Conservation Science

Technology is often accused of separating us from nature. Tavis Forrester’s eMammal project puts high-tech “camera traps” into the hands of volunteer citizen scientists, allowing them to connect with animals and behaviors usually hidden from view. The result is a blending of technology and nature that Forrester says is “magical in its ability to fire up kids and adults alike" with the excitement of scientific discovery.

The burst of spring is breathtaking— the tree canopy fills in, birds reappear, and plants flower. But spring isn’t the only season that brings changes to the plants and animals around us. Summer, fall, and winter all have their own special impacts on plants and animals, signaling when it is time to reproduce, hibernate or even die.

Biologists studying the endangered California condor have launched a new web site to enlist the help of citizen scientists in research aimed at reducing lead poisoning, the primary threat to condors in the wild.

“The eastern border of the range of mountain lions is moving progressively more and more east, and it’s only a matter of time until it reaches all the way to the East Coast,” said Noah Charney, a wildlife ecologist and animal tracking expert who has worked with the state Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program for the past seven years. “I sort of suspect that all of a sudden one day we’re going to know there are mountain lions here. There’s going to be no question. And it might happen really fast.

They're on the move, scrambling on paws and wings to find refuge from a planetary catastrophe. No, I'm not talking about the computer-generated birds and beasts fleeing the flood in the blockbuster movie Noah. As a scientist, I see many wonderful wildlife species in the real world -- from sea turtles whose nesting beaches are being flooded by rising seas to polar bears dying as sea ice vanishes -- struggling to survive man-made climate change.

Amy Rogers has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support Forest for a Living, which seeks to pilot the first cost-efficient solution to deforestation and farmer exploitation in the tropics.

In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, Dennis Takahashi-Kelso, the Ocean Conservancy's executive vice president, said both Exxon and BP were reminders that plans for dealing with spills are meaningless if companies can't actually execute cleanup. Takahashi-Kelso was the Alaska Commissioner of Environmental Conservation during the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and says that the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was a "very substantial improvement." But companies still struggle with execution of the response plans when a spill does happen.

Editor's Note: The Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation helped fund Sarah's early work on Conservation Development with the Wildlife Conservation Society through a Leadership Grant.

Editor's Note: The Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation helped fund Jennifer O'Leary's early work with the Kenya Wildlife Service through a Leadership Grant. You can read more about this project in our Featured Fellow piece, "Translating Science Into Action: the Mombasa Marine Park, Kenya." From Jennifer: