Conservation Science

Manta rays, which are among the bigger and more charismatic animals in the ocean, have captured humans' imagination for generations. And yet scientists still have many unanswered questions about rays' behavior. Why do they dive so deep? What do they eat in each season? Why do they congregate in certain areas?

Protecting wildlife habitat often requires controlling invasive plants, and those conducting invasive plant removal need to be sure their approach is safe for wildlife. This manual of Best Management Practices presents ways land managers can protect wildlife when using herbicides to control invasive plants. (While any invasive plant removal approach can potentially affect wildlife, chemical control methods are the focus of this report.) Herbicides are an important tool in the IPM (Integrated Pest Management) toolbox for controlling wildland weeds.

The best use of resources is to adopt a triage approach to climate change – deal with the direst circumstances first, and work from there, says Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.

How fast tropical forests recover after deforestation has major consequences for climate change mitigation. A team including Smithsonian scientists discovered that some secondary tropical forests recover biomass quickly: half of the forests in the study attained 90 percent of old-growth forest levels in 66 years or less. Conservation planners can use their resulting biomass-recovery map for Latin America to prioritize conservation efforts. ...

The irony of California’s biological control program to save an invasive weed isn’t lost on Doug Johnson, executive director of the Cal-IPC. “It does seem a little surreal that you have some people working to get rid of eucalyptus and others working to save eucalyptus,” he says. ...

The new statewide president of Mass Audubon has filed for intervenor status for its West Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in Plainfield, just over the border from Berkshire County, in the federal review of the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. project. ... "At this stage, we're optimistic that in working with the Conservation Commission and Stantec, the restoration plan will be adequate and that letter will be the only need we'll have for legal counsel," said Becky Cushing, director of the Berkshire Sanctuaries.

Andrea Bogomolni, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, said satellite tracking is changing the understanding of seals’ resilience and their role in the ecosystem. “These large animals that are able to come back again, that in itself is telling us the ecology role,” Bogomolni said. “That this system can sustain this growth of large, top predators.” Read more

Standing on the edge of Schoolhouse Pond, Chris Roman and Marcella Thompson watched as an unmanned kayak traveled back and forth across the pond in a series of calculated switchbacks. When it had completed its mission, the vessel returned to its starting point, where the two University of Rhode Island researchers were waiting.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA), which quietly passed its 42nd birthday last week, has shielded hundreds of species in the United States from extinction and dramatically achieved full recovery for a celebrated few. Flexibility of implementation is one of the ESA’s great strengths, allowing for adaptation in response to new knowledge and changing social and environmental conditions.