Ecology, The Environment and Conservation

Of the estimated 7,000 tigers left in the world, scientists know the least about the roughly 2,000 thought to remain in Southeast Asia.

Unstable or repressive political conditions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia have long impeded Western biologists trying to study tigers there. Much of the big cats’ habitat, meanwhile, consists of remote, extremely wild rain forest that offers near-perfect cover to the shy and elusive predators.

So tiger experts are h

A tree grows in Brooklyn — despite big-city air pollutants. Meanwhile, identical trees planted downwind of city pollution grow only half as well — a surprising finding that ecologists at Cornell University and the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) reported in the current issue of Nature (July 10, 2003). They attribute the effect to an atmospheric-chemistry “footprint” that favors city trees.

“I know this sounds counterintuitive but it’s true. City-grown pollution — and ozone in parti

Monkeys and toads define priority areas for conservation on a fine geographic scale

Scientific determinations of 25 global “hotspots” – habitats with high concentrations of unique species vulnerable to human activity – are too large to be effectively managed by local conservation authorities, much less put aside as protected areas. Researchers from the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) are making even finer geographic distinctions within these ’hotspots&#1

New report points out the high ecological and social costs of farming

Providence, RI – SeaWeb, an ocean conservation organization, today released its report, “What Price Farmed Fish: A Review of the Environmental and Social Costs of Farming Carnivorous Fish,” authored by Michael Weber, a marine conservation consultant. This timely report examines the impacts of farming salmon and warns that the trend toward farming additional carnivorous fish species, including tuna, cod, and halibut

Science has a way of forcing us to reexamine some of our basic assumptions about nature. Consider the following statement: Animals that thrive in high temperatures are more likely to survive global warming than those that are less tolerant to heat. While this conclusion may seem obvious, a new study in the journal Science finds that the opposite may be true.

In an experiment published in the July 4 edition of Science, Stanford University postdoctoral fellow Jonathon H. Stillman examined th

Researchers have isolated a novel bacterium that flourishes as it destroys harmful chlorinated compounds in polluted environments, leaving behind environmentally benign end products. The finding opens the door for designing more efficient and successful bioremediation strategies for thousands of contaminated sites that remain threats, despite years of expensive cleanup work.

“This organism might be useful for cleaning contaminated subsurface environments and restoring drinking-water reservo