Environmental News Agency

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Published online: 23 May 2022; doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01786-zPolicy responses to the Ukraine crisis threaten European biodiversity

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Published online: 19 May 2022; doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01789-wSalt-stressed frogs

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Published online: 16 May 2022; doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01747-6A dataset of 16 plant traits sampled from 2,461 individual trees from 74 tropical forest sites around the world is used to show a strong link between climate and plant functional diversity and redundancy, with drier tropical forests likely being less able to respond to declines in water availability.

Invest in bug lights, mosquito tents and other tools to repel insects in your backyard.

“Usually, dolphins get bored with my experiments. We were tapping into something that is part of the dolphins’ world.” marine biologist Jason Bruck said.

All-natural insect repellants, balms and wipes you'll be happy to use all summer.

Mexican experts said Monday that 35% more monarch butterflies arrived this year to spend the winter in mountaintop forests, compared to the previous season.

When you picture a finicky eater, a raccoon doesn't usually come to mind. But new research from the University of Georgia has revealed that scavengers, such as raccoons and vultures, can be selective about what they eat. The study provides insight into how nutrients can cycle through food webs.

The potential economic impact of the polyphagous shot hole borer in South Africa amounts to a whopping $18.45 billion over the next ten years, and municipalities will have to bear the brunt of this cost if nothing is done to stem the tide.

Warming-induced shifts in vegetation phenology have substantially affected the terrestrial energy balance as well as carbon and water cycles, which in turn exert biophysical and biogeochemical feedback to the climate system. Spring phenology of temperate and boreal tree species has advanced significantly with warming in recent decades, but most previous studies focused on a single phenophase, such as flowering or leaf unfolding.

Zimbabwe will this week press a drive to legalise the ivory trade, inviting officials from 15 nations to meet in a national park that's a beacon of success in protecting elephants.

The concentration of people living in small areas has increased in the last decade, with more than half of the world's population living in cities. This is particularly true for Latin America, a region with no particular high contribution to the world total population, but hosts several large cities. The increase in urbanization causes several threats to wildlife that face the loss of their habitat and novel environmental pressures. As the number of wildlife entering cities seems to have increased in the last year, we characterize the temporal and geographical events of […]

Urban spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in Ethiopia are a prime example of large carnivores coexisting with little to no conflict with people in a human-dominated landscape, providing a valuable waste-removal service. To gain insight in how this urban lifestyle persists across generations, we studied hyena group composition at the city waste dump of Mekelle, a regional capital in northern Ethiopia. We found that hyena cubs and sub-adults foraged with adults in groups of highly variable composition. Young urban hyenas already take part in a fission-fusion dynamic that is also characteristic of hyenas […]

The Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus [Bufo] canorus) is a federally threatened species of meadow-specializing amphibian endemic to the high-elevation Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The species is one of the first amphibians to undergo a large demographic collapse that was well-documented, and is reputed to remain in low abundance throughout its range. Recent phylogeographic work has demonstrated that Pleistocene toad lineages diverged and then admixed to differing extents across an elevational gradient. Although lineage divisions may have significant effects on evolutionary trajectories over large spatial and temporal scales, present-day population dynamics must be […]

Bioko is one of the most important sites for African primate conservation; yet it has seen a severe decline in its primate populations due to illegal hunting to supply a thriving wildmeat trade. The completion in 2015 of a new road bisecting the Gran Caldera Scientific Reserve (GCSR), where rugged terrain and lack of infrastructure once served as a natural barrier, further threatened this last stronghold for Bioko's primates. Here we used passive acoustic monitoring to study factors affecting hunting patterns within GCSR through the automatic detection of shotgun sounds. Ten acoustic […]

Biodiversity conservation and mental health and wellbeing are of increasing global concern, with growing relevance to planning and policy. A growing body of literature exploring the relationships between biodiversity and mental health and wellbeing—based on early research conducted largely from social science perspectives—suggests that particular qualities within natural environments confer particular benefits. Results so far have been inconclusive and inconsistent, contributing to an incohesive body of evidence. While past reviews have focused on reporting variations in results, the present study builds on early reviews by exploring variations from the perspective of author […]

Insect pollinators are affected by the spatio-temporal distribution of floral resources, which are dynamic across time and space, and also influenced heavily by anthropogenic activities. There is a need for spatial data describing the time-varying spatial distribution of flowers, which can be used within behavioral and ecological studies. However, this information is challenging to obtain. Traditional field techniques for mapping flowers are often laborious and limited to relatively small areas, making it difficult to assess how floral resources are perceived by pollinators to guide their behaviors. Conversely, remote sensing of plant traits […]

Rainfall following turtle nest construction has long been believed to increase nest survival by its effects on reducing the location cues used by nest predators. However, it is unclear if this is generally the case and if nesting turtles actively use this mechanism to increase their reproductive fitness by deliberately timing nesting to occur before or during rainfall. To address this question, we reviewed studies that examined freshwater turtle nesting behavior and nest predation rates in relation to rainfall. We supplemented our review with data on rainfall and nesting patterns from a […]

The spiracular region, comprising the hyomandibular pouch together with the mandibular and hyoid arches, has a complex evolutionary history. In living vertebrates, the embryonic hyomandibular pouch may disappear in the adult, develop into a small opening between the palatoquadrate and hyomandibula containing a single gill-like pseudobranch, or create a middle ear cavity, but it never develops into a fully formed gill with two hemibranchs. The belief that a complete spiracular gill must be the ancestral condition led some 20th century researchers to search for such a gill between the mandibular and hyoid […]

This article surveys more than three decades of research on Zambian mole-rats (genus Fukomys, Bathyergidae), pointing out some unanswered questions and untested hypotheses and suggesting approaches to address them. These research proposals range from sensory ecology topics, the main research field, covering different (even not yet identified) senses, orientation in time and space, communication, studies on aging, population dynamics, and the survival strategies of mole-rats during yearly floodings in the Kafue Flats. Discussion includes cryptozoological investigation into the existence of strange mole-rat species in some Zambian localities as reported by local communities, […]

Under climate change, drought conditions are projected to intensify and soil water stress is identified as one of the primary drivers of the decline of forests. While there is strong evidence of such megadisturbance in semi-arid regions, large uncertainties remain in North American temperate forests and fine-scale assessments of future soil water stress are needed to guide adaptation decisions. The objectives of this study were to (i) assess the impact of climate change on the severity and duration of soil water stress in a temperate forest of eastern North America and (ii) […]

Diversity of secondary lichen metabolites was studied in epiphytic lichens on six phorophytes—spruce, pine, birch, alder, aspen and poplar in the Middle Urals of Russia. Atranorin, usnic, fumarprotocetraric acid, zeorin, and gyrophoric acid were found in 31, 24, 23, 18, and 14 species, respectively, of 237 taxa collected. Seventy-seven species (i.e., 32% of total species documented) contained no secondary metabolites. Spectra of secondary metabolites of fruticose and foliose lichens varied on different phorophytes, while in crustose species the strong dependence on the tree species was not detected. This is different to the […]

The functional and ecological importance of dead wood in terrestrial forests is widely recognized and researched. In contrast, much less is known about dead wood in mangrove forests, despite its known or demonstrated contribution to key ecological processes including nutrient cycling and seedling recruitment. In addition, mangrove dead wood provides an important service for millions of people; harvesting wood for fuel is widespread in mangroves and is often vital for the lives and wellbeing of people living close to these forests. Limited information on stocks and production, and the drivers of these, […]

The conversion of coniferous forest to deciduous forest is accompanied by changes in the vertical distribution of fine roots and soil organic carbon (SOC) content. It is unclear how these changes affect soil CO2 efflux and vertical soil CO2 production, considering changing climate. Here, we present the results of a 6-year study on CO2 efflux, covering relatively warm-dry and cool-wet years. A combination of the flux-gradient method and closed chamber measurements was used to study the CO2 efflux and the vertical distribution of soil CO2 production in a beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) […]

Wildfire and burn severity influence soil microbial communities during post-fire recovery. If post-fire differences in microbial communities affect soil carbon (C) pool dynamics, altered microbial communities could influence the transition of forests from C sources to C sinks during ecosystem recovery. For example, fire may change the abundance of copiotrophic and oligotrophic bacteria, influencing the kinetic rates of soil C pools due to differences in C-acquisition strategies and nutrient requirements. We assessed differences in soil bacterial communities and soil C pool kinetics 1 year after a wildfire in a mixed-conifer forest in […]

Heat exchanger networks (HENs) are a widely studied subject. These systems may undergo important variations in their operating conditions. Such uncertainties lead networks to require some degrees of flexibility. An efficient approach to address such uncertainties is the development of multiperiod solutions. However, these are difficult to develop since one must synthesize a network that is simultaneously feasible under a given number of conditions. This work presents a method based on pinch insights and a hybrid meta-heuristic. It employs the “spaghetti” network concept as initial estimations for single-period networks, which are refined […]

Global sustainability challenges are reshaping how businesses operate in the 21st century. The necessary condition of ensuring economic, social, and environmental sustainability, also affects the functioning of regulatory authorities and businesses, particularly in the air transport sector, which, by facilitating access to productive services and connectivity to markets, is a critical contributor to the economy. Businesses are increasingly being pressed by decision makers (e.g., stakeholders, shareholders, customers, employees, and society) to assess their socioeconomic impacts and manage their actions sustainably and resiliently. As a result, effective management is a top priority not […]

The debate about care has intensified in the COVID-19 crisis. A consensus appears to be emerging that care work—mostly provided by women—is not only essential to our societies, but also undervalued, reputationally as well as—for the paid work—regarding its remuneration. As care is essential for the cohesion of societies, there is an urgent need to improve the situation. However, care comes in too many forms for general recommendations for improving the situation to be effective. Its majority in terms of working hours is unpaid, but the paid part of it in health, […]

This Human Rights Day we stand at a pivotal moment: the opportunity to recognise the right to a healthy environment as a universal human right, one that every person, everywhere is entitled to. Following widespread calls, reiterated at the IUCN Congress, the UN Human Rights Council voted resoundingly to recognise the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in October 2021. UN Member States should now support universal recognition of this right at the UN General Assembly, and reflect this right in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and other environmental policy; […]

This Human Rights Day we stand at a pivotal moment: the opportunity to recognise the right to a healthy environment as a universal human right, one that every person, everywhere is entitled to. Following widespread calls, reiterated at the IUCN Congress, the UN Human Rights Council voted resoundingly to recognise the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in October 2021. UN Member States should now support universal recognition of this right at the UN General Assembly, and reflect this right in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and other environmental policy; […]

Today, more than a fifth of the Amazon is severely degraded and the entire ecosystem is at the tipping point of collapse. The impacts of this destruction fall hardest on the indigenous peoples and local communities who have lived in and protected the region for generations. IUCN Members voted overwhelmingly to support indigenous-led efforts to protect 80% of Amazonia by 2025. As governments at the UN Climate Change Conference pledge cooperation to end deforestation, regional action is needed now before the world’s largest tropical forest disappears; write Gregorio Mirabal, General Coordinator of […]

Today, more than a fifth of the Amazon is severely degraded and the entire ecosystem is at the tipping point of collapse. The impacts of this destruction fall hardest on the indigenous peoples and local communities who have lived in and protected the region for generations. IUCN Members voted overwhelmingly to support indigenous-led efforts to protect 80% of Amazonia by 2025. As governments at the UN Climate Change Conference pledge cooperation to end deforestation, regional action is needed now before the world’s largest tropical forest disappears; write Gregorio Mirabal, General Coordinator of […]

Discussions on addressing the climate crisis and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic often ignore the most critical tool we have: nature. The IUCN World Conservation Congress is one of several global meetings scheduled for the coming months that could determine the fate of our planet. As the conservation community gathers in Marseille, IUCN Members must back ambitious plans to protect existing intact ecosystems, restore degraded ones, and invest in natural infrastructure; writes Cristián Samper, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an IUCN Member organisation.

Energy plays an imperative role in global economies, such that products and services are generally dependent on energy use. This study leads to the application of environmental policies under green research and development (R&D) investment in Pakistan. Existing research has tried to analyze the effects of R&D investment associated with patent applications using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method called PATENT. The objective of this method is to examine the variations in R&D activities motivated by the reduction of fossil fuel power. The research contributes the following: (1) the R&D reaction […]

This systematic review focuses on all the gambling addiction prevention programs carried out in schools, with the intention of making their effectiveness known and encouraging the creation of more such programs. During the third quarter of 2021, an exhaustive search was conducted using the databases of Scopus, Medline (via Pubmed), WOS, and PsycINFO. The search strategy was based on a combination of specific search terms: “Gambling Disorder [Mesh]”, “Online Gambling Disorder [Mesh]”, and “Prevention Programs [Mesh]”. A total of 15 articles were chosen for systematic review. All the programs analyzed show effective […]

Brazil is one of the world’s major ornamental stone producers. As a consequence, ornamental stone wastes are generated on a large scale and are usually open air disposed. Thus, it is important to develop novel material reusing these accumulated wastes, aiming to minimize environmental impact. The development of artificial stones made with ornamental stone wastes agglomerated by a synthetic polymer represents an excellent alternative and, therefore, is currently the subject of several works. This work seeks to develop an innovative artificial stone containing 85%wt of granite waste and 15%wt of vegetable polyurethane […]

When it is necessary to evaluate, with a probabilistic approach, the interaction of urban tunnels with neighboring structures, computational power is an important challenge for numerical models. Thus, intelligent sampling algorithms can be allies in obtaining a better knowledge of the result’s domain, even if in possession of a smaller number of samples. In any case, when sampling is limited, the evaluation of the risks is also restricted. In this context, artificial intelligence (AI) can fill an important gap in risk analysis by interpolating results and generating larger samples quickly. The goal […]

Fairness in the agro-food system is an increasingly important issue. Ensuring fair and ethical practices in the agro-food chain is essential for sustainable, effective, and resilient agro-food systems. Identifying and understanding fairness-enabling practices and existing business applications in the agro-food chain is crucial to create a sustainable system. This research study is an extensive literature review analyzing academic and grey literature. Thus, this study aims: (i) to conceptualize fairness in the agro-food system; (ii) to identify the fairness-enabling practices contributing to a fair agro-food system; and (iii) to explore existing agro-food chain […]

To have any chance of success in limiting global warming to tolerable levels, the climate-action movement will somehow have to overturn an elite consensus on the importance of geopolitical competition — or else.

There is little space for optimism in the world we are entering, but instead an urgent need to respond to its demands with a sober sense of its constrained possibilities. Our aim should not be to build utopia, but to lash together a life raft.

The re-establishment in public discourse of a Welsh food culture, with its long history, its ingredients and methods, provides the possibility of a rooted baseline for the future of food in this country; open to change, but aware of its provenance.

What does it mean to truly understand the reality of humankind’s ecological predicament, and what should you do with that understanding once you possess it?

The most powerful Joe in Washington has some decisions to make. No, no, not that Joe. Although he too has some critical choices confronting him. However, it’s a tale best told another day.

How effective environmental measures in agriculture are for biodiversity and wild bee populations depends on various factors and your perspective. This is shown by agroecologists. The research team found that when assessing the effectiveness of different measures, whether in the field (organic farming) or next to the field (flower strips in conventional farming), biodiversity benefits should be evaluated differently. Like-for-like comparisons of environmental measures could easily be misleading, according to the scientists.

Praying mantises have gained recent popularity as pets, sold at animal fairs and pet markets, but also collected in the wild by a fast-growing community of hobbyists and professional marketers. An overview of this market's dynamics reports on both problems and opportunities of the pet mantis market, like the absence of regulations, but also the potential of a stronger collaboration between hobbyists and scientists for biodiversity conservation.

Global biodiversity assessments require the collection of data on changes in plant biodiversity on an ongoing basis. Researchers have now shown that plant communities can be reliably monitored using imaging spectroscopy, which in the future will be possible via satellite. This paves the way for near real-time global biodiversity monitoring.

Agriculture, loss of habitat or wastewater effluents — human stressors negatively impact biodiversity in streams and rivers. Very little is known yet about the extent to which their capacity for self-purification and other essential ecosystem services are also impacted. An international research team has synthesized the globally available research on this topic in a meta-analysis. This study provides new initiatives for improved water management.

Scientists working in the vast Amazon Basin have contributed more than 57,000 camera trap images for a new study.

A study using 10 years of citizen science data has found that a variety of targeted conservation approaches are needed to protect UK bumblebee species.

Researchers interviewed California shellfish growers to find out how they perceive ocean acidification, and to learn what strategies they think will help their operations adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Satellites and drones can provide key information to protect pollinators. A new study examines new ways of using these technologies to track the availability of flowers, and says this could be combined with behavioral studies to see the world through the eyes of insects.

Real data gathered by volunteers was combined with new computer models for the first time to reveal which UK moth species are struggling to expand into new regions and the landscape barriers restricting their movement. Farmland and suburban moths were found to be struggling most, with hills or regions with variable temperatures acting as barriers. This has implications for British wildlife being forced to move to adapt to climate change, and habitat restoration in challenging areas could help wildlife movement.

An international study provides the first global evaluation of all terrestrial vertebrate species that have not been declared extinct and identifies more than 500 species considered to be 'lost' — those that haven't been seen by anyone in more than 50 years.