As COP28 looks for solutions to the climate crisis, retaining biodiversity is crucial to the planet’s future. But not every species can be saved from extinction. Here’s one approach.
John Keane on an extensive urchin barren.
John Keane
Only after a species is identified and listed by taxonomists can it be protected. Yet we still don’t have one globally agreed-upon list of every species. A new 74-nation survey points to the solution.
Deforestation is a global problem with grave consequences for biodiversity and planetary health.
(AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Australia’s road to net zero must pass through Indigenous-held land, which is likely to host many clean energy projects. First Nations people want partnerships that help them protect their Country.
Our relationships with the natural world have changed, and addressing how we understand our place in the world will help us find solutions to current environmental crises.
In every Australian city, you’re likely to come across a warbling magpie. How do they cope with the onslaught of noise? It turns out, the smarter ones cope better.
An Amazon poison frog (Ranitomeya amazonica).
John Sullivan/Alamy
New research looks at how different species have managed to cross geographic barriers throughout history and whether their individual traits played a crucial role in these journeys.
Scalloped hammerheads pose no risk to us – but we pose enormous risk to them. Our discovery of a large new aggregation gives us an opportunity to protect these animals.
Slime gets a bad name in popular culture, but it’s food for invertebrates who become food for many other creatures.
Rising temperatures are not just directly lethal to fish but also result in hormonal imbalances which threaten entire populations.
(Jonathan Munera L.)
A new study suggests a radical rejigging of where food is grown. But is such a world even possible?
A bleaching event at a reef in Key Largo, Fla. The complex interplay of temperature and cloud cover is at the heart of cloral bleaching events.
(Liv Williamson/University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science via AP)
Understanding how both cloud cover and temperature work to promote coral bleaching provides valuable insight into how reefs will change over various climate scenarios.
Whalers and Old Tom on the hunt
Charles Eden Wellings/WIkimedia Commons
As oceans warm, Canada’s marine protections system looks woefully inadequate. New monitoring systems and flexible governance can help Canada protect the areas most likely to have the greatest impact.
Natural selection can get to work in isolated locations.
Birger Strahl/Unsplash
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University