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Europe's vultures under threat from drug that killed millions of birds in Asia
Wildlife groups have launched a Europe-wide campaign to outlaw a newly approved veterinary drug that has caused the deaths of tens of millions of vultures in Asia. They say that the decision to allow diclofenac to be used in Spain and Italy not only threatens to wipe out Europe's vultures but could harm other related species, including the golden eagle and the Spanish imperial eagle, one of the world's rarest raptors.
Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory agent and painkiller, was introduced around the end of the 20th century in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh to treat sick cattle. But when the cattle's carcasses were eaten by vultures, the birds contracted a fatal kidney condition. Within a few years, vulture numbers had declined by a staggering 99.9% across south Asia. The worst-affected species included long-billed, slender-billed and oriental white-backed vultures. Dead cattle were left to rot without vultures to consume their flesh. Packs of feral dogs grew to fill the ecological gap. The risk of rabies also rose, said health experts. Now diclofenac has been approved for use in Italy and Spain.
Continue reading...The claim of a 97% consensus on global warming does not stand up | Richard Tol
Consensus is irrelevant in science. There are plenty of examples in history where everyone agreed and everyone was wrong
Dana Nuccitelli writes that I “accidentally confirm the results of last year’s 97% global warming consensus study”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I show that the 97% consensus claim does not stand up.
Continue reading...Arctic 30: Russia releases Greenpeace ship
Russian authorities have released the Arctic Sunrise, which was involved in a high-profile protest against Arctic oil drilling
The Greenpeace icebreaker confiscated by Russia after activists tried to board a Gazprom oil rig has been released. But it could take two months before the Arctic Sunrise leaves Murmansk harbour, according to the campaigning group.
The ship was boarded by the Russian coast guard and towed 500 miles from the Pechora Sea to the northern Russian port of Murmansk in September 2013. Thirty activists, including six Britons, were arrested and accused of hooliganism and piracy.
Tasmanian Giant Crab Fishery
Scientists warn against China's plan to flatten over 700 mountains
Environmental consequences of removing hills to create more land for cities not considered, academics say in Nature paper
Scientists have criticised China's bulldozing of hundreds of mountains to provide more building land for cities.
In a paper published in journal Nature this week, three Chinese academics say plan to remove over 700 mountains and shovel debris into valleys to create 250 sq km of flat land has not been sufficiently considered “environmentally, technically or economically.”
Continue reading...Jamaica's rare wildlife – in pictures
The Portland Bight protected area is home to the iconic Jamaican iguana
and 20 other endangered species. Its fragile coastal ecosystem and
wildlife faces the risk of being lost for ever as Jamaica approves a
Chinese company to build a port. Photographs by Robin Moore
Water Recovery Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin released
SENG National Newsletter - June 2014
Invitation to comment on an ecological community listing
Northern Territory Trepang Fishery
Northern Territory Trepang Fishery
Public consultation: draft assessment bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australia
2012-13 data added to the National Pollutant Inventory
Whale killed by cruise ship near New York amid upsurge in cetacean strikes
• Sei whale carcass dragged into Hudson River
• Strike is third in north-east waters in recent weeks
A cruise ship heading for New York this month struck and killed a whale and dragged it into the Hudson River, part of a higher-than-usual rate of strikes along the eastern seaboard for this time of year, a federal agency said.
There were three whale strikes recently, including one in which a cruise ship hit a sei whale and did not discover it until it reached port, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Continue reading...Fracking in Tunbridge Wells: 'Where is it going to stop?'
Residents in the Kent Weald react with mixture of fear and enthusiasm to news of shale oil reserves and plans to change the law to allowing fracking without clearance
Residents of Kent have reacted angrily to a government announcement that fracking companies will no longer need to ask permission before drilling beneath their homes.
In Tunbridge Wells, Sue Reddick, a local housekeeper, said she was shocked to learn the government was preparing to amend trespass laws to allow companies to operate beneath homes without first asking the owner’s permission.
Continue reading...Sloth baby surprises keepers at London zoo
A pair of sloths have speeded up their usual slow courtship to produce London zoo's first baby sloth – to the surprise of their keepers.
Keepers at London zoo were shocked to discover two-toed sloth Marilyn was pregnant as they were unaware she had mated with male partner Leander, who arrived from Germany in 2012 to be paired with her.
Continue reading...Meet the top 10 newly discovered species of 2014
• See a gallery of top 10 species here
A tree-living raccoon from the cloud forests of the Andes, a sea anenome that burrows into Antarctic glaciers and ultra-hardy bacteria that thrive in supposedly sterile clean rooms are all among the top 10 newly discovered species of 2014.
The list, as selected by an international panel of experts from the 18,000 new species revealed in the last 12 months, aims to highlight the undiscovered richness of life on Earth at a time when human activities are driving species extinct at a rate unprecedented since a giant meteorite strike wiped out the dinosaurs.
Continue reading...New issue of the ecological communities newsletter available
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