Biodiversity

Things related to the web of life; ecology; wildlife; endangered species

Major Prairie Dog Die-Off Had Consequences For Other Animals, Wildland

"When plague struck black-tailed prairie dogs in the Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming in 2017, a huge die-off followed. It spelled disaster for the burrowing rodents. But for researchers, it provided an opportunity for a “natural experiment” in the consequences of a single species’ collapse."

Source: Washington Post, 01/17/2023

‘Death By 1,000 Clearcuts’: Canada’s Deep-Snow Caribou Are Vanishing

"The B.C. government spends millions on extreme measures — like wolf culls and maternity pens — to support these mountain-loving herds found nowhere else in the world. Yet such efforts fail to offset the habitat destruction at the root of their disappearance".

Source: The Narwhal, 01/17/2023

"Feds Offer $700M To Lithium Project At Heart of ESA Dispute"

"The Biden administration on Friday offered its first loan commitment for a lithium processing plant, backing a facility in southwest Nevada that would provide the highly sought mineral needed for EV batteries but that some environmentalists contend will further threaten an endangered flower."

Source: E&E News, 01/17/2023

"Dolphins Can Shout Underwater, but It’s Never Loud Enough"

"Mammals in the ocean swim through a world of sound. But in recent decades, humans have been cranking up the volume, blasting waters with noise from shipping, oil and gas exploration and military operations. New research suggests that such anthropogenic noise may make it harder for dolphins to communicate and work together."

Source: NYTimes, 01/13/2023

"After Comeback, Southern Iraq’s Marshes Are Now Drying Up"

"After recovering from Saddam Hussein’s campaign to drain them, Iraq’s Mesopotamian Marshes are disappearing as a regional drought enters its fourth year and upstream dams cut off water flows. Marsh Arabs, resident for millennia, are leaving, and biodiversity is collapsing."

Source: YaleE360, 01/12/2023

Winning Over Editors and Others with Award Winners’ Multimedia Nuggets

If you’re looking to engage key constituencies for your journalism — whether editors, sources, students or people who have been marginalized — a new set of short videos from award-winning journalists (like KESQ's Angela Chen, at left) can serve as a helpful resource. Inside Story has a roadmap of how to make smart use of these video nuggets to, for instance, convince newsroom powerbrokers to give you more time and support for ambitious stories.

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NASA Set To Ditch Satellite-Based Environmental Data Source

Instrumentation on the International Space Station that gathers 3-D images of forest canopies and other environmental data is scheduled to soon be junked. But the move is provoking an outcry from scientists and pushback from some politicians. Reporter’s Toolbox examines what the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation does and how journalists might make use of it, while it lasts.

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Louisiana Coastal Plan Update Promises Billions In Hurricane-Damage Savings

"A draft update of the state’s $50 billion coastal master plan predicts that 61 new projects to build or protect land, a dozen new levees, and new efforts to elevate, flood-proof or relocate flood-prone homes will reduce annual hurricane storm surge damages by at least $11 billion per year by 2073."

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 01/10/2023

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