In a study just released in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, Dr. Armineh Barkhordarian confirms that this systematic warming pool is not the result of natural climatic variations—but…Continue readingSystematic warming pool discovered in the Pacific due to human activities
Tag: biodiversity
In the shallow waters and seagrass meadow of Spain’s Ebro delta, there are almost no solid surfaces for creatures to latch on to. That’s where the fan mussel (Pinna…Continue readingMollusc mass mortality event
Antarctic ice sheets are melting, the continent’s climate is changing, and the Southern Ocean is warming, becoming more acidic and losing oxygen. Locally, changing climates are already affecting the…Continue readingAntarctic is changing dramatically, with global consequences
After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for COP15 in late April to negotiate this decade’s targets to halt and reverse the…Continue reading‘Sleeping through extinction’: China urged to end delays to COP15 summit
Australia’s tropical rainforest trees have being dying at double the previous rate since the 1980s, seemingly because of global heating, according to new research that raises concerns tropical forests…Continue readingAustralia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’
Since 2000, more than 71 million hectares of dry forest have been destroyed, an area about twice the size of Germany. Many hotspots of deforestation are concentrated in South…Continue readingTropical dry forests disappearing rapidly around the globe
Spanning more than 179,000 km2 (69,000 square miles) in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, the Pantanal boasts one of the highest concentration of flora and fauna in South America while…Continue readingThe Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, is at risk of collapse
The Reef snapshot: summer 2021-22, quietly published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on Tuesday night after weeks of delay, said above-average water temperatures in late summer…Continue reading‘Devastating’: 91% of reefs surveyed on Great Barrier Reef affected by coral bleaching in 2022
Satellite images show a total area of destroyed forest cover of 1,012.5 square kilometres (391 square miles) from April 1 to 29, with the last day of the month…Continue readingBrazil deforestation shatters April record
The world’s birds, described as the planet’s “canaries in the coalmine”, are disappearing in large numbers as the colossal impact of humanity on the Earth grows, a global review…Continue reading‘Canaries in the coalmine’: loss of birds signals changing planet
The number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004, according to a survey that counted splats on car registration plates. The results from…Continue readingThe number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004
Oyster fisheries in Australia and North America survived for up to 10,000 years prior to colonisation, sustaining First Nations communities even under intense harvest. Oyster fisheries have declined globally…Continue readingPrecolonial First Nations oyster fisheries sustained millennia of intense harvests
21% of reptile species are threatened with extinction, including more than half of turtles and crocodiles. More than 40% of amphibians, 25% of mammals and 13% of birds could…Continue readingOver 21% of reptile species at risk of extinction
Pristine rainforests were once again destroyed at a relentless rate in 2021, according to new figures, prompting concerns governments will not meet a COP26 deal to halt and reverse…Continue reading‘Relentless’ destruction of rainforest continuing despite Cop26 pledge
Coral reefs are rapidly declining due to local environmental degradation and global climate change. In particular, corals are vulnerable to ocean heating. Hotter oceans can kill corals via expulsion…Continue readingPast the precipice? Projected coral habitability under global heating
Half of all river basins across the world are now “severely affected” by water diversion projects, which can exacerbate drought conditions and lead to human conflict. About the same…Continue readingDead rivers, polluted oceans: Industry adds to world’s mounting water crisis
In this mysterious woodland the cloud drapes over mountain ridges and “the trees are dwarfed and wind-sculpted, gnarled and heavily laden with mosses,” said J Alan Pounds, an ecologist…Continue readingLost golden toad heralds climate’s massive extinction threat
As one of the world’s most famous game reserves, Murchison Falls National Park is home to some of the largest populations of elephants, giraffes, lions and leopards anywhere on…Continue readingThe oil giants drilling among the giraffes in Uganda
Scientists from the University of Illinois tracked species of birds in a protected forest reserve in central Panama to determine if and how populations had changed from 1977 to…Continue readingBird populations in Panama rainforest in severe decline
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its sixth massive bleaching event as climate change has warmed the ocean, raising concerns over whether one of the world’s natural wonders is…Continue readingClimate warming has dealt yet another blow to the Great Barrier Reef
Transocean Ltd. announced today that it has purchased a minority interest in Ocean Minerals Ltd., a company engaged in the exploration of seabed resources containing metals critical to the growing renewable…Continue readingTransocean Ltd. Invests in Exploration of Seabed Minerals to Support the Renewable Energy Supply Chain
15 years after its was first discovered in a New York cave, white-nose syndrome has decimated the nation’s population of northern long-eared bats, reducing their numbers to almost nothing.…Continue readingA disease more lethal than covid-19 has nearly wiped out northern US long-eared bats
The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity. Novel statistical analysis shows…Continue readingAmazon rainforest tipping point is looming
Although Africa has contributed relatively little to the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, the continent has suffered some of the world’s heaviest impacts of climate change. This will only get…Continue readingAfrica, already suffering from warming, will see worse
Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation this century are far higher than previously thought, doubling in just two decades and continuing to accelerate, according to a study. The world’s forests…Continue readingDeforestation emissions far higher than previously thought
The gang-gang cockatoo, the animal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory, will be officially listed as a threatened species after a large decline in its numbers due to the…Continue readingGang-gang cockatoo threatened species
The Mekong dolphin population has long been IUCN red-listed as Critically Endangered. The last known river dolphin in the transboundary pool on the Cambodia-Laos border was found dead on…Continue readingDeath of the last known river dolphin in the transboundary pool in the Mekong between Laos and Cambodia
The remote continent is becoming increasingly accessible—during the 2019-20 season, the number of sightseeing visitors reached 74,000, with the vast majority travelling by ship. All activity in Antarctica—be it…Continue readingEach Antarctic tourist effectively melts 83 metric tons of snow
Research prompts warnings humanity is ‘financing its own extinction’ through subsidies damaging to the climate and wildlife. From tax breaks for beef production in the Amazon to financial support…Continue readingWorld spends $US1.8 trillion a year on subsidies that harm environment
The Australian government has officially listed thekoala as endangered after a decline in its numbers due to land clearing and catastrophic bushfires shrinking its habitat. The environment minister, Sussan…Continue readingKoala listed as endangered after Australian governments fail to halt its decline
The ubiquitous dams around the world are built to guard against extreme flooding, meet steadily increasing water demands and provide hydroelectric power. They also alter river ecosystems — such…Continue readingDams alter river temperatures and endanger fish, yet 3,700 more will be built
Container ship accidents at sea should be considered the “oil spills of our time”, warned environmental organisations that found a toxic mix of metals, carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals…Continue reading‘Oil spills of our time’: experts sound alarm about plastic lost in cargo ship disasters
Plastic pollution at sea is reaching worrying levels and will continue to grow even if significant action is taken now to stop such waste from reaching the world’s oceans,…Continue readingPlastic pollution in oceans on track to rise for decades
Plastic has infiltrated all parts of the ocean and is now found “in the smallest plankton up to the largest whale” wildlife group WWF said. Tiny fragments of plastic…Continue readingWorld must work together to tackle plastic ocean threat: WWF
Healthy-looking ochre sea stars have minimal genetic difference from those displaying symptoms of sea star wasting syndrome, say Oregon State University researchers who examined whether genetic variation was the…Continue readingThe largest marine wildlife disease event in history
Just 15.5% of the world’s coastal regions remain ecologically intact, according to new research that calls for urgent conservation measures to protect what remains and restore sites that are…Continue readingBarely 15% of the world’s coastal regions remain ecologically intact
By 2080, around 70% of the world’s oceans could be suffocating from a lack of oxygen as a result of climate change, potentially impacting marine ecosystems worldwide. The new…Continue readingClimate change has likely begun to suffocate the world’s fisheries
Coral reefs support a quarter of all marine life, including more than 4,000 species of fish. They also provide a source of income or food to half a billion people. One…Continue readingLast refuges for coral reefs to disappear above 1.5˚C of global warming
The research published in Nature Communications is the first of its kind and combines analysis of previous forest fire sites with eight drivers of fire activity including climate, fuel…Continue readingNew research links Australia’s forest fires to climate change
In 2009, an international team of researchers identified nine planetary boundaries that demarcate the remarkably stable state Earth has remained within for 10,000 years—since the dawn of civilization. These…Continue readingSafe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, exceeded
Deforestation last year rose to the highest level since 2015 in Brazil’s Cerrado, prompting scientists on Monday to raise alarm over the state of the world’s most species-rich savanna…Continue readingBrazil: deforestation jumps in world’s largest savanna as scientists raise alarm
Queensland landholders are clearing the equivalent of about 1,000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds a day, including endangered ecological regions, according to state government data that raises new doubts about the…Continue reading‘Carbon bomb’: Queensland, Australia, reveals big jump in land clearing
Land-clearing for crops in the Murray-Darling basin, the main winter breeding ground for the moths, Severe drought in the breeding grounds, Increased use of pesticides such as neonicotinoids in…Continue reading‘A 99.5% decline’: what caused Australia’s bogong moth catastrophe?
While driving an electric car has fewer environmental impacts than gasoline-powered cars, the production of the parts necessary for these green technologies can have dire effects on human well-being.…Continue readingCobalt’s human cost: Social consequences of green energy must be assessed in addition to environmental impacts
Scientists estimate that 16.9 million vertebrates were killed by fires in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil, between Jan & Nov 2020. Sampling likely excluded species incl. jaguars, pumas & tapirs,…Continue readingAlmost 17 million vertebrates killed in the 2020 wildfires in Brazil
The Arctic continues to warm more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe. Summer 2021 saw the second-lowest amount of older, multi-year ice since 1985, and…Continue readingHumanity continues to degrade the Arctic
Almost two-thirds of the hundreds of mollusc species that live in the deep sea are at risk of extinction, according to a new study that rings another alarm bell…Continue readingDeep-sea mining may push hundreds of species to extinction
Among the species listed is the bogong moth. Scientists have detected steady declines in numbers of bogong moths since the 1980s. But in 2017 and 2018 that crashed to…Continue reading124 Australian species added to endangered species list
A record manatee die-off in Florida this year has become so dire that federal officials are taking a once unthinkable step — feeding the wild marine mammals to help…Continue reading15% of Florida’s manatee population has died this year due to human activity
The warming of the planet is taking a deadly toll on seabirds that are suffering population declines from starvation, inability to reproduce, heat waves and extreme weather. One estimate…Continue readingHuman greenhouse gas emissions kill seabirds
The red list of Britain’s most endangered birds has increased to 70 species. Birds are placed on the red list either because their populations have severely declined in Britain,…Continue readingBritain wildlife is in freefall with 70 of 245 bird species now seriously at risk
216 out of 1,299 species are threatened – up from 195 in 2011 – with the climate crisis pushing more birds on to the list or increasing the threat status of…Continue readingOne in six Australian birds are now threatened
The Black Summer forest fires of 2019–2020 in Australia burned more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres), directly causing 33 deaths and almost 450 more from smoke inhalation. Nearly 3…Continue readingForest fires in Australia are worsening
Climate change and warming waters are pushing black-browed albatross break-up rates higher. Typically after choosing a partner, only 1-3% would separate in search of greener romantic pastures. But in…Continue readingHuman emissions causing increasing rates of albatross break-ups
The 13,235 square kilometers (5,110 square miles) of forest lost from August 2020 to July 2021 was the largest swath since 14,286 square kilometers were cleared in 2005-06. The…Continue readingBrazil Amazon deforestation up 22% in a year; a 15 year record
From a study published in 2019: Biodiversity of insects is threatened worldwide. Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the…Continue readingOver 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction
Las Tablas de Daimiel is a unique wetland in the vast, almost treeless plains of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain, but the park has had the life sucked out…Continue readingThe true cost of growing food in Spain’s arid south
One of every six birds – a net loss of 600 million breeding birds in total – have disappeared over less than four decades. The study by scientists from…Continue readingHumans kill off 1 in 6 birds in the EU and UK
The US and Canada have lost more than one in four birds – a total of three billion – between 1970 and 2019, culminating in what scientists who published…Continue readingHumans kill off 1 in 4 birds in the US and Canada
If global warming is kept to 1.5˚C, the mix of corals on the Barrier Reef will change but it could still thrive, said the study’s lead author Professor Terry…Continue readingAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef will survive if warming kept to 1.5˚C