Biodiversity

"The Australian government plans to make an area about the size of Germany in the Southern Ocean a marine zone, strengthening protections around Macquarie Island for millions of penguins and seals."

"Bird flu has killed tens of thousands of birds, mostly pelicans, and at least 716 sea lions in protected areas across Peru, the authorities said, as the H5N1 strain spreads throughout the region."

"After nearly five months of waiting, an alarm activated on Michael Cove’s radio, a sign his study was working. To hunt pythons, an invasive predator in the Florida Keys, Cove and fellow researchers have been strapping GPS collars to opossums and raccoons."

"Wildlife crossings are getting more go signs, on Capitol Hill and beyond."

"When dead birds fall from the sky, you know something is wrong. But finding out exactly what killed them isn’t as easy."

"United Nations members gather Monday in New York to resume efforts to forge a long-awaited and elusive treaty to safeguard the world’s marine biodiversity."

"Those melancholy tunes sung by humpback whales may really be a sign of loneliness. Scientists who tracked humpback whales in Australia noticed that fewer whales wailed to find mates as their population grew."

"On Monday, in a low-lying tract of southern Georgia’s pine belt, a half-dozen workers planted row upon row of twig-like poplar trees. These weren’t just any trees, though: Some of the seedlings being nestled into the soggy soil had been genetically engineered to grow wood at turbocharged rates while slurping up carbon dioxide from the air."