Research - Page 18

Learning to manage the habitats and biodiversity within our oceans and coasts is one of the greatest challenges of this century.

New research has assessed the ecological impact of returning Tasmanian devils to the mainland and the results show that doing so would improve Australia’s biodiversity.

A new study has revealed that shifting trade winds and ocean currents have resulted in a doubling of their population over the past 30 years.

Using fossil records and extinction counts, the researchers compared a highly conservative estimate of current extinctions with a background rate twice as high as those widely used in previous analyses. This way, they brought the two estimates as close to each other as possible.

The cause of the outbreak is unknown, but scientists believe that it is always fatal.

Mortality was found to rise in the winter months between November and March, which coincides with a greater congregation of dugongs and an increase in the level of fishing activity.

An international team of wildlife ecologists, led by Oregon State University, conducted a comprehensive analysis of data on the world’s largest herbivores

A new multinational study, the first global review of Arctic marine mammals, has assessed the status of all circumpolar species and subpopulations, and highlights the precarious state these animals are in.

The global population was down to just 15 tortoises by the 1960s. Now there are some 1,000 tortoises breeding on their own. The population is secure. It’s a rare example of how biologists and managers can collaborate to recover a species from the brink of extinction.