Latest Habitat destruction Stories

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A disturbing number of reports in recent years have been highlighting the ill effects climate change is, and will be, having on the environment and the delicate ecosystem, with one recent study reporting the possible extinction of coffee within 70 years due to global warming. Now, a new study is predicting climate change to wipe out bamboo, an important food source for pandas, which are already threatened by slow breeding and loss...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online While human activity is usually identified as the primary threat to biodiversity through the loss of species, a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences (PNAS) focused on identifying pre-human causes of pressures that threaten endangered species. The latest research focused on Madagascar, which is world-renowned for its biodiversity and has been plagued by deforestation and the destruction of...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The clearing of the Brazilian rainforest is racking up a debt than won’t be paid by any government, but instead will be paid by the species that become extinct as a result of the destruction of their habitat. If deforestation and development in the Brazilian Amazon occur at their current rates over the next 40 years, 25 vertebrate species will become locally extinct, according to new research published this week in Science....

Biodiversity hot spots -- the world's biologically richest and most threatened locations on Earth -- and high biodiversity wilderness areas -- biologically rich but less threatened -- are some of the most linguistically diverse regions on our planet, according to a team of conservationists. "Results indicate that these regions (hot spots and high biodiversity wilderness areas) often contain considerable linguistic diversity, accounting for 70 percent of all languages on Earth," the...

Loss of biodiversity appears to impact ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to a new study from an international research team. The study is the first comprehensive effort to directly compare the impacts of biological diversity loss to the anticipated effects of a host of other human-caused environmental changes. The results highlight the need for stronger local, national and international efforts to protect...

Global warming, extreme weather aggravate habitat loss Climate change spells trouble for many tropical birds – especially those living in mountains, coastal forests and relatively small areas – and the damage will be compounded by other threats like habitat loss, disease and competition among species. That is among the conclusions of a review of nearly 200 scientific studies relevant to the topic. The review was scheduled for online publication this week in the journal Biological...

Biodiversity is declining rapidly throughout the world. The challenges of conserving the world’s species are perhaps even larger than mitigating the negative effects of global climate change. Dealing with the biodiversity crisis requires political will and needs to be based on a solid scientific knowledge if we are to ensure a safe future for the planet. This is the main conclusion from scientists from University of Copenhagen, after 100 researchers and policy experts from EU countries were...

Biodiversity loss is underestimated as the ability of protected areas to address the problem is overestimatedContinued reliance on a strategy of setting aside land and marine territories as "protected areas" is insufficient to stem global biodiversity loss, according to a comprehensive assessment published today in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.Despite impressively rapid growth of protected land and marine areas worldwide - today totalling over 100,000 in number and...

Most of the world's "missing" or undiscovered species live in regions already identified by scientists as conservation priorities, according to a new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The study's findings suggest recent conservation efforts have been on target and should reduce uncertainty over global conservation priorities, its team of international authors say. But, they add, the extinction threat for many of the as-yet...

Private landowners gain new revenue source by protecting, restoring imperiled ecosystems MADISON, Wis., June 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ecosystem market experts from Environmental Defense Fund will address a conference by the American Forest Foundation and World Resources Institute to examine success factors in ecosystem markets, a fast-growing opportunity for private landowners to gain a new revenue source by protecting and restoring imperiled ecosystems. The goal of the...