Latest Conservation Stories
A new skin test can determine the age of wild animals while they are still alive, providing information needed to control population explosions among nuisance animals, according to a report here today at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world largest scientific society with more than 163,000 members, is holding the meeting through Thursday at the Colorado Convention Center and downtown hotels. With 7,500 reports on new advances in...
Preserving just 4 percent of the ocean could protect crucial habitat for the vast majority of marine mammal species, from sea otters to blue whales, according to researchers at Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Their findings were published in the Aug. 16 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Of the 129 species of marine mammals on Earth, including seals, dolphins and polar bears, approximately one-quarter are...
The role of national governments in ecological or environmental conservation remains contentious the world over. While scientists and campaigners alike often demand that governments regulate and encourage restoration projects; financial priorities and conflicts with land owners or corporations makes such interventions politically difficult. However, as Restoration Ecology reports, Brazil is one of a handful of developing nations, alongside South Africa, Namibia, India, Costa Rica and...
The Iberian lynx, one of the most endangered cats in the world and Europe’s most endangered carnivore, may not be doomed by its small population size, according to a study published Monday in the journal Molecular Ecology. Just 250 Iberian lynx are believed to exist in the wild, raising the risks of inbreeding and low genetic diversity. However, the current study suggests the lynx has had little genetic variability over the last 50,000 years, and that this has not hindered the...
Seven species are threatened and in need of further protectionA global study by an international team including professor John Graves of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has found that several species of tunas and billfishes are threatened and in need of further protection.The team's analysis"”published in a recent issue of Science magazine's Policy Forum"”is the first study of global tuna and billfish populations using the methods of the International Union for Conservation of...
Findings demonstrate substantial returns on screening program relative to current costs of open-door policy WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a major new study published in the journal Ecological Economics, scientists and economists have, for the first time, statistically demonstrated the net benefits of doing risk assessments for the live wild animal trade. The study estimates that the long-term expected net benefits from implementing a risk screening system range...
With state and federal budget cuts to conservation programs, Resources First Foundation offers free one-stop shop for farmers, ranchers & forest landowners. Nashville, TN (PRWEB) August 12, 2011 To help offset deep cuts in public conservation funding, the nonprofit Resources First Foundation (RFF) unveiled another free national resource Aug. 12 "“ the Arkansas Conservation Center. Announced at the Land & Wildlife Expo in Nashville, this latest addition to the on-line RFF...
Recent research offers new insight on the silage yield and quality responses of corn hybrids to seeding ratesRecent studies report that corn hybrids released in the late 2000s, especially Bt hybrids, require higher seeding rates than commercial hybrids released in the 1990s to reach maximum yields. Expectedly, corn seeding rates in the USA have increased significantly in the past 10 years. However, limited data is available on silage yield and quality responses of recently released hybrids to...
The world's ravenous appetite for consuming thousands of tons of frogs' legs every year is driving the amphibians to extinction, and could have a significant impact on bio-diversity, according to a new report by international wildlife conservation groups.The report, entitled "Canapés to Extinction: The international trade in frogs' legs and its ecological impact", was authored by the groups Pro Wildlife, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute, and is the first comprehensive...
Marine researchers in New Zealand have identified the direct impact of fishing as the largest known human factor in the decline of the endangered native sea lion population. The team's findings, published in Mammal Review, discount non-human factors, such as disease and identifies resource competition and by-catch incidents as the most likely causes.The New Zealand sea lion Phocarctos hookeri is the country's only native pinniped species and is listed as 'nationally critical'. The species...
Latest Conservation Reference Libraries
Channel Islands National park is located in off the coast of California in the United States. The park holds 249,561 acres and is comprised of five of the eight Channel Islands. The area was designated as a national monument in 1938 and as a National Biosphere Reserve in 1976, but was not designated as a national park until 1980. The park extends from San Pedro to Point Conception, located near Santa Barbara. Half of the entire park consists of ocean water and seventy-six percent of the...
Gilbert's Potoroo (Potorous gilbertii), is an Australian marsupial that is critically endangered. It lives in a restricted area on the southwest coast of Western Australia.The potoroo was presumed extinct for 120 years before it was re-discovered in 1994 in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve. In efforts to protect the remaining population three potoroos (one male and two females) were relocated to Bald Island in August 2005 where they are free from predation. Since that time an additional four...
The Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) is a large passerine bird in the family Corvidae. It is slightly smaller than its Eurasian relative, Spotted Nutcracker (N. caryocatactes). It is ashy-grey all over except for the black-and-white wings and central tail feathers (the outer ones are white). The bill, legs and feet are also black. This bird is found in western North America from British Columbia and western Alberta in the north to Baja California and western New Mexico in the...
