Biodiversity

"The fact that these age-old varieties survived — the fact that Pawnee corn exists at all in 2021 — is a story of tribal perseverance, cutting-edge horticulture and good, old-fashioned cooperation".

"An examination of Brazil’s immense tannery industry shows how hides from illegally deforested ranches can easily reach the global marketplace. In the United States, much of the demand for Brazilian leather comes from automakers."

"The jaguar population in Mexico increased by about 800 animals from 2010 to 2018, according to the first two censuses of the elusive carnivores ever conducted in the country. The news confirms that Mexico’s national strategy to protect jaguars is working, researchers reported recently in the journal PLOS One."

"The risk of the plague spilling over from humans to animals in the western U.S. has increased since 1950 thanks to climate change, a new study has found."

"Deforestation in the Amazon region has risen for the fourth straight year, despite international pressure and pledges from Brazil's government to preserve the rainforest."

"Lightning-sparked wildfires killed thousands of giant sequoias this year, leading to a staggering two-year death toll that accounts for up to nearly a fifth of Earth’s largest trees, officials said Friday."

"There is a ray of hope for the vanishing orange-and-black Western monarch butterflies. The number wintering along California’s central coast is bouncing back after the population, whose presence is often a good indicator of ecosystem health, reached an all-time low last year."

"When lobster prices rose this year, it provided a boost for Zach Piper, a 27-year-old lobsterman who earns his living on Maine’s Frenchman Bay with 800 traps and a 31-foot boat named Overtime."

"Thanks to climate change, armadillos, native to southern America, are making their way up north. And there’s no sign of them stopping their relentless march".

"Scientists have found something strange has been happening among sensitive bird species in the Brazilian Amazon in recent years. Not only were the birds declining in number, but their bodies were also shrinking in size."