Biodiversity

"Facing antitrust scrutiny over its practices in the biotechnology seed business, Monsanto has said it will not stand in the way of farmers eventually using lower cost alternatives to its genetically modified soybeans."

"Hardline anti-whaling activists prepared on Tuesday to pursue Japan's Antarctic whaling fleet with support from Daryl Hannah, who criticized Greenpeace for opting out of the annual chase."

"Nearly 130 scientists today asked the Interior Department to change a policy set under the Bush administration guiding how agencies decide whether a species is endangered."

"The Bureau of Reclamation wants to use an experimental biological pesticide to control invasive mussels that are interfering with dam and hydropower operations that supply electricity and drinking water to millions of people across the Southwest."

"There are places where some wildlife that once thrived, are now gone. In Wisconsin, the Pine Marten has been wiped out. The shy animal looks a bit like a ferret. Pine Martens are members of the weasel family. Jeff Wilson and Dan Haskell are trapping pine martens in Minnesota for relocation to northern Wisconsin."

"The Great Lakes are under threat from the Asian carp, an invasive species of fish whose presence is pitting neighboring states against Illinois in a showdown with no clear resolution."

"Over 3,000 square miles (7,770 sq kms) in Alaska would be protected as critical habitat for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale, under a proposal issued on Tuesday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

Environmental groups have issued a new report listing top U.S. species threatened by climate change.

"The Department of Natural Resources' efforts to combat chronic wasting disease -- an illness that threatens Wisconsin's entire deer herd -- have had little effect after seven years and nearly $41 million in state and federal spending, data and interviews indicate."

A rapidly invading plant called Buffelgrass is changing the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona. By causing an increase in fires, it could endanger the iconic saguaro cactus there.