These species can threaten the health of plants and animals, including humans. And they cause enormous economic damage. They are one of the most harmful environmental forces on earth. They have colonized just about every place humans have set foot on the planet. Yet you may not even know they exist. We are talking about […]
Monthly Archives: April 2021
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Grassland in Uganda. Credit: Luke Dunning, author provided little did biologist Gregor Mendel know that his experiments with sweet peas in the garden of a monastery in Brno, Czech Republic, will lay the foundation for our understanding of modern genetics and heredity. His work in the 19th century helped scientists establish that parents transmit their […]
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Thanks to warming climates and habitat destruction, ‘invasive species’ narratives have begun to shift JMrocek/iStock/Getty Images Plus Feral pigs are considered an invasive species in Ontario. As human activity continues to heat the planet and destroy wildlife habitat, plants and animals are responding based on their genetic makeup and ability to adapt to changed environments. […]
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By Ayesha Tandon New research shows that lake “stratification periods” – a seasonal separation of water into layers – will last longer in a warmer climate. These longer stratification periods could have “far-reaching implications” for lake ecosystems, according to the article, and can lead to toxic algal blooms, fish kills and increased methane emissions. The […]
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Credit: Shutterstock They are one of the most harmful environmental forces on earth. They have colonized just about every place humans have set foot on the planet. Yet you may not even know they exist. We are talking about exotic species. Not little green aliens, but invasive plants and animals not native to an ecosystem […]
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Smoke rises from an illegally lit fire in the Amazon rainforest reserve, south of Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil, August 15, 2020. Photo: Carl De Souza (Getty Images) Only 3% of land on Earth still qualifies as ‘ecologically intact’, with undisturbed habitats and healthy populations of its native animal species, according to grim new […]
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According to a study, only 3% of the world’s land remains ecologically intact with healthy populations of all its native animals and undisturbed habitat. These fragments of wilderness undamaged by human activities are mainly found in parts of the rainforests of the Amazon and Congo, the forests and tundra of eastern Siberia and northern Canada […]