 cuts: Are major insect losses imperiling life on Earth?
Chances are, the works of the world’s insects touch your lips every day. The coffee or tea you savor, both are insect pollinated. Apples, oranges, cabbages, cashews, cherries, carrots, broccoli, watermelon, garlic, cinnamon, basil, sunflower seeds, almonds, canola oil — all are insect pollinated. Honey, dyes, even some vaccines require insects to come to fruition. […]
As the Amazon burns, what happens to its biodiversity?
The number of fires burning in standing Amazon rainforest spiked dramatically in recent weeks, threatening the forest’s biodiversity — a richness of flora and fauna not adapted to withstand the flames. Of all major fires detected in the Amazon this year, 43% were in standing forests, as of Sept 21, (up from only 13% in […]
A jaguar nicknamed “Short-Tail” the first known to cross between Belize and Guatemala
An adult male jaguar nicknamed “Short-Tail” (due to his partially missing tail) was caught on camera in both Belize and Guatemala, making him the first individual confirmed to cross the international boundary between the two countries. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists published their observation in CATnews, the newsletter of the Cat Specialist Group, a component […]
Tigers threatened by a vast network of planned roads across Asia
The Bukit Tigapuluh landscape in Indonesia has been sliced and diced by roads, opening its forests to threats from the outside. As forest vanishes in the region, so too does its population of endangered Sumatran tigers. A rapidly expanding road network in Asia threatens to usher in similar problems for tigers (Panthera tigris) elsewhere in […]
Birds in Amazon forest fragments: New study summarizes 40 years of research
For the past 40 years, researchers have studied Amazonian bird communities in the world’s longest-running experiment on tropical forest fragments. This research, summarized in a newly published paper in The Condor: Ornithological Applications, sheds light on the way Neotropical birds respond to and recover from deforestation in a dynamic tropical landscape. The Biological Dynamics of […]
Conservationists set the record straight on COVID-19’s wildlife links
The World Health Organization has categorized the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a pandemicin light of its spread around the world. Ever since the first cases emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December, there’s been much speculation — and misinformation— about the origins of the virus. And while scientists suspect it may have […]
‘Fake market’: Red panda study finds no real demand behind rise in poaching
Cases of poaching and illegal trade in the endangered red panda (Ailurus fulgens) are on the rise in Nepal. But with little evidence of a demand for panda pelts and parts, researchers are asking why. Led by researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia, a team of nearly 40 university graduates traveled throughout the […]