Civilization has long been derided for intruding upon the habitats of wild animals, and even man’s smaller neighbors have been affected by the wheels of progress.

Concluding a four-year global consultation, international experts have agreed on key efforts needed to reduce the on-going loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.

Cherokee Marsh, it's called, this sunken enclave surrounded by cattails and bulrushes. The marsh is a mere dot on a map of the state of Wisconsin, but its importance reaches far beyond the wetland's edge.

Biodiversity is declining rapidly throughout the world.

A new paper published today in Nature reveals that human land use activity has begun to change the regional water and energy cycles - the interplay of air coming in from the Atlantic Ocean, water transpiration by the forest, and solar radiation - of parts of the Amazon basin.