Biodiversity

"A £5m project is helping more than 100 historic churches deal with the damage caused by bat colonies".

"A team of scientists loaded into a gray minivan in this capital city earlier this year and drove for hundreds of miles west through the Kazakh steppe — a vast region marked by endless open plains of grass, abandoned farms and flower-filled meadows."

"Rising ocean temperatures and marine heat waves are pushing whales closer to busy shipping lanes. Flexible speed reduction areas could help prevent ship collisions, scientists say."

"Scientists in Britain have found they can partially protect chickens from bird flu infections by editing their genes, signaling a new potential strategy to reduce the spread of the deadly virus."

"In prisons across Western states, incarcerated people are raising tens of thousands of plants to restore sagebrush habitat, a vanishing ecosystem home to the iconic endangered greater sage-grouse and hundreds of other species."

"EPA says too many pesticide formulas exist to check all for the safety of ingredients that could harm humans, plants and wildlife".

"Skeena River sockeye have declined 75% since 1913. Woodland caribou have declined by more than half in the past century. But with the right resources, First Nations are bringing ancestral foods back from the brink".

"Dust swirls on the dirt roads running through more than 400,000 acres of cactus studded grasslands south of La Junta, Colo. Suddenly, Jessica LaPage spots the reason she's here: A two-toned brown tarantula about the size of an adult's fist, crawling through the scrubby plants".

"In a new initiative announced on Tuesday, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is working with the nonprofit Revive & Restore and other partners to create a “genetic library” of the country’s endangered species—before it’s too late." "Biobanking enables researchers to preserve genetic diversity in wildlife by freezing and storing living cells."

"Earth's amphibians - from the thorny spike-thumb frog to the red knobby newt, West African giant squeaker, ornate tree toad and fire salamander - are being pushed closer to the brink due to habitat destruction, disease and climate change, with 41% of species now threatened with extinction."