threatens in Biological News

Warming climate threatens California fruit and nut production

Winter chill, a vital climatic trigger for many tree crops, is likely to decrease by more than 50 percent during this century as global climate warms, making California no longer suitable for growing many fruit and nut crops, according to a team of researchers from the University of California, Da...

Jeepers creepers: Climate change threatens endangered honeycreepers

As climate change causes temperatures to increase in Hawaii's mountains, deadly non-native bird diseases will likely also creep up the mountains, invading most of the last disease-free refuges for honeycreepers a group of endangered and remarkable birds. A just-published U.S. Geological Surve...

Wildlife trade threatens public health and ecosystems

Wildlife imports into the United States are fragmented and insufficiently coordinated, failing to accurately list more than four in five species entering the country. So reports a team of scientists from the Wildlife Trust, Brown University, Pacific Lutheran University, the Centers for Disease ...

Climate change threatens Lake Baikal's unique biota

Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's largest and most biologically diverse lake, faces the prospect of severe ecological disruption as a result of climate change, according to an analysis by a joint US-Russian team in the May issue of BioScience. The lake is considered a treasure trove for biologist...

Global warming threatens Antarctic sea life

MELBOURNE, FLA.Climate change is about to cause a major upheaval in the shallow marine waters of Antarctica. Predatory crabs are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters and disrupt the primeval marine communities. "Nowhere else than in these ecosystems do giant sea spiders and marine pill...

Holy guacamole: invasive beetle threatens Florida's avocados

A researcher at North Carolina State University is tracking the movement of the Redbay Ambrosia beetle, an invasive insect that, if it spreads to southeast Florida, may severely affect the production of avocados, a $15 million to $30 million industry in the state. First detected in the United S...

Overfishing threatens European bluefin tuna

Bluefin tuna disappeared from Danish waters in the 1960s. Now the species could become depleted throughout the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, according to analyses by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua) and University of New Hampshire. The species is highly valued as sushi. B...

Global warming threatens Australia's iconic kangaroos

As concerns about the effects of global warming continue to mount, a new study published in the December issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology finds that an increase in average temperature of only two degrees Celsius could have a devastating effect on populations of Australia's iconic k...

Climate change threatens 1 in 5 plant species

This release is also available in German . Halle/Saale, Potsdam, August 2008 - One in five of Germany's plant species could lose parts of its current range, a study by scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research...

Study: Future snowmelt in West twice as early as expected; threatens ecosystems and water reserves

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - According to a new study, global warming could lead to larger changes in snowmelt in the western United States than was previously thought, possibly increasing wildfire risk and creating new water management challenges for agriculture, ecosystems and urban populations. Re...

Plague of kangaroos threatens one of Australia's last remaining original native grasslands

This release is available in German . Canberra/Leipzig. Australian Department of Defence is currently culling hundreds of kangaroos on the outskirts of the capital Canberra that have produced heated discussions and hit international headlines. Australia's iconic animal has multiplied so m...

Logging road threatens rare peat dome, tigers

Pekanbaru, INDONESIA In an investigative report published today by Eyes on the Forest, evidence shows that a new logging road in Riau Province -- strongly indicated as illegally built by companies connected to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) -- is cutting into the heart of Sumatras largest contiguous pea...

Global trade in tiger shrimp threatens environment

The cultivation of shrimp and fish in tropical coastal areas is often described as an environmentally friendly way to alleviate poverty, but in fact this cultivation has negative consequences for both the local population and the environment. Daniel A. Bergquist of Uppsala University, Sweden, has...

Starfish outbreak threatens corals

NEW YORK (January 14, 2008) Outbreaks of the notorious crown of thorns starfish now threaten the coral triangle, the richest center of coral reef biodiversity on Earth, according to recent surveys by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef St...

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 biolo...

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...

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. Conti...

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...

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 sho...

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 receiv...

Parasites ready to jump

... in the hereditary material of humans and other organisms. They can replicate and the new copies can insert at novel sites in the genome. Because this threatens the whole organism, molecular mechanisms have evolved which can repress transposon activity. Professor Klaus Frstemann of the Gene Center of Ludwig-Ma...

Smaller than expected, but severe, dead zone in Gulf of Mexico

...t sinks, decomposes, and consumes most of the life-giving oxygen supply in the water. The Gulf of Mexico dead zone is of particular concern because it threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries that generate about $2.8 billion annually. The models used to forecast the area of the dead zon...

NOAA forecast predicts large 'dead zone' for Gulf of Mexico this summer

...e nutrient reduction targets required to reduce the size of the dead zone. This hypoxic, or low-to-no oxygen area, is of particular concern because it threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries by destroying critical habitat. "As with weather forecasts, this forecast uses multiple models...

U-M researcher and colleagues predict large 2009 Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone'

...onald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" could be one of the largest on record, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a half-billion-dollar fishery. The scientists' latest forecast, released today, calls for a Gulf dead zone of between 7,450 and 8,456...

Global sunscreen won't save corals

...t lower the planet's temperature a few degrees, but such "geoengineering" solutions would do little to stop the acidification of the world oceans that threatens coral reefs and other marine life, report the authors of a new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters *. The culprit is atmospheric carbo...

Broecker: 'What we need are tougher measures against climate change'

...mes less than twenty years. Today's rapid thawing of the Arctic polar cap is a good example. The resulting increase in freshwater inflow to the oceans threatens to alter the main current, the thermohaline circulation, distributing heat across the planet. If this happens, it could cause a drastic upheaval in th...

Climate change could drive vast human migrations

...0% by 2080. Farmers in parts of Mexico and north Africa's Sahel region may already be moving in part due to changing rains. Sea level rise directly threatens the existence of some 40 countries. Saltwater intrusion, flooding and erosion could destroy agriculture in the densely populated Mekong, Nile and Gang...

Scientists tackle the mystery of white-nose syndrome in bats

...year, while scientists work toward learning more about the disease. In 2009, WNS spread south from New England into West Virginia and Virginia and now threatens to spread to the Midwest and Southeast. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has also closed all its caves to the public, although evidence of the ...

Study: Illegal fishing harming present and future New England groundfish fisheries

...omic hardships are leading to widespread violations of fisheries regulations along the Northeastern United States coast. This pattern of noncompliance threatens the success of new fisheries management measures put in place to protect and restore fish stocks, according to a new study published online this week ...

Scientists unravel the mystery of white-nose syndrome

...year, while scientists work toward learning more about the disease. In 2009, WNS spread south from New England into West Virginia and Virginia and now threatens to spread to the Midwest and Southeast. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has also closed all its caves to the public, although evidence of the ...

Lenfest forage fish task force launched

... "What's been overlooked for far too long is that forage fish are key players in the ocean's complex food web. Their excessive removal from the oceans threatens to cause a breakdown of a very complex ecosystem in which species are interconnected." Of the 31.5 million tons of forage fish taken from the world...

CI president receives Roger Tory Peterson Medal

... animal call, with only a few correctly answering the indri, the largest remaining lemur species on Madagascar. He detailed the extinction crisis that threatens the planet, and how climate change exacerbates existing problems and creates new challenges, but also presents new opportunities to increase the globa...

DNA barcoding of mosquito species deployed in bid to end elephantiasis

...he ability to precisely identify mosquito species in this way is a promising advance in the battle against LF, an often disfiguring disease that today threatens 1 billion people across roughly 80 countries. Over 120 million people have the parasitic infection and more than 40 million have been permanently dis...

NIH funds development of resistance-breaking insecticides to reduce malaria transmission

...alaria mosquito in sub-Saharan African is insecticide treated nets (ITNs). However, growing resistance to the pyrethroid insecticides used on the nets threatens to render this protection ineffective. The research team led by Paul Carlier ( www.files.chem.vt.edu/chem-dept/carlier/ ), professor of chemistry in t...

New wheat disease could spread faster than expected

...than has been understood, according to a new study, in findings that pose serious concerns not only for some human diseases but also a new fungus that threatens global wheat production. The research, done by scientists at Oregon State University and other institutions, concluded that invading diseases do no...

Professor to measure environmental impact of war

...udan and Rwanda have also had an impact on the country. The fighting in the great lake region, which hosts 60 percent of the continent's biodiversity, threatens the last 700 mountain gorillas that are on the brink of extinction. "It is very difficult to determine the exact number of gorillas because they a...

Scientists find climate change to have paradoxical effects in coastal wetlands

...ter increase in the rate of sea-level rise will threaten and possibly eliminate large portions of mid-Atlantic marshes. And the loss of these wetlands threatens critical services that the ecosystems provide, such as supporting commercially important fisheries, providing wildlife habitat, improving water qualit...

Amazon carbon sink threatened by drought

...species, including some important palm trees, were especially vulnerable", said Peruvian botanist and co-author Abel Monteagudo, "showing that drought threatens biodiversity too." The Amazon accounts for more than half of the world's rainforest, covering an area 25 times as great as the United Kingdom. No ...

Polar research reveals new evidence of global environmental change

...tica in ways not previously identified. IPY research has also identified large pools of carbon stored as methane in permafrost. Thawing permafrost threatens to destabilize the stored methane -a greenhouse gas- and send it into the atmosphere. Indeed, IPY researchers along the Siberian coast observed substa...

Honest crabs, power to the hungry, nice mice and clever meerkats: News from the American Naturalist

...by Roman Furrer and Marta Manser from the University of Zurich. Meerkats have the ability to vary their alarm calls depending on what type of predator threatens them. In other words, they use one call when threatened from the air by an eagle, and a different call when threatened from the ground by a snake. But...