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Vines that choke tropical trees have cut some forests’ carbon storage by more than half, according to a study in Biology Letters.
Lianas are parasitic woody vines that prey on trees. In infested forests, trees don’t grow as big and are more likely to die. As tropical forests become fragmented, lianas have flourished and can […] Read More »
Protecting the environment demands teamwork. But what group size is the most effective? According to a study in China, mid-sized groups of people are the most successful at conserving forests.
The study took place in China’s Wolong Nature Reserve, which houses one-tenth of the world’s wild giant pandas. As part of a conservation program, more […] Read More »
Many grizzly and black bears are using wildlife crossings in a Canadian national park, researchers report. The animals probably rely on the corridors to avoid busy roads and seek out food.
The effectiveness of wildlife corridors “remains surprisingly unknown,” the study authors write in Conservation Biology. The crossings are intended to help animals navigate fragmented […] Read More »
“Are larger cities more energy and emissions efficient than smaller ones?” asks a group of researchers in a new PLOS ONE study. That pattern would make sense; after all, big cities often enjoy economies of scale. But after analyzing hundreds of US urban areas, the team concluded that carbon dioxide emissions per person don’t drop […] Read More »
China’s wealthy coastal cities are outsourcing their carbon dioxide emissions to less developed inland regions, researchers say.
Rich countries often import products associated with high CO2 emissions from poor countries. The study authors wanted to find out of this trend applied to regions within a country as well. So they studied trade patterns for 57 […] Read More »
Sunscreen offers protection from UV rays, reduces the risk of skin cancer, and even slows down signs of aging. Unfortunately, researchers have found that sunscreen also pollutes the ocean.
Although people have been using these products for decades, “the effect of sunscreens, as a source of introduced chemicals to the coastal marine system, has not […] Read More »
Shark tourism could be a bigger moneymaker than shark fishing, a new study suggests.
Interest in observing wild sharks has grown, with shark-watching hotspots popping up in Australia, Africa, Central America, and Asia. To find out how much revenue these tourism activities generated, a research team searched for data in scientific journals, reports, news articles, […] Read More »
Most evangelicals in America support climate-change and energy policies such as investing in renewable energy research and increasing fuel efficiency, according to a study in Global Environmental Change.
The researchers surveyed 2,164 Americans in 2008, about a quarter of whom said they were evangelical or “born again” Christians. Each person was asked for his or […] Read More »
Corals aren’t the only sea creatures that might suffer from the consequences of ocean acidification. According to a PLOS ONE study, squid raised in acidified waters take longer to hatch and develop abnormally.
Scientists are particularly worried about the effects of acidification on larvae, since “young animals may not be as resilient to physiological stress […] Read More »
As toucans and other large-beaked birds have vanished from Brazilian forests, the seeds of palm trees have shrunk, scientists report.
The palm tree Euterpe edulis needs birds to help spread its seeds. Large fruit-eating birds can eat and disperse big seeds, but they’re also more likely than smaller birds to go extinct when forests are […] Read More »
People are more likely to walk or bike to work if their spouses or coworkers do so, according to a study in the American Journal of Health Behavior.
Researchers surveyed 1,234 people, mostly in the midwestern and eastern United States, about their commuting habits. Men walked or biked to work about twice as often as […] Read More »
Vultures treated in rehabilitation programs are still much less likely to survive than other members of their species, researchers have found.
Cape vultures are veering toward extinction. Many of the birds suffer from poisoning or crash into power lines, so rehabilitation centers often treat the injured vultures. But “few studies have actually tested the efficacy […] Read More »
If genetically-modified (GM) salmon escape from farms and mate with wild fish from a different species, the results could be surprising. According to a new study, the hybrid offspring grow even faster than the GM fish.
The researchers crossed GM salmon, which carried a snippet of genetic material that increased their growth rate, with wild […] Read More »
Bees are making a comeback in parts of Europe, according to a study in Ecology Letters.
Much of the news about biodiversity these days is gloomy. But over the last couple of decades, some countries have adopted environmentally-friendly policies to bring species back. Now the question is: Did those programs work?
To find out, a […] Read More »
In Australia, people have raised endangered wallabies in captivity and released the animals to boost wild populations. But a new study in PLOS ONE has identified a hitch in this plan: The captive animals often carry bacteria with genes for antibiotic resistance, which could spread to wild wallabies as well.
The researchers collected the fecal […] Read More »
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