Biodiversity

"A bill backed by Kentucky’s poultry industry and approved by the Senate Thursday would subject drone operators to new restrictions that opponents warn could help hide health and safety hazards in food production."

"Every species of animal and plant that lives or breeds in the Arctic is experiencing dramatic change. As the polar region warms, species endure extreme weather, shrinking and altered habitat, decreased food availability, and competition from invading southern species."

"A study published today in Science Advances suggests that, if global warming isn’t curbed, west India and west central Asia could become locust hotspots in the decades ahead, raising new challenges for control efforts, and further threatening food security and livelihoods in already vulnerable regions."

"Up to half of the Amazon rainforest could transform into grasslands or weakened ecosystems in the coming decades, a new study found, as climate change, deforestation and severe droughts like the one the region is currently experiencing damage huge areas beyond their ability to recover."

"Environmental groups on Monday petitioned the U.S. government seeking endangered species protection for the American horseshoe crab, a "living fossil" under threat from commercial harvests for bait and biomedical use as well as from habitat loss and climate change."

"For pronghorn, those antelope-like creatures of the American West, this grassland north of Flagstaff is prime habitat. It gives the animals the food and conditions they need to survive fall and winter. But for a nation racing to adopt renewable energy, the land is prime for something else: solar panels."

"Nearly half of the world’s migratory species are in decline, according to a new United Nations report released Monday. Many songbirds, sea turtles, whales, sharks and other migratory animals move to different environments with changing seasons and are imperiled by habitat loss, illegal hunting and fishing, pollution and climate change."

"The Fish and Wildlife Service has launched an in-depth study of whether a teensy-tiny snail that inhabits springs in a small slice of lithium-rich Nevada desert should enjoy federal protections under the Endangered Species Act."

"The number of monarch butterflies at their overwintering areas in Mexico dropped precipitously this year to the second-lowest level on record, according to an annual survey." "Scientists said the decline appeared to be driven by hot, dry conditions in the United States and Canada that reduced food supply."

"Octopuses are capable of sophisticated tasks, from solving puzzles to decorating their dens to remembering people's faces. So when a company in Spain announced that it wanted to commercially farm octopuses to harvest them for seafood, the plan sparked an uproar."