Conservation Science

At first, the two-million-dollar rat eradication project on Henderson Island seemed to be working. The invasive rodents that had been gnawing on baby birds and sea turtles dwindled dramatically, with the island population down to just 60 to 80 individuals a few weeks after the bait drop. Today, though, that atoll is once again overrun with rats. In just a few years, the survivors multiplied to 50,000 to 100,000—the same number as before the poisoning. ...

Edited by Hal Mooney of Stanford University and Erika Zavaleta of UC Santa Cruz, "Ecosystems of California" has been 10 years in the making. According to Zavaleta, the original plan was for a 20-chapter volume. "In the end, the book doubled in scope with 149 contributors in total, and I think it's a better product for it," she said.

Researchers have found new clues about the deadly white-nose syndrome, a disease that has wiped out millions of bats in North America. A study found that bats in China showed strong resistance to the fungal infection responsible for the deaths. The fungus invades the skin of the bats and causes characteristic white markings on the face and wings. The scientists involved in the report say some American species may evolve the ability to fight the disease. ...

I find it heartening that we still live in a world that can surprise us by the breadth and scope of its biological richness! Yet I’m also deeply disturbed by the cavalier attitude of some people toward living things, a grotesque anthropomorphism that too often assumes the rights and privileges of a despot without also the incumbent responsibilities of stewardship. It’s a maniacal disconnect between need and desire within our hedonistic humanity.

The 1820s fur-trading expedition fictionalized in the Leonardo DiCaprio film (and the novel on which it’s based) [The Revenant] was part of a major arc of 19th-century American history, explains Eric Jay Dolin, author of the book Fur, Fortune, and Empire. And, in drawing the eyes of the fledgling nation west, it helped shape the borders of the evolving country. Read more