Legendary entomologist Terry Erwin passes away at age 79
The famed entomologist Terry L. Erwin, a prolific scholar who revolutionized the scientific understanding of the diversity of life on Earth and set up some of the world’s first global…
Articles by Liz Kimbrough
Liz Kimbrough is a journalist based in New Orleans, LA. She has studied and written about science and environmental issues for over a decade. Liz holds a BS in Botany from Humboldt State University and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University where she studied the microbiomes of trees. Liz has been a contributor to Mongabay since 2012.
Large indigenous territories are necessary for culture and biodiversity in Brazil, study says
In Brazil, indigenous lands make up 13.5% of the national territory and are home to half a million indigenous peoples speaking 280 distinct languages. New research, published in the journal…
Insects decline on land, fare better in water, study finds
Insects touch nearly every corner of life on this planet, filling endless functional roles and providing services too vast to name — and they are disappearing. According to the largest…
‘Hummingbird’ spy creature films millions of monarchs taking flight
Up in the cool Mexican mountains, countless monarch butterflies gather together for the winter. When the sun warms their wings to just the right temperature, the mass of monarchs take…
Birds in Amazon forest fragments: New study summarizes 40 years of research
For the past 40 years, researchers have studied Amazonian bird communities in the world's longest-running experiment on tropical forest fragments. This research, summarized in a newly published paper in The…
One point for Slytherin: New Indian pit viper named after Harry Potter character
A new green pit viper species discovered in a Himalayan biodiversity hotspot has been named Trimeresurus Salazar, or the Salazar’s pit viper, after Salazar Slytherin, a character from J.K. Rowling's…
Flamingos form lasting friendships, a new study finds
Flamingos form lasting friendships, but they also have foes. A new study, published in the journal Behavioural Processes, found that close social bonds existed not only between flamingo couples but…
Trendy, cheap, and dirty: Fashion is a top global polluter
Fast fashion and the environment We live in a world of fast fashion, a model that relies on frequent, trend-driven, impulse buying of cheaply manufactured clothing that often ends up…
Decade after BP Deepwater Horizon spill, oil drilling is as dangerous as ever
It was one of the worst environmental disasters the world has witnessed. Ten years ago, on April 20, 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon exploratory rig exploded, killing 11 people and…
Low-cost satellite forest monitoring for all: Q&A with CLASlite creator Greg Asner
Satellites are an excellent tool for monitoring forests. Those who work in the areas of forest management, policy development and environmental conservation are increasingly making use of these eyes in…
Field research, interrupted: How the COVID-19 crisis is stalling science
The COVID-19 pandemic is giving “cancel culture” a new meaning. Weddings, graduations, academic conferences, sports events and birthday parties are all postponed until further notice. Among the laundry list of…
The kelps are alright: Studies reveal resilience in kelp forests
As the Beagle traversed the frigid waters of Tierra del Fuego on its famed voyage, Charles Darwin noted the diversity of life teeming in the dense foliage below. Now, nearly…
Camera traps in trees reveal a richness of species in Rwandan park
Sneaking up on animals can be tough. That’s why wildlife researchers often turn to motion-sensing cameras, also known as camera traps, to study animals in the wild. However, most of…
Keeping gorillas safe amid COVID-19 concerns
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, gorilla conservation teams are working to ensure that Africa’s endangered mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), and the people who protect them, remain safe. Gorillas are…
Response to one pandemic, COVID-19, has helped ease another: Air pollution
Air pollution has significantly decreased over China amid the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, signaling unanticipated implications for human health. “Given the huge amount of evidence that breathing…
Conservationists set the record straight on COVID-19’s wildlife links
The World Health Organization has categorized the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a pandemic in light of its spread around the world. Ever since the first cases emerged in the…
Western lowland gorillas may be territorial, a new study finds
Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) may be avoiding their neighbors, according to a new study that presents evidence of territoriality among gorilla groups in the Republic of Congo. Using…
‘Fake market’: Red panda study finds no real demand behind rise in poaching
Cases of poaching and illegal trade in the endangered red panda (Ailurus fulgens) are on the rise in Nepal. But with little evidence of a demand for panda pelts and…
Record-high global tree cover loss driven by agriculture
Across the globe, tree cover loss hit record highs from 2016-2018, with roughly the size of a soccer field lost each second. In 2018 alone, the area of tree cover…
As temperatures rise, meerkat pups feel the heat
The meerkat mobs of the Kalahari Desert fend off snakes and feast on scorpions, but a new foe is wearing them down: the slowly creeping heat of the day. Over…
Versace, Amazon, Samsonite among companies listed as deforestation ‘laggards’
Before an Amazon package reaches your doorstep, or that Jimmy Choo shoe finds your foot, it might, according to a new report, have left a trail of deforestation its wake.…
Western monarch butterfly numbers critically low for second straight year
Monarch butterfly populations are at a critical low, according to the annual Western Monarch Count in California. In the fall and winter, western monarchs (Danaus plexippus plexippus) stop to roost…
Investors drop demands after Tyson Foods commits to no deforestation
Green Century Capital Management, the impact investment group that was pushing for Tyson Foods Inc. to rid its supply chain of unsustainable practices, has withdrawn its request after Tyson, the…
Rare baby Chinese pangolin born to rescued mom makes surprise debut at Vietnam sanctuary [VIDEO]
For the first time ever, a baby Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) was born in a captive environment at the Save Vietnam’s Wildlife (SVW) facility in Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam.…
For tiger moms, the work-life balance struggle is real, study finds
Being a single mom is tough, even for a strong and formidable tigress. Hunting, protecting the territory, spending time with the cubs, resting — how does she do it all? For the…
Carbon uptake slower than expected in Amazon secondary forest: Study
A degraded secondary forest in Brazil stores carbon at only twice the rate of primary forest, compared to up to 11 times elsewhere; scientists could be overestimating Amazon carbon storage capacity.
What starts in the Amazon doesn’t stay there: Fires melting Andes glaciers
Study finds that worsening Amazon fires are melting Andean glaciers; soot builds up on snow, absorbing more solar radiation. Melting source isn’t accounted for in current climate models.
Experts blame Bolsonaro for surge in deforestation, warn of worse to come
An area of primary forest in the Brazilian Amazon the size of Hawaii’s Big Island was cleared in the past year. Experts warn the deforestation rate could be even higher in the coming months amid lack of enforcement and deforestation preceding fires in August and September 2019.
Expand or Intensify? Balancing biodiversity and rising food needs: study
New research finds that, for a given rise in global food production, the negative impact on biodiversity of cropland expansion is many times greater than of cropland intensification.
Hawaii braces for potential mass-coral bleaching event
Coral reefs in Hawaiian waters are facing the prospect of another major bleaching event as ocean temperatures rise above the norm. “We found the first signs of [coral] bleaching off…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Smallholder agriculture cuts into key Sumatran tiger habitat
- Indigenous Cacataibo of Peru threatened by land grabbing and drug trade
- Colombian and Ecuadorian Indigenous communities live in fear as drug traffickers invade
- Cocaine production driving deforestation into Colombian national park
Oceans
- 2020’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- ‘Tamper with nature, and everyone suffers’: Q&A with ecologist Enric Sala
- New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
Amazon conservation
- Indigenous groups blast Amazon state’s plan to legalize wildcat mining
- In ‘dire’ plea, Brazil’s Amazonas state appeals for global COVID assistance
- Brazil’s collapsing health service, new COVID variant, raise Indigenous risk
- Lack of protection leaves Spain-size swath of Brazilian Amazon up for grabs
Land rights and extractives
- Timber organization’s backing ‘one step’ toward ‘peace park’ in Borneo
- Indigenous groups blast Amazon state’s plan to legalize wildcat mining
- Papua tribe moves to block clearing of its ancestral forest for palm oil
- Protesters hold back military takeover of Balkans’ largest mountain pasture
Endangered environmentalists
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
