Biodiversity

"The 2009 edition of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was released today, and the news isn't good: 17,291 species out of 47,677 assessed species, or 36 percent, are threatened with extinction."

"Special genes inserted into crop plants have a way of leaking into the environment. That much scientists know for sure. What they're less certain about is what effect those genes have on plants growing in the wild."

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced six grant awards totaling $800,000 to fund research into the cause and control of white-nose syndrome, a wildlife health crisis that has now killed more than a million bats in the Northeast and remains unchecked."

"The demise of a much-studied pack raises questions about lifting the hunting ban in areas bordering Yellowstone park."

"A vast swath of icy sea, barrier islands and coastal land on Alaska's oil-rich North Slope will be granted special protection because of its importance to the threatened polar bear, under a proposal released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

"Supervolcanoes and cosmic impacts get all the terrible glory for causing mass extinctions, but a new theory suggests lowly algae may be the killer behind the world's great species annihilations."

"Last call for the Maryland darter. The elusive little fish, one of the rarest in the world, hasn't been seen in 21 years. Now, government and university biologists are teaming up for one more, perhaps final search for it...."

"Mexico has deployed its navy to several beaches in the Pacific Coast state of Oaxaca. Its mission isn't to fight the drug cartels or protect European tourists, but to guard the nesting grounds of an endangered sea turtle."

"The Obama administration rejected a proposed endangered species listing today for Alaska's spotted seals, saying the animals would adapt to climate change. Environmentalists, who had petitioned for the listing by citing threats to the seal from Arctic oil and gas development and melting sea ice, expressed outrage over the decision."