Environmental News Agency

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Published online: 14 July 2022; doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01801-3The authors construct a time-calibrated phylogeny spanning >90% of spiny-rayed fishes to explore patterns of body shape disparity within acanthomorphs. They find a trend of steady accumulation of lineages from the Cenozoic, with an increase in morphological disparity following the Cretaceous–Palaeogene event, facilitating the radiation of diverse morphotypes that characterize acanthomorphs’ widespread ecological success today.

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Published online: 14 July 2022; doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01814-yUsing a 30-year dataset of North American bird species, the authors show that species’ abundances and distributions have become more decoupled from climate over time and that this is associated with ecological traits; the effect is particularly strong in threatened species.

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Published online: 14 July 2022; doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01824-wRecent breakthroughs have led to the development of biodegradable sensors which, after collecting data, break down into byproducts that are harmless to their surroundings. Using these sensors to collect ecological data on vast scales and in fine resolution could transform our management and understanding of natural ecosystems.

Oregon State University researchers have developed a new satellite tag that allows them to better track whales' behavior, including previously unobservable feeding events during dives.

A new study in Science Advances led by researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington provides a novel framework for identifying broad coral disease resistance traits and examines the fundamental processes behind species survival.

New research has mapped how infectious diseases spread among wildlife populations in areas where humans and wildlife live in close proximity. The study has identified the animals, specifically wild monkeys that live in large groups alongside human settlements, that may act as "superspreaders."

South African botanist Brian du Preez has discovered a beautiful new species from the Iridaceae family high up in the Langeberg Mountains of the Western Cape, South Africa.

A new study led by the University of Helsinki provides evidence that the observed decline of carbon use efficiency and net ecosystem exchange from south to north in the boreal forest may be caused by the abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi.

More than 170 subspecies are listed as threatened or endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. Most of these subspecies were described decades ago on the basis of geographical variation in morphology using relatively primitive taxonomic methods. The US Fish and Wildlife Service defaults to subspecies descriptions by taxonomists working with specific groups of organisms, but there is no single definition of subspecies across plants and animals. Valid tests today usually entail molecular analyses of variation within and among populations, although there is no reason that behavioral, ecological or molecular characters could […]

Across much of the Western United States, recovery of large carnivore populations is creating new challenges for livestock producers. Reducing the risks of sharing the landscape with recovering wildlife populations is critical to private working lands, which play an vital role in securing future energy, water, food, and fiber for an ever-expanding human population. Fencing is an important mitigation practice that many ranchers, land managers, and conservationists implement to reduce carnivore-livestock conflict. While fencing strategies have been reviewed in the literature, research seldom incorporates knowledge from the people who utilize fencing the […]

Global processes manifesting as activities in local places have led to an increase in documented conservation conflicts. Conservation conflicts are sometimes labelled human-wildlife conflict, focusing only on the direct negative impact of species (usually wildlife) on humans or vice versa. However, many authors now recognize that conservation conflicts arise between people with diverse views, when one party acts against the interests of another. They are thus human-human conflicts and not merely an impact on or from conservation. Conflict is not always directly correlated with impact because perceptions of risk, levels of tolerance […]

Bears were once farmed legally across Vietnam to supply bile, a digestive fluid, as an ingredient for traditional medicine products. Extracting and selling bear bile has been prohibited in Vietnam since 2005, but there is evidence that an illegal industry remains active. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the motivations and experiences of Vietnamese bear farmers. Thirty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 active and 9 former bear farmers across 14 provinces in Vietnam. Our findings confirm previous reports in the literature that there is still an active, […]

Biodiversity is in precipitous decline globally across both terrestrial and marine environments. Therefore, conservation actions are needed everywhere on Earth, including in the biodiversity rich landscapes and seascapes where people live and work that cover much of the planet. Integrative landscape and seascape approaches to conservation fill this niche. Making evidence-informed conservation decisions within these populated and working landscapes and seascapes requires an in-depth and nuanced understanding of the human dimensions through application of the conservation social sciences. Yet, there has been no comprehensive exploration of potential conservation social science contributions to […]

Urbanization leads to changes in land use, and the expansion of impervious surfaces leads to an increase in flood vulnerability. Predicting and analyzing these landscape pattern changes are important in the early stages of urban planning. In practice, the threshold for obtaining comprehensive and detailed hydrological and meteorological data is high, which makes it difficult for landscape and urban planners to quickly evaluate urban floods. To compensate for these trends, we took Nanjing, China, as the study site and discussed the leading flood vulnerability landscape patterns based on quantitative assessments. We introduced […]

Himalayan mountain forests have been a potential candidate for the investigation of perturbations due to the complex geography in which they sustain and the sensitivity of the species toward human disturbance and climate change. Among various tree species, brown oak (Quercus semecarpifolia), a very important component of the Himalayan mountains, has been identified as a keystone species due to its substantial economic and ecological benefits. Maintenance of microclimate and suitable habitats with a rich source of natural resources makes Q. semecarpifolia the most preferred forest for luxuriant growth of ground flora, shelter […]

The unprecedented urbanization recently has inevitably intensified the changes in land use morphology. However, current studies on land use primarily analyze a single morphology, ignoring the relationships between different land use morphologies. Taking the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (NSTM) as the study area, this article quantifies the spatiotemporal pattern of land use change, and estimates trade-offs and synergies between dominant (patch density, largest patch index, and landscape shape index) and recessive (land use efficiency, land use intensity, and agricultural non-point source pollution) morphologies to fully understand the dynamic characteristics of […]

The Pampa is the least protected and one of the least sampled for bats among the Brazilian domains. This leads to significant Linnean and Wallacean shortfalls for bats in the Brazilian-Uruguayan savanna ecoregion. Here, we aimed to model the occupancy of aerial insectivorous bats in response to landscape structure at different scales, considering the influence of microclimate on bat detection. We acoustically monitored 68 locations during the spring and summer of 2019/2020, gathering data on temperature and humidity associated with each acoustic record using data loggers. We detected at least 11 species […]

South America is a megadiverse continent that witnessed the domestication, translocation and cultivation of various plant species from seemingly contrasting ecosystems. It was the recipient and supplier of crops brought to and from Mesoamerica (such as maize and cacao, respectively), and Polynesia to where the key staple crop sweet potato was exported. Not every instance of the trans-ecological expansion of cultivated plants (both domesticated and wild), however, resulted in successful farming. Here, we review the transregional circulation and introduction of five food tropical crops originated in the tropical and humid valleys of […]

Plant functional strategies are well-established for low- and high-stress environments, such as rainforests and deserts. However, in environments with low- and high-stress level fluctuation within years, the relationship between plant functional strategies and their spatial distribution is still poorly understood. We aimed to answer: what are the relationships between above- and below-ground traits in the largest seasonally dry tropical forest in the Americas? Do the studied species form detectable groups from the functional perspective? If detectable, do functional groups present distinct spatial distributions across the domain, mediated by spatial heterogeneity of aridity? […]

Wood duck females often nest in tree cavities located in large-diameter deciduous trees. Temporal changes in forest age and composition during recent decades may have influenced the abundance of stems with suitable nesting cavities in the forested portion of Northern MN, United States. Thus, we ascertained whether temporal changes in the abundance of such stems occurred in this area during six Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) evaluation cycles (i.e., 1977 to 2015–2019). We used FIA data and independently estimated proportions of stems with suitable cavities in different tree-species, health-status, and diameter classes […]

Indigenous management of biocultural resources can influence behavior of non-target animals. Hence, identifying shared resources between indigenous communities and fauna is essential to understand the ecological relationships that occur within cultural landscapes and promote sustainable practices. In this ethnoecological research we analyzed the feeding importance of a wild food that is used by both people and birds. We employed unstructured interviews and a survey to learn about food resources used by people of a Nahua community in western Mexico. Trees were frequently mentioned by locals; thus, we determined salience and cultural meaning […]

Savanna burning programs across northern Australia generate millions of dollars per year for Indigenous communities through carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) markets. In catalyzing Indigenous knowledge and workforce to mitigate destructive wildfires, these programs are considered a success story on a range of social, ecological and economic measures. Scaling-up to temperate ecosystems requires a focus on applying the architecture and governance of these programs, and accounting for fundamental differences in context. We examine the opportunities and challenges in applying the architecture of savanna burning to an Indigenous Fire Management (IFM) program […]

Forest loss is one of the most serious threats to biodiversity in the tropics and mainly occurs due to the conversion of native forests by the expansion of human activities. In addition, regional climate change is likely to adversely affect the remaining biota. These disturbances may have direct or indirect consequences on the demographic structure of plant species in human-modified landscapes. To test this hypothesis, and thus look for management practices aimed at enhancing the population viability, we used the palm species Euterpe edulis Mart. (Arecaceae) to assess the demographic structure of […]

Transitioning to a sustainable energy system poses a massive challenge to communities, nations, and the global economy in the next decade and beyond. A growing portfolio of satellite data products is available to support this transition. Satellite data complement other information sources to provide a more complete picture of the global energy system, often with continuous spatial coverage over targeted areas or even the entire Earth. We find that satellite data are already being applied to a wide range of energy issues with varying information needs, from planning and operation of renewable […]

Water is an essential part of life, and its availability is important for all living purposes, due to industrial development and the high demand for agricultural products that humans require for their survival, it has produced a high level of environmental pollution, which has generated a problem in recent decades. Among the large number of pollutants that have been found in wastewater is the glyphosate molecule (Gly), the most widely used herbicide for agriculture. Within this context, this mini-review summarizes the current advances and discussions on the development of nanomaterials, focusing on […]

Bioplastics (i.e., bio-based and biodegradable plastics) are attracting attention as a sustainable alternative to conventional fossil-based plastics. However, their use in Japan, the fifth-highest per capita disposal of single-use plastics, has not become as widespread as planned by the Japanese government, and an increase in consumer awareness is necessary to promote the use of bioplastics and increase the demand for sustainable products. In addition, to promote social implementation, it is also necessary to understand the difference between bio-based and biodegradable plastics and use them correctly. Through an online questionnaire survey, this study […]

Governance of waste management is historically based on local issues, with different applications and rules across countries. To meet the increasing number of circular economic goals, countries worldwide are seeking to improve the efficiency of waste management markets in terms of environmental performance and cost efficiency. For this market to effectively move toward a more circular perspective, sound reforms are needed at the market design level. We suggest that a system operator should be introduced in the industry to coordinate and support the healthy functioning of the market. We develop our idea […]

Concerns relating to resource extraction, manufacturing, waste in our supply chains, along with increasing consumption and with their consequences for the planet, have, to a greater or lesser extent, begun to impact the ideological approach and the decision-making of governments, business and consumers alike on the material world we continue to create. Parallel concerns circle around social and environmental resilience, recovery and sustainability. This paper seeks to explore what a sustainable economy should look like in order to contribute to a resilient, diverse and thriving planet, while furthering resilient, diverse and thriving […]

In view of the problems of large deformation of surrounding rock, high in-situ stress, and serious soft fracture of rock stratum in deep soft rock roadway, the instability deformation failure mode of deep soft rock roadway is analyzed theoretically. The FLAC3D software is used to establish a three-dimensional numerical model of surrounding rock damage under load, and to study the displacement, stress, and plastic expansion process of damage and failure evolution in the surrounding rock of the roadway. The mechanical response mechanism of deep soft rock roadway surrounding rock bending deformation, elastoplastic […]

Joint professional and stakeholder meetings to share local, regional and national responses to the current and projected effects of climate change have become regular, recurring events over the past decade. These “climate adaptation convenings” generally include presentations, discussions, and social learning about how to effectively respond to climate-related impacts. Many of these convenings shifted to virtual formats during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a study to understand how four virtual convenings in the United States compare with otherwise similar in-person events. Through surveys with attendees of four virtual climate adaptation convenings, we […]

This study uses the spatial autoregressive model for panel data to empirically test the spatial peer effect of enterprises’ digital transformation by using a sample of Chinese listed companies during 2012–2021. We find that there is a significant spatial peer effect in the digital transformation of Chinese companies, and the level of digital transformation of a company increase with the level of digital transformation of its spatial peer companies. Moreover, heterogeneity analysis shows that the spatial peer effect of digital transformation can be effectively played only under a higher digital environment, higher […]

Clays encountered during road construction are mostly weak and result in major pavement failures due to their low California bearing ratio (CBR) and high swelling potential. In this study, sustainable and eco-friendly waste materials including brick dust waste (BDW), ground granulated blastfurnance slag (GGBS), recycled plastic (RP) and recycled glass (RG) at varying proportions of 11.75% and 23.5% were used as partial replacement for cement and lime in clay treatment. After determining the water content by conducting Atterberg limit and compaction test, A CBR and swell characteristics of treated and untreated clay […]

This study selected the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration as the research area, considering the current status of its transportation development to construct an urban agglomeration land transportation integration index system and to evaluate the development of the area’s transportation integration. The study examined the influence mechanism of transportation infrastructure on service industry agglomeration. The results were as follows: (1) From 2011 to 2020, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration land transportation integration index showed a clear upward trend. (2) The development of the integration level of local transportation has a certain […]

No matter how difficult the transition may be, in the not too distant future we will have to live in far smaller and more flexible social organizations than today’s nation-states and cities.

Can I convince you how miraculously cool seeds are? They are a tiny packet of genetic information, for nothing more than some warmth, light (usually), and some water, will unfurl in time and produce a plant that will net you so much food in volume, that your return on investment would be astronomical.

Shale will likely tip over in five years, and US production will be down 20 to 30% quickly. When it does—this feels like watching the steam roller scene in Austin Powers.

Communities can build resilience to climate change within the heart of their neighborhoods through incorporating the settlement house model within climate action plans.

Kinari Webb, MD, is the founder of Health In Harmony, an international nonprofit dedicated to reversing global heating, understanding that rainforests are essential for the survival of humanity, and a cofounder of Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI). She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”

How can we boost the resilience of the world's coral reefs, which are imperiled by multiple stresses including mass bleaching events linked to climate warming?

Existing ways of calculating biodiversity dynamics are not very effective in detecting wholesale species community change due to the effects of ocean acidification.

Rewilding landscapes using elements of farming practice can help to restore ecosystems and produce high-welfare, high-quality food, researchers say.

Scientists have discovered that an extreme weather event that resulted in rapid sea temperature drops of up to 10 degrees was the primary cause of a catastrophic coral die-off event off the coast of Costa Rica.

Millions more people across the globe are relying on our endangered coral reefs than 20 years ago, according to new figures into population growth in coastal areas.

How can we boost the resilience of the world's coral reefs, which are imperiled by multiple stresses including mass bleaching events linked to climate warming?

Tropical deforestation causes widespread degradation of biodiversity and carbon stocks. Researchers have now tested the relationship between land tenure and deforestation rates in Brazil. Their research shows that poorly defined land rights go hand in hand with increased deforestation rates. Privatizing these lands, as is often promoted in the tropics, can only mitigate this effect if combined with strict environmental policies.

Drawn from more than 20 years of observations at Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo, researchers documented lasting social ties between individual chimpanzees and gorillas that persisted over years and across different contexts.

Researchers have shown that a common ant species undergoes physiological and behavioral changes in unnatural settings.

Existing ways of calculating biodiversity dynamics are not very effective in detecting wholesale species community change due to the effects of ocean acidification.