Summaries | Headlines

Famous Galápagos Tortoise, Lonesome George, May Not Be Alone (May 1, 2007) -- "Lonesome George," a giant Galapagos tortoise and conservation icon long thought to be the sole survivor of his species, may not be alone for much longer, according to a multinational team of ... > full story

US Conservation Efforts Bring More Marine Turtles To UK (May 1, 2007) -- US and Mexican conservation efforts may have boosted the number of marine turtles visiting UK waters, according to biologists. This new research analyses 100 years of data and shows an increase in ... > full story

Whales Entangled In Fishing Lines: What Can Be Done? (April 30, 2007) -- Since 2002 there have been at least 21 reports of right whales entangled in fishing lines, and scar analyses indicates as many as 45-60 right whales become entangled each year. A sinking line can ... > full story

Female Amur Leopard -- World's Most Endangered Cat -- Found Dead (April 26, 2007) -- Following the April 18 announcement that only 25 to 34 of the Amur or Far Eastern leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) remain in the wild, World Wildlife Fund says the number must now be revised ... > full story

Commercial Hunting May Be Largest Threat To Tropical Forests (April 26, 2007) -- Recent research considers the consequences of commercial hunting in the tropics, including its direct impacts on vertebrates and indirect impacts on plants. Using more than 100 forest sites scattered ... > full story

Earth's First Rainforest Unearthed (April 23, 2007) -- A spectacular fossilized forest has transformed our understanding of the ecology of the Earth's first rainforests. Nowhere elsewhere on the planet is it possible to (literally) walk through such an ... > full story

Amur Leopard Still On The Brink Of Extinction, Scientists Say (April 18, 2007) -- A new census of the world's most endangered cat, the Amur or Far Eastern leopard, shows that as few as 25 to 34 are left in the wild, renewing fears for the future of the species. The census was ... > full story

Reducing Stress For Captive Monkeys (April 18, 2007) -- A team of researchers has found a simple and unique way to considerably reduce stress levels and increase the welfare of monkeys living in a popular ... > full story

Predator Starfish Threaten Coral Reefs In The Philippines (April 17, 2007) -- An infestation of predator starfish is decimating large tracts of coral reef throughout the Philippines. The spiny and toxic crown-of-thorns starfish are voracious predators that can wipe out large ... > full story

Effects Of Forest Management In Oregon's Coast Range (April 17, 2007) -- Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station scientists and their colleagues have been conducting research that provides managers with a better idea of the effects -- both intended and unintended -- that ... > full story

Red Bay Trees Succumbing To Foreign Beetle And Unknown Fungus (April 17, 2007) -- A foreign beetle and an unknown fungus are attacking US coastal trees that provide food for birds, bears and butterflies. Foresters are reporting a rising death toll of native red bay trees (Persea ... > full story

Climate Change Could Trigger 'Boom And Bust' Population Cycles Leading To Extinction (April 17, 2007) -- Climate change could trigger "boom and bust" population cycles that make animal species more vulnerable to extinction. Dramatic population fluctuations make species more vulnerable to extinction due ... > full story

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Extinction event -- An extinction event (also extinction-level event, ELE) occurs when a large number of species die out in a relatively short period of time. Since life began on Earth, a number of major mass ... > full article

Mesozoic -- The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. The Mesozoic includes three geologic periods: from oldest to youngest, they are the Triassic, the Jurassic and the Cretaceous ... > full article

Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event -- The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event was a period of massive extinction of species, about 65.5 million years ago. It corresponds to the end of the Cretaceous Period and the beginning of the ... > full article

Conservation status -- The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when ... > full article

Permian-Triassic extinction event -- The Permian-Triassic (P-T or PT) extinction event, sometimes informally called the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred approximately 251.0 million years ago (mya), forming the boundary ... > full article

Amphibian -- Amphibians generally spend part of their time on land, but they do not have the adaptations to an entirely terrestrial existence found in most other modern tetrapods (amniotes). There are about 5,950 ... > full article

Decline in amphibian populations -- Dramatic declines in amphibian populations, including population crashes and mass localized extinction, have been noted since the 1980s from locations all over the world, and amphibian declines are ... > full article

Extinction -- In biology and ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last ... > full article

Coral bleaching -- Coral bleaching results when the symbiotic zooxanthellae (single-celled algae) are released from the original host coral organism due to stress. The corals that form the structure of the great reef ... > full article

Black-footed Ferret -- TThe Black-footed Ferret is a small carnivorous North American mammal. The Black-footed Ferret is the most endangered mammal in North America, according to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service ... > full article

Trophic level -- In ecology, the trophic level is the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats, and what eats it. Wildlife biologists look at a natural "economy of energy" that ultimately ... > full article

Paleozoic -- The Paleozoic Era is a major division of the geologic timescale, one of four geologic eras. The Paleozoic includes six geologic periods; from oldest to youngest -- the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, ... > full article

Slash and burn -- Slash and burn (a specific practice that may be part of shifting cultivation or swidden-fallow agriculture) is an agricultural procedure widely used in forested areas. Although it was practised ... > full article

Cretaceous -- The Cretaceous period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic period, about 146 million years ago (Ma), to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch ... > full article

Wild Horse -- The Wild Horse (Equus ferus) is a member of the Horse genus and was found in Europe and Asia. The true wild horse is not merely a feral horse like the Mustang; a true wild horse is one that was never ... > full article

Biodiversity -- Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of life. There are a number of definitions and measures of biodiversity. Biodiversity is commonly identified at three levels. First there is ... > full article

Ecological niche -- In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem. More formally, the niche includes how a population responds to the abundance of its ... > full article

Biodiversity Action Plan -- A Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) is an internationally recognized program addressing threatened species and habitats, which is designed to protect and restore biological systems. The original impetus ... > full article

Short-tailed Albatross -- The Short-tailed Albatross or Steller's Albatross is a large rare seabird from the North Pacific. Although related to the other North Pacific albatrosses, it also exhibits behavioural and ... > full article

Cenozoic -- The Cenozoic Era is the most recent of the four classic geological eras. The Cenozoic is divided into two periods, the Palaeogene and Neogene, and they are in turn divided into epochs. The Palaeogene ... > full article