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Saving The Siberian Tiger

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The northeastern part of China, wedged between North Korea to the south and Russia to the northeast, is home to two highly endangered big cats:  the Siberian tiger and the Amur leopard.   Siberian tigers, which can weigh over 600 pounds and grow to more than 10 feet in length, now number only about 500 in the wild, mostly in Russia.  Amur leopards, weighing more than 100 pounds and growing to more than four feet in length, number only about 80 in the wild.  While both species are right on the edge of extinction, both are slowly rebounding.

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A Philippine Coral Reef Survives

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One of the greatest coral reef ecosystems in the world, the Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines, continues to prosper.  Undersea coral walls that plunge more than 300 feet deep are home to some 600 species of fish and 360 kinds of coral, about half of all known species.  According to experts, the ocean wilderness of Tubbataha Reef is about the closest thing to a true natural state for any reef in the world.

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Is Sustainable Seafood Really Sustainable?

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Tuna is perhaps the most popular seafood.   We eat it out of a can, we splurge on high-end sushi, and we prepare it in many other ways.   Some species of tuna are over-fished and some fishing methods are unsustainable.   As concerned consumers, we would like to know what sort of tuna we are eating.

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A New Orangutan Species

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Orangutans are some of the planet’s most intelligent animals.  In fact, orangutans and human beings share 97% of their DNA sequence.  Orangutans can only be found in the wild on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the island of Borneo, which is a land mass shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. 

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Genetic Engineering And Conservation

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Genetic engineering, or equivalently synthetic biology, is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise involved in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, biofuels and, of course, agriculture.  In these fields, it is already the source of a great deal of controversy.  But there is increasing interest in using synthetic biology (or synbio) technology as a tool for protecting the natural world, which is a prospect some find tantalizing and others find absolutely terrifying.

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The Monarch Highway

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We have talked about the monarch butterfly on a number of occasions.  The population of these iconic orange and black butterflies in North America has plummeted from 1 billion to 33 million over the past 20 years.  People have undertaken a variety of efforts to try to save the species but now a major project to restore the dwindling habitat of the monarch is underway.

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Can The Great Barrier Reef Be Saved?

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There have been many stories in the media about the ongoing environmental crisis at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.  Over the past two years, the reef has lost almost half of its coral because of bleaching events.   Faced with this situation, the Australian government created the Reef 2050 Plan, a strategy to protect and maintain the reef through the year 2050.

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A Plastics Promise

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It’s estimated that five to thirteen million tons of plastic enters our oceans annually, where much of it can linger for hundreds of years.  According to a report by the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, scientists estimate that there is 165 million tons of plastic swirling about in the oceans right now.   And we are on pace to have more plastic than fish (by weight) in the world’s oceans by 2050. That’s some scary stuff. 

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Save The Turtles

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New York is home to 11 native species of land turtles.  Many of the species can’t breed until age 10 and then they lay just one small clutch of eggs each year by digging in a suitable patch of sandy soil.  As a result, breeding females are at a premium for the welfare of the species.  Overall, turtles are on decline in the Empire State.

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DNA Analysis of River Water

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DNA analysis has become commonplace and inexpensive.  Millions of people have their DNA tested to learn about their origins and family connections.  And the technology has spread to biological research in the form of Environmental DNA or eDNA, which is such a powerful tool that it is transforming the field of wildlife biology.

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Wildlife Rediscoveries

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We recently brought you the rediscovery story of cave squeakers.  These tiny frogs, known for their high-pitched whistling calls, were native to the mountainous region of eastern Zimbabwe but had not been seen since 1962.  That all changed in late 2016, when researchers found four cave squeakers, confirming that after 58 years the species was not extinct.  Cave squeakers remain critically endangered according to the IUCN’s Red List of Endangered Species. 

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Fencing Out People And Animals

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The flood of refugees from the Middle East and Africa has prompted governments in the Balkan countries to erect hundreds of miles of border fences.  Countries like Slovenia have put up razor-wire security fences to stem the tide of migrants.  These border fences are built with little if any consideration of the environmental impacts on wildlife.

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Widespread Local Extinctions

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Plants and animals have evolved over time to live in specific environmental niches.  As the climate warms, parts of the ranges in which they live may no longer offer the conditions under which they can thrive.  Species can respond to these changes in three ways:   they can adapt to new conditions by undergoing niche shifts; they can relocate to better conditions, such as by moving to higher elevations or latitudes; or they can locally go extinct.

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WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)