Turning off half of city lights at night could cut bird mortality by up to 60 percent
The highest mortality counts happen on windy nights during large migration events—when the highest number of lights were left on.
Jun 2021 23
Berly McCoy
Berly McCoy is a freelance science writer and media producer based in Northwest Montana covering biology, chemistry, food and the environment. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, PBS NewsHour, NPR, Hakai and elsewhere. Find her on Twitter at @travlinscientst.
Jun 2021 16
Pinpointing how elephants use scent trails may help humans protect them
Researchers found that male African elephants pay close attention to each other's urine scent on shared trail systems. The results open the possibility of manipulating scent trails to better connect elephant populations and prevent conflict
Jun 2021 9
Giving wallabies a ‘head start’ from feral cats doubled their population
The cost effective conservation strategy could work for other mammals
Jun 2021 2
Predicting which animals will thrive in a human-dominated world isn’t always straightforward
A research team found that 33% of the North American mammals they studied were negatively affected by human activity; whereas 58% were positively affected.
May 2021 26
One way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions: bring back wolves
Economists in Wisconsin found that the money saved from decreasing deer-vehicle collisions is orders of magnitude higher than the cost of livestock reimbursements caused by wolves
May 2021 19
Solar farms can create crucial pollinator habitat
Researchers found that shade from solar panels increased floral abundance and delayed blooming—a win for pollinators
May 2021 12
The world needs a standard tool to compare species conservation efforts. An international team just built one.
The STAR metric shows how much a given action can prevent biodiversity loss. The higher the score, the higher the potential to reduce extinctions
May 2021 5
Societies have reshaped landscapes for thousands of years. So why is the Anthropocene so destructive?
Researchers show humans have transformed the majority of terrestrial ecosystems for the past 12,000 years without causing large scale extinctions. Colonization, appropriation and displacement are likely to blame.
Apr 2021 28
Don’t move a mussel: Disease might follow
Conservationists make recommendations for preventing the spread of parasites when translocating mussels and other struggling species
Apr 2021 21
As deciduous trees take over boreal forests, they could reverse carbon losses from massive fires
Researchers found that stands that had shifted to deciduous dominance had a net increase in carbon storage by a factor of five over the disturbance cycle
