Extinction News

April 24, 2020

Top Headlines

Common raven (stock image). | Credit: (c) tom / stock.adobe.com

How Birds Evolved Big Brains

Apr. 23, 2020 Evolutionary biologists and paleontologists have reconstructed the evolution of the avian brain using a massive dataset of brain volumes from dinosaurs, extinct birds like ... read more

Giant Teenage Shark from the Dinosaur Era

Apr. 23, 2020 Scientists examined parts of a vertebral column, which was found in northern Spain in 1996, and assigned it to the extinct shark group Ptychodontidae. In contrast to teeth, shark vertebrae bear ... read more

Great white shark (stock image). | Credit: (c) Richard / stock.adobe.com

Extinction of Threatened Marine Megafauna Would Lead to Huge Loss in Functional Diversity

Apr. 17, 2020 The extinction of threatened marine megafauna species could result in larger than expected losses in functional diversity, ... read more

Pterosaurs and Other Fossil Flyers to Better Engineer Human-Made Flight

Apr. 15, 2020 Pterosaurs were the largest animals ever to fly. They soared the skies for 160 million years -- much longer than any species of modern bird. Despite their aeronautic excellence, these ancient flyers ... read more

Latest Headlines

updated 1:22pm EDT

Online Tool Helps to Protect Tropical Forests

Apr. 22, 2020 A new tool maps the threats to the tropical dry forests in Peru and Ecuador. Bioscience engineers combined data on possible threats to these forests with data on the vulnerability of local tree ... read more

Warming Climate Undoes Decades of Knowledge of Marine Protected Areas

Apr. 24, 2020 A new study highlights that tropical coral reef marine reserves can offer little defence in the face of climate change impacts. And the changes that are being observed will force scientists, ... read more

Iron Deficiency in Corals?

Apr. 23, 2020 When iron is limited, the microalgae that live within coral cells change how they take in other trace metals, which could have cascading effects on vital biological functions and perhaps exacerbate ... read more

Caribbean Coral Reef Decline Began in 1950s and 1960s from Local Human Activities

Apr. 22, 2020 Fossil data, historical records, and underwater survey data have been used to reconstruct the abundance of staghorn and elkhorn corals over the past ... read more

Effective Way to Replenish Threatened Plants

Apr. 22, 2020 Planting Hill's thistle seeds has low flowering and germination rates. The study used the CPR (Conservation, Propagation, Redistribution) method to preserve the genetic material of germ cells of two ... read more

Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Will Change Marine Habitats and Fish Communities

Apr. 20, 2020 Researchers showed that elevated dissolved CO2 conditions can lead to a 45% decrease of fish ... read more

Rare South American Ground Beetles Sport Unusual, Likely Multi-Purpose Antennal Cleaners

Apr. 20, 2020 After 157 years since the description of the South American genus of strange-combed beetles, Nototylus, a second specimen finally has been ... read more

Researchers Challenge Accuracy of Methods That Analyze Trees of Life

Apr. 15, 2020 When species under a taxonomic umbrella have faced forks in the road, leading to extinction or adaptation, the path taken has been difficult to follow. Scientists now argue that long-used approaches ... read more

Can Coral Reefs 'Have It All'?

Apr. 16, 2020 A new study outlines how strategic placement of no-fishing marine reserves can help coral reef fish communities ... read more

Parasite Carried by Grey Squirrels Negatively Impacts Red Squirrel Behavior

Apr. 16, 2020 Research reveals a new mechanism of how grey squirrels affect native red squirrels in Europe through parasite-mediated ... read more

Earlier Headlines

Bornean Treeshrews Can Take the Heat

Apr. 16, 2020 To better understand if small tropical mammals also have increased vulnerability as their environments heat up, experts in mammology and mammal health studied Bornean ... read more

Study Unlocks the Secret of Corals' Tolerance to Climate Change: Their Diet

Apr. 15, 2020 Researchers have developed a new method for determining what corals eat, and demonstrated that reliance on certain nutritional sources underpins their bleaching susceptibility in warming ... read more

Logging Threatening Endangered Caribou

Apr. 15, 2020 Researchers found habitat and food web changes from forestry are encouraging more wolf packs to prey on caribou. Researchers attached video and GPS-tracking radio collars to caribou and wolves to ... read more

Volcanic eruption (stock image). | Credit: (c) Fotos 593 / stock.adobe.com

Volcanic Carbon Dioxide Emissions Helped Trigger Triassic Climate Change

Apr. 14, 2020 A new study finds volcanic activity played a direct role in triggering extreme climate change at the end of the Triassic period 201 million year ago, wiping out almost half of all existing ... read more

A New Species of Black Endemic Iguanas in Caribbeans Is Proposed for Urgent Conservation

Apr. 14, 2020 A newly discovered endemic species of melanistic black iguana (Iguana melanoderma), discovered in Saba and Montserrat islands, the Lesser Antilles (Eastern Caribbean) appears to be threatened by ... read more

Plant Diversity in European Forests Is Declining

Apr. 13, 2020 In Europe's temperate forests, less common plant species are being replaced by more widespread species. An international team of researchers has found that this development could be related to ... read more

Scientists Discover Bent-Toed Gecko Species in Cambodia

Apr. 13, 2020 A new species of bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus phnomchiensis) from Cambidia has unexpectedly been ... read more

Canada Lynx Disappearing from Washington State

Apr. 9, 2020 Canada lynx are losing ground in Washington state, even as federal officials are taking steps to remove the species' threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. A massive monitoring ... read more

Black Rhinos Eavesdrop on the Alarm Calls of Hitchhiking Oxpeckers to Avoid Humans

Apr. 9, 2020 In Swahili, red-billed oxpeckers are called Askari wa kifaru, or 'the rhino's guard.' Now, an article suggests that this indigenous name rings true: red-billed oxpeckers may behave ... read more

Hidden Army: How Starfish Could Build Up Numbers to Attack Coral Reefs

Apr. 8, 2020 It is known that crown of thorns starfish lie in wait as algae-eating young before attacking coral. But new research shows the starfish that devastates reef habitats can remain in its juvenile ... read more

New Fossil from Brazil Hints at the Origins of the Mysterious Tanystropheid Reptiles

Apr. 8, 2020 A new species of Triassic reptile from Brazil is a close cousin of a mysterious group called ... read more

Climate Change Could Cause Sudden Biodiversity Losses Worldwide

Apr. 8, 2020 A warming global climate could cause sudden, potentially catastrophic losses of biodiversity in regions across the globe throughout the 21st century, finds a new ... read more

How Does Habitat Fragmentation Affect Amazonian Birds?

Apr. 8, 2020 The Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP), located near Manaus, Brazil, began in 1979 and is the world's longest-running experimental study of tropical forest fragments. A new ... read more

The Link Between Virus Spillover, Wildlife Extinction and the Environment

Apr. 7, 2020 As COVID-19 spreads across the globe, a common question is, can infectious diseases be connected to environmental change? Yes, indicates a new study. Exploitation of wildlife by humans through ... read more

How Forest Loss Leads to Spread of Disease

Apr. 7, 2020 In Uganda, loss of forested habitat increases the likelihood of interactions between disease-carrying wild primates and humans. The findings suggest the emergence and spread of viruses, such as the ... read more

Protecting the High Seas: Identify Biodiversity Hotspots

Apr. 7, 2020 Researchers use big data to identify biodiversity hotspots that could become the first generation of high seas marine protected ... read more

Climate Change Triggers Great Barrier Reef Bleaching

Apr. 7, 2020 The Great Barrier Reef is suffering through its worst bleaching event. This is the third bleaching within the space of five ... read more

Scientists' Warning to Humanity on Insect Extinctions

Apr. 6, 2020 As the human race continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have found that the planet's insects are also facing a crisis after accelerating rates of extinction have led to a ... read more

Innovative Birds Are Less Vulnerable to Extinction

Apr. 6, 2020 Bird species that have the capacity to express novel foraging behaviors are less vulnerable to extinction than species that do not, according to a collaborative ... read more

Climate Change to Affect Fish Sizes and Complex Food Webs

Apr. 6, 2020 Global climate change will affect fish sizes in unpredictable ways and, consequently, impact complex food webs in our oceans, a new study has shown. The study analyzed three decades of data from ... read more

Thursday, April 16, 2020