Conservation Science

When it comes to wildlife conservation a huge personality or bags of charisma tends to help your cause. But scientists are beginning to call for more attention to be paid to those that fail to make the list of nature’s big and beautiful.

From the University of California Press Blog: The US Endangered Species Act protects over 2,000 species. Only 10 species have gone extinct after they were listed. On the other hand, only 25 species have been “de-listed” (meaning they’ve recovered enough to be considered safe from extinction). Between those two statistics lie myriad perspectives on how well the ESA has performed since its ground-breaking inception over 40 years ago.

When it comes to wildlife conservation a huge personality or bags of charisma tends to help your cause. Prefacing any group of animals or plants with the words 'big', 'great' or 'giant' seems to win them fans. Big cats, great apes and giant redwoods are all the focus of on-going research, campaigns and policies attempting to preserve them for future generations. The public are easily drawn to helping iconic and visually-impressive species, which in turn leads to their plight being prioritised.

From Kirkus Reviews: “From tropical rain forests to alpine meadows and arctic tundra, seed plants dominate landscapes and define ecosystems.” In fact, they make up more than 90 percent of land flora.

Join the Aqua Kids as they meet up with Dr. Elphick (Chris Field's advisor) to learn all about declining salt marsh bird habitat. From participating in grass research to coring trees, you will not want to miss all of the excitement in this week’s episode.

For the past three years I have been involved in several projects to test the utility of detecting species in their environment simply by finding their DNA they leave behind. Using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect species is at the forefront of new tools in the tool box for conservation and restoration. Environmental DNA detection of species particularly from water can provide geographic information of presence for species of concern, invasive species and can even be used to do whole community assessments.

Robert Long has been recognized among the first group of 20 scientists awarded the newly established Wilburforce Fellowship in Conservation Science, announced recently by the Wilburforce Foundation and COMPASS. The overarching goal of the Wilburforce Fellowship program is to build a community of conservation science leaders who excel in using science to help achieve durable conservation solutions in western North America.

To female black-tailed deer, their home turf provides a safe haven and a refuge against possible predation by pumas. Does that venture into unchartered territory are four times more likely to fall prey to these cats. After tracking deer in California's coastal mountains, a team of researchers led by Tavis Forrester, then at the University of California Davis in the US, has proven that the old adage 'home sweet home' holds true for deer. The findings are published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Polar bears are among the most familiar faces of climate change. The iconic bears, which live and hunt on dwindling Arctic sea ice, became an officially threatened species in 2008 and continue to show declining numbers. But the bears may be facing another threat, from pollutants that have been banned for decades. A study published in the January issue of Environmental Research linked elevated levels of PCBs to lower density in male bears' penile bones, which may disrupt the bears' reproductive abilities.