Extinction – No Fricking Fracking

Study: Earth Day 2021: See the conservation projects working to Restore Our Earth

CNN: Earth Day 2021: See the conservation projects working to Restore Our Earth.

s the 21st century progresses, our fight to protect our planet is becoming increasingly urgent. Last year, wildfires blazing in the Arctic Circle set new emissions records, the Atlantic hurricane season raged stronger than ever before, and we came to the end of the hottest decade ever recorded.

A recent study that attempts to quantify environmental damage revealed that 97% of Earth’s land area may no longer be “ecologically intact,” resulting in reduced animal populations and loss of species.

The theme for this year’s Earth day is Restore Our Earth. As parts of the world start opening up after a year of Covid-induced lockdowns, the event’s organizers are putting out a call for action and highlighting the importance of combating environmental destruction.

Study: As bat disease continues its deadly march, study finds it’s killed more than 90 percent of three species

Virginia Mercury: As bat disease continues its deadly march, study finds it’s killed more than 90 percent of three species.

Virginia is one of many states hard hit by a fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome, which according to a study published Tuesday has killed more than 90 percent of northern long-eared, little brown and tri-colored bats in the U.S. over the past decade.

“Virginia populations have suffered really severe impacts from white-nose syndrome, so there are unfortunately just not that many bats left,” said Virginia Tech infectious disease ecologist Kate Langwig, who has studied the disease extensively.

On Tuesday, a new study funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and published in “Conservation Biology” combined data from 27 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces to produce one of the clearest pictures yet of the disease’s toll on five bat species. [No link provided.]

The bats may need the help. Although one 2015 study by Reynolds, Radford University biologist Karen Powers and three other authors found that some bats have been able to persist despite white-nose syndrome, many are making bad choices. Research by Langwig and Virginia Tech biology research scientist Joseph Hoyt found that bats are continuing to hibernate in warmer subterranean environments where the disease tends to hit them the hardest.

Studies: Author of ‘The Sixth Extinction’ says Earth is on verge of new mass extinction as big as dinosaur wipe-out

The Hill: Author of ‘The Sixth Extinction’ says Earth is on verge of new mass extinction as big as dinosaur wipe-out. Will humans go extinct?

Story at a glance

Climate change has threatened the existence of several living species, including humankind itself.
One author predicts that on the current course, climate change will lead to a mass extinction on Earth.
Still, there are people fighting to change course.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE RIGHT NOW

SCIENTISTS SAY ‘UNIMAGINABLE AMOUNTS’ OF WATER WILL POUR INTO OCEANS IF ICE SHELVES COLLAPSE AMID GLOBAL HEATING

NEW STUDY SAYS THE EARTH COULD SEE SIX MONTH-LONG SUMMERS

SURPRISING STUDY FINDS SHARKS ARE KEY TO RESTORING DAMAGED HABITATS, FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

SCIENTISTS BLOW UP DECADES OF THINKING ON WHY HURRICANES ARE BECOMING MORE DEADLY

SURPRISING REPORT FINDS US CAN REACH NET-ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2050 FOR JUST $1 PER PERSON PER DAY

Study: Just 3% of world’s ecosystems remain intact

The Guardian: Just 3% of world’s ecosystems remain intact, study suggests. Pristine areas in the Amazon and Siberia may expand with animal reintroductions, scientists say.

ust 3% of the world’s land remains ecologically intact with healthy populations of all its original animals and undisturbed habitat, a study suggests.

These fragments of wilderness undamaged by human activities are mainly in parts of the Amazon and Congo tropical forests, east Siberian and northern Canadian forests and tundra, and the Sahara. Invasive alien species including cats, foxes, rabbits, goats and camels have had a major impact on native species in Australia, with the study finding no intact areas left.

The researchers suggest reintroducing a small number of important species to some damaged areas, such as elephants or wolves – a move that could restore up to 20% of the world’s land to ecological intactness.

“Much of what we consider as intact habitat is missing species that have been hunted [and poached] by people, or lost because of invasive species or disease,” said Dr Andrew Plumptre, the lead author of the study, from the Key Biodiversity Areas Secretariat in Cambridge, UK. “It’s fairly scary, because it shows how unique places like the Serengeti are, which actually have functioning and fully intact ecosystems.

Study: Marine life is migrating from the equator to the tropics

InHabitat: Marine life is migrating from the equator to the tropics, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study shows that many species known to reside in the equator’s warm waters are migrating to cooler waters. Scientists behind the study have linked this situation to global warming, saying that water at the equator has become too warm for some species.

Traditionally, the equatorial regions are known to have more species diversity than the poles due to abundant food sources and warm waters. However, with the changing climate, environments for marine life are changing, too. As equatorial waters become less hospitable, many species are migrating for better conditions.

Study: We have no clue how climate change will affect most land mammals

Popular Science: We have no clue how climate change will affect most land mammals. We’ve only studied the effects of climate change for around one percent of all mammals. At this point, you might think we understand how climate change will impact the planet pretty thoroughly. But one group of researchers just revealed a rather startling gap in our knowledge: how the warming planet affects land mammals.

The study, published this week in the Journal of Animal Ecology, involved an international team of researchers who conducted a literature review of all studies that examined links between climate change and how well a mammal could survive and eventually reproduce. Survival and reproduction are two of the key demographic rates that ecologists look at to see how a species’ population could grow and adapt over time.

Study: Climate change will hit ‘endemic’ plants and animals the hardest

Carbon Brief: Climate change will hit ‘endemic’ plants and animals the hardest, study warns. Plants and animals that only live in one region – known as “endemic” species – are expected to be “consistently more adversely impacted” by climate change than their less specialised counterparts, new research shows.

The synthesis study, published in Biological Conservation, finds that more than 90% of endemic species will face negative consequences – such as reduced populations – if global warming reaches 3C above pre-industrial levels. However, it adds that invasive species are expected to see overall neutral or positive impacts from the warming climate.

Study: Mass extinctions near the equator for marine life

Science Alert: A Mass Extinction Event Is on The Horizon if Marine Life Keeps Fleeing The Equator. The tropical water at the equator is renowned for having the richest diversity of marine life on Earth, with vibrant coral reefs and large aggregations of tunas, sea turtles, manta rays, and whale sharks. The number of marine species naturally tapers off as you head towards the poles. A 2020 study of the fossils from that time shows the pronounced peak in biodiversity at the equator flattened and spread. During this mammoth rearranging of global biodiversity, 90 percent of all marine species were killed.

Mother Jones: Ocean Warming Is Making Equatorial Waters uninhabitable. We are seeing “massive scale rearrangements of biodiversity.” Global heating has made the ocean around the equator less rich in wildlife, with conditions likely already too hot for some species to survive, according to a new study. Analysis of the changing locations of almost 50,000 marine species between 1955 and 2015 found a predicted impact of global heating—species moving away from the equator—can now be observed at a global scale. The study said further global heating, which is now unavoidable, would cut the richness of species in the ocean in tropical regions even further. The research, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said: “Ocean warming is thus causing large-scale changes in the global latitudinal distribution of marine biodiversity. Despite less warming in the ocean than on land, marine species are shifting their distributions as fast or faster in response to warming than those on land.”

Study: Marine species increasingly can’t live at equator due to global heating

The Guardian: Marine species increasingly can’t live at equator due to global heating. Study suggests it is already too warm in tropics for some species to survive.

Global heating has made the ocean around the equator less rich in wildlife, with conditions likely already too hot for some species to survive, according to a new study.

Analysis of the changing locations of almost 50,000 marine species between 1955 and 2015 found a predicted impact of global heating – species moving away from the equator – can now be observed at a global scale.

It said further global heating, which is now unavoidable, would cut the richness of species in the ocean in tropical regions even further.

Scientists said the consequences of the shift could be profound and would be challenging to predict.

The research, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said: “Ocean warming is thus causing large-scale changes in the global latitudinal distribution of marine biodiversity. Despite less warming in the ocean than on land, marine species are shifting their distributions as fast or faster in response to warming than those on land.”

Reports: Wildlife is in peril, but that doesn’t mean conservation has failed

Vox: Wildlife is in peril, but that doesn’t mean conservation has failed. A chat with journalist Michelle Nijhuis about her new book Beloved Beasts on the history of the modern conservation movement.

You don’t have to look far to find signs that wildlife is in peril. And most of the news stories about it these days follow a predictable formula: Species are going extinct and, in most cases, humans are to blame.

To be clear, that’s true, and there’s every reason to be alarmed. A report from September, for example, found that the populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish have declined by almost 70 percent, on average, since 1970. Another finds that 1 million species are threatened with extinction.

But what those stunning numbers — and the headlines they inspire — tend to obscure is the more hopeful stories of success in conservation. Though they may be harder to find, there are many.