Author: Zach

Staying current for Chapter 5 See Non-chronological resources for this chapter { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2024-06-11. Agricultural Lands Are Losing Topsoil—Here’s How Bad It Could Get. By Nathaniel Scharping, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Good topsoil does not accumulate quickly. Less than a tenth of a millimeter of soil forms per year in some places, though the […]

Staying current for Chapter 4 See Non-chronological resources for this chapter { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2024-05-03. What a Philippine court ruling means for transgenic Golden Rice, once hailed as a dietary breakthrough. By DENNIS NORMILE, Science. Excerpt: Golden Rice seemed to be on the cusp of fulfilling its promise. Decades ago, researchers created the […]

Staying current for Chapter 3 See Non-chronological resources for this chapter { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2024-05-24. Stripey stick insects show evolution can repeat itself—predictably. By CATHERINE OFFORD, Science. Excerpt: Does evolution repeat itself? The answer to this long-standing question may be one step closer thanks to research on the crawly living twigs known as […]

Staying current for Chapter 2  { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2023-10-16. Blood Memory–The American Buffalo. [https://www.pbs.org/video/american-buffalo-episode-1-blood-memory/] or [https://www.pbs.org/show/the-american-buffalo] Documentary By Ken Burns. Description: For untold generations, America’s national mammal sustained the lives of Native people, whose cultures were intertwined with the animal. Newcomers to the continent bring a different view of the natural world, and […]

Staying current for Chapter 1 {2021}-{2011–2020}-{2001–2010} See Non-chronological resources { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2024-07-15. Loss of India’s vultures may have led to deaths of half a million people. By VIVIAN LA, Science. Excerpt: Vultures …serve an important role in protecting human life, a new study finds. The near-extinction of the birds across India in […]

Staying current for Chapter 1  Articles from 2001–2010 Stay current index page for chapter 1 { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2010 Nov 26. The Fight for Yasuni. By Eric Marx, Science. Abstract: Over the past decade, biologists working in Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park and the adjoining Waorani Ethnic Reserve, a 17,000-kilometer section of the Amazon Basin […]

Staying current for Chapter 1  Articles from 2011–2020 Stay current index page for chapter 1 { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2020-12-17. Ivory From Shipwreck Reveals Elephant Slaughter During Spice Trade. By Rachel Nuwer, The New York Times. Excerpt: In 2008, workers searching for diamonds off the coast of Namibia found a different kind of treasure: hundreds of […]

Staying current for Chapter 1  Articles from 2021 Stay current index page for chapter 1 { Losing Biodiversity Contents } 2021-11-18. Europe’s declining butterflies find new refuge: old quarries and coal mines. By Warren Cornwall, Science Magazine. Excerpt: Abandoned limestone quarries provide a better habitat than some meadows… [https://www.science.org/content/article/europe-s-declining-butterflies-find-new-refuge-old-quarries-and-coal-mines] 2021-10-14. The Most Important Global Meeting […]

Chapter 8 { Losing Biodiversity Contents } “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”– Aldo Leopold, 1948 Visit Yellowstone today, and despite roads and tourists everywhere, you may […]

Chapter 7 { Losing Biodiversity Contents } “It is early morning. I am alone on the deck of the research ship Calypso. “The sea is flat and grayish-blue. The air is hot and sultry. There is hardly any breeze. Overhead, heavy dark clouds are silently piling up into billowing pyramids… “What is it about the […]