Wildlife
Study findings show that the widespread use of the pyrethroid pesticide is causing worker bees to hatch at a smaller size and demonstrate ongoing retarded growth. The research, published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology, reveals that prolonged exposure to a pyrethroid pesticide, which is used on flowering crops to prevent insect damage, reduces the size of individual bees produced by a colony.
SeaWorld tried to rig an online poll about the “Blackfish” documentary in an unfortunate attempt to regain lost approval. The poll showed an overwhelming support for the aquatic theme park, but was soon discovered to be fixed in favor of SeaWorld as a result of the steady stream of consumer backlash following the release of “Blackfish.”
A new study from Oregon State finds the majority of the world’s largest carnivores have seen a population drop.
A steep decline in large predators is threatening endangered species and disrupting ecosystems from the tropic to the arctic, scientists warn. Over 75 percent of the 31 large carnivore species—including lions, dingoes, wolves, otters, and bears—face shrinking numbers, according to a Friday report in the journal Science. Of these, 17 species now live in less than half of the ranges they previously occupied.
As scientists race to pinpoint the cause of the global collapse of honey bee populations that pollinate a third of the world’s crops, environmental groups have identified one culprit: US authorities who continue to approve pesticides implicated in the apian apocalypse.
Hundreds of sea turtles are washing up dead on the beaches of Central America and scientists don’t know why. Making things worse, some of the turtles dying are from endangered species. In El Salvador, for instance, from late September to the middle of October, 114 sea turtles were discovered dead on Pacific coast beaches, according to the environment ministry.
A new species of humpback dolphin has been identified off the northern coast of Australia, researchers have announced. Humpback dolphins — named for the hump below their dorsal fin — swim within river deltas, estuaries and coastal waters throughout the Indian, Pacific and eastern Atlantic oceans. The charismatic mammals can grow to be 8 feet (2.4 meters) long, and sport different combinations of gray, pink and white colorations. READ MORE: New Dolphin Species Identified Off Australian Coast
Researchers have dissected the two deep-sea oarfish that washed ashore in southern California this month. So far, they found that one was teeming with worms and the other was about to have babies.
Research by a British scientist has concluded that the legendary Himalayan yeti may in fact be a sub-species of brown bear. DNA tests on hair samples carried out by Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes found that they matched those from an ancient polar bear. He subjected the hairs to the most advanced tests available. He says the most likely explanation for the myth is that the animal is a hybrid of polar bears and brown bears.
An extremely rare whale known for its saber-like teeth and preference for frigid arctic waters turned up in a pretty unlikely place this week: Venice Beach in California.
A new study shows that marmosets exchange calls in a precisely timed, back-and-forth fashion typical of human conversation, but not found in other primates. The monkeys don’t appear to have a language, but the timing suggests the foundations of our own
A marine science instructor snorkeling off the Southern California coast discovered the silvery carcass of an 18-foot-long, serpent-like oarfish. Jasmine Santana of the Catalina Island Marine Institute needed more than 15 helpers to drag the giant sea creature to shore.
Precision Seafood Harvesting (PSH): a new found plan to capture fish alive and even save species not intended for harvest, [i]s an environmental leap in the right direction unearthed from New Zealand.
…. PSF was suggested several years ago by the Nelson Plant and Food Research group; however it took an investment of $52 million by three of New Zealand’s biggest seafood companies and the Government to develop the idea and win the skeptics over.
Under confidential agreement until early February, dozens of people of the Sealord trawler Otakou worked to create the system which has been successfully trailed in commercial volumes. This newly implemented system allows small fish to escape unharmed and bigger fish to be brought on board trawlers alive and in top condition. They can then be sorted with bycatch species released.
Rather than a traditional net, the new method uses a PCV liner that holds water within a tunnel, cutting stress, fatigue, and physical damage to fish in the harvesting process. Allowing small, unwanted fish to escape through the holes in the liner while underwater saves non-mature species and keeps alive those that are caught. “There would be more adequately sized fish in the ocean if they were not being caught accidentally as juveniles” said Barratt. Important for the industry as well, those fish that are caught would be of higher quality, and without blood stains and bruising, he said.
Conservation biologists have long known that fragmenting wilderness can put species at risk of extinction. But it’s been hard to gauge how long it takes for those species to disappear. In Friday’s issue of the journal Science, scientists report that the extinctions have turned out to be distressingly fast.
Researchers in Sweden said Friday they had developed a new medicine to protect bees from diseases that kill entire populations of the insect in the US and Europe.
