- There are many important conservation and environmental stories Mongabay isn’t able to cover.
- Here’s a digest of some of the significant developments from the week.
- If you think we’ve missed something, feel free to add it in the comments.
Tropical forests
A construction magnate in Thailand has been charged with poaching (Reuters).
Restoring forests requires the right tools, and we don’t have them all yet (CIFOR Forests News).
Might all the world’s wilderness disappear in the coming decades? (Outside Magazine).
Rising vanilla prices have led to deforestation and violence in Madagascar (The Guardian).
Changes to the shapes of tropical forests could lead to their collapse, new study finds (University of Vermont/Phys.Org).
Research tracks a strengthening case for agroforestry in addressing hunger and saving forests (CIFOR Forests News).
The island of Puerto Rico, still recovering from Hurricane Maria, begins to reopen its rainforests to visitors (AP/The Washington Post).
Other news
A science journalist discusses climate change with her daughter (The Atlantic).
Genetic evidence reveals that progenitors to modern baleen whale species interbred (The New York Times).
Conservation biologists take a page out of astronomers’ playbook with an algorithm for counting endangered species (The New York Times).
New research predicts that, with the right design, carbon taxes could help fight climate change and be fair (Massachusetts Institute of Technology/EurekAlert).
Not just bees: Study teases apart the relationships that flowers have with vertebrate pollinators (Ecological Society of America/EurekAlert).
Climate change could lead to birds starting their migrations before they’ve stored enough energy (Cornell University/EurekAlert).
A new technique that allows scientists to freeze sperm could help save African wild dogs (James Cook University/EurekAlert).
Kenya launches effort to tag 22 rhinos in bid to help stop the decline in numbers (Reuters).
Fishing for shrimp leads to outsized carbon dioxide emissions (Science Magazine).
Scientists discover a four-eyed lizard that lived millions of years ago (Science Magazine, The Hindu).
EPA lowers fuel-mileage requirements for cars in the U.S. (The Revelator, Pacific Standard).
Monarch butterflies could lose their favorite food, milkweed, as climate change makes it poisonous (Louisiana State University/Phys.Org).
Losing ground: Antarctica’s glaciers are melting away from underneath (BBC News).
Greenpeace warns that the fishery for krill around Antarctica might endanger whales and penguins (Oceans Deeply).
Reef fish diversity suffers when coral bleaches (ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies/EurekAlert).
EPA chief removed or reassigned several dissenting staffers (The New York Times).
Fourteen states file lawsuit against EPA for lowering methane emissions standards for oil and gas exploration efforts, which they say violates the Clean Air Act (Reuters).
A butterfly species makes its first appearance 60 years after it was first collected in Mexico (University of Florida/EurekAlert).
Banner image of gentoo penguins with chicks at Jougla Point, Antarctica, by Liam Quinn from Canada via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
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South Africa Today – Environment
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