Endemic only to the swamps around Mexico City, the endangered axotlotl is used around the world to study nerve regeneration Ambystoma mexicanum, a salamander found only in the fetid canals…
Feeding the water habits of such major cities as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, in addition to providing irrigation waters for the entire Southwestern United States, has stretched the…
The government of Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has offered 25 million acres (10 million hectares) of land to South African farmers in an effort to improve the central African nation's…
Marc Ona Essangui is a beloved environmental leader in his native Gabon, however by winning the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize he is now being introduced to a larger audience: the…
A condensed version of this article can be found at Yale e360. Deep in the rugged mountains of Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area (NEPL) on the Laos–Vietnam border, men…
Carbon credits generated through forest conservation could provide a cost-effective way for U.S. companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, business leaders were told at a meeting in Columbus, Ohio.…
During ten years surveying small mammal populations in Bolivia's cerrado, Dr. Louise Emmons with the Smithsonian Institute found that the mammals were suffering precipitous declines, even local extinctions. After ruling…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ruled that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases "may endanger public health or welfare", a finding that opens to door to future regulation…
Rising temperatures could reverse the role forests play in mitigating climate change, turning them into net sources of greenhouse gases, reports a new assessment by the International Union of Forest…
Gangs of illegal rosewood loggers continue to pillage the wildlife-rich forests of northeastern Madagascar, reports a local source. "More and more people are entering the [protected area] to cut wood,"…
Living in isolation for millions of years, cut off from sunlight and oxygen, surviving by breathing iron beneath an Antarctic glacier—such are the conditions of newly-discovered microbes living under Taylor…
New evidence shows that sub-Saharan West Africa has experienced megadroughts in recent history lasting hundreds of years, far worse than the Sahel drought of the 1970s and 80s which left…
Kenya has signed its first carbon deal to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). Yesterday San Francisco-based Wildlife Works Carbon and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) announced a plan to…
A California researcher has named a new species of lichen after President Barack Obama. Kerry Knudsen from the University of California-Riverside (UCR) named the lichen Caloplaca obamae. "I discovered the…
Brazil could triple its agricultural without the needing to clear additional rainforest in the Amazon Basin, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Brazil's Minister of Strategic Affairs, told Bloomberg in an interview. “For…
Global warming is likely to increase the length of bird migrations, some of which already extend thousands of miles. The increased distance could imperil certain species, as it would require…
In 1999 a super cyclone struck the eastern coast of India, leaving 10,000 people dead. At the time, the Orissa cyclone, named after the Indian state which it battered, was…
An industry-led moratorium on soy plantings on recently deforested rainforest land continues to show success in the Brazilian Amazon, reports a study released Tuesday by environmental groups and Abiove, the…
If nations worked together to produce large cuts in greenhouse gases, the world would be saved from global warming's worst-case-scenarios, according to a new study from the National Center for…
If the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery is not closed, the bluefin will be functionally extinct by 2012 according to a new analysis from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). While the population…
A proposed mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) figures prominently in the draft climate bill released last month by Congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey as well…
An experimental study of pinon pines at Biosphere 2 in Arizona shows that an increase in temperature makes the species more susceptible to die-off during drought. When temperatures were increased…
Legendary filmmaker, broadcaster, and conservationist, David Attenborough has become a patron of the group Optimum Population Trust (OPT). The organization's goal is to use education and policy to lower the…
Only recognized as a new species in 2005, the snubfin dolphin has been observed spitting jet streams of water at schools of fish. Spitting at the fish helps the dolphins…
A large population of orangutans has been documented by conservationists conducting a survey in a remote part of Indonesia Borneo. A team of researchers led by Erik Meijaard, a senior…
A condensed version of this post originally appeared at Yale e360. In October 2008 scientists with the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew discovered a host of previously unknown species in…
Corn is the staple crop of the US. Its annual yield is more than twice that of any other American crop, covering an astounding 125,000 square miles. However, this behemoth…
Around 60,000 years ago the ancestors of modern African Pygmies, known worldwide for their small-stature, separated from local farmer populations, according to new genetic research published in PLoS Genetics. The…
A new study finds that forest elephants may be responsible for planting more trees in the Congo than any other species or genus. Conducting a thorough survey of seed dispersal…
A new study in Biology Letters confirms what marine biologists have long suspected: loud sonar can cause temporary deafness in dolphins, possibly explaining some mass strandings. The study, using a…
