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Surgical conservation: gain requires some pain

21 12 2011

I apologise to CB readers for the unusually low frequency of posts this month. With the International Congress for Conservation Biology taking up a lot of my time earlier this month, and the standard palaver of xmas preparations (i.e., getting shit done before the end of the year), I’m afraid the blog has taken a back seat. Now officially ‘on leave’ (whatever that means for an academic), I have found a brief window during which I can put a few thoughts together.

For this post I must take you back to October 2011 when, if you were in Australia, you might have heard about the so-called ‘debacle‘ of the Macquarie Island rabbit/rate/mouse-eradication programme in which it was identified that a few thousand seabirds had become the collateral damage.

To recap, an intense poisoning programme was initiated on subantarctic Macquarie Island to eradicate these pests after years of massive environmental degradation had finally forced the government’s (of Tasmania and the Commonwealth) hand to do something. What caught my eye in all this was the sheer stupidity and politicking associated with the programme, in which hyper-conservative Eric Abetz (Liberal Senator for Tasmania) managed to turn this amazing success into a Labor-bashing political sledge-hammer.

Abetz is no stranger to anti-environmentalism and fights vehemently for Tasmania’s forest-raping industry; he considers political parties such as the Greens, environmental groups such as The Wilderness Society and pro-democracy groups such as Get Up! his mortal enemies. He’s even had a go at esteemed author Richard Flanagan for supporting the anti-deforestation movement in Tasmania! Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: Eric Abetz, Macquarie Island, pest eradication, rabbit, Tasmania, triage
Categories : alien species, Australia, conservation, environmental policy, extinction, invasive species, management, research, science

Twenty landmark papers in biodiversity conservation

13 10 2011

While I can’t claim that this is the first time one of my peer-reviewed papers has been inspired by ConservationBytes.com, I can claim that this is the first time a peer-reviewed paper is derived from the blog.

After a bit of a sordid history of review (isn’t it more and more like that these days?), I have the pleasure of announcing that our paper ‘Twenty landmark papers in biodiversity conservation‘ has now been published as an open-access chapter in the new book ‘Research in Biodiversity – Models and Applications‘ (InTech).

Perhaps not the most conventional of venues (at least, not for me), but it is at the very least ‘out there’ now and freely available.

The paper itself was taken, modified, elaborated and over-hauled from text written in this very blog – the ‘Classics‘ section of ConservationBytes.com. Now, if you’re an avid follower of CB, then the chapter won’t probably represent anything terribly new; however, I encourage you to read it anyway given that it is a vetted overview of possibly some of the most important papers written in conservation biology.

If you are new to the field, an active student or merely need a ‘refresher’ regarding the big leaps forward in this discipline, then this chapter is for you.

The paper’s outline is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: Allee effect, biodiversity, biodiversity hotspots, climate change, conservation, demography, ecological triage, ecosystem services, environment, Evil Quartet, extinction debt, extinction synergy, fishing down the web, Genetics, habitat fragmentation, invasional meltdown, island biogeography, IUCN Red List, mesopredator release, minimum viable population size, Navjot Sodhi, shifting baselines, Tragedy of the commons
Categories : biodiversity, climate change, conservation, deforestation, demography, ecosystem services, fish, fisheries

Conservation is all about prioritisation

4 12 2010

Another great guest post from a previous contributor, Piero Visconti.

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Biodiversity conservation is about prioritisation – making difficult choices.

With limited money and so many habitats and species in need of protection, deciding where not to expend resources is as important as deciding where to act. Saying ‘no’ will be crucial for ensuring the persistence of biodiversity and ecosystem services, simply because as individuals who value conservation, we will always be tempted to try and save everything.

In the words of Frederick the Great: “He who defends everything, defends nothing.”

As a result, much recent conservation planning research has focused on offering managers general and flexible tools for deciding which conservation features should be the highest priority. Intuitively, we should direct our resources towards areas that have high biodiversity values, and that are likely to be lost if the forces of conservation do not intervene (the most ‘vulnerable’ land parcels). This approach is known as the ‘minimize loss’ approach. Imagine we are worried about the loss of rare native vegetation in the face of ongoing urban expansion (e.g., Melbourne’s western grasslands). To minimize loss, managers would pre-emptively protect sites that are most likely to be developed. But is this decision to race the bulldozers always the best idea? How much does this choice depend on our assumptions about how land is protected, how land developers behave, and the accuracy of our future predictions? Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: biodiversity, conservation, conservation biology, Convention on Biological Diversity, ecological triage, environment, Protected Areas
Categories : conservation, conservation biology, ecological triage, ecosystem function, ecosystem services, environmental policy, management, prioritisation, protected area, reserve

Classics: Ecological Triage

27 03 2009

It is a truism that when times are tough, only the strongest pull through. This isn’t a happy concept, but in our age of burgeoning biodiversity loss (and economic belt-tightening), we have to make some difficult decisions.In this regard, I suggest Brian Walker’s1992 paper Biodiveristy and ecological redundancy makes the Classics list.

Ecological triage is, of course, taken from the medical term triage used in emergency or wartime situations. Ecological triage refers to the the conservation prioritisation of species that provide unique or necessary functions to ecosystems, and the abandonment of those that do not have unique ecosystem roles or that face almost certain extinction given they fall well below their minimum viable population size (Walker 1992). Financial resources such as investment in recovery programmes, purchase of remaining habitats for preservation, habitat restoration, etc. are allocated accordingly; the species that contribute the most to ecosystem function and have the highest probability of persisting are earmarked for conservation and others are left to their own devices (Hobbs & Kristjanson 2003).

This emotionally empty and accounting-type conservation can be controversial because public favourites like pandas, kakapo and some dolphin species just don’t make the list in many circumstances. As I’ve stated before, it makes no long-term conservation or economic sense to waste money on the doomed and ecologically redundant. Many in the conservation business apply ecological triage without being fully aware of it. Finite pools of money (generally the paltry left-overs from some green-guilty corporation or under-funded government initiative) for conservation mean that we have to set priorities – this is an entire discipline in its own right in conservation biology. Reserve design is just one example of this sacrifice-the-doomed-for-the good-of-the-ecosystem approach.

Walker (1992) advocated that we should endeavour to maintain ecosystem function first, and recommended that we abandon programmes to restore functionally ‘redundant’ species (i.e., some species are more ecologically important than others, e.g., pollinators, prey). But how do you make the choice? The wrong selection might mean an extinction cascade (Noss 1990; Walker 1992) whereby tightly linked species (e.g., parasites-hosts, pollinators-plants, predators-prey) will necessarily go extinct if one partner in the mutualism disappears (see Koh et al. 2004 on co-extinctions). Ecological redundancy is a terribly difficult thing to determine, especially given that we still understand relatively little about how complex ecological systems really work (Marris 2007).

The more common (and easier, if not theoretically weaker) approach is to prioritise areas and not species (e.g., biodiversity hotspots), but even the criteria used for area prioritisation can be somewhat arbitrary and may not necessarily guarantee the most important functional groups are maintained (Orme et al. 2005; Brooks et al. 2006). There are many different ways of establishing ‘priority’, and it depends partially on your predilections.

More recent mathematical approaches such as cost-benefit analyses (Possingham et al. 2002; Murdoch et al. 2007) advocate conservation like a CEO would run a profitable business. In this case the ‘currency’ is biodiversity, and so a fixed financial investment must maximise long-term biodiversity gains (Possingham et al. 2002). This essentially estimates the potential biodiversity saved per dollar invested, and allocates funds accordingly (Wilson et al. 2007). Where the costs outweigh the benefits, conservationists move on to more beneficial goals. Perhaps the biggest drawback with this approach is that it’s particularly data-hungry. When ecosystems are poorly measured, then the investment curve is unlikely to be very realistic.

CJA Bradshaw

(Many thanks to Lochran Traill and Barry Brook for co-developing these ideas with me)

Comments : 18 Comments »
Tags: biodiversity, conservation, science
Categories : conservation, conservation biology, ecological triage, ecology, ecosystem, ecosystem function, minimum viable population, mvp, planning, population viability analysis, prioritisation

Captive breeding for conservation

7 08 2008

My first attempt at this potentially rather controversial section of ConservationBytes.com. Inspired by my latest post (30/07/2008), I must comment on what I believe is one of the biggest wasters of finite conservation (financial) resources – captive breeding for population recovery. The first laureate of the Toothless category goes to 7 authors (Snyder et al.) who I believe deserve at least a round of beers for their bold paper published way back in 1996 in Conservation Biology – Limitations of captive breeding in endangered species recovery.

The paper describes basically that in most situations, captive breeding for population recovery is ill-conceived, badly planned, overly expensive and done without any notion of the particular species’ minimum viable population size (the population size required to provide a high probability of persistence over a long period). Examples of ridiculous cloning experiments done in the name of ‘conservation’ (one example with which I am familiar is the case of the SE Asian banteng cloning experiment – these conservation-challenged scientists actually claimed “We hope that the birth of these animals will open the way for a new strategy to help maintain valuable biodiversity and to respond to the challenge of large-scale extinctions ahead.” after spending amounts that would make Bill Gates blush). Come on! Minimum viable population sizes number in the thousands to tens of thousands (e.g., Brook et al. 2006; Traill et al. 2007), not to mention the genetic diversity necessary for persistence captive populations generally lack (see Frankham et al. 2004).

In the spirit of ecological triage, we must focus on conservation efforts that have a high probability of changing the extinction risk of species. Wasting millions of dollars to save a handful of inbred individuals (insert your favourite example here) WILL NOT, in most cases, make any difference to population viability (with only a few exceptions). Good on Snyder et al. (1996) for their analysis and conclusions, but zoos, laboratories and other captive-rearing organisations around the world continue to throw away millions using the ‘conservation’ rationale to justify their actions. Rubbish. I’m afraid there is little evidence that the Snyder et al. paper changed anything. (post original published in Toothless 31/07/2008).

CJA Bradshaw

Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: biodiversity, conservation, science
Categories : biodiversity, captive breeding, conservation, ecological triage, extinction, extinction vortex, inbreeding depression, minimum viable population, mvp, recovery, science

Wasting precious money on the conservation-irrelevant

30 07 2008

I’ve just attended the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists held in Montréal, Canada (by the way, if you are ever thinking of staying at Le Centre Sheraton in Montréal, my advice is to make a wide berth – one of the least-satisfying, over-priced, deliberately scrooging hotels I have ever had the displeasure of occupying).

The conference itself was interesting, if not somewhat tangential to most of the major conservation issues facing fish, amphibians and reptiles in the modern context (it is only fair though to state that it wasn’t a ‘conservation’ conference per se). One thing that did astound me though was an open-microphone presentation by someone from the Oceanário de Lisboa in Portugal who described the €100000 operation to release a very large (> 3.5 m wingspan) manta ray (Manta birostris) from its restrictive enclosure. Yes, you read correctly – €100000 to save one individual manta ray. Not even a threatened species (currently classified as ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List), these good people at what I am sure is an excellent aquarium spent more money on one animal than most projects spend on the conservation of entire species.

Have these people not heard of ecological (or ‘conservation’) triage? Similar to medical triage in emergency or wartime situations, ecological triage directs finite resources to those species that require the most attention and have the highest chance of long-term persistence. I’m not sure who coined the term (perhaps Holt & Viney 2001), but the concept has been developed by a number of excellent conservation planning researchers over the last few years to become the cornerstone of modern conservation investment strategies (see Possingham et al. 2002; Hobbs & Kristjanson 2003; Wilson et al. 2007). Ecological triage essentially means that immediate conservation action and resources are directed toward populations that are highly threatened but where the probability of persistence is high. The flip side is that we shouldn’t waste our precious resources either on irrelevant and useless actions like the one described above.

Saving one manta ray would not change the species’ long-term persistence probability – full stop. In an age where conservation action and research are suffering from human apathy and stupidity, surely we can spend our money more wisely. For example, that €100000 could have purchased some primary rain forest somewhere and saved literally thousands of species from extinction. What a waste.

Comments : 11 Comments »
Tags: biodiversity, conservation, science
Categories : biodiversity, conservation, conservation biology, ecological triage, IUCN, manta ray, planning, science

50/500 or 100/1000 debate not about time frame

26 06 2014

As you might recall, Dick Frankham, Barry Brook and I recently wrote a review in Biological Conservation challenging the status quo regarding the famous 50/500 ‘rule’ in conservation management (effective population size [N_e] = 50 to avoid inbreeding depression in the short-term, and N_e = 500 to retain the ability to evolve in perpetuity). Well, it inevitably led to some comments arising in the same journal, but we were only permitted by Biological Conservation to respond to one of them. In our opinion, the other comment was just as problematic, and only further muddied the waters, so it too required a response. In a first for me, we have therefore decided to publish our response on the arXiv pre-print server as well as here on ConservationBytes.com.

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50/500 or 100/1000 debate is not about the time frame – Reply to Rosenfeld

cite as: Frankham, R, Bradshaw CJA, Brook BW. 2014. 50/500 or 100/1000 debate is not about the time frame – Reply to Rosenfeld. arXiv: 1406.6424 [q-bio.PE] 25 June 2014.

The Letter from Rosenfeld (2014) in response to Jamieson and Allendorf (2012) and Frankham et al. (2014) and related papers is misleading in places and requires clarification and correction, as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: 50/500 rule, conservation target, evolutionary potential, Genetics, inbreeding, management, minimum viable population size, MVP, population genetics, recovery
Categories : biodiversity, conservation, conservation biology, decline, ecological triage, extinction, extinction debt, extinction vortex, genetic diversity, genetics, management, minimum viable population, MPA, population viability analysis, PVA, recovery, restoration, synergies, threatened species

No-extinction targets are destined to fail

21 09 2012

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, and now finally I have been given the opportunity to put my ideas ‘down on paper’ (seems like a bit of an old-fashioned expression these days). Now this post might strike some as overly parochial because it concerns the state in which I live, but the concept applies to every jurisdiction that passes laws designed to protect biodiversity. So please look beyond my navel and place the example within your own specific context.

As CB readers will appreciate, I am firmly in support of the application of conservation triage – that is, the intelligent, objective and realistic way of attributing finite resources to minimise extinctions for the greatest number of (‘important’) species. Note that deciding which species are ‘important’ is the only fly in the unguent here, with ‘importance’ being defined inter alia as having a large range (to encompass many other species simultaneously), having an important ecological function or ecosystem service, representing rare genotypes, or being iconic (such that people become interested in investing to offset extinction.

But without getting into the specifics of triage per se, a related issue is how we set environmental policy targets. While it’s a lovely, utopian pipe dream that somehow our consumptive 7-billion-and-growing human population will somehow retract its massive ecological footprint and be able to save all species from extinction, we all know that this is irrevocably fantastical.

So when legislation is passed that is clearly unattainable, why do we accept it as realistic? My case in point is South Australia’s ‘No Species Loss Strategy‘ (you can download the entire 7.3 Mb document here) that aims to

“…lose no more species in South Australia, whether they be on land, in rivers, creeks, lakes and estuaries or in the sea.”

When I first learned of the Strategy, I instantly thought to myself that while the aims are laudable, and many of the actions proposed are good ones, the entire policy is rendered toothless by the small issue of being impossible. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 11 Comments »
Tags: Australia, biodiversity, conservation, extinction, policy, South Australia, species, zero extinction
Categories : Australia, biodiversity, conservation, conservation biology, deforestation, ecosystem function, ecosystem services, environmental policy, extinction, extinction debt, function, genetic diversity, habitat loss, human overpopulation, management, monitoring, planning, prioritisation, reforestation, South Australia

The wounded soldiers of biodiversity

10 04 2012

Here’s another great post from Salvador Herrando-Pérez. It is interesting that he’s chosen an example species that was once (a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away) of great interest to me (caribou – see ancient papers a, b, c, d). But that is another story. Take it away, Salva.

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—Figure 1. Caribou (reindeer) are ungulates weighing up to ~ 100 kg. They live in tundra and taiga in Finland, Greenland, Finland, Norway, Mongolia, Russia, Canada and USA (extinct in Sweden). The species is globally stable (‘Least Concern’, IUCN Red List), but the subspecies of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) is threatened in North America. Schneider and colleagues’ ⁷ study encompasses ~ 3,000 individuals in 12 herds (75 to 450 individuals per herd), occupying ~ 100.000 km² of conifer forest and peatland (3,000 to 19,000 km² per herd). Two ecotypes are recognized regionally²², namely migratory mountain herds (mostly from mountains and foothills in west-central Alberta), and non-migratory boreal herds (mostly from peatlands in central and northern Alberta). The photo shows a group of caribous grazing on subalpine vegetation from Tonquin Valley, Jasper National Park (Alberta, Canada). Photo courtesy of Saakje Hazenberg.—

As conservation biology keeps incorporating management and economical principles from other disciplines, it stumbles with paradoxes such that investing on the most threatened components of biodiversity might in turn jeopardize the entire assets of biodiversity.

At the end of 2011, newspapers and TVs echoed an IUCN report cataloguing as ‘extinct’ or ‘near extinct’ several subspecies of rhinos in Asia and Africa. To many, such news might have invoked the topic: “how badly governments do to protect the environment”. However if, to avoid those extinctions, politicians had to deviate funds from other activities, what thoughts would come to the mind of workers whose salaries had to be frozen, school directors whose classroom-roof leakages could not be repaired (e.g., last winter at my niece’s school in Spain), colonels whose last acquisition of ultramodern tanks had to be delayed, or our city council’s department who had to cancel Sting’s next performance.

Thus, there are three unquestionable facts regarding species conservation:

the protection of species costs money;
governments and environmental organisations have limited budgets for a range of activities they deem necessary; and
our way of conserving nature is failing because, despite increasing public/private support and awareness, the rate of destruction of biodiversity is not decelerating^1,2.

One of the modern debates among conservationists pivots around how to use resources efficiently^3-6. Schneider and colleagues⁷ have dealt with this question for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in Canada. A total of 18 populations of this ungulate persist in the Canadian province of Alberta, all undergoing demographic declines due to mining extractions (oil, gas and bitumen), logging and wolf predation. The species is listed as ‘threatened’ regionally and nationally. The Alberta Caribou Recovery Plan (2004-2014) is attempting to protect all herds. Under such a framework, Schneider et al.⁷ predicted that woodland caribou would be regionally extirpated in less than a century.

Furthermore, they estimated the costs of making each herd viable (Fig. 1), with a triple revelation. To save all herds from extinction would need ~ CA$150,000 million (beyond the available budget). The most threatened herds are among the most expensive to protect (within present management approach). Some herds would be secured through modest investment for two decades. Overall, their study suggests that Alberta’s woodland caribou would be eligible for triage, i.e., at the subpopulation level⁸. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: Alberta, biodiversity, Canada, caribou, conservation, Rangifer tarandus, Reindeer, triage, woodland caribou
Categories : boreal, Canada, climate change, conservation, deforestation, environmental policy, ethics, fire, fragmentation, habitat loss, harvest, logging, mammal, management, planning, recovery, reforestation, temperate

When the cure becomes the disease

6 02 2012

I’ve always barracked for Peter Kareiva‘s views and work; I particularly enjoy his no-bullshit, take-no-prisoners approach to conservation. Sure, he’s said some fairly radical things over the years, and has pissed off more than one conservationist in the process. But I think this is a good thing.

His main point (as is mine, and that of a growing number of conservation scientists) is that we’ve already failed biodiversity, so it’s time to move into the next phase of disaster mitigation. By ‘failing’ I mean that, love it or loathe it, extinction rates are higher now than they have been for millennia, and we have very little to blame but ourselves. Apart from killing 9 out of 10 people on the planet (something no war or disease will ever be able to do), we’re stuck with the rude realism that it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

This post acts mostly an introduction to Peter Kareiva & collaborators’ latest essay on the future of conservation science published in the Breakthrough Institute‘s new journal. While I cannot say I agree with all components (especially the cherry-picked resilience examples), I fundamentally support the central tenet that we have to move on with a new state of play.

In other words, humans aren’t going to go away, ‘pristine’ is as unattainable as ‘infinity’, and reserves alone just aren’t going to cut it. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: Anthropocene, biodiversity, Breakthrough Institute, conservation, environment, extinction, Extinction event, Peter Kareiva
Categories : anthropocene, biodiversity, climate change, conservation, conservation biology, deforestation, ecological triage, ecosystem function, ecosystem services, governance, habitat loss, health, human overpopulation, preservationist, prioritisation

Life and death on Earth: the Cronus hypothesis

13 10 2009

Cronus

Bit of a strange one for you today, but here’s a post I hope you’ll enjoy.

My colleague, Barry Brook, and I recently published a paper in the very new and perhaps controversial online journal , the Journal of Cosmology. Cosmology? According to the journal, ‘cosmology’ is:

“the study and understanding of existence in its totality, encompassing the infinite and eternal, and the origins and evolution of the cosmos, galaxies, stars, planets, earth, life, woman and man”.

The journal publishes papers dealing with ‘cosmology’ and is a vehicle for those who wish to publish on subjects devoted to the study of existence in its totality.

Ok. Quite an aim.

Our paper is part of the November (second ever) issue of the journal entitled Asteroids, Meteors, Comets, Climate and Mass Extinctions, and because we were the first to submit, we managed to secure the first paper in the issue.

Our paper, entitled The Cronus hypothesis – extinction as a necessary and dynamic balance to evolutionary diversification, introduces a new idea in the quest to find that perfect analogy for understanding the mechanisms dictating how life on our planet has waxed and waned over the billions of years since it first appeared.

Gaia

In the 1960s, James Lovelock conceived the novel idea of Gaia – that the Earth functions like a single, self-regulating organism where life itself interacts with the physical environment to maintain conditions favourable for life (Gaia was the ancient Greeks’ Earth mother goddess). Embraced, contested, denounced and recently re-invigorated, the idea has evolved substantially since it first appeared. More recently (this year, in fact), Peter Ward countered the Gaia hypothesis with his own Greek metaphor – the Medea hypothesis. Essentially this view holds that life instead ‘seeks’ to destroy itself in an anti-Gaia manner (Medea was the siblicidal wife of Jason of the Argonauts). Ward described his Medea hypothesis as “Gaia’s evil twin”.

One can marvel at the incredible diversity of life on Earth (e.g., conservatively, > 4 million protists, 16600 protozoa, 75000-300000 helminth parasites, 1.5 million fungi, 320000 plants, 4-6 million arthropods, > 6500 amphibians, 10000 birds and > 5000 mammals) and wonder that there might be something in the ‘life makes it easier for life’ idea underlying Gaia. However, when one considers that over 99 % of all species that have ever existed are today extinct, then a Medea perspective might dominate.

Medea

Enter Cronus. Here we posit a new way of looking at the tumultuous history of life and death on Earth that effectively relegates Gaia and Medea to opposite ends of a spectrum. Cronus (patricidal son of Gaia overthrown by his own son, Zeus, and banished to Hades) treats speciation and extinction as birth and death in a ‘metapopulation’ of species assemblages split into biogeographic realms. Catastrophic extinction events can be brought about via species engineering their surroundings by passively modifying the delicate balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide and methane – indeed, humans might be the next species to fall victim to our own Medean tendencies. But extinction opens up new niches that eventually elicit speciation, and under conditions of relative environmental stability, specialists evolve because they are (at least temporarily) competitive under those conditions. When conditions change again, extinction ensues because not all can adapt quickly enough. Just as all individuals born in a population must eventually die, extinction is a necessary termination.

We think the Cronus metaphor has a lot of advantages over Gaia and Medea. The notion of a community of species as a population of selfish individuals retains the Darwinian view of contestation; self-regulation in Cronus occurs naturally as a result of extinction modifying the course of future evolution. Cronus also makes existing mathematical tools developed for metapopulation theory amenable to broader lines of inquiry.

For example, species as individuals with particular ‘mortality’ (extinction) rates, and lineages with particular ‘birth’ (speciation) rates, could interact and disperse among ‘habitats’ (biogeographical realms). ‘Density’ feedback could be represented as competitive exclusion or symbioses. As species dwindle, feedbacks such as reduced community resilience that further exacerbate extinction risk (Medea-like phase), and stochastic fluctuation around a ‘carrying capacity’ (niche saturation) arising when environmental conditions are relatively stable is the Gaia-like phase. Our Cronus framework is also scale-invariant – it could be applied to microbial diversity on another organism right up to inter-planetary exchange of life (panspermia).

What’s the relevance to conservation? We’re struggling to prevent extinction, so understanding how it works is an essential first step. Without the realisation that extinction is necessary (albeit, at rates preferably slower than they are currently), we cannot properly implement conservation triage, i.e., where do we invest in conservation and why?

We had fun with this, and I hope you enjoy it too.

CJA Bradshaw

Bradshaw, C.J.A., & Brook, B.W. (2009). The Cronus Hypothesis – extinction as a necessary and dynamic balance to evolutionary diversification Journal of Cosmology, 2, 201-209 Other: http://journalofcosmology.com/Extinction100.html

Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: biodiversity, Cronus, evolution, extinction, Gaia, Medea, science, speciation
Categories : biodiversity, conservation, demography, extinction, habitat loss, harvest, invasive species, metapopulation, modelling, niche model, population dynamics, speciation

Managing for extinction

9 10 2009

ladder Ah, it doesn’t go away, does it? Or at least, we won’t let it.

That concept of ‘how many is enough?’ in conservation biology, the so-called ‘minimum viable population size‘, is enough to drive some conservation practitioners batty.

How many times have we heard the (para-) phrase: “It’s simply impractical to bring populations of critically endangered species up into the thousands”?

Well, my friends, if you’re not talking thousands, you’re wasting everyone’s time and money. You are essentially managing for extinction.

Our new paper out online in Biological Conservation entitled Pragmatic population viability targets in a rapidly changing world (Traill et al.) shows that populations of endangered species are unlikely to persist in the face of global climate change and habitat loss unless they number around 5000 mature individuals or more.

After several meta-analytic, time series-based and genetic estimates of the magic minimum number all agreeing, we can be fairly certain now that if a population is much less than several thousands (median = 5000), its likelihood of persisting in the long run in the face of normal random variation is pretty small.

We conclude essentially that many conservation biologists routinely underestimate or ignore the number of animals or plants required to prevent extinction. In fact, aims to maintain tens or hundreds of individuals, when thousands are actually needed, are simply wasting precious and finite conservation resources. Thus, if it is deemed unrealistic to attain such numbers, we essentially advise that in most cases conservation triage should be invoked and the species in question be abandoned for better prospects

A long-standing idea in species restoration programs is the so-called ‘50/500’ rule; this states that at least 50 adults are required to avoid the damaging effects of inbreeding, and 500 to avoid extinctions due to the inability to evolve to cope with environmental change. Our research suggests that the 50/500 rule is at least an order of magnitude too small to stave off extinction.

This does not necessarily imply that populations smaller than 5000 are doomed. But it does highlight the challenge that small populations face in adapting to a rapidly changing world.

We are battling to prevent a mass extinction event in the face of a growing human population and its associated impact on the planet, but the bar needs to be a lot higher. However, we shouldn’t necessarily give up on critically endangered species numbering a few hundred of individuals in the wild. Acceptance that more needs to be done if we are to stop ‘managing for extinction’ should force decision makers to be more explicit about what they are aiming for, and what they are willing to trade off, when allocating conservation funds.

CJA Bradshaw

(with thanks to Lochran Traill, Barry Brook and Dick Frankham)

Traill, L.W., Brook, B.W., Frankham, R.R., & Bradshaw, C.J.A. (2009). Pragmatic population viability targets in a rapidly changing world Biological Conservation DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2009.09.001

Comments : 8 Comments »
Tags: biodiversity, conservation, minimum viable population, science
Categories : conservation, conservation biology, decline, ecological triage, investment, living dead, management, minimum viable population, mvp, population viability analysis, PVA, Red List, threatened species

Fallacy of zero-extinction targets

20 05 2022

Nearly a decade ago (my how time flies^*), I wrote a post about the guaranteed failure of government policies purporting no-extinction targets within their environmental plans. I was referring to the State of South Australia’s (then) official policy of no future extinctions.

In summary, zero- (or no-) extinction targets at best demonstrate a deep naïvety of how ecology works, and at worst, waste a lot of resources on interventions doomed to fail.

1. Extinctions happen all the time, irrespective of human activity;

2. Through past environmental degradation, we are guaranteed to see future extinctions because of extinction lags;

3. Few, if any, of the indicators of biodiversity change show improvement.

4. Climate change will also guarantee additional (perhaps even most) future extinctions irrespective of Australian policies.

I argued that no-extinction policies are therefore disingenuous to the public in the extreme because they sets false expectations, engender disillusionment after inevitable failure, and ignores the concept of triage — putting our environment-restoration resources toward the species/systems with the best chance of surviving (uniqueness notwithstanding).

Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: Australian Labor Party, conservation triage, elections, environmental policies, no-extinction policy, no-extinction target, The Greens, triage, zero-extinction policy, zero-extinctions target
Categories : Australia, biodiversity, climate change, conservation, conservation biology, decline, deforestation, ecological literacy, ecology, ecosystem, environmental policy, environmental science, extinction, extinction debt, management, planning, recovery, reforestation, restoration, science, threatened species, trophic cascades

Why a (young) scientist should blog

12 11 2018

I started to blog in the middle of my PhD, exactly on 17 February 2011 — as a scientist I remember my first blog like a soccer-loving kid might remember his/her first soccer ball. Postgraduates from ACAD have recently asked me to give a talk about my blogging experience, and I couldn’t resist turning my talk into a blog.

Salvador Herrando-Pérez

The cover of the February (polar bears) and December (water flea) 2017 issues of the Spanish magazine Quercus featured two of my popular-science articles. Founded in 1981, and with a current print run of some 15,000 copies monthly, Quercus has pioneered the dissemination of ecological and environmental science with a conservation edge in Spain and survived the digitalisation age, which has recently deserved the prestigious 2018 BBVA prize for Biodiversity Conservation. My liaison with the magazine already spans seven years with 49 articles published in three theme series (conservation biology: 2011-2012; animal behaviour: 2013; and climate change: active since January 2017 in collaboration with my colleague David Vieites).

I write in blogs, but I am not a blogger in the sense of owning and managing a blog. More exactly, I write about science using a language that should be understandable by an audience of scientists and, primarily, non-scientists. The best English expression I have found to qualify such activity is ‘popular science’ (I use it interchangeably with ‘blog’ hereafter). And blogs are just one platform (internet) to publish popular science.

In fact, I publish popular science on a regular basis here in ConservationBytes, and in Quercus: a printed Spanish-language magazine about ecology and biodiversity. My articles in those outlets typically synthesise the findings, and expand the background and implications, of high-profile research papers from the primary literature. Sometimes, I also write blogs to maximise the audience of my own publications (e.g., here and here), or to discuss a topic of general interest (e.g., numerical literacy). I have listed all my blogs on ConservationBytes at the end of the text.

Frankly, I had never stopped to think why I started and why I keep writing popular science. So after a bit of brainstorming, I have come up with five personal motivations which will probably resonate with those of other scientists entering the Blogosphere (1) — see here Corey’s take on the virtues of blogging.

Self-promotion

When you are in the early stage of your research career, letting your peers know that you exist is essential, unless one already publishes hot papers that everybody reads and cites, and/or you have already amassed quite a reputation in the scientific community (not my case). Let’s be clear: my blogs are bound to be read by more people than my research papers, because blogs magnify the chances of being detected by search engines (2), and because the size of the scientific community is dwarfed by the size of the internet community. Doubtless, self-promotion drew me into popular science in the first place, when I was just a PhD student — ahead of me lay some five to ten years over which I would have to compete hard for funding and publication space with a respectable crowd of other researchers, let alone to create new partnerships with colleagues in and out of my area of expertise. So, blogging initially meant like saying ‘hey! I am here, I am doing science’.

Funding/Outreach

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: blogging, early-career researchers, networking, popular science, science communication, social media
Categories : blog, ecological literacy, ecology, science, science communication, science writing, scientific writing

We’re sorry, but 50/500 is still too few

28 01 2014

Some of you who are familiar with my colleagues’ and my work will know that we have been investigating the minimum viable population size concept for years (see references at the end of this post). Little did I know when I started this line of scientific inquiry that it would end up creating more than a few adversaries.

It might be a philosophical perspective that people adopt when refusing to believe that there is any such thing as a ‘minimum’ number of individuals in a population required to guarantee a high (i.e., almost assured) probability of persistence. I’m not sure. For whatever reason though, there have been some fierce opponents to the concept, or any application of it.

Yet a sizeable chunk of quantitative conservation ecology develops – in various forms – population viability analyses to estimate the probability that a population (or entire species) will go extinct. When the probability is unacceptably high, then various management approaches can be employed (and modelled) to improve the population’s fate. The flip side of such an analysis is, of course, seeing at what population size the probability of extinction becomes negligible.

‘Negligible’ is a subjective term in itself, just like the word ‘very‘ can mean different things to different people. This is why we looked into standardising the criteria for ‘negligible’ for minimum viable population sizes, almost exactly what the near universally accepted IUCN Red List attempts to do with its various (categorical) extinction risk categories.

But most reasonable people are likely to agree that < 1 % chance of going extinct over many generations (40, in the case of our suggestion) is an acceptable target. I’d feel pretty safe personally if my own family’s probability of surviving was > 99 % over the next 40 generations.

Some people, however, baulk at the notion of making generalisations in ecology (funny – I was always under the impression that was exactly what we were supposed to be doing as scientists – finding how things worked in most situations, such that the mechanisms become clearer and clearer – call me a dreamer).

So when we were attacked in several high-profile journals, it came as something of a surprise. The latest lashing came in the form of a Trends in Ecology and Evolution article. We wrote a (necessarily short) response to that article, identifying its inaccuracies and contradictions, but we were unable to expand completely on the inadequacies of that article. However, I’m happy to say that now we have, and we have expanded our commentary on that paper into a broader review. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 14 Comments »
Tags: 50/500 rule, conservation, extinction, Genetics, inbreeding, inbreeding depression, management, minimum viable population size, mvl, population viability analysis, PVA
Categories : conservation, conservation biology, demography, DNA, ecological triage, extinction, genetic diversity, genetics, inbreeding depression, management, modelling, population dynamics, population viability analysis, PVA, threatened species

Who’s responsible for climate change? Not ecologists, right?

19 06 2012

It’s sometimes difficult to take a long, hard look in the mirror and admit one’s failings. Today’s post is a thought-provoking challenge to all ecologists (indeed, all scientists) who gaily flit all over the known universe in the name of science. I’m certainly in one of the upper guilt echelons on this issue – and while I tell myself each January that “this year I’ll fly much less frequently”, I usually end up breaking my resolution by month’s end.

In some defence of my sins, I have to state that while I should always endeavour to fly less, I am convinced that strategic, well-planned (and usually small) meetings are some of the best ways to advance scientific ideas. As CB readers might know, I am particularly impressed with the results of dedicated workshops in this regard.

I also think that even if all aeroplanes suddenly fell from the sky and one could no longer enjoy that transcontinental G & T, we’d still be in a terribly climate-change mess – we need BIG solutions beyond simple consumption reduction.

Now I’m just making excuses. Thanks again to Alejandro Frid for providing this challenge to me and our colleagues.

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Recently I asked a math savvy graduate student at Simon Fraser University, in Western Canada, to proofread an equation. ‘No problem’, she replied, ‘but could you wait a few days? I am about to fly to Korea for a conference but I will return shortly.’

Hmmmm? So this is what the system promotes: gallivanting halfway around the world and back within a week, burning extraordinary amounts of fossil fuels, all in the name of scientific career advancement. Who are the climate change culprits? Not us ecologists, right?

Of course I am being unfair to Ms. Maths Savvy. Most of us are equally guilty of boarding that big ol’ jet airliner in the name of scientific meetings or the pursuit of ecological knowledge in far off study sites. Yet the inconvenient truth, according to a recent editorial in Nature Climate Change¹, is that “international air travel accounts for about 5% of global warming”. Flying all over the world in the name of ecology and conservation therefore implies that we believe that (i) there are no alternative means to accomplish the same goal with far less emissions, and (ii) that the benefits of our work outweigh the atmospheric impacts of flying. Think again.

For insight into these issues, I interviewed Kevin Anderson, deputy director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester and arguably the climate conscience of scientists. I was attracted to Anderson’s perspective because of its blunt honesty. He calls air travel “…the most emission profligate activity per hour”² and has little patience for the irony that “international climate jamborees”, otherwise known as climate science meetings, have contributed far more to increasing carbon emissions than to any meaningful action on climate change. His recent commentary in Nature³ makes it amply clear that buying carbon offsets when flying may ease our perceived guilt but not emission rates. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 9 Comments »
Tags: Climate, climate change, consumption, Emissions, environment, greenhouse gases, Kevin Anderson, scientific meetings
Categories : carbon, climate change, conference, conservation

Not magic, but necessary

18 10 2011

In April this year, some American colleagues of ours wrote a rather detailed, 10-page article in Trends in Ecology and Evolution that attacked our concept of generalizing minimum viable population (MVP) size estimates among species. Steve Beissinger of the University of California at Berkeley, one of the paper’s co-authors, has been a particularly vocal adversary of some of the applications of population viability analysis and its child, MVP size, for many years. While there was some interesting points raised in their review, their arguments largely lacked any real punch, and they essentially ended up agreeing with us.

Let me explain. Today, our response to that critique was published online in the same journal: Minimum viable population size: not magic, but necessary. I want to take some time here to summarise the main points of contention and our rebuttal.

But first, let’s recap what we have been arguing all along in several papers over the last few years (i.e., Brook et al. 2006; Traill et al. 2007, 2010; Clements et al. 2011) – a minimum viable population size is the point at which a declining population becomes a small population (sensu Caughley 1994). In other words, it’s the point at which a population becomes susceptible to random (stochastic) events that wouldn’t otherwise matter for a small population.

Consider the great auk (Pinguinus impennis), a formerly widespread and abundant North Atlantic species that was reduced by intensive hunting throughout its range. How did it eventually go extinct? The last remaining population blew up in a volcanic explosion off the coast of Iceland (Halliday 1978). Had the population been large, the small dent in the population due to the loss of those individuals would have been irrelevant.

But what is ‘large’? The empirical evidence, as we’ve pointed out time and time again, is that large = thousands, not hundreds, of individuals.

So this is why we advocate that conservation targets should aim to keep at or recover to the thousands mark. Less than that, and you’re playing Russian roulette with a species’ existence. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 6 Comments »
Tags: biodiversity, conservation, ecology, environment, minimum viable population, minimum viable population size, MVP, SAFE index, Small population size
Categories : Allee effect, biodiversity, conservation, conservation biology, demography, ecological triage, environmental policy, extinction debt, extinction vortex, inbreeding depression, minimum viable population, mvp, population viability analysis, PVA

Classics

10 07 2008

This page highlights a growing list of what I (and others) believe are some of the classic studies that have assisted in biodiversity conservation. The first link per topic takes you to the post, the highlighted paper and link takes you to the paper’s source.

Allee Effect

Allee, W.C. (1931). Animal Aggregations: A Study in General Sociology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

Island Biogeography

MacArthur, R.H. & Wilson, E.O. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

Tragedy of the Commons

Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons Science, 162, 1243-1248

Minimum Viable Population Size

Shaffer, M.L. (1981). Minimum population sizes for species conservation. BioScience 31, 131–134

Ecosystem Services

Ehrlich, P.R., H. A. Mooney. (1983). Extinction, substitution, and ecosystem services. BioScience 33, 248-254

The Evil Quartet

Diamond, J.M. (1984). ‘Normal’ extinction of isolated populations In: Extinctions, M.H. Nitecki (Ed.), 191-246, Chicago University Press, Chicago, USA

Fragmentation

Wilcox, B.A., Murphy D.D. (1985). Conservation strategy: the effects of fragmentation on extinction. American Naturalist, 125, 879-887

Mesopredator Release

Soulé, M. E., Bolger, D. T., Alberts, A. C., Sauvajot, R. S., Wright, J., Sorice, M. & Hill, S. (1988) Reconstructed dynamics of rapid extinctions of chaparral-requiring birds in urban habitat islands. Conservation Biology, 2, 75-92

Demography versus genetics

Lande, R. (1988). Genetics and demography in biological conservation. Science, 241, 1455-1460

IUCN Red List

Mace, G.M. & Lande, R. (1991). Assessing extinction threats: toward a re-evaluation of IUCN threatened species categories. Conservation Biology, 51, 148-157

Ecological Triage

Walker, B. H. (1992) Biodiversity and ecological redundancy. Conservation Biology, 6, 18-23

Declining vs. Small Population Paradigms

Caughley, G. (1994). Directions in conservation biology. Journal of Animal Ecology, 63, 215-244

Extinction Debt

Tilman, D., May, R.M., Lehman, C.L., Nowak, M.A. (1994) Habitat destruction and the extinction debt. Nature 371, 65-66

N_e:N ratio

Frankham, R. (1995). Effective population size/adult population size ratios in wildlife: a review. Genetical Research, 66, 95-107

Shifting Baselines

Pauly, D. (1995). Anecdotes and the shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 430

Fishing Down the Food Web

Pauly, D., Christensen, V., Dalsgaard, J., Froese, R. & Torres Jr., F. (1998). Fishing down marine food webs. Science, 279, 860-863

Invasion Meltdown

Simberloff, D. & Von Holle, B. (1999). Positive interactions of nonindigenous species: invasional meltdown? Biological Invasions, 1, 21-32

Biodiversity Hotspots

Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B. & Kent, J. (2000). Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 403, 853-858

Extinction from Climate Change

Thomas, C.D., Cameron, A., Green, R.E., Bakkenes, M., Beaumont, L.J., Collingham, Y.C., Erasmus, B.F.N., de Siqueira, M.F., Grainger, A., Hannah, L., Hughes, L., Huntley, B., van Jaarsveld, A.S., Midgley, G.F., Miles, L., Ortega-Huerta, M.A., Peterson, A.T., Phillips, O.L., & Williams, S.E. (2004) Extinction risk from climate change. Nature, 427, 145-148

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Categories :

Media appearances

2 07 2008

MEDIA HITS ⋅ PRESS RELEASES

MEDIA HITS

Radio Ecoshock – Mass Extinction with Apocalyptic Economics (29 minutes)
ABC Radio National Late Night Live – New insights on ancient people movements in the super-continent of Sahul (14 minutes)
Geo – Comment les humains ont-ils peuplé l’ancien mégacontinent du Sahul ?
Helsingin Sanomat – Luontokato etenee ketjureaktiona – kymmenesosa eläinlajeista voi hävitä kolmessa vuosikymmenessä
Geographical – Tenacious beasts: The philosophical complexities of wildlife conservation
Archäeologie in Deutschland – Die Besiedlung Australiens dauerte 10.000 Jahre
ABC Breakfast (Adelaide) – Corey Bradshaw discussed human migration patterns across the former supercontinent Sahul, with Deb Tribe on ABC Radio, and picked up online coverage
Diario Estrategia – Los humanos tardaron 10.000 años en poblar Australia y Nueva Guinea
EcoVoice – Remapping the superhighways travelled by the first Australians reveals a 10,000-year journey
Scimex/Phys.org/EurekAlert! – Remapping the superhighways travelled by the first Australians reveals a 10,000-year journey through the continent
SBS Italiano – Cambiamenti climatici, le possibili catastrofiche conseguenze spiegate in un modello
Finding Genius Podcast – Why are animal species rapidly going extinct? | Insight from a global ecologist (listen: 38:31 minutes)
Le Monde – Disparition d’espèces animales : les coextinctions, une menace pour la biodiversité
Canberra Times/Perth Now/Camden Haven Courier (& many other News Corpse rags) – River Murray flood creates breeding boom
Popular Mechanics – Supercomputer says 27% of life on Earth will be dead by the end of this century (Isn’t that a sensationalist headline?)
Scimex – Interrupted flows in the Murray River endanger frogs
EurekAlert!/Phys.Org/EcoVoice/Tech Codex – New modelling shows how interrupted flows in Australia’s Murray River endanger frogs
Impakter – Europe faces extreme January heatwave to welcome the New Year (mentioned in article)
I Fucking Love Science – “Co-extinctions” could take out one-sixth of vertebrate species this century
The Guardian – More than 1 in 10 species could be lost by end of century, study warns
Irish Times – More than 10% of animals and plants could go extinct by 2100, says study
Straits Times – Nature at risk of ‘cascading’ species extinction, study shows
The Hill – Equilibrium/Sustainability — A quarter of biodiversity may be erased by 2100
Forbes – Humanity Will Wipe Out More Than A Quarter Of Earth’s Biodiversity In The Next 100 Years
Foreign Affairs NZ – Children born today will see literally thousands of animals disappear in their lifetime, as global food webs collapse
SwissInfo – La Tierra puede perder hasta un 10 % de la biodiversidad para 2050
Yahoo! Actualités – Biodiversité : Une « cascade » d’extinctions menace les animaux et les plantes
Xinhua – One quarter of biodiversity facing extinction by 2100: report
Iidiseis – Ντόμινο εξαφάνισης του 27% των ειδών ζώων και φυτών – Νέα μελέτη για την κλιματική αλλαγή
AFP – Climate change and habitat degradation will cause extinctions that cascade through communities of animals and plants and drive dramatic biodiversity loss
ABC News – Computer modelling predicts climate change causing cascading animal ‘co-extinctions’
EurekAlert! – New modelling shows extinction cascades caused by land use and climate change will wipe out more than a quarter of world biodiversity
Phys.org – Model shows extinction cascades caused by land use and climate change will wipe out more than 25% of world biodiversity
Cosmos – Scientists wary of government biodiversity pitch as new study projects over a quarter of species lost in next 80 years
Mongabay – If you build it, the amphibians will come: Swiss researchers show new ponds boost species at risk (mentioned in article)
Daily Maverick – Fossil fuel multinationals can never pay Africa enough compensation – the price is life on Earth (mentioned in article)
USA Today – ‘Fairytale science’: Rather than reviving an extinct species, stop killing them off
The Brilliant – A wake-up call from the future
ABC Esperance – Interview about the Australian Shark-Incident Database (listen)
ABC PM – Shark attack database could reveal “bad shark years” (listen)
The Guardian – New dataset shows shark bites in Australia are increasing and researchers want to know why
India Express – Explained: When shark bites are fatal, and which species kill the most
EurekAlert!/Australian Geographic/Mirage/ScienMag/PhysOrg – Historical dataset could help scientists better understand sharks
TBS eFM (South Korea) – Why a shrinking human population is a good thing (listen)
Cosmos Magazine – Damage Control
Radio Adelaide – De-extinction and the thylacine (listen)
Newsroom – Don’t hold your breath for the Govt’s response on emissions targets
Scientific American – Our environmental crisis requires political fixes, not technological ones (mentions ‘ghastly future‘ paper)
Deutsche Welle – What to expect from the world’s sixth mass extinction
The Islander – Flinders University to launch Kangaroo Island Passport to Recovery Program
AdelaideNow – Counting costs of war on feral pests: $3 billion bill for weeding out damaging, invasive species
Adelaide Advertiser – Study reveals fighting pests in South Australia has cost $3.29 billion
News Monkey – Les inondations nous ont prouvé que personne n’est à l’abri du changement climatique, même les plus riches
ABC – Naracoorte megafauna succumbed to both humans and climate change, research finds
Forbes – Computer models suggest that Australia’s extinct megafauna was vulnerable to climate change and human land use
9 News – How Australia’s ancient giant animals met their end
EurekAlert!/ScienMag/Phys.org/Foreign Affairs NZ/True Viral News – Extinct megafauna prone to ancient ‘hunger games’
News.fr.24 – Une mégafaune éteinte sujette aux anciens « jeux de la faim »
ChitChat Post España – Megafauna extinta expuesta a los antiguos “Juegos del Hambre”
Germanic – Ausgestorbene Megafauna anfällig für uralte „Hungerspiele“
Fluierul – Megafauna dispărută predispusă la vechile „jocuri ale foamei”
The Lentil Intervention – Wrap-up 2021: Stories behind the science of climate change & humanity’s unsteady relationship with the natural world
Radio Adelaide – Can koalas survive?
ABC Radio Adelaide – Corey Bradshaw interviewed by Sonya Feldhoff (Afternoons) regarding government pledge to zero net emissions by 2050
Herald Sun – Warning of Australia’s next great animal ‘extinction event’
The Advertiser – SA the great state is ‘just right’
The Advertiser – Green jobs to grow as sustainability is the standard
The Advertiser – Bring biodiversity along for the ride
ABC Radio National ‘The Science Show’ – Avoiding a ghastly future
The Advertiser – Key role for nuke power
The Advertiser – The environment and sustainability in the spotlight in Advertiser/Flinders University’s Fearless Conversations series
NBC News – Australia’s koalas are in trouble. The question is how much
Campus Morning Mail – Comparing research performance: there’s a better way than the H index
news.com.au – Koala numbers plummet by 30 per cent in three years
The Age/Sydney Morning Herald/WA Today – Fairer measure of research success (scroll down to third section of article)
EurekAlert!/Phys.org/Scimex – Banishing bias across disciplines, genders and experience—new tool for fairer research metrics
Times Higher Education – ‘Old farts’ get no favours from research’s new epsilon index (PDF)
Adelaide Advertiser – Meet South Australia’s 50 most influential people in the environment sector
Adelaide Advertiser – Flinders University professor reveals potential emissions toll if plan to burn Kangaroo Island plantations is realised, following seaport refusal
ABC Adelaide 891 – Corey Bradshaw interviewed about the IPCC 6th Assessment Report
5AA Radio – Corey Bradshaw interviewed about the IPCC 6th Assessment Report
5MU Radio – How Climate Change Could Impact SA
ABC Behind the News – Feral species cost
Adelaide Advertiser – Heat, drought, fire storms: SA faces worse climate change
Queensland Country Life – Fire ants would spread to Longreach, Bowen if not for ten year plan
Queensland Country Life – Invasive species cost Queensland $3.7b
RTR FM – Research assessment declares feral cats worst invasive species (interview; listen)
ABC Alice Springs Drive – Invasive species costs to Australia (interview; listen)
The Guardian – Ryegrass, fire ants and feral cats: major Australian study identifies costliest pests in past 60 years
ABC Goulburn Murray Breakfast – Invasive species costs to Australia (interview; listen)
ABC Country Hour (multiple states) – Invasive species costs to Australia (interview; listen from 28:47)
ABC South Australia – Invasive species costs to Australia (interview; listen)
Invasive species cost nation $390 billion, top 10 named and shamed
Annual ryegrass to be the most costly invasive species to WA
FarmOnline National – Invasive species cost nation $390 billion, top 10 named and shamed
The Saturday Paper – Invasive species cost $390 bn (Item #5)
Weekly Times – Invasive species cost Australia almost $390 billion, as weeds, cats, rabbits top list
earth.com – Invasive species have racked up $390 billion bill in Australia
Phys.org – The price of pests: Australia’s $390 billion invasive species bill
National Tribune – Australia’s $390 billion invasive species bill
News.fr-24 – Les plantes et animaux nuisibles coûtent à l’Australie environ 25 milliards de dollars par an – et cela va empirer
Xinhua.net – Invasive species costing Australian economy billions: study
ABC News – Invasive species have cost Australia $390 billion in the past 60 years, study shows
Scimex – EXPERT REACTION: Climate tipping points described in leaked IPCC Report
Adelaide Advertiser – Counting the cost of climate change
Adelaide Advertiser – Adelaide’s hot on fighting back against climate catastrophes
National Indigenous Times – Ancient Indigenous population much larger than previously thought
SBS NITV ‘Take it Blak’ podcast – Indigenous ‘super-highways’ interview
Africa Geographic – Recreational hunting: 50 years of scientific research
The Guardian – Are there too many people? All bets are off
Science Magazine News – Ancient Australian ‘superhighways’ suggested by massive supercomputing study
Wearable Technologies – Wearable technology might save us from shark bites
Helsingin Sanomat – The sea of fire was quickly forgotten (Tulimeri unohtui nopeasti)
SBS NITV Radio – ‘The “superhighways” travelled by First Australians thousands of years ago‘ — interview with Corey Bradshaw about the Indigenous ‘superhighways’ of Sahul (3 May 2021; listen from 20:05)
Science Alert – The First People in Australia May Have Followed ‘Superhighways’ When Arriving There
ABC Radio National Sunday Extra – Australia’s ancient Indigenous superhighways (listen)
Scientific American – Nature can help us prepare for the next pandemic
Scimex – Mapping the ‘superhighways’ travelled by the first Australians
Cosmos – The First Australians grew to a population of millions
ABC News – Researchers demystify the secrets of ancient Aboriginal migration across Australia
SBS Français – Cartographie des « super-autoroutes » parcourues par les premiers Australiens
Republica – Los primeros pobladores de Australia usaron “supercarreteras” hace más de 50.000 años
Australian Geographic – ‘Super-highways’ First Australians used to cross ancient land, mapped
WA Today – Australia’s Indigenous population may have been 3 million, study finds
Daily Mail – Mapping Australia’s ancient ‘superhighways’: Scientists reveal the most common paths that up to 6.5 MILLION Indigenous people took while travelling across the continent 70,000 years ago
Notimérica – Mapean las ‘superautopistas’ que usaban los primeros australianos
SciTech Daily – First Human Inhabitants of Australia Followed “Superhighways” Across the Continent
Phys.org – Mapping the ‘superhighways’ travelled by the first Australians
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age/Brisbane Times – Researchers map ancient ‘superhighways’ used by first Australians
CABAH – Mapping the ‘superhighways’ travelled by the first Australians
Apu – Riikka Suomisen kolumni: Lapseni elää aikuisena kuumenneessa maailmassa – miten varustan hänet?
SciTech Daily – Experts say humanity faces a grim and “ghastly future” – state of planet Is much worse than most people understand
ABC Radio Sydney – interview on the costs of invasive species (listen from 2:57:48)
2SER – How pesky pests cost $1.7 trillion worldwide
‘Examine’ (The Age) – One big thing
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction ‘Prevention Web’ – Attack of the alien invaders: pest plants and animals leave a frightening $1.7 trillion bill
Cosmos – Attack of the alien invaders
CABAH – Megafauna mysteries — plotting unpredictable and complex extinction cascades
Sustainability Times – Size alone ‘did not cause ancient megafauna to go extinct’
SciTech Daily – Size isn’t everything: megafauna extinction mystery
Adelaide Advertiser – Sizing up extinction theory
EurekAlert!/Scimex/ScienceDaily – Megafauna extinction mystery – size isn’t everything
Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine – Canada and global economy paying high price for invasive species
Vox – The hottest number in conservation is rooted more in politics than science
Boston Herald – Shark deterrent sales climb on Cape Cod, as shark bite researcher says tech can save lives
BBC Radio 4 Inside Science – Disobedient particles, noisy gorillas, sharks and fictional languages (listen from ~ 17:24)
The Washington Post – There are no perfect defences against shark bites. But wearable tech might help, researchers say
Boston Herald – Shark bites averted: Beachgoers wearing electronic tech could save lives
SBS Ελληνικά – Ηλεκτρονικές συσκευές υπόσχονται να μειώσουν τις επιθέσεις καρχαριών
The Wire – 60% of shark bites could be prevented with electronic deterrents, study finds (listen)
The Lentil Intervention – Living on borrowed time (long-form interview)
ABC Radio Hobart – Shark attack deaths could be reduced by 1000s says researcher
The Guardian – Damage from invasive species ‘trebling every decade’
ABC – Shark bites could be reduced by 60 per cent with the right electronic deterrents, study finds
Cosmos Magazine – New study reveals that invasive species have cost US$1.28 trillion globally over the past 50 years
Bloomberg – There’s a Trillion Dollar Invasions Threat to the Global Economy
EurekAlert! – US$1.28 trillion: The stark economic carnage of biological invasions threatening the world
GEO – En 50 ans, les espèces envahissantes auraient coûté plus de 1000 milliards d’euros à l’humanité
SwissInfo – Los daños de las especies invasoras cuestan casi lo mismo que el PIB español
Siglo XXI – Los daños mundiales de especies invasoras superan el billón de euros desde 1970
Manila Times – Electronic devices save sharks – researchers
Nuevo Periódico – Los científicos demuestran que la tecnología electrónica puede salvar a las personas de las mordeduras de tiburones
Wissenschaft.de – Wie viel uns invasive Arten kosten
20 Minutes – L’usage de répulsifs anti-requins peut réduire le nombre des attaques, selon une étude
Forbes – Technology Might Save Us From Shark Bites
Daily Mail – How personal electronic tags fitted to surfers’ ankles could save thousands of lives a year by preventing shark attacks
I Fucking Love Science – Personal Electronic Shark Deterrents Could Reduce Attack Risk, Saving Sharks In The Process
The Straits Times – Electronic shark deterrents can save lives: Study
Agence France Presse – Electronic shark deterrents can save lives (of sharks too)
Cosmos Magazine – How to avoid a shark attack
The Mandarin – Scientists show technology can save Australians from shark bites
EurekAlert! – Scientists show technology can save people from shark bites
SciTech Daily/ScienMag – Scientists Show Electronic Technology Can Save People From Shark Bites
Canberra Times (and a heap of syndicated papers) – Modelling backs use of shark deterrents
The New Republic – We’re hurtling toward global suicide
New York Times – Yes, America, There Is (Some) Hope for the Environment
Research Storyteller – Does recreational hunting help conversation and local economies? We don’t know
5MU – Conservation paradox – how recreational hunting can save environments (listen)
Europa Press – La caza puede ayudar a la conservación de las especies, según un estudio
EurekAlert/Phys.org– Conservation paradox – the pros and cons of recreational hunting
Mirage News – Recreational hunting’s conservation paradox
Florida News Times – Advantages and disadvantages of recreational hunting
New Scientist – Rescue plan for nature: How to fix the biodiversity crisis
Siglo21 – El profesor de Ecología Global en la Universidad australiana de Flinders Corey Bradshaw reflexiona sobre la posible extinción del mundo tal y cómo lo entendemos (listen from 39:38)
Daily Kos – Ecologists warn of a lethal, ghastly future, and they insist we stop sugarcoating it
The Guardian – Human activity forces animals to move further to survive, study finds (Corey Bradshaw interviewed about this research)
Radio Ecoshock – Stop the ghastly future (listen)
National Geographic España – Los científicos vaticinan un futuro desolador para el planeta
Yale Environment 360 – Avoiding a ‘ghastly future’: hard truths on the state of the planet
CounterPunch – The rich, the poor, and climate change
City Life – Complex life threatened
La Izquierda Diario – Tenemos que hablar de la emergencia climática y ecológica
Helsingin Sanomat – Ihmiskunta kiihdyttää kohti kärsimystä, eivätkä poliittiset järjestelmämme osaa suojella meitä, sanoo kylmäävän ympäristöraportin pääarkkitehti
Politika News – Climate crisis: the international scientific community says it’s time to get real with people
Canada’s National Observer – Planet faces ‘ghastly future of mass extinction,’ climate disruption, top scientists warn
Sustainability Matters – Planet prognosis forecasts ‘ghastly’ future
Scoop – Scientists warn humanity in denial of looming ‘collapse of civilization as we know it’
Mongabay – Humanity’s ‘ecological Ponzi scheme’ sets up bleak future, scientists warn
BBC World Service Newshour – Ghastly future (listen from ~ 38:00)
The Guardian – Top scientists warn of ‘ghastly future of mass extinction’ and climate disruption
Population Matters – Humanity headed towards ‘ghastly future’: urgent warning from top scientists
CNN – Top scientists warn of ‘ghastly future’ for planet as leaders underestimate ecological threats
Science Alert – Humanity Is Hurtling Into a ‘Ghastly Future’ It Doesn’t Comprehend, Scientists Warn
CTV News – Top scientists warn of ‘ghastly future’ for planet
EcoWatch – Scientists Warn Humanity in Denial of Looming ‘Collapse of Civilization as We Know It’
La Nación – “Panorama terrible”: expertos pronostican un futuro sombrío para la humanidad
Clean Technica – Wake up! It’s time to recognize our enormous environmental problems
Thomson Reuters Foundation – ‘Ecological Ponzi scheme’ threatens to bring down humanity, scientists warn
EurekAlert! – Expert prognosis for the planet – we’re on track for a ghastly future
The Irish Times – ‘A ghastly future’: Leading scientists offer bleak prediction for civilisation
BusinessGreen – Is inaction on environmental crises leading humanity into a ‘ghastly future of mass extinction’?
Phys.org – Expert prognosis for the planet—we’re on track for a ghastly future
Rinnovabili.it – Perché biodiversità e clima sono le sfide più urgenti del nostro tempo
News.com.au/Daily Telegraph – Frédérik Saltré and Corey Bradshaw mentioned in this story: UN warns that 2021 could be catastrophic due to COVID-19 fallout and famine
ABC Central Victoria Drive – Corey Bradshaw interviewed live about extinctions
Terrestrial Ecological Research Network – Centre Spotlight: Global Ecology Laboratory
New Scientist – Did climate change drive early human species to extinction? Corey Bradshaw‘s take on a new paper published in One Earth
ABC Adelaide – Seamus Doherty interviewed about the Great Southern BioBlitz (with Spence Denny & Troy Sincock — listen 49:00-54:40)
Adelaide Advertiser – Time to spot and snap, for nature’s sake (Seamus Doherty)
ABC New England Northwest – Antoine Champreux is interviewed about his fossil plant paper
Adelaide Advertiser – Cane toads reportedly spotted in Truro in SA Mid North
The Guardian – NSW Nationals play trump card in koala war but Berejiklian calls their bluff
Otago Daily Times/Jerusalem Post/Swiss Info – Koalas throw Australia’s largest state into political chaos
Huffington Post – ‘Koala war’: NSW in political chaos
The Independent – Koala habitation causing political dispute in Australia as Nationals take on Liberals
Reuters/Dhaka Tribune – ‘Koala war’ throws Australian state into political chaos
Taipei Times – Row over koala bill strains New South Wales government
Deccan Chronicle – A koala row might topple the government in Australia’s New South Wales
Straits Times – Koala protection row threatens leader of Australia’s biggest state
British Herald – Safety of koalas and political chaos engulf Australia’s largest state
Al Jazeera/Bangkok Post/Gulf Times/International Business Times – Koala row threatens leader of Australia’s biggest state
ABC 7.30 Report – Kangaroo Island koalas (featuring Kathryn Venning)
Cosmos Magazine – More insights into the complexity of coral
Science Daily – Computer modelling used to predict reef health
CitizenSide – Les récifs coralliens virtuels deviennent un outil de diagnostic pour aider à gérer les récifs de la planète
Phys.org – Researcher uses computer modelling to predict reef health
EurekAlert! – UBCO researcher uses computer modelling to predict reef health
Adelaide Advertiser/Herald Sun/NT News/The Mercury/Courier Mail/Daily Telegraph/Geelong Advertiser/Cairns Post – Threatened species habitat: 150 ha lost in Adelaide over 20 years (read PDF)
The Guardian – Global heating will make it much harder for tropical plants to germinate, study finds
Nature Bats Last Radio Show – Extinction cascades
Flinders University – In touch with … Corey Bradshaw
Flinders Blog – Opportunity to fix catastrophes next in line
SBS The Feed – Is the mass extinction we’re living through now any worse than an ice age or an asteroid collision?
ABC Off Track – The banteng paradox
New Scientist – Dingoes are both pest and icon. Now there’s a new reason to love them
Morning Bulletin/Queensland Times/Stanthorpe Border Post – ‘Smarter’ management needed to stop wave of extinctions
National Tribune/Mirage News – Frogs on front line of climate change
Earth.com – Conservation efforts to save amphibians are largely insufficient
Diario.eco – Las poblaciones de anfibios están en declive a nivel mundial
Noticias Más Verde – ¡Día de la Tierra 2020: ¡Salvemos a las ranas!
Scienmag/Eurasia Review – Earth Day alert to save our frogs
EcoVoice – Earth Day calls to save amphibians on the brink
Tekk.tv – Erdentag-Alarm zur Rettung unserer Frösche
Scimex/EurekAlert!/Phys.org – Earth Day call to save our frogs
Triple M (Newcastle) – Interview with Corey Bradshaw about precarious structure of supply chains from the pandemic
Open Mind – The end of the UN Decade of Biodiversity: what has been achieved?
Flinders In Touch – Broadcasting the 1.5 degrees message
News.com.au (and every Murdoch-rag in Australia) – Coronavirus: The day our world changed
Geo – Suuri syntyvyys on lapsille uhka (High birth rates are a threat to children)
News.com.au – The big impact of a small number – what 2C of warming actually looks like
New Scientist – Finding Sahul
Popular Science – Heat and drought are causing feral camels to overrun communities in Australia
RTR FM (Perth) – Kangaroo Island Fire Aftermath
The Chicago Tribune – 1 billion dead animals? Experts are pushing back on eye-grabbing estimate of toll in Australia wildfires
The Advertiser – Kangaroo Island’s threatened animal species in battle for survival after bushfires destroy their habitats
New York Times – How many animals have died in Australia’s wildfires?
Eu Rio – Quantos animais morreram nos incêndios florestais na Austrália?
Le Journal du Dimanche – Incendies en Australie : comment a été calculé le chiffre de 500 millions d’animaux tués?
Nouvelles du Monde – Mitaines et biberons Koala: sauver la faune australienne après les incendies
Daily Mail – Alpine bog skinks, corroboree frogs and broad-headed snakes: The full list of endangered animals facing extinction – as bushfires wipe out a BILLION critters
The Chicago Tribune – Australia wildfires prove devastating to koalas, kangaroos and other animals: ‘It’s a biological Armageddon rarely seen’
The New York Times – Koala Mittens and Baby Bottles: Saving Australia’s Animals After Fires
The Guardian – Kangaroo Island bushfires: grave fears for unique wildlife after estimated 25,000 koalas killed
Radio-Canada – Feux en Australie
The National (UAE) – Beyond the Headlines: How many children is too many?
Sci News – Study: Humans and climate change drove Australian megafauna to extinction
Daily Telegraph – Scientists solve mystery of extinct prehistoric beasts
News.com.au/The Advertiser/Herald Sun/New Zealand Herald – ‘A lot of suffering’: Grim 3000 yo warning about to come true
Australia’s Science Channel – Both people and climate led to megafauna extinction
Green Career/Water Career – Megafauna deaths detailed
EurekAlert!/Scimex/Medianet/Phys.org – People, climate, and water supply all played a role in the extinction of Australia’s megafauna
Flinders University Blog – Overpopulation prophecy unfolds
Inverse – Are we in a “mass extinction” right now? Here’s the evidence
The Advertiser – Professor Paul Ehrlich drops a bomb on coal-loving politicians, calling for action on climate change
ABC – Are we in the sixth mass extinction on Earth? The signs are all there
The Conversation/Gizmodo/From Press/Phys.org/Qrius/Business Daily/Modern Australian/Daily Bulletin/The Alayaran/News Pronto/The South African/Conservation Mag – What is a ‘mass extinction’ and are we in one now?
Population Matters – High population density hurts child health, study finds
Cosmos Magazine – Evolution holds clue to destruction by insect invaders
The Guardian Nigeria – How to prevent African child deaths
The National Tribune/Mirage News – Child deaths in Africa could be prevented
Sahara Reporters – Child mortality in Nigeria, other African nations, caused by poor basic amenities – study
EurekAlert!/MedicalXpress/ScienceDaily – Child deaths in Africa could be prevented by family planning
InterPress Service – Impact van overbevolking op kindersterfte zwaar onderschat
Mamamia – Six actual, bona fide experts on the 7 best things you can do to fight climate change
ABC News – Bird populations are collapsing, and it’s a sign of a bigger problem
ABC – Do shark repellents work? Here’s what the science says
ABC Sunshine Coast – Should our State Government provide rebates for shark repellent devices?
The Messenger – Diving in to help ocean life
Cosmos Magazine – Humans pushed cave bears towards extinction
Yahoo! News – Are we heading toward extinction?
ABC News – South Australia’s call for a wildlife cull (watch interview)
University of KwaZulu-Natal – Environmental degradation study highlights importance of family planning
InDaily – African countries and the state of their environments: the best and the worst
The Science Times – 인류는 어떻게 호주로 건너갔나 ?
Scimex/EurekAlert!/Phys.org – Environmental destruction linked to African population raises questions about unsustainable family sizes
The Wire – From Sunda to Sahul: the unbelievable journey of the first Australians
Scientias – Hoe kwamen de eerste bewoners van Australië op het continent aan?
Grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.de – Studie: Erstmalige Besiedlung Australiens wurde von einer fortgeschrittenen Seefahrerkultur zielgerichtet geplant
Atlas Obscura – How many people did it take to first occupy Australia?
Historia y Arqueología – Dos estudios sugieren que hubo más cantidad de inmigrantes originales en el poblamento de Australia
ARS Technica – How many people did it take to colonize Australia?
EurekAlert!/Science Daily/Phys.org – Retracing ancient routes to Australia
Xinhua – University collaboration reveals early humans journey to Australia
Daily Mail UK – People first arrived in Australia in large groups 50,000 years ago, computer modelling reveals
Radio Adelaide – Tracking Australia’s first arrivals
Newsweek – How ancient humans reached the mega-continent of Sahul in one massive, well-planned wave of migration
Daily Mail – People first arrived in Australia in large groups 50,000 years ago, computer modelling reveals
ABC News AM – New details on the arrival of Indigenous Australians 50,000 years ago
Sydney Morning Herald/Brisbane Times – Modelling shows ‘mind-blowing’ ancient Aboriginal journey to Australia
SBS World News/9News – Aust first peoples migration was planned
7News – Australia’s first migrants’ arrival more than 50,000 years ago was extensively planned
Canberra Times – First peoples migration ‘was planned’
Scimex – First Aussies arrived in large groups using complex technologies
The Australian – Aust first peoples migration was planned
Mirage News – Earliest maritime routes mapped from north
NBC News – World’s population could swell to 10.9 billion by 2100, U.N. report finds
CABAH – Koala extinctions past, present, and future
Echo Daily – Loss of habitat means koalas face uncertain future
The National Tribune/Mirage News – Climate change leaves koalas facing an uncertain future
The Conversation – Key challenges for the re-elected Coalition government: our experts respond
ABC ‘The Signal’ – So you’re in an extinction wave
Independent Australia – On Australia’s major environmental crises
Australia’s Science Channel – Murray River habitat restoration increases native fish populations
Radio Adelaide – Potential for native fish boost
Water Career – Snag study shows sticks help
Business Insider – 15 signs we’re in the middle of a 6th mass extinction
EurekAlert!/ScienceDaily/Phys.Org/7th Space/Eco Magazine/Fishing World – Australian Murray River habitat restoration increases native fish populations
KBS World Radio Korea 24 – Environmental impact of high populations (listen)
Climate Code Red – New study shows IPCC is underselling climate change
Truth Out – Children are demanding dramatic climate action. Listen to them
Phys.org/EurekAlert! – Study shows IPCC is underselling climate change
Science Daily/Open Forum – IPCC is underselling climate change
Daily Kos – IPCC reports too conservative with language as new modelling suggest warming’s underestimated
Keep It Clever – Dingoes aren’t dogs but native Aussies
Vet Practice Magazine – Dingoes are native — and need protecting
Radio EcoShock – The rules of extinction
Triple J – Research has found that dingoes are not related to other dogs …
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) Radio – Why the dingo needs to be protected
Stiripesurse – Descoperire a cercetătorilor australieni – Dingo este o specie de sine stătătoare, diferită de câini sau lupi
Science Daily – Australian dingo is a unique Australian species in its own right
tekk – Dingoes sollten in Australien eine eigenständige Art bleiben
DevDiscourse – Australian researchers sound confident say dingo is not a dog, a new species
BT – Australske forskere: En dingo er ikke en hund
Art Daily – Australian researchers say dingo is not a dog, but own species
ABC News – Dingoes are a ‘fair dinkum’ separate species needing better protection, researchers say
ABC News – Dingo a ‘fair-dinkum’ separate species (watch)
Lab Roots – Should Australia recognize the dingo as a distinct species?
Katherine Times – Researchers want dingoes ‘protected’
EurekAlert!; Phys.org; Scimex; 7th Space – Dingoes should remain a distinct species in Australia
ABC Radio (Sydney, Alice Springs, Riverland SA, Adelaide) – Dingoes not related to other dogs and should be protected
Le Courrier Australien; RTL; rfi.fr; Malay Mail; Yahoo! Singapore; Channel News Asia; Rappler; Daily Magazine; Business Standard India; GMA News; Deccan Herald; New Straits Times; South Coast Herald; Rising Sun Chatworth; Pretoria North Rekord; Ladysmith Gazette; Ridge Times; Standerton Advertiser; Berea Mail; Brakpan Herald; Randfontein Herald; Corridor Gazette; Capricorn Voice; MSN; Northglen News – Australian researchers say dingo is not a dog, but own species
Toowoomba Chronicle; Warwich Daily News; Gympie Times; Gladstone Observer; Daily Mercury News; NewsMail; Morning Bulletin; Sunshine Coast Daily; Queensland Times; Coffs Coast Advocate; The Daily Examiner; Lismore Morning Star – Unique claim confirmed for Australia’s dingoes
Fraser Coast Chronicle – Unique claim confirmed
Radio Adelaide – Extinction science with Prof. Bradshaw
ABC North and West SA (Breakfast with Paul Culliver) – Global insect declines
ABC Adelaide 891 Radio (Afternoons with Sonya Feldhoff – David Attenborough and the World Economic Form (live interview)
Tom Dispatch – “We can’t undo this”
Wall Street International (Italia) – Cambiamenti climatici e coestinzioni
The Advertiser – Work nears on huge Yorke Peninsula open-range sanctuary under Great Southern Ark plans
The Islander – KI feral cat program contributes to positive biodiversity outlook
Thom Hartmann Program, Ring of Fire Radio – The extinction domino effect that could annihilate all life on Earth has already begun
Climate News Network – Extinction toll may be far worse than thought
National Geographic (España) – El cambio climático podría causar un efecto dominó en la extinción global
Rinnovabili – Grandi estinzioni, sottostimato l’effetto domino del riscaldamento globale
The University Network – Climate change could trigger extinction domino effect
I Fucking Love Science – Runaway global warming could create an “extinction domino effect” wiping out all life on Earth
Earth.com – Climate change could trigger a cascade of extinctions domino effect
Daily Mail – Climate change could trigger an ‘extinction domino effect’ that would annihilate all life on Earth, chilling report warns
Blue Planet Heart – I cambiamenti climatici aumentano l’effetto domino che causa l’estinzione delle specie
Express – END OF WORLD: Climate change could trigger DEATH of ALL species in ‘domino effect’
V3 – Global warming increases risk of ‘extinction domino effect’, warns EU study
Science Daily/Eureka Alert/Phys.org – Global warming increases the risk of an extinction domino effect
InDaily – Optimistic SA environmental report card issued
News.com.au – Australian government inquiry grapples with growing extinction crisis
Daily Courier – Talking about extinction
BC Local News/Kelowna Capital News/Penticton Western News – Expert to speak on extinction of species and humanity’s peril in Kelowna
UBC Okanagan News – UBC hosts global-change expert Corey Bradshaw
The New Daily – Thousands of ways to kill the world: Global warming is the worst-case scenario
SBS News – Climate change may cause mass extinctions, new report shows
Tech2 – Extreme environmental changes could trigger the annihilation of all life on earth: study – WorldStage
dpa International – Study: Climate change losses could trigger ‘extinction domino effect’
ABC AM – Loss of animal or plant species to climate change could cause global ‘extinction domino effect’
Yahoo! – Climate change risks extinction effect
CABAH – Creating virtual Earths to investigate climate change and co-extinction (watch)
Hakai Magazine – Many shark repellents don’t work
Adelaide Now – Flinders University Professor explains climate change’s effect on SA if we limit warming to 1.5 C
Adelaide Advertiser – Why SA’s crops and fish stocks face ruin
Australian Science Channel – EU renewable-energy policy chips away at forestry protections
ABC Radio National – The scientist’s guide to a successful career in academia (listen)
Australia’s Science Channel – How to get ahead in science
Flinders University – Sustainability at Flinders (video)
BBC: More or Less: Should we have smaller families to save the planet?
ALERT – Scientists critique transport strategy of Asian Infrastructure Development Bank
NT News – ‘It’s simply not good enough … to be leaving the next generation with a crisis like this’
Stock Journal – A jump ahead on rabbit control
MD Magazine – How population and global resources are reaching a boiling point
News.com.au – Endangered species could suffer silent extinction in Environment Department reshuffle
InDaily – High time for a ‘smart’ offshore energy plan for SA
Plantae – Interview with Professor Corey Bradshaw, The Effective Scientist
ABC Late Afternoons – interview with Sarah Tomlinson about our work with the Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage
InDaily – The last rhino: why populations can’t be saved by a single breeding pair
NZ Herald – When survival odds get too big
Conservation Careers – Standing on the shoulders of giants – a chat with Corey Bradshaw from ConservationBytes
Radio Adelaide – Dingoes (listen, forward to 48:40)
ABC – Dingo fence dismantlement could help farmers and the environment, ecologist claims
La Croix – Cent études sur la nature qu’il faut avoir lues dans sa vie
ABC Afternoons – Insect declines (listen)
Global Journalist – The Overpopulation Debate (watch)
Triple J Hack (ABC) – Big game hunting (listen)
2SER (radio) – The ongoing biological annihilation
Nezavisimaya Gazeta – Russian population in 2050 will be reduced by 20 million (Население РФ к 2050 году сократится на 20 миллионов)
Science Magazine News at a Glance – Construction begins on world’s largest predator-free zone
InDaily – Fleurieu wetlands face high extinction risk
Green Career – Small swamps play big role
Australasian Science – Fertilisers make plants weaker
ALERT – Australian wins egg-frying contest for Trump
Radio New Zealand (Rural News) – Fertilisers & crop health (listen; my bit starts at 01:46)
Adelaide Advertiser/Courier Mail/Daily Telegraph/Herald Sun/News.com.au – Fertilisers found to reduce plants’ resistance to fungal diseases
Flinders University – Earth crusader’s fight for biodiversity
Publish, Perish, or Podcast – Breakfast, Shitty Science Workshops and New Year’s Eve (listen; my bit starts at 40:30)
RTHK Radio 3 Backchat (Hong Kong) – Animal extinction (listen)
EnergyDesk – Is the boreal forest on the edge of a climate change tipping point?
2HD radio – Living Planet Report 2016 (listen)
News.com.au – The mass #extinction event going unnoticed
Bangkok Post – Invasive insects cause tens of billions in damage: study
News.com.au – Invasive insects are costing the world at least $100 billion a year, study finds
Science Daily – Invasive insects: underestimated cost to the world economy
La Vanguardia – Los insectos invasivos generan un costo subestimado a la economía mundial
El Tiempo – Insectos invasores cuestan unos 77.000 millones de dólares anuales
Scientias.nl – Invasieve insecten kosten mogelijk tot wel 270 miljard dollar per jaar
Latin America Herald Tribune – Invasive insects cause damages of $77 billion a year
Phys.Org – Invasive insects—an underestimated cost to the world economy
EurakAlert – Invasive insects: an underestimated cost to the world economy
Public Radio International – Recent study shows that invasive insects cause billions of dollars in damage each year
MSN – Le monde paie un lourd tribut économique aux insectes envahissants
Australian Science Channel – The Neanderthal in Me (view)
Radio New Zealand – Looking to the future with Corey Bradshaw (listen)
New Zealand Herald – Professor Corey Bradshaw’s open letter to his daughter: ‘Please forgive us’
Otago Daily Times – Buying time
Cosmos – Climate change ‘the key to megafauna extinction’
Washington Post – A catastrophic collision of human hunters and climate change killed off the Ice Age giants
New York Times – 12,000 years ago, humans and climate change made a deadly team
ABC 891 – Sir Hubert Wilkins (listen from 2:37:00)
ABC News – Conservationists welcome 49 new species being declared endangered
Australasian Science – Models predict location of new megafauna fossils
Radio New Zealand – Population limits
The Guardian – Cecil’s legacy: could the death of one lion start a conservation movement?
The Hindu – New models can help fossil hunt
Financial Express – New mathematical models predict where to find fossils
Business Standard – New models predict where to find fossils
Science Daily – New models predicting where to find fossils
Heritage Daily – New models predicting where to find fossils
Radio Adelaide – Species diversity a key to infectious disease resistance (listen)
Radio Adelaide – Flowers of the field (listen)
SBS – Scientists propose US turn Guantanamo Bay into a marine conservation park
Ensia – Is biodiversity the best medicine?
Science Daily – Biodiversity brings disease resistance
BBC Earth – How many people can our planet really support?
GEO Extra (France) – Quand minou devient un tueur en série
Planet Experts – Half of Australia’s koalas now have the clap
ABC Radio National – Researchers discover the cause of megafauna die out 40,000 years ago
Panorama – Species on the move
BBC – The lost giants that prowled the Australian wilderness
Radio Adelaide – Who dun it? Us
Phys.org – Study identifies most vulnerable tropical reef fish
Radio Adelaide – Kill to preserve: sustainable trophy hunting
ABC – Trophy hunting needs regulation not bans, researchers say
Crikey – Is curbing deforestation the best way for Australia to combat climate change?
Examiner.com – Earth’s biggest threats—population growth and consumerism
The Guardian – There’s a population crisis all right. But probably not the one you think
Scope Season 3 – Feathers, fur and fins
The Lead – Why the big animals died: new study shakes up extinction science
New Scientist – Megafauna extinction: DNA evidence pins blame on climate change
Washington Post – Abrupt climate change may have doomed mammoths and other megafauna, scientists report
CBS News – Did climate change kill the woolly mammoth?
Nature World News – Mammoths and heat: like other mega-fauna, warming hurt
Wild Magazine – A brief history of the koalas of South Australia
The LOLstralian – South Australia koala cull not on horizon: Ian Hunter
Adelaide Hills Magazine – 1 Hour With … Professor Corey Bradshaw
The Advertiser – Nuclear industry is far better than muddling along
Wired – The biggest threat to the Earth? We have too many kids
Québec Science – Biodiversité: à la rescousse du bush
The Wire – Australia’s extinction crisis – you’re next! (listen)
TERN Newsletter – People using TERN: Corey Bradshaw
The Weather Channel – Humanity’s impact on Earth illustrated in ‘Overdevelopment, Overpopulate, Overshoot’
Aspire Magazine – Giants of Science
Mongabay – Is nuclear the way to go?
Radio Adelaide – Predator-free, offshore islands (listen)
The Independent – Nuclear power is the greenest option, say top scientists
ABC Current Affairs – Dingoes could be good for cattle farms
ABC Current Affairs – Smartphones turn citizens into scientists
Asian Scientist – Consider nuclear, for biodiversity’s sake
Planet Experts – The koala may be headed for extinction
BBC World Service – No recovery plan for threatened koalas (live interview)
The Guardian – Koalas face extinction without stronger protection, say conservationists
Der Tagsspiegel – Umweltforscher fordern Ausbau der Kernenergie
Planeta Sustentável – Cientistas pedem energia nuclear para salvar biodiversidade
Washington Post – Why climate change is forcing some environmentalists to back nuclear power
Conservation Magazine – Is nuclear power key to biodiversity?
Farm Weekly – Predators can benefit pasture
Phys.Org – Dingoes bring economic benefit to cattle graziers
InDaily – Dingoes ‘good for farming economy’: SA study
Mongabay – Without draconian measures, global population boom is ‘locked in’
Ecos – Population control would do little to reduce humanity’s ecological footprint this century
Radio Adelaide – The sky is falling (listen)
Radio Novosti – We are ‘locked-in’ to catastrophic overpopulation unless we take action now (listen)
Scientific American – Birth control could help the environment, but not quickly
The Guardian – Global overpopulation would ‘withstand war, disasters and disease’
New Scientist – A killer plague wouldn’t save the planet from us
I Fucking Love Science – Study suggests population control is no quick fix for environmental problems
Times of India – Population explosion is unstoppable, say scientists
Science – No way to stop human population growth?
Washington Post – Stop pretending we can fix the environment by curbing population growth
BBC – Population controls ‘will not solve environment issues’
Irish Examiner – World War 3 would hardly make a dent in the world’s population
L’Obs – Population : la croissance serait inéluctable avant 2100
Mongabay – Top scientists raise concerns over commercial logging on Woodlark Island
2SER Radio – World wildlife populations have halved in the past 40 years…
Adelaide Advertiser – Scientists push for continued fishing bans in SA marine park sanctuary zones
The Guardian – WA shark cull condemned by global group of marine scientists
Hijacked – Hundreds of marine experts speak out about Western Australia’s shark cull
ABC – Threatened Species Commissioner lacks teeth (authored)
ABC – Feral cats: the worst predator of all (listen)
Phys.org – South Australia’s citizens make koalas count
Behind the News – Animal extinction (watch)
Mongabay – Scientists urge ban on roads in intact wilderness areas
ABC Lateline – Australia may have to ‘triage’ unique species (watch)
ABC – Scientists resign ‘living dead’ species to extinction, call for triage debate
Australasian Science – Ecologists rebuke PM’s ‘no more parks’ vow
Wildlife Extra – Australian PM outrages with anti national parks stance
Mongabay/Charity Vault – Scientists blast Australian leader’s proposed ban on parks
Mongabay – Next big idea in forest conservation? Incentivizing keeping primary forests intact
Campus Review – The early word
Daily Mercury – New movie aims to paint nuclear as the green option
Radio Adelaide – Forest fragmentation (listen)
Nature – Early publishers thrive
BBC News – Forest fragmentation triggers ‘ecological Armageddon’
Science Now – Biodiversity in forest fragments proves precarious
ABC – ‘One-two punch’ decimates small mammals
New York Times – In fragmented forests, rapid mammal extinctions
National Geographic – Paying the extinction debt
New Scientist – Mammals in fragmented forests die out within 25 years
International Science Times – Forest fragmentation causing mammal species to die off faster than expected
Mongabay – ‘Ecological Armageddon’: mammals vanish entirely from forest fragments after 25 years
Latin American Press – Continued environmental degradation
EurakAlert – Wildlife face ‘Armageddon’ as forests shrink
NBC News – Man-made jungle islands spell extinction for the smallest critters
Science Daily – For scientists, early to press means success
United Academics – Predicting who will publish or perish as career academics
PhysOrg – For scientists, early to press means success
Australian Geographic – Dingoes cleared of mainland extinctions
Education Career – Redemption for dingoes from historic blame
RedOrbit – Dingoes wrongly accused of animal extinctions
Ecos – Dingoes wrongly blamed for tiger and devil extinctions
Nature World News – Dingoes not entirely responsible for extinction of predators in Australia
Business Standard – Dingo wrongly blamed for Aus extinctions
Science Alert – Dingo didn’t cause extinctions
Advertiser/PerthNow – Humans and climate change killed the Tassie devil and tiger, not dingoes
The LOLstralian/Telegraph/Courier Mail/News.com/Mercury/PerthNow/NineMSN/Herald Sun – Dingo cleared of killing off Tassie tiger
Wanderlust Magazine – Study reveals whale shark distribution across the globe
Higher Education supplement (opinion editorial) – MPs’ ignorance puts parks in peril
MongaBay – Whale shark mapping: scientists uncover global distribution for the largest fish in the world
Radio Adelaide – Into the wild
Guardian Australia – We should not play Russian roulette with Australia’s national parks
Murray Valley Standard – Team plants green ideas at Monarto Zoo
ABC/Yahoo/7 News – Native plantings fight deforestation trend
Sky News – Experiment in land renewal launched
Bigpond News – Renewal experiment begins
Ecos – Carbon economy can also help save Australia’s species
Sydney Morning Herald – Lines drawn over jewel in the crown
ABC Radio National | Connect Asia – Demand surging for Indonesia’s frog trade
National Geographic – Prehistoric plaque and the gentrification of Europe’s mouth
The Scotsman – Human diet traced over 9000 years thanks to skulls
Australian Geographic – Fossil bacteria reveal poor state of modern mouth
ABC Science – Tooth decay bacteria evolved as diet changed
Sydney Morning Herald – By gum – modern diet blamed as study reveals state of our mouths
News.com.au – Human mouth in ‘a permanent state of disease’
Red Orbit – Archeologists study ancient teeth to uncover evolution of disease
Le Nouvel Observateur – Moins de bactéries, plus de caries
20minutes.fr – Nos bouches sont en moins bonne santé que celles de nos lointains ancêtres
Europa Press – El análisis de bacterias de dientes antiguos permite ver la evolución de la dieta a lo largo de la historia
iO9 – Preserved bacteria reveal how we’ve been rotting our teeth for 7,500 years
WBTV – Human teeth healthier in the stone age than today
Science Recorder – Ancient teeth bacteria show modern diet is rotting our teeth
Counsel & Heal – 7,500 year old DNA shows rotting teeth a result of modern food habits
Philadelphia Magazine – The checkup: cavemen had healthier teeth than you
Conservation Magazine – Blame game: Humans, not disease, could have pushed Tasmanian tiger to extinction
Australian Geographic – Tassie tiger extinction: humans solely to blame
Scientific American – Humans alone wiped out Tasmanian tiger
Terra – Estudo aponta que tigre da Tasmânia foi extinto pelo homem
Planet Save – Tasmanian Tiger Was Killed Off Entirely By Humans, Not Disease
Live Science – Humans alone wiped out Tasmanian tiger
International Business Times – Man, not disease, killed legendary Tasmanian tiger; while Tasmanian devils dying from face-eating cancer
NBC News – Humans alone to blame for wiping out Tasmanian tiger
Telegraph – Tasmanian Tiger ‘was killed by man’
Mongabay – Man drove Tasmanian Tiger to extinction in Australia
Bangkok Post – Australia’s Tasmanian Tiger killed by man
La Tercera – El hombre es el único responsable de la extinción del tigre de Tasmania
SBS/LOLstralian – Humans killed off the thylacine: study
The Global Mail – A feral cat ate my bilbies
Australasian Science – Nature arks are sinking
Business Insider – A formula to decide which endangered species we should save
ABC News Radio – Scientists find half of the world’s tropical protected areas are struggling to sustain their biodiversity (audio) (re: 2012 Nature paper )
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) – Will the carbon economy be good for biodiversity?
BBC News – Protected tropical forests’ biodiversity ‘declining’ (re: 2012 Nature paper )
Nature – Protect and serve (re: 2012 Nature paper)
Bloomberg – Forest ‘disruption’ greater threat than climate change (re: 2012 Nature paper )
ABC Science – Final tropical forest refuges under threat (re: 2012 Nature paper )
Mongabay – Half of tropical forest parks losing biodiversity (re: 2012 Nature paper)
Radio Adelaide – The sharking truth about sharks
Totally Wild – Feral buffalo in Kakadu National Park
The Conversation – Can Australia afford the dingo fence?
Radio Adelaide – Insurance for forests (listen)
The Conversation – The end of field ecology?
Ecos magazine – Insurance model for UN forest carbon scheme
Ecoimagination – If a tree falls… preventing deforestation with insurance
Eureka Alert!/PhysOrg/Science Codex/ScienceDaily – Saving forests? Take a leaf from insurance industry’s book
Campus Daily/Terra Daily/Science News Online/Silo Breaker/Medical Xpress/Science Codex/Daily Me/Eureka Alert! – New thinking required on wildlife disease
The Breakthrough Institute – Can Technology Save the Environment?
Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age – Babies: is the price too high?
ABC – Seaweed moves south as oceans warm
UPI – Seaweeds said vulnerable to climate change
CBS News – Ocean warming sends Australian seaweed packing
Science Alert – Biodiversity ‘lost in Southeast Asia’
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age/Herald Sun – No substitute for natural forests
BBC News – ‘No substitute’ for virgin forest
ABC – Species at risk ‘need old growth forests’
The Conversation – Original and the best: nothing beats primary forests for biodiversity
EurekAlert! – Old-growth rainforests must be saved for tropical biodiversity
UPI – Biodiversity highest in pristine forests
The Epoch Times – Old-Growth Rainforests Vital to Conserve Tropical Biodiversity
People & The Planet – No substitute for undisturbed tropical forests
Mongabay – Old-growth forests are irreplaceable for sustaining biodiversity
ABC Science – In Depth >> Meet a Scientist >> Corey Bradshaw
The Conversation – River shark and blue goanna among 1000 new species discovered in New Guinea
ABC News – Climate research aims to boost forests
Scientific American – Australian mathematicians say some endangered species “not worth saving”
Australian Geographic – New method ranks species’ extinction risk
The Independent (UK) – Your number is up: Species doomed by mathematics
i Online (Portugal) – Conservação. “Não podemos proteger espécies só porque são queridas”
Radio Live (New Zealand) – Let kakapo die? [listen]
Hirado (Hungary) – Új mutató a fajok veszélyeztetettségének mérésére
Irish Independent – Time’s up as formula predicts extinctions
Sina.com (Hong Kong) – 訂優先搶救瀕危物種衡量辦法科學家指毛鼻袋熊不值得拯救 (do a Google Translate on this – very funny)
Chosun.com – 동물 멸종을 계산하는 ‘슬픈 수학 공식’
Corriere (Italy) – Rischio estinzione? Ora c’è un algoritmo
Ecofinder – Νέος δείκτης μέτρησης για τα απειλούμενα είδη
ABC PM – Conservationists fear species index may lead to extinctions [listen]
Treehugger – New method attempts to determine which endangered species can actually be saved
Helium – Mass extinction event well underway
Earth Times – New ‘distance to extinction’ index could sharpen conservation focus
Worldshare – Australian researchers develop new index to measure species extinction
The Atlantic – Algorithm finds the hairy-nosed wombat not worth saving
Science Daily – Scientists have new measure for species threat
The Morning Bulletin – Scarce funds threat to project
Digital Journal – Endangered species conservation may be helped by a new index
La Stampa (Italy) – “Timer” che calcola il rischio di estinzione specie
Radio NZ – Is the kakapo worth saving? [listen]
Sydney Morning Herald/Brisbane Times – Can SAFE save the tiger?
ABC AM – New tool to prioritise conservation of vulnerable species [listen]
ABC News – Hairy-nosed wombat may not be worth saving
UPI – New measure of species threat developed
Mongabay – New method to measure threat of extinction could help conservationists prioritize
Treehugger – New scale could help save critically endangered species
The LOLstralian – Extinction index to help save species
Fast Company – SAFE: A formula to decide which endangered species have the best shot
Vietnam Tribune – New index shows endangered species
Science Alert – New guide to predict extinction
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age – The SAFE way to save a tiger
PhysOrg/Newswise/EurekAlert! – Scientists have new measure for species threat
NineMSN – New index shows endangered species
The LOLstralian – One-in-five mammals are close to extinction as new index shows endangered species
International Business Times – Scientists develop new measure to determine how close species are to extinction
Channel Ten News – ‘Colour-blind sharks‘ (interview regarding a recently published paper)
Jakarta Globe – The fine print on forest protection
Straits Times – Conservation 101 guide to go online
Miller-McCune – Curiouser and Curiouser: Hidden Cost of Frog Legs
Mongabay – Nobel Prize winner, anti-poverty group, scientists fire back at logging lobbyist
Jakarta Globe – Conservation Debate III: A Rejoinder to Alan Oxley
Rainforest Action Network – The world’s second oldest profession
New York Times – Scientists spar with defender of palm oil and pulp firms
MongaBay – Scientists blast greenwashing by front groups
Jakarta Globe – The thinker: A middle way
The LOLstralian – Facts forced to fit agenda
The Guardian – Leading scientists accuse thinktanks of being logging lobbyists
Greenpeace UK – Scientists criticise claims by logging and palm oil industry mouthpieces
The Great Beyond (Nature.com) – Scientists question think tanks’ motives
The Guardian – Back Biodiversity 100, save our wildlife
MongayBay – Nation’s wealth does not guarantee green practices
One India – Isolation of Great Barrier Reef could lead to extinction of marine life⁵
Science Alert – Quiet reefs risk extinction
Our Amazing Planet/Live Science/Yahoo! News/Tehran Times – Fish in isolated coral reefs in greater peril
Australian Geographic – Smaller, isolated reefs more vulnerable
Sydney Morning Herald – Small reef fish species at risk
Sify – Isolation of Great Barrier Reef could lead to extinction of marine life
PhysOrg/LabSpaces/Science Daily/Campus Daily/Innovations Report – Isolation a threat to Great Barrier Reef fish
Independent Weekly – Progress is a killer
Bendigo Advertiser – Not ‘buzz off’ but ‘please stay’ bats
AdelaideNow – Counting to extinction (briefly mentioned here)
Huffington Post – Our environmental impact rank paper mentioned on Huffington Post
Daily India/Sify – Global biodiversity much less than previously thought³
New Scientist – Global biodiversity estimate revised down³
NewNotizie – Clima: Brasile paese con maggior impatto
Change.org – New country ranking on wide environmental impacts
Grist Magazine – Top 10 countries ruining the planet—and more news from around the world
The Straits Times/AsiaOne – Is Singapore the worst environmental offender?
Radio Australia – New study ranks Australia among top 10 worst environmental offenders (listen)
Care2 – Top 10 countries ruining the planet
CBS News – Study: Getting richer does not mean getting greener
Radio America – Elaboran una lista de los países que causan mayor impacto medioambiental
TT.com – Die Umweltsünder dieser Welt: Brasilien, USA und China führen
Schweiz Magazin – Umweltsünder: Brasilien, USA und China führen
Tempo Interaktif – Negara Kaya Belum Tentu Berwawasan Lingkungan
Pressetext Austria – Brasilien, USA und China führen als Umweltsünder
ABC News Radio – Study shows Australia is in the top 10 countries with worst environmental impact on the planet (listen)
Viva News – Indonesia, rangking empat perusak lingkungan
Ecologiae/Giornale di Pachino – Singapore e Brasile sono i Paesi meno amici dell’ambiente, l’Italia per ora è salva
Epoch Times – 澳洲名列十大环境破坏国
Cool Earth – Brazil comes top of world’s worst polluters
Panorama – Foreste: Brasile e Usa in testa alla top ten dei paesi ad alto impatto
La Scienze – L’impatto ambientale e la ricchezza delle nazioni
Corriere Della Sera – «Sviluppo insostenibile»: le dieci nazioni con il maggior impatto ambientale
Babr News – Россию занесли в список лидеров по негативному воздействию на природу
Ria Novosti – Científicos sitúan a Rusia entre los países con mayor impacto ambiental
Ria Novosti – Россию занесли в список лидеров по негативному воздействию на природу
Live Science/Yahoo! News – Brazil and U.S. ranked worst for environmental impact
Smart Planet – U.S. ranks among the top environmental offenders
Indiaserver – India Ranked 7th Among Worst Climate Polluters, US And China Ranked 2nd And 3rd⁴
Thaindian News/Economic Times/Top News/China National News/Times of India/The Hindu/Silicon India/OneWorld South Asia/Deccan Herald – India among the worst 10 climate polluters⁴
Sueddeutsche – Asiatische Umweltsünder
Dynamic Business – Australia in world’s top ten polluters: Adelaide Uni Study
Click Green – Brazil sits bottom of global league of nations’ green impact
Sydney Morning Herald – We’re in the top 10 of worst polluters
The Age/WA Today/Farm Weekly/Queensland Country Life/Stock Journal/North Queensland Register/Stock & Land/Brisbane Times/The Land/The Independent Weekly – Australia’s global footprint one of the worst
redOrbit – Countries ranked on environmental impact
Planetsave – Countries ranked on environmental impact in new study
Energy Matters – Australia a Top 10 environmental offender
ABC News/Tree Hugger – Australian ranks in top 10 for environmental harm
PhysOrg/e!Science/Bright Surf/EurekAlert/News Guide/News Blaze/Newswise/YubaNet/Science Centric – New study ranks countries on environment impact
Down to Earth (India) – Culled, efficiently
Mongabay – Nestle’s palm oil debacle highlights current limitations of certification scheme (about our paper accessible here)
AdelaideNow – Sort blog from the bad
SARDI Media – Conservation by numbers
The Environment Institute – Corey Bradshaw named a Scopus Young Researcher of the Year
The LOLstralian – Conservation gains a technical solution
AlphaGalileo/R&D Magazine/Science Daily/Science Centric/CiênciaHoje – Killing in the name of conservation
Kosmos – A jagged truth
American Scientist – A magic number?
Natural History magazine – Save the Conifers: Northern forests need protection, too
Conservation Magazine – Last Legs: The not-so-healthy appetite for frog legs
ScienceNOW Daily News – Trade in frog legs may spread disease³
ScienceAlert – Sharks vulnerable to change
Payson Roundup – Endangered species triage way too late
Slashfood – World’s frog capital forced to import frogs for festival²
The Adelaidean – Raise targets to prevent extinction
Turkish Weekly – Is frog delicacy on its last legs?
ABC Midday Report/Triple J/ABC 702 – Concern over looming extinction threats
Time Magazine – When is a species endangered?
Conservation Magazine – Greater expectations
Futura – Conservation: des objectifs trop bas pour les espèces menacées
Ecologiae – I calcoli sulla sopravvivenza delle specie a rischio sono sbagliati
BigHunter – Le specie a rischio estinzione potrebbero essere molte di più
Mongabay – To save species conservationists must focus on conserving at least 5000 individuals
News.com.au – How low should they go to avoid extinction
Environmental News Network – New Research Suggests Conservation Biologists are Setting Minimum Population Size Targets Too Low to Prevent Extinction
Peak Oil – Populations of endangered species falling too far
Conservation Maven – Conservation targets too small to fight extinction, study argues
PhysOrg – Conservation targets too small to stop extinction: study
Science Daily/redOrbit/Innovations Report/Yahoo India News/YubaNet/e! Science News/First Science/Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News/Bio-Medicine/News Guide/EurekAlert/Net India123/Biology News Net/LittleAbout/Gaea Times/NewsTrack India/WebIndia123/Daily India/NewKerala/DNA India/Track.in News/Bright Surf/AndhraNews/Newspost Online – Conservation targets too small to stop extinction
The Examiner – Current conservation targets may not prevent extinction in a warming world
New Scientist – Conservation targets too low to save at-risk species
Courier International – Siberia under threat of chainsaws
ABC Country Hour (SA) – Urgent call to preserve boreal forest
El Mundo – Illegal timber from Siberia
Tiempos de la Internet – Boreal forests threatened by climate change
Der Standard – Boreal forest threatens Amazon fate
Ria Novosti – Environmental threat looming over the boreal forest
Panorama – Taiga is the new Amazon: the last intact forests at risk
Pressetexte – Largest forest area in the world at high risk
El Mundo – Warning about boreal forest degradation
Gazeta.ru – Russia cuts most
World Science – Last great forest under threat, study finds
G-Online/Innovations Report – World’s last great forests under threat
Sydney Morning Herald – Forest threat
Thaindian/Newstrack India/Gaea Times/Daily India/Little About/Australian News– World’s last remaining “pristine” forest under threat
Malaysia Sun/Mangalorean/Sindh Today/Thaindian – Fires, humans threaten world’s last few pristine forests
Western Star – Corner Brook professor among those trying to save boreal
ScienceAlert – Pristine forest starting to go
PhysOrg/ScienceDaily/Eureka/R&D/InSciences/Science Centric/Biology News Net/redOrbit – World’s last great forest under threat: new study
ABC – Fewer mosquitoes may be a bad thing
Mongabay – Boreal forests in wealthy countries being rapidly destroyed
Guardian Food Blog – Are frogs on their last legs?
Guardian – Why we shouldn’t eat frogs’ legs
ABC – Climate change could hit aquaculture
AdelaideNow – Experts warn of climate change threat to seafood industry
ABC Online – Illegal fishing continues to devastate northern stocks
Science Alert – Illegal fishing still a problem
Straits Times (Singapore) – More beachings to come?
AFP/Economic Times – Climate change to bring more whale beachings
ScienceAlert – Model makes malaria forecasts
Malaysia Sun/The Hindu – Researchers can predict number of mosquitoes two months ahead
NewsTrack India/Thaindian – Scientists find way to predict mosquito outbreaks
Science Daily – Predicting mosquito outbreaks for disease control
Radio Australia News – Pacific mosquito breakthrough claimed
Independent Weekly – Research to help check mosquito-borne diseases
AdelaideNow – SA scientists can predict dangerous mosquito plagues
ABC Online – System developed to predict mosquito outbreaks
Russia Today – Who ate all the frogs?
Discovery Channel – Global appetite for frog legs threatens species
ABC Bush Telegraph – Frogs’ legs furore (listen)
BBC News – A billion frogs on world’s plates
Washington Post – Eaten to extinction?
The LOLstralian – Humans eating frogs into extinction
Los Angeles Times – Are frogs being ‘eaten to extinction’? Some researchers say yes
CBC Quirks & Quarks – Frog leg feeding frenzy (listen)
Sydney Morning Herald – Frogs are on their last legs: study
ABC Radio – Appetite for frog legs leading to extinction (listen)
Radio New Zealand – Frog feast (listen)
SBS – Ecologist says frogs legs should be off the menu (listen)
SBS – Frogs in danger of croaking it (listen)
NZ Herald – Frogs on their last legs: study
Toronto Star – Extinction path. Garlicky legs
Straits Times – Global appetite for frogs’ legs could see them croak
Science News – Overly hungry for frogs
PresseText (Germany) – Eine Mrd. Frösche landen jährlich auf den Tellern
MongaBay.com – One billion frogs harvested as food per year
National Geographic News Watch – Are Humans Now Eating Frogs to Extinction?
Cosmos Magazine – Frog leg trade sending amphibians extinct
NDTV.com (India) – Endangered: Frogs vanishing as they turn part of dining menu
ABC (USA) – Appetite For Frogs’ Legs Harming Wild Populations
The Age – Frogs are on their last legs: study
Science Alert – Delicious frogs heading for extinction
The Hindu (India) – Frogs vanishing as they become part of dinning [sic] menu
News24 (South Africa) – Frogs about to croak
Economic Times (India) – Frogs in danger of being ‘eaten to extinction’
AdelaideNow – Frogs on their last legs
The Earth Times – Researchers say frogs about to croak
Sky News – Frogs on their last legs – study
ScienceDaily – Frogs Are Being Eaten To Extinction, Experts Say
PerthNow – Humans eating frogs into extinction
ABC – Appetite for frog legs leading to extinction
New Scientist – Appetite for frogs’ legs harming wild populations
ABC Adelaide – Grey nurse sharks
AdelaideNow – Grey nurse sharks will venture into our waters
Mongabay.com – Limestone karsts – islands of biodiversity in Asia – under threat from mining
Plenty Magazine – Could global warming benefit one species of endangered shark?¹
ABC – Climate change ‘may save’ grey nurse shark¹
AdelaideNow – Young Tall Poppy Science Awards announced
Uni Adelaide – Five Tall Poppies of science at Uni of Adelaide
Discovery Channel – Is the world’s largest shark shrinking?
Cambodian Times – Loss of forests spells death of bio-diversity
Mongabay.com – Tropical biodiversity on “a trajectory toward disaster”
Daily India – World is fast losing battle over tropical habitat loss
Malaysia Sun – World is fast losing battle over tropical habitat loss
Independent Weekly – Forest loss a threat
ScienceAlert – Tropical habitats disappearing fast
Adelaide Now – Forest loss ‘threatening humans’
Herald Sun – Forest loss ‘threatening humans’
The LOLstralian – Forest loss ‘threatening humans’
Brisbane Courier Mail – Forest loss ‘threatening humans’
The Daily Telegraph Australia – Time for that tropical getaway
The Daily Green – World Losing Rain Forest the Size of Illinois Every Year
Thaindian News – World is fast losing battle over tropical habitat loss
Thaindian News – Loss of forests spells death of bio-diversity
News.com.au – Forest loss ‘threatening humans’
Radio Adelaide – Corruption killing the world’s forests
ABC Radio National (Bush Telegraph) – Invasive or threatened?
United Press International (USA) – Scientists ID species’ ecological fates
ScienceAlert: Study determines ‘species to watch’
Thaindian News (Bangkok): New study to identify species prone to extinction under environmental change
Conservation Magazine: Flood Insurance
Ecos: No easy solutions to Kakadu’s feral animal problem

—

PRESS RELEASES

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Banishing bias in research metrics (13/09/2021)
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Koalas hang by a thread as forests shrink (14/06/2019)
Dingoes a native species – so need protecting (08/03/2019)
Optimistic SA environmental report card issued (21/11/2018)
Losing species to climate change causes global ‘extinction domino effect’ (14/11/2018)
Timber! EU move ignites forest debate (28/08/2018)
Virus combo gets jump on pesky feral rabbits (25/06/2018)
Hunting a ‘great’ shark deterrent (24/05/2018)
High time for ‘smart’ offshore energy plan (27/04/2018)
How to get ahead in science (09/04/2018)
Debate on Top 100 ecology articles (20/11/2017)
Ecologist heads for top biology award (12/10/2017)
Major conservation program activates ecology lab at Flinders (22/06/2017)
Fertilisers can make plants weaker, sicker (25/01/2017)
Invasive insects cost the world billions per year (05/10/2016)
Opening windows to the Universe and Australia’s origins (08/09/2016)
Population policy to impact emissions targets (14/06/2016)
Biodiversity brings disease resistance (22/03/2016)
Climate not to blame for megafauna extinction in Australia (01/02/2016)
Banning trophy hunting could do more harm than good (08/01/2016)
Mammoths killed by abrupt climate change (24/07/2015)
Nuclear should be in the energy mix for biodiversity (15/12/2014)
Dingoes bring economic benefit to cattle graziers (11/12/2014)
Reducing population is no environmental ‘quick fix’ (28/10/2014)
South Australia’s citizens make koalas count (30/04/2014)
For scientists, early to press means success (19/09/2013)
Dingo wrongly blamed for extinctions (09/09/2013)
30-year woodland trial underway at Monarto (13/06/2013)
A carbon economy can help save our species too (15/05/2013)
Ancient teeth bacteria record disease evolution (18/02/2013)
Avoiding biodiversity collapse in tropical forest reserves (26/07/2012)
Saving forests? Take a leaf from insurance industry’s book (18/04/2012)

—

¹I didn’t actually say anywhere in this interview that climate change would ‘save’ grey nurse sharks; I did say that increased population connectivity resulting from warming waters might reduce extinction risk. I loathe how reporters ‘quote’ scientists even when they never actually said these words. Ah, the sensationalism of scientific media!

²Another corker of bad ‘journalism’. See post here for explanation

³My comments on another paper.

⁴What? It’s not about climate pollution – it’s a bloody environmental degradation metric. Did these people even read the paper? Another classic example of hack-and-regurgitate reporting.

⁵While the article isn’t too awful, the title misses the point of the paper entirely.

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