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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: biodiversity

biodiversity stories: 11 news summaries

Global Warming Changes Thoreau's Walden

27% of species have disappeared from Mass. pond author made famous

Oct 28, 08 3:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - While living at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau collected detailed data on the plant species native to Concord, Mass. Scientists studying climate change have compared those records to present-day biodiversity—and found chilling evidence of global warming’s effects, the Boston Globe reports. 27% of the species Thoreau documented are... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • global warming • plants • global temperature • biodiversity • pollen • Henry David Thoreau • Walden Pond

OPINION

 Borneo Threatened 
 by Green Gold Rush 

New ideas on conservation needed with island's biodiversity under attack

Oct 27, 08 1:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - Borneo, the Texas-sized island whose rain forests are astonishingly rich in biodiversity, has been plundered for its other riches—everything from rhino horns to coal to oil—for centuries. Now, with the market for palm oil, dubbed green gold, booming, oil-palm plantations threaten the remaining forest, Mel White writes in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Indonesia • rainforest • Malaysia • biodiversity • Borneo

Ecuador Chases Citizens Off Galapagos to Save Islands

UN says too many people on islands is destroying animal habitats

Oct 8, 08 9:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ecuador is forcing those without permission to live in the Galapagos to leave, over fears that a growing human population threatens the species that make the islands unique. Even Ecuadorean citizens need special visas to visit the Galapagos, but thousands of mainland migrants have been staying illegally, drawn by high... More »

MORE ABOUT:
endangered species • pollution • tourism • migration • Ecuador • biodiversity • Galapagos Islands

Analysis

 Big Sugar's Exit
 Gives Hope to
 Everglades 

Florida land deal boosts ecological preservation efforts

Jul 9, 08 10:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Everglades restoration may finally be a reality, writes Michael Grunwald in Yale Environment 360 during his “vacation from defeatism.” Florida's tentative $1.75 billion land deal with US Sugar would halt sugar production (and pollution) on nearly 300 square miles, and have an ecological ripple-effect that extends... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Florida • endangered species • sustainable development • Charlie Crist • biodiversity • Everglades • U.S. Sugar Corporation

Homosexuality: It's
Perfectly Natural

Gay relationships abound in animal kingdom

May 19, 08 7:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - It may throw a wrench in Noah's ark-stocking plans, but same-sex relationships appear in many animal species, reports LiveScience.com. The long list of animals that practice gay sex includes bears, penguins, gorillas, and dolphins, among others. But scientists question the act's evolutionary purpose, because it doesn't aid in reproduction.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
science • homosexuality • nature • biology • biodiversity • gays

 Wildlife Populations Plunging 

One of 'great extinction episodes in history' unfolding: report

May 16, 08 8:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - Humanity is rapidly wiping out the planet's species, sending wildlife populations plunging, the BBC reports. Pollution, habitat loss, and overfishing have cut wildlife numbers as much as a third since 1970 and wipe out 1% of species each year. One of the "great extinction episodes" in Earth's history also... More »

MORE ABOUT:
endangered species • environment • wildlife • extinction • biodiversity • threatened species • World Wildlife Fund • animal

 Climate Killing Medical Hopes 

UN conference highlights the dangers of fading biodiversity

Apr 23, 08 1:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - The loss of biodiversity on Earth will seriously hamper efforts to cure human disease, AFP reports. Researchers at the UN-backed Business for the Environment conference highlighted undiscovered cures for pain, infections and even cancer that risk being lost forever if humans fail to reverse the widespread extinction of thousands of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • medicine • environment • disease • research • extinction • biodiversity • environmental damage

'Doomsday' Seed Vault to Open

Norwegian project will house all known crop species

Feb 25, 08 3:57 PM CST
(Newser) - The North Pole is no Fertile Crescent, but it will house collections of the world's crop seeds in a doomsday vault that will open tomorrow, AFP reports. The vault, built on Norwegian territory, contains three cold chambers that can hold a total of 4.5 million seed samples—twice the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
global warming • North Pole • Arctic • Norway • biodiversity • seed vault • vault • Svalbard Global Seed Vault • seeds • seed bank

Did Bug Bites Do in Dinos?

Disease-carrying insects may have contributed to dinosaur extinction

Jan 9, 08 1:07 PM CST
(Newser) - Disease-carrying insects may have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago, entomologists write in a new book. Scientists found malaria and other parasitic pathogens in insects preserved in amber, and the same parasites were found in fossilized dinosaur waste, the Guardian reports. New plants, pollinated... More »

MORE ABOUT:
disease • extinction • bug • dinosaur • insects • entomology • biodiversity • K T extinction

Half of All Species Risk Extinction as Earth Warms

Humans will survive climate change, many other species won't: study

Oct 24, 07 4:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Global warming could trigger the extinction of half the world's plant and animal species—although humans will probably survive, according to a new British study of the likely effects of climate change. Researchers studied links between mass extinctions and climate changes over 520 million years. In one event, 95% of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • global warming • extinction • species • biodiversity • University of York • University of Leeds • greenhouse

'Extinction Crisis' Threatens 40% of Species

Watchdog group sees serious danger to one
in four mammals

Sep 12, 07 1:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - More than 16,000 species are in serious danger of extinction, including one in four mammals and one in three amphibians being monitored by a global conservation group. With 40% of 40,000 surveyed species facing the highest levels of threat, “We’re at code red,” a top... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • endangered species • environment • endangered species list • extinction • El Nino • gorilla • species • Western Lowland Gorilla • Mauritius Echo Parakeet • World Conservation Union • biodiversity • animal

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