Biodiversity

"For the crime of snacking on endangered salmon, dozens of sea lions have been sentenced to die."

"California is cracking down on invasive species, and that could have a big impact on national regulations due out later this year. The state has passed the strictest rules in the country to prevent cargo ships from bringing foreign plants and animals to San Francisco Bay. But the standards are so high, California may not be able to enforce them."

"The Obama administration will seek to allow the unlimited sale of a corn variety genetically engineered by Monsanto Co. to resist drought, the Department of Agriculture announced [Wednesday]."

"Hate insects? Afraid of germs? Researchers are reporting an alarming combination: bedbugs carrying a staph 'superbug.' Canadian scientists detected drug-resistant staph bacteria in bedbugs from three hospital patients from a downtrodden Vancouver neighborhood."

"The Interior Department, facing an avalanche of petitions and lawsuits over proposed endangered species designations, said Tuesday that it had negotiated a settlement under which it will make decisions on 251 species over the next six years."

"Federal protections for some 1,200 gray wolves in Montana and Idaho end on Thursday under unprecedented legislation passed by the U.S. Congress last month removing them from the endangered species list."

"A New York man who admitted smuggling nearly 4,000 live Chinese snakehead fish, which pose a danger to fish native to U.S. waters, was arrested on criminal charges, prosecutors said on Thursday."

"Home is where the heart is. It's also probably where a lot of stink bugs are right now, crawling out from cracks and crevices. They were introduced into Allentown, Pa., from Asia in the 1990s and have been spreading ever since, reaching seemingly plaguelike proportions in the mid-Atlantic states. But an experiment is under way to reintroduce the stink bug to its mortal enemy: a parasitic Asian wasp."

"From chainsaws to flute solos, the lyrebird can mimic almost any sound it hears. But eavesdrop on this magical bird, and what it is singing can sometimes be troubling."

"Some of Britain's most cherished spring visitors are disappearing in their thousands. Ornithologists say species such as the cuckoo, nightingale and turtle dove are undergoing catastrophic drops in numbers, although experts are puzzled about the exact reasons for these declines."