Press Release — Page 26

Report Says New National Center for Climate Change and Wildlife Should Help Agencies Manage Climate Change Effects on Fish and Wildlife

Cropland Diversity Reduces Nitrogen Pollution

Ecologists Report Quantifiable Measures of Nature’s Services to Humans

The idea of ecosystem services is a promising conservation concept but has been rarely put into practice. In a special issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, researchers use novel tools to report some of the first quantifiable results that place values on nature’s services to humans.

As opportunistic omnivores, wild pigs (Sus scrofa) cause extensive damage to native ecosystems and agricultural resources. In the January 2020 issue of Ecological Applications, Wilber et al. use GPS data collected from 326 wild pigs across seven U.S. states to demonstrate that wild pigs exhibit a functional response in their use of crops that is highly context dependent, and that the magnitude of response varies among crop types and pig demographic attributes.

Ecological Applications

News

Large ‘herbivores of the sea’ help keep coral reefs healthy

By Pennsylvania State University 1/8/2020 Selective fishing can disrupt the delicate balance maintained between corals and algae in embattled Caribbean coral reefs. Removing large parrotfish, which graze on algae like large land mammals graze on grasses, can allow the algae to overtake the corals, with potentially dire consequences for reef health. New experimental research suggests that maintaining a healthy size…

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Study shows animal life thriving around Fukushima

By University of Georgia 1/6/2020 Nearly a decade after the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, researchers from the University of Georgia have found that wildlife populations are abundant in areas void of human life. The camera study, published in the Journal of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, reports that over 267,000 wildlife photos recorded more than 20 species, including wild…

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Amazon forest regrowth much slower than previously thought

By Lancaster University 12/20/2019 The regrowth of Amazonian forests following deforestation can happen much slower than previously thought, a new study shows. The findings could have significant impacts for climate change predictions as the ability of secondary forests to soak up carbon from the atmosphere may have been over-estimated. The study, which monitored forest regrowth over two decades, shows that…

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