Biodiversity

"Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would funnel millions of dollars into saving overlooked species."

"The amount of coral in some areas of the Great Barrier Reef is at its highest in 36 years, according to a new report from the Australian Institute of Marine Science."

"On a recent, scorching afternoon in Albuquerque, off-road vehicles cruised up and down a stretch of dry riverbed where normally the Rio Grande flows. The drivers weren’t thrill-seekers, but biologists hoping to save as many endangered fish as they could before the sun turned shrinking pools of water into dust."

"Hunted for centuries for their pelts, sea otters had dwindled to near-extinction by the 1910s, leaving a population of about 1,000 worldwide and only about 50 in California, in small pockets on the Central Coast and Southern California’s Channel Islands."

"A spate of recent criminal indictments highlights how U.S. companies, taking advantage of a patchwork of federal and state laws, are supplying a market for fins that activists say is as reprehensible as the now-illegal trade in elephant ivory once was."

"Scientists are hoping to reduce negative and nationalistic associations with the bee-slaying insect that is turning up in the Pacific Northwest."

"Concealed behind trees near Lake Michigan, two scientists remotely manipulated a robotic owl on the forest floor. As the intruder flapped its wings and hooted, a merlin guarding its nest in a nearby pine darted overhead, sounding high-pitched, rapid-fire distress calls."

"They’ve roamed free for hundreds of years, but is that freedom harming the ecosystem they call home?"

"Scientists tallying the economic damage wrought by invasive pests across the world found two species are responsible for more harm than any other. The American bullfrog and brown tree snake have collectively caused $16.3bn (£13.4bn) in global damage since 1986."

"Toby Kiers took long strides across the spongy forest floor, felt the adrenaline rush in her veins and stopped at the spot she had traveled so far to reach. Into the ground went a hollow metal cylinder. Out came a scoop of soil."