Biodiversity

Researchers are hoping to find new medicines underwater in corals and sponges.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday evening that it would not grant the American pika -- a tiny mammal whose mountainside habitat is being threatened by climate change -- protection under the Endangered Species Act."

"All along the Oregon coast over the last month, hundreds of brown pelicans have turned up dead, starving or begging for food. ...Researchers, at a loss to explain the casualties, are looking at unusual ocean currents and the depletion of fish stocks -- as well as warmer temperatures, toxic runoff and algae blooms -- as possible causes."

"Capping a decade-long battle, private companies in Mexico have begun the first legal plantings of genetically modified corn, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday."

"Fewer beekeepers are reporting evidence of a mysterious ailment that had been decimating the U.S. honeybee population."

"Wildlife officials fear the world's only remaining natural flock of endangered whooping cranes could be at risk of another winter die-off."

Increased use of the poison Rozol to kill prairie dogs is harming many non-target species.

"Responding to growing concern over the spread of Burmese pythons in the Everglades, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Wednesday to ban both the import and interstate transport of the python and eight other snake species, all large constrictors."