With so much conservation work executed by our team around the preservation of the Pacific Pocket Mouse species, we are delighted to see that the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has continued advancing the reintroduction goals! Check out the full article.
See Our Publications About Habitat Resilience & Connectivity
Marten Habitat Preferences in the Northern Sierra Nevada
Fisher Use of Postfire Landscapes: Implications for Habitat Connectivity and Restoration
Body mass and condition of a fynbos bird community: investigating impacts of time, weather and raptor abundance from long-term citizen- science datasets
Use of Habitat & Viability Models in Martens Conservation & Restoration
Urban nectarivorous bird communities in Cape Town, South Africa, are structured by ecological generalisation and resource distribution
South Coast Missing Linkages: restoring connectivity to wildlands in the largest metropolitan area in the USA
Southern Sierra Nevada Fisher Conservation Strategy
See Our Projects About Habitat Resilience & Connectivity
Wildlife Connectivity Ensemble Mapping for Washington State
Calgary, Canada Wildlife Connectivity
Central Oregon Forest Stewardship Foundation Gateway
A prototype Forest Treatment Planner integrating the Forest Vegetation Simulator with spatially explicit models
Mapping Potential Conservation Lands in Support of 30×30
Landscape connectivity for Oregon and Washington- West of the Cascades
Klamath Basin Ecological Connectivity for Pacific marten and Pacific fisher
We love good news – and this news is great! A recent PHYS published article called “First-of-its-kind study shows that conservation actions are effective at halting and reversing biodiversity loss” explores the impact of conservation action through a meta-analysis of 186 studies and 665 trials which revealed the impact a wide range of conservation interventions have on biodiversity loss.
The meta-analysis found that conservation actions—including the establishment and management of protected areas, the eradication and control of invasive species, the sustainable management of ecosystems, habitat loss reduction and restoration—improved the state of biodiversity or slowed its decline in the majority of cases (66%) compared with no action taken at all. And when conservation interventions work, the paper’s co-authors found that they are highly effective.
First-of-its-kind study shows that conservation actions are effective at halting and reversing biodiversity loss
The Takeaway: High-resolution land cover data is now available through NOAA’s Digital Coast. This data provides communities with the foundational data needed to assess coastal resources, analyze land use, prepare for disaster risks, and adapt to a changing climate.
Improving our Coasts with High-Resolution Land Cover Data
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration article explains how crucial high-resolution land data is for flood inundation modeling and risk assessment, stormwater management and water quality protection, mitigating urban heat risks and promoting tree equity, and wetland monitoring and restoration.
Higher-resolution land cover data will not only lead to new data users but will increase the likelihood of accuracy among assessments, management, protection, and restoration.
Land cover is a foundational data set that provides valuable information for a range of applications, including natural resource management, land use planning, disaster risk reduction, and climate adaptation. By comparing one year to another, people also use the information to document how the landscape has changed over time.
Improving our Coasts with High-Resolution Land Cover Data
More News We’re Watching
Reuters Article: “How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28”
KQED Article: “Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?”
The Coast News Article: “Endangered Pacific pocket mice reintroduced at Camp Pendleton”
NPR Network Article: “Solar development maps: where is there less conflict?”
PHYS Article: “First-of-its-kind study shows that conservation actions are effective at halting and reversing biodiversity loss”
OSU Article: “Oregon State University research makes key advances for capturing carbon from the air”
AAAS Article: “Honeyguide Birds Learn Culturally Distinct Calls Made by Honey Hunters”
As reported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a newly exemplified cultural coevolution between humans and honeyguides (small birds found in Africa) might just change the way we think about coexistence between humans and animals. Research shows that honeyguide birds respond to a specific call made by people by guiding them to wild bees’ nests so that humans can find honey and expose the bees’ wax which is eaten by the honeyguides.
With their eyes in the sky, honeyguides naturally know the locations of bee colonies, and humans have the skills to climb or fell trees with nests, subdue the angry bees and open their nests, exposing beeswax for the honeyguides and honey for themselves. Thus, a mutualistic relationship has emerged between honeyguides and humans, where birds exchange their knowledge of bees’ nest locations for humans’ adept skills at accessing the resources inside.
Honeyguide Birds Learn Culturally Distinct Calls Made by Honey Hunters
More News We’re Watching
The Coast News Article: “Endangered Pacific pocket mice reintroduced at Camp Pendleton”
AAAS Article: “Honeyguide Birds Learn Culturally Distinct Calls Made by Honey Hunters”
KQED Article: “Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?”
NPR Network Article: “Solar development maps: where is there less conflict?”
NOAA Article: “Improving our Coasts with High-Resolution Land Cover Data”
OSU Article: “Oregon State University research makes key advances for capturing carbon from the air”
NBC Article: “Rare gray whale, extinct in the Atlantic for 200 years, spotted near Nantucket”
Killed by extreme wildfires that tore through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, giant sequoia trees are starting anew. Seeds are being planted by forestry teams in the shadows of the burnt trees, hoping they will grow big and strong just like the thousand-year-old trees that were there before the fire. The forest needs this helping hand due to fewer and fewer seedlings naturally covering the forest floor. Park officials have brought in seedlings from more resilient sequoia groves, hoping they will have a better chance of growing strong.
However, this has led to quite a debate. Some conservation groups believe that such intervention should occur in areas of federal wilderness and the sequoia trees could regenerate properly on their own.
Recent fires have burned bigger and more intensely than sequoias are accustomed to, a result of the way humans have changed the forest. After the 2020 and 2021 fires, scientists watched the sequoia groves to see if the next generation of trees is emerging to replace their lost parents. In some places, seedlings are filling the forest floor. In others, fewer are emerging from the burned soil.
Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?
More News We’re Watching
OSU Article: “Oregon State University research makes key advances for capturing carbon from the air”
PHYS Article: “First-of-its-kind study shows that conservation actions are effective at halting and reversing biodiversity loss”
NOAA Article: “Improving our Coasts with High-Resolution Land Cover Data”
The Coast News Article: “Endangered Pacific pocket mice reintroduced at Camp Pendleton”
NPR Network Article: “Solar development maps: where is there less conflict?”
KQED Article: “Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?”
NBC Article: “Rare gray whale, extinct in the Atlantic for 200 years, spotted near Nantucket”
Oregon State University scientists have discovered vanadium peroxide’s ability to react with and bond carbon dioxide which could be used to remove CO2 from the air! This study is part of a $24 million federal effort toward developing methods of direct air capture of carbon dioxide.
In 2021 Oregon State’s May Nyman, the Terence Bradshaw Chemistry Professor in the College of Science, was chosen as the leader of one of nine direct air capture projects funded by the Department of Energy. Her team is exploring how some transition metal complexes can react with air to remove carbon dioxide and convert it to a metal carbonate, similar to what is found in many naturally occurring minerals.
Oregon State University research makes key advance for capturing carbon from the air
More News We’re Watching
OSU Article: “Oregon State University research makes key advances for capturing carbon from the air”
The Coast News Article: “Endangered Pacific pocket mice reintroduced at Camp Pendleton”
NBC Article: “Rare gray whale, extinct in the Atlantic for 200 years, spotted near Nantucket”
KQED Article: “Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?”
NOAA Article: “Improving our Coasts with High-Resolution Land Cover Data”
AAAS Article: “Honeyguide Birds Learn Culturally Distinct Calls Made by Honey Hunters”
NPR Network Article: “Solar development maps: where is there less conflict?”
The 2023 COP28 conference (COP – Conference of the Parties) began in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Attendance hit an all-time record with at least 45,000 attendees.
Analyzing the data from the first 10 months of 2023, the National Centers for Environmental Information reports that there is a 99% chance that 2023 will be the warmest on record. Global ocean temperatures set a record high during this period as well and Antarctica experienced its sixth consecutive month of lowest sea ice extent ever recorded. For 28 years now, the COP process has brought representatives from around the world together to address the climate crisis. In 2015, a landmark treaty during the COP21 meeting (the Paris Agreement) set a goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which has recently been reported as unlikely, but not impossible.
After this much time, why is progress so slow? In a recent TED talk, Al Gore discusses two main obstacles: (1) relentless opposition from the fossil fuel industry, including capturing the COP process and (2) the global financial system often works against progress.
Check out the Reuters news article to learn more!
More News We’re Watching
NOAA Article: “Improving our Coasts with High-Resolution Land Cover Data”
NBC Article: “Rare gray whale, extinct in the Atlantic for 200 years, spotted near Nantucket”
NPR Network Article: “Solar development maps: where is there less conflict?”
Reuters Article: “How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28”
PHYS Article: “First-of-its-kind study shows that conservation actions are effective at halting and reversing biodiversity loss”
OSU Article: “Oregon State University research makes key advances for capturing carbon from the air”
KQED Article: “Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?”
This KUOW (NPR Network) published news article explains the importance of renewable energy planning and mapping! CBI has created several least-conflict models to support the development of solar infrastructure, including in the Washington Plateau and San Joaquin Valley. Check out the news article!
More News We’re Watching
NPR Network Article: “Solar development maps: where is there less conflict?”
NBC Article: “Rare gray whale, extinct in the Atlantic for 200 years, spotted near Nantucket”
The Coast News Article: “Endangered Pacific pocket mice reintroduced at Camp Pendleton”
Reuters Article: “How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28”
OSU Article: “Oregon State University research makes key advances for capturing carbon from the air”
PHYS Article: “First-of-its-kind study shows that conservation actions are effective at halting and reversing biodiversity loss”
KQED Article: “Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?”
A grey whale, thought to be extinct for over 200 years, was recently seen about 30 miles from the coast of Massachusetts! The New England Aquarium labeled it “an incredibly rare event”. Check out the news story!