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Many species of native wildlife are abundant in anthropogenic areas, but this does not necessarily mean that their populations are healthy, or that the organisms will continue to thrive in human...
Since the colonization of North American in the 17th century, few ecosystems have been so routinely and extensively disturbed as the salt marshes of Cape Cod. Among other things, residents have dug...
For many of us, the term "nature preserve" tends to conjure up an image of a wild landscape that is either unmanaged or only lightly managed, and is undisturbed save for the quiet footfalls of the...
How much does tourism help fund bird conservation? Given the continuing boom of the "avitourism" industry, this sounds like the sort of question to which both environmentalists and entrepreneurs...
You might interpret roadkill as a sign that highways are bad for wildlife, but it's possible these carcasses actually indicate that roadsides are attractive habitats that can support a large number...
You may not think of private gardens as wildlife refugia, but an increasing body of scientific evidence suggests that these habitats can host a variety of species and act as stepping stones across...
This month's volume of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment features a Trails and Tribulations essay that will likely hit close to home for any biologist who has worked in urban areas or places...
What happens to used motor oil after it leaves our cars? That's a question that many of us don't stop to ask, but hopefully the answer is that it is taken to a recycler to be cleaned for future...
The negative impacts of cigarettes, on both smokers and those around them, are widely known. While some effects may only be cosmetic (wrinkling, yellowing of the skin), others, such as cancer, can...
In a perfect world, communicating animals would always be capable of hearing each other's signals and responding appropriately. In the real world, however, the environment is filled with...
There are many reasons to watch what you eat--nutritional value, chemical use during growth or preparation, carbon footprint, and any number of other factors related to a food's healthfulness and...
Elasmobranchs--sharks, rays, and skates--are among the most endangered of marine organisms, with approximately one-third of all species considered either threatened or near threatened. Fishing is...
Although we know that humans have had a significant impact on the environment and the species that dwell within it, we don't always have detailed information on when our influence was first felt,...
Researchers estimate that artificial lighting is increasing at a rate of 6% each year around the world. This could dramatically reduce the amount of "naturally unlit habitat" available to wildlife,...
Although individuals of a particular species frequently differ in a variety of characteristics, the implications of those differences are often not well understood. One exception to this general...
Every year, anywhere from 100 million to 1 billion American birds are thought to die after colliding with windows. Planners and builders have tried a variety of techniques to reduce collisions, but...
Neanderthals get a lot of flack for being more "primitive" and less "advanced" than we humans, but there is an increasing evidence that they may not have been that different from our early...
Conservationists and managers are not only interested in current environmental conditions, but also those that may develop in the future. Processes such as urbanization and human population...
The last few decades have seen the rise of a new field of research known as "conservation physiology," in which researchers use endocrine approaches to investigate whether anthropogenic activities...
No matter where in the world you live, chances are you've eaten "pulses" some time in the last week. These foods, otherwise known as "food legumes" or "grain legumes," have been a part of the human...
As you might expect given the content of this blog, there is currently quite a bit of interest in the topic of urban wildlife research. This discipline emerged in the 1970s and has been steadily...
While we often think of conservation efforts as being biological in nature, they are also shaped by social issues that impact decisions on things such as goals, priorities, funds distribution, and...
Just a couple of weeks ago, a paper in Biological Conservation reported that nest boxes can be used to improve the breeding success of an endangered species. This month, nest boxes are in the news...
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) are known to have complex "fission-fusion" societies, in which individuals or groups of animals sometimes associate with each other, but, at...
Academic discussions of citizen science are all the rage right now (for examples, see here, and here, and here). While most describe the successes of individual projects, none (to my knowledge)...
Nest boxes are most commonly associated with terrestrial birds such as chickadees, barn owls, and wood ducks, but recent research shows that these artificial cavities are also useful to...
Over the past several years, researchers have been hard at work modifying algae so that they will generate products that are useful to humans--including food, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. There...
It's easy to criticize microbes for all of the inconveniences they cause in our lives, but we also have the little guys to thank for some of our most beloved food items--beer, wine, bread, pickled...
Citizen science projects are often lauded for their ability to simultaneously teach the public and gather useful data for researchers. However, it's not always easy to please all participants,...
Nearly half of all amphibian species in the world are experiencing population declines, and one of the major causes of these negative trends is habitat loss--something that will likely only grow...
