Threat

Scientists decipher genome of fungus that can cause life-threatening infections

In a project that already has benefited animportant field of biomedical research, scientists have deciphered thegenomes of two closely related strains of Cryptococcus neoformans, afungus whose importance as a human pathogen has risen in parallel withthe HIV/AIDS worldwide epidemic and the increased use ofimmunosuppressive therapies.The study, posted online January 13 in Science Express, rev...

Essential mangrove forest threatened by cryptic ecological degradation

The recent killer tsunami has highlighted once more the importance of coastline protection. In natural conditions, this function is taken up by mangroves, forests thriving at the edge of land and sea that are ecologically and socio-economically important for local people in tropical countries on all continents. Using biology, geography, hydrology, socio-economic interviews, and 18th-century histo...

Simple drug has the potential to save many lives threatened by malaria

A simple drug, given to children with severe malaria before they reach hospital, has the potential to save many lives, say researchers in this week's BMJ. C...

Alien woodwasp, threat to US pine trees, found in N.Y.

Despite dozens of interceptions at U.S. ports, a public enemy has infiltrated the nation's borders. Taken captive in Fulton County, N.Y., and identified by a Cornell University expert, the adult female alien is the only one of its kind ever discovered in the eastern United States. The discovery of a single specimen of Sirex noctilio Fabricius, an Old World woodwasp, raises red flags across...

Poaching, logging, and outbreaks of Ebola threaten central African gorillas and chimpanzees

Experts call for $30 million action plan to save mankind's closest relatives An action plan drafted by more than 70 primatologists and other experts who met in B...

Does manganese inhaled from the shower represent a public health threat?

A new analysis based on animal studies suggests that showering in manganese-contaminated water for a decade or more could have permanent effects on the nervous system. The damage may occur even at levels of manganese considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to...

Researchers: Treated wood poses long-term threat

Arsenic from treated lumber used in decks, utility poles and fences will likely leach into the environment for decades to come, possibly threatening groundwater, according to two research papers published online Wednesday. Researchers from the University of Miami, the University of Florida and Florida International University examined arsenic leaching from chromated copper arsenate, or CCA...

Acid water in East Java threatens biodiversity and local welfare

She went to investigate the local ecology. Yet during her field work on East Java, Dutch biologist Ansje Lohr became increasingly involved with the local residents, whose harvests failed and whose health was deteriorating due to extremely acidified and polluted river water. Lohr has recently received a second grant to help the Javanese population. Lohr's Ph.D. study was part of a larger pr...

Hurricane aftermath: Infectious disease threats from common, not exotic, diseases

In the wake of Katrina, the public health threats from infectious diseases in hurricane-devastated areas are more likely to come from milder, more common infections rather than exotic diseases. These common infections can often be prevented using simple hygiene measures and a little common sense. "Deadly diseases, such as typhoid or cholera, are unlikely to break out after hurricanes and f...

Logging doubles threat to the Amazon, rivaling clear-cutting, study suggests

Human activities are degrading the Amazonian forest at twice the rate previously estimated, suggests a new study that adds the effects of logging to those of clear-cutting. The research appears in the 21 October issue of the journal Until now, satellite-based methods for measuring deforestation across large areas have only b...

Overfishing in inland waters reduces biodiversity and threatens health

Systematic overfishing of fresh waters occurs worldwide but is largely unrecognized because of weak reporting and because other pressures can obscure fishery declines, according to an article in the December 2005 issue of BioScience. Although the status of inland waters and their fish species should be of broad concern, threats to freshwater fisheries and associated biodiversity have recei...

Ocean 'dead zones' trigger sex changes in fish, posing extinction threat

Oxygen depletion in the world’s oceans, primarily caused by agricultural run-off and pollution, could spark the development of far more male fish than female, thereby threatening some species with extinction, according to a study published today on the Web site of the American Chemical Society journal, . The study is scheduled to appear in the May 1...

Horseshoe crab decline threatens shorebird species

Each year, the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird, makes a 20,000-mile round-trip from the southern tip of Argentina to the Artic Circle ?one of the longest migrations of any bird. And each year from April to June, the red knot stops over in the Delaware Bay to feed on horseshoe crab eggs resulting from the largest spawning of horseshoe crabs found on the East Coast of the United States....

Spring migration of pink-footed geese under threat

As thousands of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) prepare for their spring migration north to breeding grounds in the Arctic, ecologists are warning that the escalating conflict between farmers and the geese is threatening the birds' survival. Writing in the new issue of the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, Professor Marcel Klaassen of the Netherlands Institute of E...

Flu not the only germ threat this time of year

The flu hasn't even hit hard yet this year, but it seems like everyone's getting sick. What's the deal? Metapneumovirus. Rhinoviruses. Coronaviruses. Parainfluenza. Respir...

Report shows deforestation threatens Brazil's Pantanal

Deforestation from increased grazing and agriculture has destroyed 17 percent of the native vegetation in Brazil's Pantanal, considered the world's largest wetland. A new study published by Conservation International sounds an alarm for the Paraguay River Basin, which includes the Pantanal. Continued deforestation at the current rate would cause all of the Pantanal's original vegetation to...

Scientist warns of threat to last stronghold of endangered turtle

A major conservation effort, led by Dr Brendan Godley of the University of Exeter, has just got underway to help protect endangered leatherback turtles which nest in Gabon, West Africa. The region is thought to be the animals' last global stronghold, as pacific populations dwindle precariously. It's hoped the project, to tag and track the animals, will uncover their migratory secrets and p...

Ocean acidification threatens cold-water coral ecosystems

Corals don't only occur in warm, sun-drenched, tropical seas; some species are found at depths of three miles or more in cold, dark waters throughout the world's oceans. Some cold-water coral reefs are home to more than 1,300 species of animals, a diversity rivaling some better known tropical coral reefs. Until now, scientists believed bottom trawling ?a commercial fishing method in which vessels...

Pollution threatens coral health by preventing lesions from healing, UCF study shows

Coral tissue damage that normally heals on its own will not mend when the colonies are near pollution sources on land that release industrial chemicals, fuel oils and other contaminants, a University of Central Florida biologist and several colleagues have found. UCF associate professor of biology John Fauth and scientists from the National Coral Reef Institute, Broward County Department...

Triple threat polymer captures and releases

A chemist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a remarkable nanostructured material that can repel pests , sweeten the air, and some day might even be used as a timed drug delivery system –as a nasal spray, for instance. Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., Washington University James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, has taken the same materials...

Species unique to tidal marshes face threats

Tidal marshes cover only about 45,000 square kilometers worldwide--about the area of Denmark. In comparison with other habitats, tidal marshes support few nonaquatic vertebrate species, but their unique characteristics have led to the evolution of species and subspecies that are endemic (found nowhere else). These endemic species and subspecies, which seem to be largely restricted to North Americ...

Report warns about carbon dioxide threats to marine life

Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning are dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms, including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and support oceanic biodiversity. A landmark report released today summarizes the known effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on these organisms, known as marine calcifiers, and recommends future res...

Plant diseases threaten chocolate production worldwide

Chocolate lovers, beware. Each year 20 percent of the cacao beans that are used to make chocolate are lost to plant diseases, but even greater losses would occur if important diseases spread. "Plant diseases are the most important constraints to cacao production and the continued viability of the world's confectionary trades," said Randy Ploetz, plant pathology professor at the Univers...

Gene chip technology shows potential for identifying life-threatening blood infection

Right now there's no rapid way to diagnose sepsis, a fast-moving blood infection that is a leading cause of death in hospital intensive care units. The illness unleashes a powerful inflammatory response that can quickly overwhelm the body, causing organ failure and death, often within days. With a narrow window of opportunity for halting its lethal spread, doctors who suspect sepsis typica...

Triple threat: World fin trade may harvest up to 73 million sharks per year

The first real-data study of sharks harvested for their valuable fins estimates as few as 26 million and as many as 73 million sharks are killed each year worldwide--three times higher than was reported originally by the United Nations, according to a paper published as the cover story in the October 2006 edition of Ecology Letters. "The shark fin trade is notoriously secretive. But we w...

Fake pesticides threaten food safety

More than one in 20 pesticides sold in the EU could be fake, potentially endangering food safety and human health, writes Cath O'Driscoll in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. These counterfeits range from sophisticated copies of patented products to low-quality fakes with little or no resemblance to the original. And it is a problem that is getting worse every year, accord...

Twenty of world's 162 grouper species threatened with extinction

The first comprehensive assessment of the world’s 162 species of grouper, a culinary favorite and important commercial fish, found that 20 are threatened with extinction unless proper management or conservation measures are introduced. Eight species previously were listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as under extinction threat, and the new assessment proposes adding 12 more. A pa...

Warming oceans threaten Antarctic glaciers

Scientists have identified four Antarctic glaciers that pose a threat to future sea levels using satellite observations, according to a study published in the journal Science. Experts from the University of Edinburgh and University College London determined the effect that Antarctica and Greenland were having on global sea level in a comprehensive evaluation of the Earth’s ice sheets. They...

Anthrax attack posed greater potential threat than thought

A new study shows that more people were at risk of anthrax infection in the Oct. 2001 attack on U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle's office than previously known. The research is published in the January 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. On the other hand, the study shows, prompt intervention with antibiotics and vaccination appeared to be highly effective against the disea...

DNA analysis suggests under-reported kills of threatened whales

A new study analyzing whale meat sold in Korean markets suggests the number of whales being sold for human consumption in the Asian country is much higher than that being reported to the International Whaling Commission ?putting threatened populations of coastal minke whales further at risk. The study, involving numerous researchers led by Scott Baker of Oregon State University, was just p...

Study warns deep-sea mining may pose serious threat to fragile marine ecosystems

Undersea habitats supporting rare and potentially valuable organisms are at risk from seafloor mining scheduled to begin within this decade, says a new study led by a University of Toronto Mississauga geologist. Mining of massive sulphide deposits near "black smokers"—undersea hydrothermal vent systems that spew 350-degree Celsius water into the frigid deep-sea environment, and support su...

Threats to wild tigers growing

The wild tiger now occupies a mere 7 percent of its historic range, and the area known to be inhabited by tigers has declined by 41 percent over the past decade, according to an article published in the June 2007 issue of BioScience. Growing trade in folk medicines made from tiger parts and tiger skins, along with habitat loss and fragmentation, is believed to be the chief reason for the losse...