Sorry for my absence from Nature News in Review last week. Aside from being in attendance at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida, I was battling what I logically assumed was an infestation of malware on my laptop that made me unwilling to enter any passwords into it until all the evil spirits could be exorcized from it. However all is now once again well and I’m back on the job. That said, here are a few items that caught my eye over the past week that you might find interesting:
Flora
Centuries of crop diversification are at risk of being lost forever.
The study of mushrooms will receive a much-needed boost with one of the world’s largest collections of fungi to be set up in England containing more than one million specimens – including samples collected by Darwin.
Fauna
A captive tuatara in New Zealand has unexpectedly become a father at the ripe old age of 111 after receiving treatment for a cancer that made him hostile toward prospective mates.
Liberia faces a second wave of armyworms and seeks international assistance to save crops throughout the nation.
World’s biggest wildlife survey turns thirty years old.
Natural Resources and Public Policy
The EU is calling on President Barack Obama to cap US carbon emissions and sign up to a global system of carbon trading between rich nations.
Northerners search for ‘third way’ on polar bear conservation.
A patch of plastic twice the size of Texas is floating in the Pacific.
Podcasts
BirdNote – Naming robins, blackbird coloration, nesting owls, and much more.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: due to the present economic mess throughout the world, BirdNote, a non-profit, has lost the support of a major donor. If you enjoy BirdNote and want it to continue, please consider making a small donation to them through their website.)
Ecological Society of America Podcast – Lizard evolution and the ants in your pants dance.
Green Week in Review – wind power, climate change, and insights into the expected policies of a new administration in the United States.
Nature – Carbon sequestration, mussel toxins, and sorghum.
Nature Stories – Wilderness survival in Maine.
Sierra Club Radio – Rediscovering where food comes from, Carl Pope, and the infrastructure necessary for the fully electric car to flourish.
World on the Move (BBC) – World on the Move concluded with their final podcast on 16 December, 2008. However their site is still active and remains a great resource to use in order to locate older BBC stories pertaining to natural history topics.
