Ecosystems


More Christmas Trees Added to Build Bayou Sauvage Habitat

This year's helicopter drop of 4,700 Christmas trees from Orleans Parish helps the national wildlife refuge create tree jetties that produce marsh habitat.

U.S. Navy Launches Task Force Ocean

"It's hard to believe that in this globally interconnected information age, only five percent of volume of the world's oceans have been explored and only 20 percent of the world's sea floor has been mapped to modern standards," said Oceanographer of the Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet.

The Jet Star roller coaster is seen in the Atlantic Ocean off of Seaside Heights, New Jersey, USA after hurricane Sandy.

Study Adapts to New Coastal Flooding Reality

Identifying the risks and vulnerabilities along the North Atlantic Coast from Maine to Virginia.

Canada Convicted 31 of Illegal Fishing in 2016's Fourth Quarter in Newfoundland, Labrador

The convictions followed investigations by Fisheries and Oceans Canada fishery officers. More than $23,000 in fines were issued in connection with the cases.

Oregon Pursuing Outstanding Resource Designation for North Fork Smith River

The proposal would designate the river, as well as its tributaries and associated wetlands, as Outstanding Resource Waters under Oregon's antidegradation regulations under the federal Clean Water Act. This would be the first such protection for a water body in Oregon.

Wading birds feed near wooden posts marking a research site in a Louisiana salt marsh in Port Fourchon, La. Color-coded posts mark research plots for the USGS-University of Texas Rio Grande Valley study. (USGS photo)

Study Warns of Big Impacts to Coastal Wetlands

"Most studies have focused on the impact of sea-level rise on coastal wetlands and have excluded the important role of temperature and precipitation," said Michael Osland, a USGS research ecologist and the study's co-author. "We know that climate influences how these wetlands look and work, so this study aimed to demonstrate the importance of considering these forces when modeling what coastal wetlands may look like in the future."

Safety Concerns Cause Move of Antarctic Station

Safety Concerns Cause Move of Antarctic Station

The British Antarctic Survey station is being moved about 15 miles to get away from new crack in the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, and it will shut down from March to November this year.

Lesser Long-Nosed Bat Recovering, Delisting Proposed

With 30 years of recovery efforts having paid off, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the bat from the Endangered Species Act's protections.



USDA Develops Rapid Test for Imported Red Fire Ants

Entomologist Steven Valles of the Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects Research Unit in Gainesville, Fla., developed novel antibodies that bind to a protein in the fire ant's venom and used the antibodies, along with ARS and APHIS colleagues, to create a portable, easy-to-use test kit.

Canada Awards Contract for Oceanographic Buoys

The new buoys will increase Canada's ability to monitor the marine environment in real time; they will be deployed in spring 2017 in the estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in the Atlantic Ocean at sampling stations for Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program.

President Signs Ensuring Access to Pacific Fisheries Act

The new law provides that the United States will be represented on the North Pacific Fisheries Commission by five commissioners -- two appointed by the president and the three chairs of the North Pacific, Pacific, and Western Pacific Fishery Management Councils.

Interior Finalizes Stream Protection Rule

"The final rule updates 33-year old regulations and establishes clear requirements for responsible surface coal mining that will protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests over the next two decades," according to the agency.

DuPont Agrees to Settle Mercury Contamination Case, DOJ Says

According to the federal agencies involved, since 2005, DuPont and the trustees have worked cooperatively to assess and identify potential restoration projects to benefit natural resources affected by mercury releases from the former DuPont facility decades ago.

Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma

Trump Picks Oklahoma Attorney General for EPA Post

Pruitt has been a fierce and outspoken challenger of environmental actions taken by President Obama's administration.

The proposed Scott Islands Protected Marine Area, also known as the Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area, located off the northern tip of Vancouver Island, will be the first protected marine area established under the Canada Wildlife Act.

Canada to Create Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area

The proposed Scott Islands Marine National Wildlife Area, located off the northern tip of Vancouver Island, will be the first protected marine area established under the Canada Wildlife Act.

The Destructive Relationship Between Ocean Acidification and Coral Reefs

A new study conducted by scientists at the University of Miami shows how ocean acidification is accelerating the erosion of coral reefs.

Urban Development: The Future of Nature

With Israel's population on the rise, continued urban development is guaranteed. Conservation activists across the country will have their work cut out for them in the years to come, but with every city expansion, we see great opportunities to implement change.

DARPA Sets Insect Allies Proposers Day

The program seeks to develop vector-mediated modification technologies for mature plants to rapidly counter environmental and biological threats to crops. Threats of interest may include pathogens, pests, drought, and salinity.

EPA Tentatively Backs Puget Sound NDZ Determination

The Washington State Department of Ecology petitioned for the designation to EPA Region 10, seeking a determination that adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels are reasonably available for those waters, and so the state may completely prohibit the discharge from all vessels of any sewage into the sound.

BSEE Expands SafeOCS Program

The program now includes the confidential collection of equipment failure data.