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Archive for August 28th, 2011
The curious case of Britain’s wildlife revival
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2011
Independent: It's been one of the few "good news" stories of the summer: otters can now be found in every English county.
This elusive mammal has made an extraordinary comeback since the dark days of the 1970s, when it almost went extinct in England and Wales and could only be found in a few remote corners of Scotland. Nowadays otters can be seen on rivers all over Britain, including such unexpected places as the River Tyne, in the very centre of Newcastle.
The reason for the otter's post-war decline was...
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Residents Clean Up After Irene Drenches East Coast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2011
National Public Radio: This morning, when Tod Clissold walked into Poor Richard's, the bar he owns in Manteo, North Carolina, the first thing he noticed was the smell. Like a lot of East Coast residents, Clissold is in recovery mode after Hurricane Irene left homes and businesses flooded and powerless from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Laura Sullivan talks with Clissold and several others, plus the latest from NPR's Jennifer Ludden, Joe Palca and Joel Rose in New York.
NYC Escapes Worst As Irene Roars Through
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2011
National Public Radio: With mass transit shut down and mass evacuations ordered, New York was braced for a "once-in-a-century" punch from Irene. But the impact was less than expected. NPR's Joel Rose reports from New York.
Scientists find underground river beneath Amazon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Brazilian scientists have discovered an underground river some 4,000 meters (13,000) feet deep, which flows from west to east like the country's famous waterway. A statement this week from Brazil's National Observatory named the underground river Hamza and said it represents one of two different draining systems for the large rainforest region. A team of scientists led by Elizabeth Pimentel came to the conclusion from studying 241 wells drilled by the state oil giant Petrobras in the Amazon region....
Conservationists around Great Lakes plan for climate change
Posted by Chicago Tribune: None Given on August 28th, 2011
Chicago Tribune: Stuart Goldman, a Nature Conservancy restoration ecologist, sprays herbicide to kill tall goldenrod, an invasive species at the Gensburg-Markham Prairie in Markham this month.
The long-term forecast for the Chicago area calls for more wild rains, hailstorms and flooding. Throughout the Great Lakes region, residents can also expect warmer year-round temperatures, more frequent heat waves, lower lake levels and thinner lake ice.
Conservationists in the region say their efforts to protect resources...
Planet is home to 8.7 million species: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 28th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Some 8.7 million different species exist on Earth, though a tiny amount of those have actually been discovered and catalogued, researchers said Tuesday.
The count, described by the open access journal PLoS Biology in which it is presented as "the most precise calculation ever offered," replaces previous estimates that swung between three million and 100 million.
About 1.25 million species have been discovered and classified since Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus came up in the mid-1700s with...