By Charlotte Beckett – Deforestation has been a growing issue in the Amazon rainforest for decades, but in the past year levels of deforestation soared to an unprecedented level not seen in 15 years [1]. Deforestation is recognised worldwide as a method that is destroying the biodiversity of our Earth – a vital component of…
By Talia Treble – Mangrove Forests, as coastal ecosystems, store vast amounts of carbon whilst providing resources and protection for communities stricken by the impacts of climate change [1]. With the importance of storing ‘blue carbon’ [2] becoming increasingly recognised, the destruction of these environments is fast becoming a global environmental challenge. Blue Carbon Blue…
By Jess Griffiths – New research published in Ecosystems has found that areas of mangrove deforestation in Madagascar has lost 20% of carbon stored in the upper 1m of soil and 45% of total carbon accumulated in the past century [1], far more than previously thought. The CO2 emitted contributes to human-caused climate change, transforming…
By Anthea Phalosa – Coral reefs are a major source of attraction in the tropics, in places like Indonesia or Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. However, these biodiversity hotspots are facing a threat ultimately linked to human activity [1]. Anthropogenic activity such as the increasing use of fossil fuels have contributed to global scale warming…
By Georgina Hopwood – It is no secret that sea turtles seem to be one of the primary victims of human degradation to the environment, being the poster species for campaigns against ocean pollution, plastic use, oil spills and general exploitation of marine life. However, we see much less information spread about light pollution and…
By Leonie Hetzer – “’Cause even when there is no star in sight, you’ll always be my only guiding light” sing Mumford & Sons. However good these words could describe the fatal end for turtles when the guiding light is, in fact, street lighting on coastal roadways. It disrupts the nocturnal orientation of turtle hatchlings…
by Megan C Mitchell – Conservation appears in many forms and happens in a range of places. When people think of conservation, they think about it in terms of saving the rainforest, protecting the elephants or panda breeding programs but it does not have to be that it can be on a much smaller scale.…
by Katrina Woodfield – The song by rock band AC/DC may argue that “Rock and roll ain’t noise pollution”, but after testing this hypothesis, scientists from Mississippi State University beg to differ1,2. AC/DC’s album Back in Black inspired Barton et al. (2018) to study the effect of rock music on predator-prey interactions between ladybirds (Harmonia…
by William Preston – Climate change is a reality, and global food production systems could be at a great risk [1]. Agricultural land all over the world is likely to experience major changes in temperature and water availability [2,3,4]. What is more worrying is that mass produced crops such as maize and wheat have a…
by George Walton – In this post, we’re going to explore one of the most destructive and large-scale global environmental issues – palm oil. The removal of native trees makes way for oil palm plantations – in return, having a devastating effect on the local biodiversity. We will take a look at one of the…