Thanks very much to all who wrote in with comments and suggestions after the first week of “Nature News in Review.” The main critique thus far seems to be the level of visibility in the links out to the various stories. To remedy this, we will include more text in each link to improve its visibility.
That said, here are a few items of interest from the week ending November 14, 2008:
Flora
The Western Australian Government has lifted a ban on genetically modified crops to allow for the growing of genetically modified cotton in the territory.
School children in Wales play a key role in botanical research to discover the evolutionary development of plant traits intended to attract pollinators.
British Columbia trees that were previously treated for mountain pine beetle infestation are now being tested to determine if they contain a dangerously high level of arsenic.
Fauna
Monarch butterflies are arriving in Pacific Grove, California along the Monterey peninsula as part of their annual migration. Monarch Alert will be capturing and tagging a portion of these to discover more about the fall migration, wintering activity, and spring dispersal of Monarch butterflies in western North America.
As this past Saturday was the second Saturday in November, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Project FeederWatch is now officially underway. Those who have not yet done so are still welcome to sign up and participate.
The understanding of octopi took a great step forward as researchers announced the discovery of a common ancestor to many present-day deep sea octopus species – and a close relative of this ancestral species still exists today.
Natural Resources and Public Policy
This week, in Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision that shocked many in the blow it dealt to the welfare of marine mammals around the world.
Wildfires continue to rage throughout southern California. High winds and dry conditions are severely hindering the attempts of firefighters to bring them under control.
While the outgoing Bush administration in the U.S. announced on election day that it would open up, by executive order, 360,00 acres of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling, including parcels believed to be near Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah, the incoming Obama administration may decide otherwise.
Podcasts
BirdNote: swans, crows, oystercatchers, and more.
Nature: cooling birds’ brains slows down song.
World on the Move (BBC): Snow Geese, Atlantic Salmon, and night migration.
