Conservation Issues
Conservation issues are a growing concern for most scientists. As humans continue to consume natural resources, many organisms are headed for extinction. Conservation issues include the protection of trees, animals and wetlands.
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As the world becomes more urbanized, the demand for sand, a key ingredient of concrete, keeps growing. But there's only so much sand to go around.
By Dave Roos
A wall spanning a continent would alter the environment for the worse, with its impact felt across numerous species and ecosystems.
The OneLessStraw campaign encourages people to kick their straw habit to keep plastic from harming the environment.
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China has a voracious appetite for elephant ivory, but the country plans to shut down its ivory market by the end of 2017. Will it be enough to save the elephants?
New findings about ancient, extinct Australasian bandicoot and bilby species underscore how dire things are today when even survivors like these are struggling.
A new study shows how, years after the disaster, oil from the disaster has made its way into terrestrial species.
Five trillion cigarettes are discarded each year globally. New research looks at the metal content of those on just one beach in the Persian Gulf.
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The temporary installation joins the four bronze Barbary lion statues in London's Trafalgar Square; it highlights the rapid ongoing decline in worldwide lion population.
Variety isn't just the spice of life; it's the currency of all well-functioning ecosystems great and small. What happens that currency is in trouble?
With the world's population expanding and its arable land shrinking, how in the world are we going to have enough food to feed everyone? Here are five ways.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is explained in this article. Learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch explained.
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Without its keystone, a Roman aqueduct collapses. Does the same travesty befall an ecosystem when a keystone species goes missing from the ecological equation?
Insects and biodiversity go hand in hand. Without insects our planet would not survive as they are essential to biodiversity. Check out this gallery on the relationship between insects and biodiversity.
Biodiversity means rainforests and reefs teeming with species right? There's more to it than that though. Genetic diversity has a big role to play, too. Just ask that cheetah cub.
Men have been hunting and killing whales for centuries. Early whalers hunted for survival, but their motivation may have changed once there was money to be made. Whaling for profit has been banned since 1986, but whaling for scientific research is still allowed in certain areas, causing much debate.
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Flagship species like leopards, whales and wolves grace wildlife calendars, bring in big conservation dollars and help regulate their ecosystems. But what about the tiny guys you won't find on your calendar? How important are they to Earth's biodiversity?
Our planet would be a much different place without its richly diverse ecosystems full of plants, animals and microorganisms. What poses the biggest danger to the millions of species that call Earth home?
Since the Age of Discovery, we've been toting plants and animals to parts of the world where they don't belong. While most transplants die, some become invasive. How can these newcomers lead to breakneck-pace evolution?
While some endangered species respond well to breeding programs, others, like pandas, aren't as effective. How do we decide which animals to focus on, and what does it mean to be a flagship species?
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If it takes $1 million a year to save the California condor, how much would it take to save every endangered species? Is it possible, and how can we save species we don't even know exist?
A post-apocalypse trip to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to retrieve the seeds that will save humanity may seem like good fodder for a movie. But seed banks have important work to do right now.
A wilderness becomes a grid work of streets, lights and skyscrapers. Every day, we remake the world a little more to our liking. What has that meant for the planet?
By Robert Lamb
In 2008, a food crisis left many people worldwide with empty stomachs. Most places have rebounded since then but, according to the U.N.’s World Food Programme, one out of every eight people is undernourished. Are we all eventually headed toward famine?
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Despite the world's rebound from the 2008 food crisis, high food prices continue to be a problem. What is food security, and why is it so important to our future on Earth?
As the world's population booms, we'll need more farmland to grow all the food it takes to feed everyone. Where are those farms going to be? Could it be build up instead of out?