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Extinction News
January 20, 2017
Latest Headlines
updated 3:54am EST
More Extinction News
January 20, 2017

Tree-Bark Thickness Indicates Fire-Resistance in a Hotter Future

Jan. 11, 2017 — A new study has found that trees worldwide develop thicker bark when they live in fire-prone areas. The findings suggest that bark thickness could help predict which forests and savannas will survive ... read more

Researchers Identify Monarch Butterfly Birthplaces to Help Conserve Species

Jan. 10, 2017 — Researchers have pinpointed the North American birthplaces of migratory monarch butterflies that overwinter in Mexico, vital information that will help conserve the dwindling species. The researchers ... read more

Testing How Species Respond to Climate Change

Jan. 10, 2017 — Predicting how species will respond to climate change is a critical part of efforts to prevent widespread climate-driven extinction, or to predict its consequences for ecosystems, say ... read more

Massive Genetic Study of Humpback Whales to Inform Conservation Assessments

Jan. 9, 2017 — Scientists have published one of the largest genetic studies ever conducted on the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) for the purpose of clarifying management decisions in the Southern ... read more

Caribbean Bats Need 8 Million Years to Recover from Recent Extinction Waves

Jan. 9, 2017 — Can nature restore the numbers of species on islands to levels that existed before human arrival? How long would it take for nature to regain this diversity? To answer these questions, a research ... read more

Are Tiny Grazers the New Hope for Caribbean Reefs?

Jan. 5, 2017 — Thirty years ago a mysterious disease wiped out long-spined black sea urchins across the Caribbean, leading to massive algal overgrowth that smothered already overfished coral reefs. Now, marine ... read more

Future of Coral Reefs Under Climate Change Predicted

Jan. 5, 2017 — New climate model projections of the world's coral reefs reveal which reefs will be hit first by annual coral bleaching, an event that poses the gravest threat to one of the Earth's most ... read more

Biologist Reveals Important Role Cities Play in Conservation of Threatened Species

Jan. 5, 2017 — The exhaustive international trade of wildlife has pushed many species to the brink of extinction. Coincidentally, many of the same species have been introduced to urban centers or wilderness areas ... read more

280 Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals Origins of Chimaeroid Fishes

Jan. 4, 2017 — High-definition CT scans of the fossilized skull of a 280 million-year-old fish reveal the origin of chimaeras, a group of cartilaginous fish related to sharks. Analysis of the brain case of ... read more

Domino Effect: The Loss of Plant Species Triggers the Extinction of Animals

Jan. 4, 2017 — When plant species disappear due to climate change, this may lead to the subsequent loss of various animal species. Insects which depend on interactions with specific plant partners are particularly ... read more

Feral Cats Now Cover Over 99.8 Percent of Australia

Jan. 4, 2017 — Feral cats cover over 99.8 percent of Australia's land area, including almost 80 percent of the area of our islands. These are just some of the findings of new research which looks at the number ... read more

Will Climate Change Leave Tropical Birds Hung out to Dry?

Jan. 3, 2017 — The future of the red-capped manakin and other tropical birds in Panama looks bleak. A research project spanning more than three decades and simulating another five decades analyzes how changes in ... read more

How Long Did It Take to Hatch a Dinosaur Egg? 3-6 Months

Jan. 2, 2017 — Researchers have set the timeline it took dinosaurs to incubate at three to six months, depending on the ... read more

Biologist's Ant Research Provides Long-Term Look at Effects of Climate Change

Dec. 30, 2016 — Many scientists have attempted to tackle how climate change will affect the natural world by determining the thermal tolerance of various species, then predicting what will happen to them as our ... read more

Widespread 'Gray Zone' of Animals Transitioning from One Species to Two

Dec. 27, 2016 — New research characterizes the ability of populations to interbreed and exchange genes as a function of the level divergence of their ... read more

Sprinting Towards Extinction? Cheetah Numbers Crash Globally

Dec. 26, 2016 — A new study confirms that the iconic cheetah is sprinting towards ... read more

Biologists Follow 'Fossilizable' Clues to Pinpoint When Mammal, Bird and Dinosaur Ancestors Became Athletes

Dec. 22, 2016 — A new study is the first to draw a link between RBC size and microscopic traces of blood vessels and bone cells inside bones. They found that extinct mammal and bird relatives had smaller RBCs and ... read more

Temperature Drives Biodiversity

Dec. 22, 2016 — Why is the diversity of animals and plants so unevenly distributed on our planet? An international research team of researchers has provided new data on this core issue of ecology. They found ... read more

Hawaii's Newest Species Named in Honor of President Obama

Dec. 21, 2016 — Scientists have published a description of a new species of coral-reef fish that they named in honor of President Barack Obama. The fish, formally named Tosanoides obama, was discovered during a June ... read more

Impact of Climate Change on Microbial Biodiversity

Dec. 21, 2016 — New research indicates that the impact of climate change on biodiversity depends on how much human beings have already affected the ... read more
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