Canada already has a forward-thinking salmon management plan on the books. Now it just needs to implement it. When Canada’s Policy for Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon was announced in 2005, it was hailed as a major step forward for fisheries management in the country. “It was a blueprint for how to manage, rebuild, and […]
conservation
Nature’s Most Wanted: Conservationists Launch New Quest for Lost Species
Expeditions will delve into the wild, looking for species that haven’t been seen for at least a decade. Somewhere deep in the remote and largely inaccessible wetlands of northern Myanmar, Richard Thorns hopes to find a ghost. This fall, the ambulance driver and amateur ornithologist plans to leave his home in Crowborough, England to launch […]
Plant Trees and Chill
Software helps a conservation group see where shade trees will best cool a river. Then the hard work starts. In 2011, the city of Medford in Oregon had a problem. The treated water being released into the Rogue River from its sewage treatment plant was too warm, threatening the river’s fish. The historically cool Rogue […]
Flying foxes are facing extinction on islands across the world
Flying foxes are in deep trouble. Almost half the species of this type of fruit bat are now threatened with extinction. The bats face a variety of threats, including deforestation and invasive species, but the main one is hunting by humans, says Christian Vincenot, an ecological modeller at Kyoto University in Japan, who highlights their […]
Around the World in 15 Cranes
Renowned crane conservationist George Archibald just returned from a global tour to meet every species of crane in the wild. Here’s what he saw. This week, when George Archibald arrived in Port Aransas, Texas for the annual Whooping Crane Festival, it marked the end of a remarkable journey. He was back with his beloved Whooping Cranes—one […]
The Effects of Invasive Pythons Slither through the Everglades
Pythons may be setting off a cascade of ecosystem changes. The huge Burmese pythons that are slowly taking over Florida’s Everglades wetlands are a threat to the mammals that live there. But new research shows the pythons’ influence extends far beyond their own appetites: the snakes are setting off cascading changes to the ecosystem. Read more […]
Why grey wolves kill less prey when brown bears are around
Wolves may be better at sharing their meals with bears than we thought. Biologists have long assumed that when wolves and brown bears share territory, the wolves are forced to kill more often to make up for the food stolen by scavenging bears. But when Aimee Tallian, a biologist at Utah State University, and her […]
The big cull
Can New Zealand pull off an audacious plan to get rid of all invasive predators by 2050? Razza the rat nearly ended James Russell’s scientific career. Twelve years ago, as an ecology graduate student, Russell was releasing radio-collared rats on to small islands off the coast of New Zealand to study how the creatures take […]
Florida’s White Ibises May Be Spreading Disease
The increasingly urban birds are carrying salmonella. If you’re golfing in Florida this winter, resist the urge to feed the friendly white ibises congregating around the water hazards—they might just give you salmonella. The birds, native to Florida’s dwindling wetlands, have been moving to urban golf courses and parks. There they come into close contact […]
Is This the Year Governments Protect Antarctica’s Seas?
The odds world governments will finally agree to establish marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean are looking better than ever. The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is one of the most diverse, fragile, and poorly studied ocean ecosystems on Earth. But as far as marine protection goes, it’s the Wild West. That could soon change, […]