Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Populations have been falling for decades, even in tracts of forest undamaged by humans. Experts have spent two decades trying to understand what is going on Something was happening to the birds at Tiputini. The biodiversity research centre, buried deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, has always been special. It is astonishingly remote: a tiny scattering of research cabins in 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) of virgin forest. For scientists, it comes about as close as you can to observing rainforest wildlife in a world untouched by human industry. Almost every year since his arrival in 2000, ecologist John G Blake had been there to count the birds. Rising before the sun, he would record the density and variety of the dawn chorus. Slowly walking the perimeter of the plots, he noted every species he saw. And for one day every year, he and other researchers would cast huge “mist” nets that caught flying birds in their weave, where they would be counted, untangled and freed. Continue reading...

Rare snowfall leads to 17 turtles stranded and suffering from condition before being brought to center for rehabbing An arctic blast that brought rare snowfall to northern Florida last week left green sea turtles as far south as St Augustine suffering from a condition known as cold-stunning. Seventeen sea turtles that were found stranded along Florida’s north-eastern Atlantic coast were brought to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, north of West Palm Beach, where they are rehabbing. Continue reading...

Emission targets could derail project as campaigners say net zero commitment cannot be met if expansion happens Reeves urged to rethink plans for airports and roads Heathrow third runway: promises, protest and U-turns Rachel Reeves caused a furious backlash as she insisted a third runway at Heathrow was “set up for success”, despite scepticism in Whitehall that the plan can be reconciled with the UK’s climate obligations. The chancellor made throwing the government’s weight behind Heathrow expansion the centrepiece of a major speech on growth on Wednesday. Continue reading...

In the most comprehensive global analysis of genetic diversity ever undertaken, an international team of scientists has found that the genetic diversity is being lost across the globe but that conservation efforts are helping to safeguard species.