The National Trust for Scotland has announced that
its ‘secret garden’, Arduaine near Oban, Argyll, last
year saved from closure following an appeal, has been struck by a
new outbreak of the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum.
Poisoned pollen means no jubilee for Bumblebee queens
A new report published today by The University of Stirling
indicates that harmful pesticides are potentially reducing the number
of queen bumblebees in the countryside.
As a schoolboy, Robin Page might have struggled to
distinguish between a red admiral and a painted lady, but nowadays
the author of The Great British Butterfly Safari can think of nothing
less.
Possible Narwhal stranding in Liscannor Bay, Co. Clare?
Before you ask; No, this is not an April Fools prank.
While most IWDG personnel were in Galway at ECS during the week, a
possible new species was recorded for Irish waters.
A female osprey, the oldest breeding individual in
the UK, has returned to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of
the Lowes reserve in Dunkeld for the 22nd year.
British shale gas company IGas has more than doubled
its estimate of gas in place at its site in north-west England and
started the search for an experienced partner after being approached
by various companies, its chief executive said.
The UK’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO)
has revealed that the next marine plan areas will be confirmed in
July, as work on the current plan areas continues.
The Government is to reconsider its refusal to ban
neonicotinoid pesticides, the nerve-agent chemicals blamed for the
collapse of bee colonies worldwide, the chief scientist at the Department
of the Environment, Sir Robert Watson, told The Independent.
Environment Agency clears the way for fish in the
River Ecclesbourne
The River Ecclesbourne will see barriers to fish
migration removed at Duffield, Derbyshire this week, as the Environment
Agency completes the restoration of 175 metres of original river
channel.
Herbicide can induce morphological changes in vertebrate
animals
The world's most popular weed killer, Roundup®,
can cause amphibians to change shape, according to research recently
published in Ecological Applications.
One of the rarest birds in Vietnam, has just been discovered
at a new location in Kon Tum Province significantly extending its
known global range and offering hope that the species may not be as
threatened with extinction as scientists fear.
New review reveals worrying declines in the world’s
seabirds
The status of the world’s seabirds has deteriorated
rapidly over recent decades and several species and many populations
are now perilously close to extinction.
Mission critical: Species explorers propose steps to
map biosphere
An ambitious goal to describe 10 million species in
less than 50 years is achievable and necessary to sustain Earth's
biodiversity, according to an international group of 39 scientists,
scholars and engineers ...
Our ability to transform commodity markets will determine
nature's fate
The success of governments and big corporations in
eliminating environmental degradation from the products we consume
will play a critical role in determining the fate of the world's remaining
wild places, said a group of experts speaking at a panel during the
Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.
The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, aghast at what
it calls the world's "suicidal path", has called on heads
of state and leading economists to come to the capital Thimphu for
a global summit to reform the international financial system and the
way countries measure progress.
A common type of crop pesticide could be responsible
for wiping out bee colonies by killing their homing instinct and limiting
their ability to gather food, scientists claim.
S.Africa mulls new trophy hunt rules to fight rhino
poaching
South Africa may impose new limits on trophy hunts
as it combats a devastating surge in rhino poaching, with 150 killed
illegally so far this year, the environment ministry said Thursday.
The EU’s emissions reduction target for 2020
could be facing an unlikely but grave obstacle, according to a growing
number of scientists, EU officials and NGOs: the contribution of
biomass to the EU’s renewable energy objectives for 2020.
EU energy savings plan too weak: green campaigners
The latest proposal from the Danish EU presidency
on how to improve the European Union's record on energy efficiency
is far too weak to close the gap between savings so far and its
goal for 2020, a coalition of campaigners said on Monday.
Adhering to the “resources know no borders”
concept, experts involved in a multinational, decade-long Jordan
Valley hydrological project hope that their research will not only
help preserve the area’s ecosystem but also promote future
regional cooperation through science.
Do temperature records reliably show the planet is
warming?
Global temperature records are crucial to scientific
assessment of climate change, so many steps are taken to ensure
that the records are reliable and that any factors which could cause
biases are accounted for.
British greenhouse gas emissions down
7 percent in 2011
Britain's greenhouse gas emissions fell 7 percent
in 2011, putting one of the European Union's biggest emitters further
ahead of its internationally binding target under the Kyoto Protocol,
provisional government data showed on Thursday.
DECC statistics reveal record renewable generation
in 2011
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has published
its Energy Trends and Quarterly Energy Prices publications, which
provide an outlook over 2011.
Governments and businesses must prepare for increasingly
severe storms, droughts and other extreme weather events intensified
by climate change, an international panel of scientists has said.
US airlines abandon challenge to tough EU anti-global
warming emissions law
US airlines are reported to have given up a legal
fight against European Union anti-pollution law that seeks to limit
global warming emissions from aircraft.
