Conservation Science

Demographic connectivity is fundamental to the persistence and resilience of metapopulations, but our understanding of the link between reproduction and recruitment is notoriously poor in open-coast marine populations. We provide the first evidence of high local retention and limited connectivity among populations spanning 700 km along an open coast in an upwelling system. Read more

Hunters and anglers should stop using lead products that can poison animals, a Nova Scotia wildlife rehab centre says. The Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Brookfield sees the results in sick animals who have ingested the lead-based bullets. Earlier this year they rehabbed an eagle nicknamed Birdzilla, which got very sick from lead poisoning. ...

Fellow Marissa McMahan is working with Maine locals and Venetian fishermen to turn the invasive green crab into a gourmet dish known in Italy as moleche.

Fellow Sarah Hameed discusses the Marine Conservation Institute's proposed Global Ocean Refuge System (GLORES) to address the growing threats to life in sea. It will be a strategic network of strongly protected marine areas awarded designation according to science-based standards.

Great white sharks eat fish when they are young, but after the first few years they grow new teeth and start eating marine mammals, notably fatty seals and sea lions. The sharks need the rich calories from the mammals' blubber to keep their bodies warm. Sea otters are mostly muscle, skin, bones, and luxurious fur.

In a study published this month in the journal Ecological Applications, Gary Lovett and 15 colleagues estimated that 63 percent of U.S. forest land, or about 825 million acres, is at risk of increased damage from established pests, and new pests continue to arrive with cargo shipments from overseas. ... "I think there would be resistance from overseas partners that are shipping a lot of material using these wood pallets," said Frank Lowenstein, deputy director of the New England Forestry Foundation, a conservation group based in Littleton, Massachusetts.

The New England Wild Flower Society has announced online classes for Fall.The online botany classes include a field trip option. The native plants design class will be open for four months. Fellow Elizabeth Farnsworth will teach: Plants 101: Introduction to the Green World Plants 102: Deeper into the Green World Designing with Native Plants Read more and register

For the Amah Mutsun, an indigenous people of the central coast, the land was never ‘theirs.’ They didn’t think of the land as belonging to anyone. Blessed to live along the central coast and eastward, they belonged to the land. They were tender toward it — and tenders of it. Now, after centuries of cultural upheaval, they’re learning to recover their roles as the land’s stewards. ...

Biologists have discovered high levels of pesticides and other contaminants from marine mammals in the tissues of endangered California condors living near the coast that they say could complicate recovery efforts for the largest land bird in North America.