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Deciphering the migratory behavior and connectivity of Mediterranean and Atlantic Cory's shearwaters (link is external)

Environmental Feed -

A good wildlife management plan must include information on their migratory processes if the conservation of a species, particularly an endangered species, is to be improved. In the marine environment, for example, regulating fishing activity in certain wintering areas could improve and complement conservation and protection measures carried out on the breeding grounds.

From the front garden to the continent: Why biodiversity does not increase evenly from small to large (link is external)

Environmental Feed -

The number of species does not increase evenly when going from local ecosystems to continental scales -- a phenomenon ecologists have recognized for decades. Now, an international team of scientists has developed a new theory to explain the three distinct phases typical of species distributions across scales. The theory may be crucial for estimating how many species are lost when habitats are destroyed.

Novel rat model paves the way to advance COPD-associated cor pulmonale research (link is external)

Environmental Feed -

Researchers have developed a novel rat model that closely replicates the pathological features and physiological changes associated with human chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-associated cor pulmonale. This model exhibits key characteristics, including chronic lung inflammation, pulmonary hypertension, and right ventricular hypertrophy. The new study details the potential for the model to unravel the complex interactions between lung and heart pathology and improve patient outcomes.

Restoring oil wells back to nature with moss (link is external)

Environmental Feed -

In what could represent a milestone in ecological restoration, researchers have implemented a method capable of restoring peatlands at tens of thousands of oil and gas exploration sites in Western Canada. The project involves lowering the surface of these decommissioned sites, known as well pads, and transplanting native moss onto them to effectively recreate peatlands. This is the first time researchers have applied the method to scale on an entire well pad. The study found that the technique results in sufficient water for the growth of peatland moss across large portions of the study site.

'Scratching' more than the ocean's surface to map global microplastic movement (link is external)

Environmental Feed -

An international team of scientists has moved beyond just 'scratching the surface,' to understand how microplastics move through and impact the global ocean. For the first time, scientists have mapped microplastic distribution from the surface to the deep sea at a global scale -- revealing not only where plastics accumulate, but how they infiltrate critical ocean systems. Researchers synthesized depth-profile data from 1,885 stations collected between 2014 and 2024 to map microplastic distribution patterns by size and polymer type, while also evaluating potential transport mechanisms.

When sea stars fall, sea otters rise: Sea otters benefit from prey boom triggered by loss of ochre sea stars (link is external)

Environmental Feed -

In 2013, a sea star wasting syndrome decimated populations of Pisaster along the west coast of North America and along the Monterey Peninsula in California, where this study was conducted. The orange and purple stars have a hungry appetite for mussels in the rocky intertidal. Without the voracious sea stars lurking around, mussel populations exploded, expanding in cover from around five percent to more than 18 percent within three years. In the wake of the sea star die-off, mussels became a major prey surplus for sea otters, revealing a surprising link between the adjacent rocky intertidal and kelp forest ecosystems. The new research into the phenomenon shows how the loss of a keystone predator (Pisaster) in one ecosystem can impart changes to another (sea otters), linking ecosystems.

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