By Jonah Lehrer
January-March 2008 / Vol. 9 No. 1
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Discussion Questions
What are our typical conceptions of the environmental impact and resource consumption of cities? How does this article challenge these assumptions?
In order to understand the technical aspects of this article, go through it and identify all the terms […] Read More »
By William Stolzenburg
January-March 2008 / Vol. 9 No. 1
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Discussion Questions
In your own words, describe what is meant by “top-down” and “bottom-up” ecosystem dynamics. Why is the former referred to as “trophic cascades”? Are these two apparently contrasting views mutually exclusive?
Why did Lago Guri provide an especially useful […] Read More »
By Cynthia Mills
January-March 2008 / Vol. 9 No. 1
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Discussion Questions
What has been the role of Nick Mooney in conservation of the Tasmanian devil? Is his work a role model for informed action on behalf of biodiversity? Is he like the “physician” mentioned in the last paragraph?
What is […] Read More »
By George Monbiot
January-March 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
It doesn’t get madder than this. Swaziland is in the grip of a famine and receiving emergency food aid. Forty percent of its people are facing acute food shortages. So what has the government decided to export? Biofuel made from one of its staple crops, […] Read More »
January-March 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Most books reviewed in our book review section are available through Amazon.com. To make your purchase easier we have included a link when available. When you purchase a book through this service on our website Conservation receives a portion of the purchase price.
Alarming or Alarmist?
Six Degrees: Our […] Read More »
January-March 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Humane Wildlife Control
I welcomed the article on wildlife fertility control and the key roles played by Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick, Dr. John Turner, and others in developing the PZP immunocontraceptive vaccine to control reproduction in free-living wildlife. However, the article failed to mention another key contributor. Dr. John […] Read More »
©Eric Delmar/iStock.com
By Nick Atkinson
January-March (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Since their first introduction to northern Queensland in 1935, cane toads (Chaunus marinus) have hopped across more than 1 million square kilometers of the Australian landscape. Carnage has followed the invasion, as native animals have fallen prey to the toads’ voracious appetites and naïve […] Read More »
©Laure Neish/iStock.com
By Eric Wagner
January-March (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Just seven years ago, climate change wasn’t listed as a potential hazard in Threatened Birds of the World. Now it gets its own heading in the annual book, and with good reason: a new study finds that climate change may trigger the extinction of […] Read More »
©Vladimir Melnikov/iStock.com
By Emma Marris
January-March (Vol. 9, No. 1)
For years, researchers have regarded the boreal forest as one of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs. The boreal already houses about as much carbon as the earth’s atmosphere, and that amount was thought to be increasing, making the forest a modest counterweight against climate […] Read More »
By Nick Atkinson
January-March (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Growing plants for fuel doesn’t always have to lead to rainforest loss or higher food prices, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USDA scientist Ken Vogel and colleagues present the results of the first field-scale experiment on the […] Read More »
©Tillsonburg/iStock.com
By Scott Norris
January-March (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Rightly or not, catastrophic flooding is often viewed as a consequence of poor forest management. The idea that standing forests significantly reduce the frequency and severity of downstream floods provides a powerful incentive for conservation and has spurred forest protection and reforestation programs in developing […] Read More »
©Jan Will/iStock.com
By Nick Atkinson
January-March (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Canadian male polar bears (Ursus maritimus) spend much of their time tracking potential mates across the rapidly disappearing sea ice, but a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society warns that climate change is not the only threat to their survival. University […] Read More »
Photo: ©Stewart Behra/iStock.com
By Eric Wagner
January-March (Vol. 9, No. 1)
When the Nobel committee handed Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the 2007 Peace Prize, some critics were perplexed. What, they wondered, did the fight against climate change have to do with peace? A new study in Proceedings of the […] Read More »
Intelligence software tracks down wildlife smugglers
©Alicia Higgins / istockphoto.com
By Emma Marris
January-March 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
A pile of tiger skins, a crate of ivory tusks, a truck brimming with endangered snakes. Illegal wildlife trafficking is booming, and authorities often find themselves outmatched by the sophisticated crime rings that trade in animal […] Read More »
©Sebastian Duda / istockphoto.com
By Eric Wagner
January-March 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Faced with an epidemic that has wiped out 40 species of amphibians, New Zealand researchers have stumbled across an unlikely cure: human eye cream. The remedy is chloramphenicol, a potent antibiotic used to treat pinkeye in people. But it doubles as […] Read More »
