Biodiversity

"The Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed restoring federal protections for a tiny desert owl that fights above its weight class."

"Forces profound and alarming are reshaping the upper reaches of the North Pacific and Arctic oceans, breaking the food chain that supports billions of creatures and one of the world’s most important fisheries."

"Montana wildlife officials on Tuesday advanced plans that could allow grizzly bear hunting in areas around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks, if states in the U.S. northern Rockies succeed in their attempts to lift federal protections for the animals."

"The loss of marshes, bogs and swamps is driving a rapid, global decline in dragonflies, researchers say.

Their plight has been highlighted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's latest Red List of Threatened Species, following its first comprehensive assessment of this colourful group of insects.

Wetlands loss is due to urbanisation and unsustainable agriculture, it says.

And now, 16% of the world's dragonflies are under threat of extinction. "

"On a moonless summer night in Hawaii, krill, fish and crabs swirl through a beam of light as two researchers peer into the water above a vibrant reef. Minutes later, like clockwork, they see eggs and sperm from spawning coral drifting past their boat. They scoop up the fishy-smelling blobs and put them in test tubes."

"The only reliable snowy owl breeding site in the United States has a conspicuous shortage of owls."

"The vital Kansas ecosystem is rapidly shrinking. Its future depends on private landowners like Lorna Harder."

"Starving manatees will soon be fed by hand in Florida, a rare ... intervention to save the marine mammals whose natural food is vanishing from the effects of pollution, state officials told Reuters."

"The nation’s highest bench today [Friday] rejected lobstering groups’ call to unwind fishing restrictions designed to protect endangered whales off the coast of Maine."