Back Issues
Click on the Table of Contents links below to browse the content of each issue.
2012
Winter 2012 (Volume 12, Number 4)
Chasing Rainbows
Lured by a utopian vision of nature, government agencies for decades carpet-bombed thousands of remote mountain lakes with billions of trout. Now, they’re determined to undo the damage they caused.
By Anders Halverson
Top This
The next generation of green roofs is downright cool—to look at and to live under.
Changing the Battery
As the world goes wireless and gears up for an all-electric roadway, the demand for lithium, crucial to all things mobile, could get dangerous—at least for the flamingos of Bolivia. But the future may hold a better, kinder battery—or maybe no battery at all.
By Michael Abrams
Green Aftershocks
How is the worldwide financial crisis changing conservation? There’s some good news—and there’s some bad news . . .
Dispatches from the Economic Meltdown
and more . . . see the full table of contents
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2011
Fall 2011 (Volume 12, Number 3)
Natural History Upgrade
Struggling to survive in the twenty-first century, naturalists might take a page from their own playbook: evolve, adapt—and use technology to woo people back to nature.
By Richard Conniff
Design Genius
Nature’s most elegant designs may hold the key to super-efficient, ecofriendly technology
The Efficiency Catch-22
Some experts say that energy efficiency can slash carbon emissions at bargain prices. Others say, not so fast. The more energy we save, the more we use.
By John Carey
Finding Genes That Fit
Desperate to break up the genetic monotony that cripples endangered species, researchers are outfitting populations with borrowed genes. The payoff is survival. The price is uniqueness.
By Joe Roman
and more . . . see the full table of contents
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Summer 2011 (Volume 12, Number 2)
Closed-Source Crops
A handful of giant corporations are laying claim to the germ plasm of the world’s major food crops. And when yield is the grail of profit, biodiversity isn’t a priority.
By Paul Salopek
Ultra Zoom
An ordinary camera and an extraordinary technology create billion-pixel images that allow viewers to
virtually fly deep into a landscape and explore nature in stunning detail.
Greener Pastures
What goes on in the stomachs and under the hooves of cows might be the key to turning deserts back into grasslands—and even cooling the planet.
By Judith D. Schwartz
To Build a (Better) Fire
A kind of hippie Manhattan Project in rural Oregon tackles climate change, air pollution, and deforestation by bringing together the best minds in the field to invent cheap, durable, clean-burning stoves for 3 billion people.
By Burkhard Bilger
and more . . . see the full table of contents
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Spring 2011 (Volume 12, Number 1)
Shrink to Fit
Humanity appears to be ushering in a new age of minifauna– a new kind of Lilliputian world full of runts and dwarves.
By David Malakoff
Material World
An unusual library in New York City connects designers, architects, and manufacturers to a new generation of green materials– everything from tree-free paper to sponges that sop up oil spills.
By Maywa Montenegro & Veronique Greenwood
Photos By Michael Pick
Conservation and Poverty
In protected areas across the planet, locals are waiting for the benefits of conservation to improve their lives. And waiting and waiting…
By Fred Pearce
Vanishing Point
Drop anchor or drift away? The threat of sea-level rise is forcing the island nation of the Maldives to confront an obliterated future– and all options for survival are on the table.
By Bucky McMahon
and more . . . see the full table of contents
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Winter 2011 (Volume 11, Number 4)
Bringing the Green Back
Central Americans working abroad and sending money home are not only fueling their native economies—they’re also helping to bring the trees back.
By John Carey
Cementing the Future
An entrepreneurial marine geologist from Stanford believes that by mimicking the way marine organisms create shells, he can transform concrete manufacturing from one of the most carbon-intensive processes on Earth to one that is carbon-negative.
By Eli Kintisch
Confronting Corruption
When a fast-talking Israeli journalist became both father and sole enforcer of Cameroon’s wildlife-trafficking laws, he lifted the veil from the taboo subject of corruption in conservation.
By Tom Clynes
and more . . . see the full table of contents
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2010
July-September (Volume 11, Number 3) 
Black Is the New Green
In a deft act of ecological jujitsu, Johannes Lehmann wants to borrow an 8,000-year-old technology to interrupt the natural carbon cycle and return some of the infamous black stuff to the soil.
By Carl Zimmer
Can Cities Feed Us?
For every acre of land cultivated in a high-rise urban farm, 10 to 20 acres of current cropland could go wild.
By Sarah DeWeerdt
Genetically Modified Conservation
It sounds like an oxymoron, but genetic engineering is already ushering in a new brand of agriculture that slashes pesticide use and thrives in a warmer, wetter world.
By Erik Vance
and more . . . see the full table of contents
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April-June 2010 (Volume 11, Number 2)
The New Normal
As though working through the five stages of grief, more and more ecologists are reluctantly accepting that we live in a human-dominated world. And some are discovering that patchwork ecosystems might even rival their pristine counterparts.
By Emma Maris
Building on the Fly
Could the bizarre, decentralized logic of insect architecture provide a blueprint for revolutionary and sustainable human habitat?
By Philip Ball
Up Up And Away
As pikas and other alpine species are pressured by global warming, many observers warn they will be pushed higher and higher until they vanish like deserving souls into the ether. But new science suggests the “rapture hypothesis” doesn’t tell the whole story.
By J. Madeleine Nash
and more . . . see the full table of contents
January-March 2010 (Volume 11, Number 1)
Garbage In, Garbage Out
When a single swath of ocean contains more plastic than plankton, the simple act of taking out the trash becomes a grueling scientific challenge.
By Susan Casey
Stung From Behind
Researchers may be overlooking an insidious pollinator crisis—one that has little to do with bees and everything to do with booming markets for raspberries, pears, and chocolate.
By Nathaniel Johnson
Wounds That Can Heal
A pioneering study of nature’s recovery times delivers a ray of hope—and a respite from apocalyptic storylines.
By Marguerite Holloway
and more . . . see the full table of contents
2009
October-December, 2009 (Vol. 10, No. 4)
Troubled Teens
A new generation of unruly adolescent wildlife has some experts wondering whether what we’re missing isn’t so much habitat as adult supervision.
By Dawn Stover
The (Un)Natural Order of Things
Have we unwittingly exchanged the language of the living world—the names of real plants and animals—for a vocabulary of Tony the Tigers and Geico geckos?
By Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Be Fruitful & Multiply?
Population growth, from an environmental viewpoint, has always seemed like an open-and-shut case. Less is more. But what if that equation has changed?
By David Malakoff
and more…see the full table of contents
July-September, 2009 (Vol. 10, No. 3)
Is a Warmer World a Sicker World?
As scientists piece together how climate impacts disease, strange patterns are emerging: mosquito outbreaks can follow drought, shorter migrations can make butterflies sick, and more birds (not fewer) can ward off West Nile virus.
By Roberta Kwok
Operation Sex Change
Imagine waking up to discover that your mother, your sister, and your friends’ wives are all men. That could be reality for invasive fish if a radical plan to exterminate them takes shape.
By Cynthia Mills
On the Fence
People construct fences, sometimes across whole continents, on the poetic assumption that good fences make good neighbors. Unfortunately, for wildlife, gated communities are rarely tranquil.
By Doug Fox
and more…see the full table of contents
April-June 2009 (Vol. 10, No. 2)
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
If, as researchers are predicting, carbon dioxide increases will lock in rising seas for a thousand years, then it’s time to consider some radical proposals that run headlong into conventional environmental wisdom
By Jim Robbins
Biofuels Déjà Vu
Lured by dreams of “green” fuel, could we end up trampling biodiversity in the name of saving the planet?
By David Malakoff
Taming the Blue Frontier
Ten thousand years ago, humans made the shift on land from hunting and gathering to farming. Now the same transformation is taking place at sea. This time, can we get it right?
By Sarah Simpson
and more…see the full table of contents
January-March 2009 (Vol. 10, No. 1)
The Mushroom Messiah
Faced with bioterrorism, fuel shortages, and a warming planet, where should we turn for solutions: a) religion, b) technology, or c) fungus?
By John Weier
The Nature of the Fiscal World
Will the environment gain or lose from the financial
meltdown and its economic aftermath?
By Tali Woodward
Not So Silent Spring
Blackbirds in Europe are mimicking car alarms, ambulance sirens, and cell phones at jarringly life-like volumes. And they aren’t the only wildlife switching frequencies in order to be heard over the human din.
By Dawn Stover
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2008
October-December 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 4)
Impostor Fish
Misnaming seafood isn’t just a ripoff. It’s a global phenomenon
that’s wreaking havoc on ocean conservation.
By Douglas Fox
The Most Popular Lifestyle on Earth
Forget lions, tigers, and sharks. The billions of tiny parasites that
make a living castrating and brainwashing their hosts may be the
new kings of the food web.
By Carl Zimmer
The Sterile Banana
As uniformity replaces diversity, some of your favorite fruits could
be on the cusp of extinction.
By Fred Pearce
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September, 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 3)
CONFESSIONS OF A HIT MAN Cover Story
Our mark was an invasive pest that had made a remote tropical island its home. But good and evil are not so easily discerned in ecological systems, even when a place looks like Eden.
by Jeffrey A. Lockwood and Alexandre V. Latchininsky
ECOLOGICAL FREAKONOMICS
How does tourism drive deforestation? How are divorce rates linked to resource consumption? Whatís the connection between clean water and international terrorism?
by Jonah Lehrer
THE PROBLEM OF WHAT TO EAT Cover Story
Organic farming and eating locally make intuitive sense. But does conventional wisdom about eating sustainably hold up to the science?
by Natasha Loder, Elizabeth Finkel, Craig Meisner, and Pamela Ronald
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 2)
Do Trees Grow on Money?
After years of failed attempts to merge market economics with rainforest conservation, the US$60 billion carbon market might finally be the ticket. That is, if money is all it’s going to take.
By Fred Pearce
Identity Crisis
Hybridization can be both a creative and a destructive force. And it’s on the rise. Should we embrace it or quash it?
By Douglas Fox
A Witness to Violence
Long before the Darfur crisis, Michael Fay foresaw that the murderous Sudanese horsemen would not stop at killing elephants.
By J. Michael Fay
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Urban Myths
Pull predators out of the mix, and a once lush green world turns into an ecological shop of horrors. by William Stolzenburg
Ecosystems Unraveling
Pristine forests of the Amazon were not encountered in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; they were invented in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. by Fred Pearce
Cancer on a Whole Species
The gruesome disease ravaging Tasmanian devils is unlike anything we’ve seen before. by Cynthia Mills
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2007
October-December (Vol. 8, No. 4)
Saint Ursus Maritimus
Icons are about simplicity and clarity. No gray areas. But what happens when the real polar bear clashes with the symbol it has become? by Jim Robbins
Wildlife Contraception
Charged with downsizing wildlife populations to fit the geography of the modern world, a small group of researchers is out to replace bullets with family planning. by Douglas Fox
The Vision Thing
Imagine swapping Tony Blair for Winston Churchill. Would it transform the timid politics of global warming? by Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September (Vol. 8, No. 3)
Arresting Evidence
State-of-the-art forensic technology is forcing us to face the reality that even our most applauded trade bans and moratoriums aren’t working. From ivory cell phones to shark fin soup, it’s all available—at a price.
by Natasha Loder
The Last Gladiators
How joyful, really, is the resurrection of a species if the modern world cannot find a single haven for it and if it seems doomed to slip into limbo once more anyway?
by Scott Weidensaul
10 Solutions to Save the Ocean
We asked a select group of innovative thinkers to go out on a limb. with Martín Hall, Daniel Pauly, David Conover, Amanda Vincent, Kimberly Davis, Carl Safina, George Sugihara, Ussif Rashid Sumaila, and Tundi Agardy
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June 2007 (Vol. 8, No. 2)
Aliens Among Us
Invasive species stand accused of ecological insubordination, mass murder, and other crimes against nature. But the case is far from closed. A Round Table with James H. Brown and Dov F. Sax, Daniel Simberloff, and Mark Sagoff
That Sinking Feeling
We dig fossil fuel out of the ground, burn it and fill the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, and then plant trees to soak it back up. If only it were so simple. by Nick Atkinson
Writer’s Block
Earnest, pious, and quite allergic to irony: nature writing has none of the trademark qualities that play well in 2007. So is it time for a change? by Jenny Price
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March 2007 (Vol. 8, No. 1)
Forward Thinkers
A biologist in Hollywood, an insect tracker, a pair of ecological architects, and the new leader of the world’s largest conservation network. Here are a few people worth watching in 2007. by Charles Alexander, Frances Cairncross, Eric Sorensen, and John Nielsen
Virginity Lost
Pristine forests of the Amazon were not encountered in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; they were invented in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. by Fred Pearce
When Worlds Collide
Climate change will shuffle the deck of plants, animals, and ecosystems in ways we’ve only begun to imagine.
by Douglas Fox
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2006
October-December 2006 (Vol. 7, No. 4)
Us or Them
Killing predators stands as one of the most age-old and enduring forms of wildlife management. Even now, myth and politics trump ecology. Is there a way out? by William Stolzenburg
Second Chance
Cloning could be the Holy Grail of conservation or the ultimate folly. Either way, the fact is, cloning works. by Cynthia Mills
Do No Harm
The story of the Hawaiian crow is a parable of doing harm by going to all lengths to do good. What role should the ancient advice of Hippocrates play in endangered species conservation? by Mark Jerome Walters
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September 2006 (Vol. 7, No. 3)
Evolutionary Tinkering
A small group of latter-day Noahs is beginning to explore radical new ways to help species ride out the current wave of extinctions. by Scott Norris
Dig Deeper
When context is lost, what kind of tales can biological relics tell? Paleoecologists are forcing us again and again to rethink what was once established fact. by Douglas Fox
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June 2006 (Vol. 7, No. 2)
Democratizing Taxonomy
Imagine a portable DNA barcode scanner that could transform people’s relationship with nature. Could such futuristic technology be to biodiversity what the printing press was to literacy? by Marguerite Holloway
Environmental Heresies
Over the next ten years, the mainstream environmental movement will reverse its opinion and activism on population growth, urban-ization, genetically engineered organisms, and nuclear power.
An Interview with Stewart Brand
Get Real
Behind the hue and cry over the Kyoto climate change treaty is one nagging but rarely reported reality: even if every nation in the world complied to the hilt, it would hardly approach solving the problem. by Katherine Ellison
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March 2006 (Vol. 7, No. 1)
Connecting Flights
Never mind the road map for peace. An unlikely marriage between bird conservation and military aviation is thriving on one of the most divisive pieces of real estate on Earth. by Frances Cairncross
Where the Wild Things Were
The recent Nature paper proposing to bring cheetahs, lions, and elephants to North America raised a wild rumpus. But are the critics missing the point? by William Stolzenburg
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2005
October-December 2005 (Vol. 6, No. 4)
Oil Change
The interests of big businesses, environmentalists, and society coincide more often than you might guess from all the mutual blaming. So who needs to change? by Jared Diamond
Four Futures
The seeds of the future are to be found in the extremes of the present. So our wildest ideas are the ones that give us insights into the surprises of the next few decades. by Erik Ness
The Look of Success
In the wake of successful wolf reintroductions, managers who once fervently defended wolves are now faced with killing them. Are we ready for modern predator management? by Jim Robbins
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September 2005 (Vol. 6, No. 3)
Code Blue for Conservation
Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus say environmentalism’s heart has stopped. But making the movement more “progressive” may finish off the patient. Are there better prescriptions?
by Charles Alexander
The Protein Gap
John Fa is the first researcher to frame the bushmeat crisis as a protein crisis. And his analysis suggests that wildlife activists are behaving like Marie-Antoinette: “Let them eat cake.” by Fred Pearce
Point of No Return
Evidence is mounting that fish populations won’t necessarily recover even if overfishing stops. Fishing may be such a powerful evolutionary force that we are running up a Darwinian debt for future generations. by Natasha Loder
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June 2005 (Vol. 6, No. 2)
Are We Consuming Too Much?
The answer seems obvious. But it’s not. Paul Ehrlich, Kenneth Arrow and nine other brilliant minds argue that we’re worrying too much about how much we consume and too little about how to invest. by Jon Christensen
Liquid Assets
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in central Mexico is a water factory. Can an ambitious federal program convince water users to foot the bill for the hydrological services? by Katherine Ellison & Amanda Hawn
Edge Walking on the Urban Fringe
In the face of inevitable development, Michael Klemens is making his stand for conservation where 10 million people dwell. One man’s uncompelling is another man’s biodiversity. by Kevin Krajick
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March 2005 (Vol. 6, No. 1)
Born Again
William McDonough, a radical architect, dismisses traditional recycling as tired and inadequate. Instead, he’s invented “industrial ecoystems” in which substances and machines are infinitely recycled. by Jim Robbins
Pipe Dreams
If the twentieth century was the era of the megadam and the ecological destruction of the world’s rivers, the twenty-first century could be different. It could. But will it? by Fred Pearce
Healing Powers
With the finesse of modern market research, a team of undercover conservationists set out to probe the 3,000-year-old demand curve for endangered species in traditional Chinese medicines. by Douglas Fox
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2004
October-December, 2004 (Vol. 5, No. 4)
Burned
Fire is the embodiment of uncertainty, and playing with it is just what Mama said. by William deBuys
Tastes Like Chicken
Side-by-side taste tests offer clues to stem the bushmeat crisis in Gabon. by Erik Ness
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September, 2004 (Vol. 5, No. 3)
The Father of All Mass Extinctions
There is a good possibility that losses in diversity in the present will surpass anything in the geological past. Facing that specter could shake the very tenets of conservation. by Peter Ward
No Easy Way Out
Human health, wildlife disease, and conservation are inextricably linked. Yet modern medicine has fostered the profoundly dangerous illusion that we are above or apart from the natural world. by Mark Jerome Walters
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June, 2004 (Vol. 5, No. 2)
What Makes Environmental Treaties Work?
Given the way the environment ignores national boundaries, good global treaties are essential to saving it. Yet, it has become ever harder to create treaties that work. Instead of learning from history, we seem doggedly determined to repeat past failures. by Frances Cairncross
Degraded Darkness
It’s tempting to assume that artificial light distresses only a few exquisitely sensitive species. But mounting evidence suggests that disappearing darkness undermines our best conservation efforts. by Ben Harder
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March 2004 (Vol. 5, No. 1)
Win-Win Illusions
Over the past two decades, efforts to heal the rift between poor people and protected srea have foundered. So what next? by Jon Christensen
Reflections on the Pond
The pond is the universal icon for wetlands. But to Joy Zedler, ponds are the ecological equivalents of fast-food chains, an emblem of the homogenization of the contemporary landscape by Sarah DeWeerdt
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2003
October-December, 2003 (Vol. 4, No. 4)
Virtual Ecosystems
Animated by a few simple yet baffling rules, virtual ecosystems growing in supercomputers bear an uncanny resemblance to real ones. The simulations challenge conventional wisdom about extinctions and invasions. by W Wayt Gibbs
Renting Biodiversity: The Conservation Concessions Approach
With all the money we spend making conservation pay for itself, we could just pay for conservation by Katherine Ellison
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September, 2003 (Vol. 4, No. 3)
Auditing Conservation in an Age of Accountability
Instead of seeing conservation as just a good cause, people are starting to ask “What are your results?” by Jon Christensen
Behavior and Conservation: More than Meets the Eye
For years, behavioral ecologists have meticuloustly studied the subtleties of wildlife behavior. Their findings reveal information that conservationists can use. by Douglas Fox
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June, 2003 (Vol. 4, No. 2)
Making Conservation Profitable
by Katherine Ellison and Gretchen C. Daily
The Conundrum of Biological Control
by Jason Van Driesche and Roy Van Driesche
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March, 2003 (Vol. 4, No. 1)
Rules of Engagement for Conservation
Lessons from the Democratic Republic of Congo by John and Terese Hart
Top-Down Meets Bottom-Up
Conservation in a Post-Conflict World by Peter Zahler
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2002
October-December, 2002 (Vol. 3, No. 4)
Thinking Like an Ocean
Ecological Lessons from Marine Bycatch by Scott Norris with Martin Hall, Edward Melvin and Julia Parrish
Ground Truthing Conservation
Why Biological Exploration isn’t History by Alan Rabinowtz
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September, 2002 (Vol. 3, No. 3)
Context Matters
Considerations for Large-Scale Conservation by Reed Noss
Old Science. New Science
Incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Contemporary Management by Chuck Striplen and Sarah DeWeerdt
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June, 2002 (Vol. 3, No. 2)
Informed Decisions
Conservation Corridors and the Spread of Infectious Disease by Leslie Bienen
Agriculture versus Biodiversity
Will Market Solutions Suffice? by Richard Manning
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March, 2002 (Vol. 3, No. 1)
What Really is an Evolutionarily Significant Unit?
The debate over integrating genetics and ecology in conservation biology by Sarah DeWeerdt
The Fallacy of Passive Management
Managing for firesafe forest reserves by James K. Agee
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2001
October-December, 2001 (Vol. 2, No. 4)
Rethinking Insects
What would an ecosystem approach look like? by Timothy D. Schowalter, with Jay Withgott
Turning the Ship Around
Changing the policies and culture of a government agency to make ecosystem management work by Jennifer M. Belcher
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
July-September, 2001 (Vol. 2, No. 3)
Designing Marine Reserve Networks
Why Small, Isolated Protected Areas Are Not Enough by Callum M. Roberts, Benjamin Halpern, Stephen R Palumbi, and Robert R. Warner
Stone-Age Minds at Work on 21st Century Science
How Cognitive Psychology Can Inform Conservation Biology by Judith L. Anderson
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
April-June, 2001 (Vol. 2, No. 2)
Safe Harbor Agreements
Carving Out A New Role for NGOs by Michael J. Bean, J. Peter Jenny, and Brian van Eerden
Selecting Effective Umbrella Species
by Erica Fleishman, Dennis D. Murphy, and Ronald P Neilson
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
January-March, 2001 (Vol. 2, No. 1)
Guilty until proven innocent
Preventing nonnative species invasions by Jason Van Driesche and Roy Van Driesche
Nectar Trails of Migratory Pollinators
Restoring corridors on Private Lands by Gary Paul Nabhan
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
2000
January-March, 2000 (Vol. 1, No. 1)
Threads of Continuity
Ecological disturbance, recovery, and the theory of biological legacies by Jerry F. Franklin et al.
Making Collaboration Work
Lessons from a comprehensive assessment of over 200 wide-ranging cases of collaboration in environmental management by Steven L. Yaffee and Julia M. Woodolleck
and more… see the full Table of Contents >>
