Conservation – Page 4

Thursday, May 2, 2024

A Grizzly Situation: Saving Bears by Mitigating Conflict

October 25, 2019 Jessica Espinosa 0 Comments conflict mitigation, Conservation, grizzly bear, Human dimensions, humans and wildlife

Many people become fearful at the mention of “bear country.” But is the risk of being hurt by a bear, or even seeing a bear, on your trip really that high? The answer is no: many campers and hikers don’t even know they have passed close to a bear during their time outdoors because bears largely try to avoid humans. When bears do come close to people, it is usually due to conflicts over food and space. Humans often retaliate against bears in these situations, which can ultimately threaten the survival of bear populations. In an effort to save these bears, a team of scientists came up with a program to mitigate human-bear conflicts and create spaces where both humans and bears can coexist.

Ecosystems

Taking care of carrion

October 10, 2019October 12, 2019 Sarah Shainker 0 Comments birds, Conservation, detritivores, scavengers, vultures

Vultures often serve as a symbol of death in popular movies and TV shows. However, they serve a vital role in keeping systems of life functioning healthily. Their lives are threatened by human actions, and a recent study gave some insight into how we can better conserve these important animals.

Case Studies Environmental Science

Duck broods are more resilient than expected in the face of oil and natural gas extraction

September 30, 2019September 29, 2019 Sarah Shainker 0 Comments Conservation, development, ducks, fossil fuels, Oil, waterfowl, wetlands, wildlife

The Bakken Formation, a unique geological feature in the midwestern US and Canada, is a mecca for oil reserves and duck habitat. Scientists aimed to better understand how increased oil production has impacted the establishment and survival of duck broods.

Ecosystems Environmental Science

Friend or foe? Invasive earthworms can benefit agriculture but harm forests

September 17, 2019September 17, 2019 Kara Cromwell 0 Comments agriculture, carbon, Conservation, Ecology, environmental science, forest ecology, forests, invasive species, invertebrates, nutrient cycles

Earthworms are welcome guests in the garden, but it’s a different story in the forest. By consuming and removing leaf litter too fast they set in motion complex cascades of ecological changes, with long-term negative effects on soil fertility and biodiversity.

Case Studies Environmental Science Science through time

Crowdsourcing Sharks: a citizen science success story

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 Alina Spera 0 Comments citizen science, Coastal Science, Conservation, reef, Shark

Conserving the environment and its organisms works most effectively when managers and scientists have a lot of environmental information. However, some of the world’s most vulnerable animals, like the sand tiger shark, are also the most secretive. Luckily for these scary looking predators, amateur scientists can be an agent of change.

Environmental Science

Can you figure out what species this is? Computers can

September 5, 2019 Abigail Lewis 0 Comments animals, biodiversity, citizen science, Conservation, identification

Protecting wild animals requires far more data than scientists could collect alone, so researchers often enlist the help of amateur “citizen scientists” to help identify animals in photos. However, with more and more large scale projects that need help from citizen scientists, it is taking an increasingly long time to process all of the photos from any individual study. Marco Willi from the University of Minnesota and his colleagues thought there might be a way to speed things up: by getting computers to identify most of the easy animals, and leaving humans to figure out the extra hard ones.

Climate Environmental Science

Native milkweed supports healthy monarch communities

August 28, 2019August 21, 2019 Ashley Riane Booth 0 Comments behaviour ecology, butterflies, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecology, insects, invasive species, invertebrates, milkweed, monarch butterflies

“Monarch butterflies do really well on the exotic milkweed species that’s being widely sold and planted under current environmental conditions. But under warmer conditions, the exotic plant becomes too toxic and monarchs become less healthy.”

Environmental Science

Genetic clues to bee conservation

August 7, 2019August 9, 2019 Sarah Shainker 0 Comments Climate Change, Conservation, ecosystem services

Bees pollinate our food crops, make honey, and provide livelihood to families around the world. As climate change and habitat loss reduce their populations, scientists search for genetic clues to learn how the bees are adapting and how we can better conserve them.

Environmental Science

Snowballs for Conservation: Taking DNA from Snow to Detect Rare Carnivores

August 6, 2019September 29, 2019 Abigail Bezrutczyk 0 Comments Conservation, DNA, Environmental DNA (eDNA), snow, surveys

One of the challenges of wildlife biology is the work needed to track rare animals in the field. In this new study a clever group of researchers use DNA analysis to attempt to solve this issue. Read on to find out more.

Environmental Science

Gardeners for Biodiversity: How Surveys can Help Quantify Diversity in Urban Areas

July 24, 2019July 24, 2019 Riley Lovejoy 0 Comments biodiversity, Conservation, gardens, urban

Backyard gardens can boast surprising levels of biodiversity. Quantifying the diversity of many small gardens spread out across an urban area, however, can be difficult for scientists. In this study, researchers proposed a survey in which garden-owners were asked to give basic information about their gardens. From the responses, a statistical model was designed to determine the actual number of species present.