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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?location=florida&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/florida/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:10:18 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>Florida environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/florida/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>If Florida reefs aren’t protected, storms will increase flooding &#038; costs: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/if-florida-reefs-arent-protected-storms-will-increase-flooding-costs-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/if-florida-reefs-arent-protected-storms-will-increase-flooding-costs-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 15:54:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12050147/b-FKNMS_-_Reef_34136062951-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315628</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Marine, Marine Conservation, Microplastics, Oceans, Pollution, Storms, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Healthy reefs aren’t just about colorful fish — they also shield shorelines from intense tropical storms. If Florida’s reefs keep degrading, flooding during tropical storms could get much worse, increasing risks to people and costing nearly a billion dollars a year in damage to buildings and economic disruption annually, a new Earth’s Future study finds. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Healthy reefs aren’t just about colorful fish — they also shield shorelines from intense tropical storms. If Florida’s reefs keep degrading, flooding during tropical storms could get much worse, increasing risks to people and costing nearly a billion dollars a year in damage to buildings and economic disruption annually, a new Earth’s Future study finds. Coral reefs act as natural breakwaters, absorbing up to 97% percent of an incoming wave’s energy, with the top of the reef taking the bulk of the impact. Globally, around 200 million people benefit from this kind of natural flood protection, according to a 2014 Nature Communications study. But around the world, coral reefs are in trouble. The most recent bleaching event, driven by record temperatures, hit more than 80% of reefs. Reefs are also battling coral diseases, pollution, microplastics, physical damage and other threats. In the Florida Keys, live coral cover has declined by about 90%, over the last 40 years, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Degraded reefs aren’t as strong, and crumbling coral means they aren’t as able to cushion the impact of waves. As waves become more forceful, they erode sediment, deepening the seafloor closer to shore. “Waves break relative to their water depth. &#8230; Now, all of a sudden, you make that water deeper, that means a bigger wave can come in closer to shore,&#8221; says Curt Storlazzi, a researcher at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the study’s first author. In a previous study,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/if-florida-reefs-arent-protected-storms-will-increase-flooding-costs-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/if-florida-reefs-arent-protected-storms-will-increase-flooding-costs-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315628</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>It’s electric: Scientists develop cheap way to keep sharks off fishing hooks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/its-electric-scientists-develop-cheap-way-to-keep-sharks-off-fishing-hooks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/its-electric-scientists-develop-cheap-way-to-keep-sharks-off-fishing-hooks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2026 19:08:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/21001601/4-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314596</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bycatch, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Research, Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Unintentional catch is a big reason that more than a hundred shark species are threatened with extinction. Yet creating a small electric field around fishing hooks using cheap inputs — zinc and graphite — is enough to keep many away, a new study indicates. In coastal waters off Florida, small zinc-and-graphite blocks rigged next to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Unintentional catch is a big reason that more than a hundred shark species are threatened with extinction. Yet creating a small electric field around fishing hooks using cheap inputs — zinc and graphite — is enough to keep many away, a new study indicates. In coastal waters off Florida, small zinc-and-graphite blocks rigged next to fishing hooks reduced shark catch by around two-thirds, according to the study, which was published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences on Jan. 15. “This study was part of an effort to reduce the number of sharks that are caught and killed as incidental bycatch in commercial fisheries,” Stephen Kajiura, a professor of biological sciences at Florida Atlantic University and lead author of the study, told Mongabay. “We&#8217;re trying to develop a method that will be cheap and effective that the fishermen could use, that would keep the sharks off the hooks but still allow them to catch their target species.” “It&#8217;s no good if it impedes the fisherman&#8217;s ability to get what they want,” he added. “And that&#8217;s the cool thing about this type of repellent … it only repels sharks and not anything else.” A skipper pulls up longlines after catching a large number of piked dogfish (Squalus acanthias) in waters off Chatham, Massachusetts, in 2009. Unlike other shark species, piked dogfish weren’t deterred by an electric field created around fishing hooks, a new study shows. Image by AP Photo/Stephan Savoia. Sharks and related species are especially electrosensitive. Researchers have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/its-electric-scientists-develop-cheap-way-to-keep-sharks-off-fishing-hooks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/its-electric-scientists-develop-cheap-way-to-keep-sharks-off-fishing-hooks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314596</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How intermediaries are reshaping mangrove restoration</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2026 16:25:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marina Martinez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/06094551/1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313853</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Restoration Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, East Africa, Florida, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Illegal Logging, Mangroves, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage. One reason, according to Catherine [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage. One reason, according to Catherine Lovelock, professor in the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland in Australia and expert in mangrove ecology, is that restoration efforts are often led by small community groups with limited resources and expertise. In fact, studies have shown that around 70% of mangrove restoration projects in some regions, particularly Southeast Asia and Latin America, have low rates of success. To bridge this gap, a growing number of environmental nonprofits are tapping into their experience with fundraising and resource mobilization to help local communities more effectively conduct restoration. Seatrees, a California-based NGO (formerly known as Sustainable Surf), is one such organization. Rather than running projects itself, the organization partners with local community groups and other NGOs, providing funding, scientific expertise and media support to boost coastal and marine restoration efforts worldwide, including mangroves. Over the past five years, Seatrees has supported mangrove restoration projects in Kenya, Mexico, the U.S. and Indonesia “by providing much needed funds to scale up tree planting, produce storytelling materials and build capacity in science, monitoring and impact measurement,” Leah Hays, the program director, told Mongabay. Seatrees is one of nearly 130 organizations worldwide identified by researchers at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Night dives reveal hidden alliances between young fish and larval anemones</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/night-dives-reveal-hidden-alliances-between-young-fish-and-larval-anemones/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/night-dives-reveal-hidden-alliances-between-young-fish-and-larval-anemones/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2025 19:58:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/31170040/Bramidae-Anemone-Linda-5_cf-Zoantharia-11-28-2020_102-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308655</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Symbiotic Relationships, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since 2016, Rich Collins has been plunging into the pitch-black waters off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida, at night, camera in hand, in pursuit of blackwater photography. These nighttime dives have given him a unique window into the lives of sea creatures, including many that usually stay hidden in deeper waters, but come up [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since 2016, Rich Collins has been plunging into the pitch-black waters off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida, at night, camera in hand, in pursuit of blackwater photography. These nighttime dives have given him a unique window into the lives of sea creatures, including many that usually stay hidden in deeper waters, but come up to the surface after dark to feed. One thing Collins and his fellow divers have observed over the years is that some juvenile fish interact with larval tube anemones in interesting ways, with the fish either sticking close to the anemones or even carrying them around. These “symbiotic associations” are described in a recent paper published in the Journal of Fish Biology, for which Collins was a co-author. “The bradmids [pomfret fish] tend to surf on them [anemones] or ride them, or they grab them with their pectoral fins,” Collins, a diver affiliated with the Florida Museum of Natural History, told Mongabay. “The filefishes tend to grab things with their mouths and carry them around.” Blackwater images of these associations, taken in the epipelagic waters of both Florida and French Polynesia, found their way to Gabriel Afonso, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “They’re beautiful photos,” Afonso told Mongabay. “People like them, but researchers look to them with different eyes — we look to them as a source of information.” Drawing from the photos, Afonso and his co-authors described the “mutualistic interaction” between open-water fish —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/night-dives-reveal-hidden-alliances-between-young-fish-and-larval-anemones/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/night-dives-reveal-hidden-alliances-between-young-fish-and-larval-anemones/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308655</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ants perform life-saving amputations on injured nestmates, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ants-perform-life-saving-amputations-on-injured-nestmates-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ants-perform-life-saving-amputations-on-injured-nestmates-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Aug 2024 18:11:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/02165543/230427_Camponotus_fellah_026-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285619</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ants perform amputations on injured nestmates to save their lives, according to a new study. The research published in the journal Current Biology found that Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus) can assess wound locations and adjust their treatment accordingly —a level of medical intervention previously only observed in humans. “The fact that the ants are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ants perform amputations on injured nestmates to save their lives, according to a new study. The research published in the journal Current Biology found that Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus) can assess wound locations and adjust their treatment accordingly —a level of medical intervention previously only observed in humans. “The fact that the ants are able to diagnose a wound, see if it&#8217;s infected or sterile, and treat it accordingly over long periods of time by other individuals — the only medical system that can rival that would be the human one,” said Erik Frank, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Würzburg in Germany and lead author of the study. The research team observed that when a carpenter ant&#8217;s leg was injured at the thigh (femur), other ants would bite off the entire limb at the base. This radical procedure prevented life-threatening infections from spreading through the injured ant’s body. Remarkably, about 90% of the amputated ants survived the treatment and resumed their full range of duties in the nest despite losing one of their six legs. &#8220;Our study proves for the first time that animals also use prophylactic amputations in the course of wound treatment. And it shows that the ants orientate the treatment to the type of injury,&#8221; said Laurent Keller, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and senior author of the study. https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/02180759/4mbvid.mp4 A Florida carpenter ant amputating the leg of a nestmate in a laboratory experiment. Video by Dany Buffat. When&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ants-perform-life-saving-amputations-on-injured-nestmates-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ants-perform-life-saving-amputations-on-injured-nestmates-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/02180759/4mbvid.mp4" length="3858137" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285619</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To conserve large landscapes like the Florida Wildlife Corridor, payments for ecosystem services could be key (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/to-conserve-large-landscapes-like-the-florida-wildlife-corridor-payments-for-ecosystem-services-could-be-key-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/to-conserve-large-landscapes-like-the-florida-wildlife-corridor-payments-for-ecosystem-services-could-be-key-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2024 01:30:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jen GuytonJoshua Daskin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/18204737/Florida-corridor-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Ecosystem Services, Environment, Finance, Habitat, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Florida, one stunningly ambitious habitat conservation program is creating a model for a future in which people coexist with nature. Spanning the length of the state—from Alabama to the Everglades—the Florida Wildlife Corridor is a vision for a continuous, 18-million-acre tract of land that aims to keep nearly 50% of the state undeveloped (Figure [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Florida, one stunningly ambitious habitat conservation program is creating a model for a future in which people coexist with nature. Spanning the length of the state—from Alabama to the Everglades—the Florida Wildlife Corridor is a vision for a continuous, 18-million-acre tract of land that aims to keep nearly 50% of the state undeveloped (Figure 1). The challenges are great: Florida has among the fastest-growing state populations, averaging 1,000 additional residents per day in 2023. As people flock to Florida, the price of land—whether for conservation or development—rises. Between 2001-2019, over 525,000 acres (820 sq. miles) of natural lands, timberlands, crops, and ranch lands were converted to development, an area almost 15 times the size of Miami. In the face of advancing development, conserving nearly 50% of Florida will require every tool in the toolbox. Thus far, conserving the corridor has primarily been achieved through public acquisition (outright purchases to create new conservation areas) and conservation easements (in which the landowner retains the land but relinquishes certain development rights). Progress has been promising: since the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was approved in 2021, state funding and agencies have helped private landowners conserve an additional 200,000-plus acres within the corridor. Figure 1—Map of the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Dark green conserved lands are already protected, while light green opportunity areas still need to be protected in order for the corridor to be complete. However, we can conserve more, faster by employing other tools, too. We are heartened by budding efforts to protect&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/to-conserve-large-landscapes-like-the-florida-wildlife-corridor-payments-for-ecosystem-services-could-be-key-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/to-conserve-large-landscapes-like-the-florida-wildlife-corridor-payments-for-ecosystem-services-could-be-key-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Florida growers eye agroecology solution to devastating citrus disease</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/florida-citrus-growers-hope-push-pull-agroecology-method-will-save-their-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/florida-citrus-growers-hope-push-pull-agroecology-method-will-save-their-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2024 15:48:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marlowe Starling]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/03144401/citrus-agroecology-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280601</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Business, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Food, Food Industry, food security, Insects, Invasive Species, Research, Solutions, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[FORT PIERCE, Florida — Just off of North Kings Highway, a dirt road once led to lush rows of sweet-smelling citrus crops: grapefruits, lemons and oranges. Now, all that’s left of the once-flourishing groves are barren rows of dead trees, weeds and a few sickly fruits still clutching to their final nutrients. Florida was once [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[FORT PIERCE, Florida — Just off of North Kings Highway, a dirt road once led to lush rows of sweet-smelling citrus crops: grapefruits, lemons and oranges. Now, all that’s left of the once-flourishing groves are barren rows of dead trees, weeds and a few sickly fruits still clutching to their final nutrients. Florida was once a global capital for citrus production. But in 1998, a state entomologist discovered a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri). It was an ominous sign; the invasive pest transmits a pathogen that causes citrus greening disease, or Huanglongbing, which slowly kills the trees and turns the fruit bitter. It took seven more years to identify the first confirmed case. Over the past two decades, the disease has virtually decimated the state’s industry. Projections for this year’s orange production, the most abundant citrus crop grown in Florida, sit at just under 20 million boxes — down from more than 200 million boxes in the early 2000s, before the disease had spread. Since then, the world’s leading scientists have poured endless time and money into rescue efforts, including mesh protective covers to block the pest from infecting young trees, disease-tolerant hybrid varieties, and antibiotic trunk injections. Yet the disease continues spreading. A largely dead grapefruit grove infected with citrus greening disease in Fort Pierce, Florida. Image by Marlowe Starling for Mongabay. Now, a team from Argentina is testing a cheaper and simpler technique to control psyllids — sometimes called jumping plant lice — in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/florida-citrus-growers-hope-push-pull-agroecology-method-will-save-their-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/florida-citrus-growers-hope-push-pull-agroecology-method-will-save-their-industry/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280601</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Find the manatee: New AI model spots sea cows from images</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/find-the-manatee-new-ai-model-spots-sea-cows-from-images/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/find-the-manatee-new-ai-model-spots-sea-cows-from-images/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Feb 2024 17:55:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/15174036/manatee-387195_1920-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278906</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How do you count manatees? Ideally, standing by a river while playing with the aquatic mammals. However, in a world where manatee populations face increasing threats, a faster and more accurate method is imperative. Enter artificial intelligence. A model developed by scientists at Florida Atlantic University uses a deep-learning-based method to count manatees in images [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How do you count manatees? Ideally, standing by a river while playing with the aquatic mammals. However, in a world where manatee populations face increasing threats, a faster and more accurate method is imperative. Enter artificial intelligence. A model developed by scientists at Florida Atlantic University uses a deep-learning-based method to count manatees in images captured by cameras. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports describes how the model can use even low-quality images to estimate manatee populations in shallow waters. “Eventually, we think this model will be very helpful to understand manatee demographics in real time,” study lead author Xingquan Zhu, a professor at FAU’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, told Mongabay in a video interview. “How many are there? What are their habitats? Where do they go for food?” Answering these questions is helpful to plan conservation actions, prevent habitat loss, and design rules for boaters and divers. Manatees (Trichechus spp.) have long been tracked with the help of GPS devices attached to their tails. However, the harsh marine environments they often inhabit lead to the tags breaking down quickly. The use of physical tags also imposes a restriction on the number of animals that can be monitored in one go. “Plus it’s also quite labor-intensive,” Zhu said. These gaps prompted Zhu and his team to start thinking about adopting artificial intelligence to estimate manatee populations in an affordable and real-time manner. The model is trained to identify manatees in shallow waters and count their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/find-the-manatee-new-ai-model-spots-sea-cows-from-images/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/find-the-manatee-new-ai-model-spots-sea-cows-from-images/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278906</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Will FTX&#8217;s demise shift sinking Miami&#8217;s crypto embrace? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/will-ftxs-demise-shift-sinking-miamis-crypto-embrace-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/will-ftxs-demise-shift-sinking-miamis-crypto-embrace-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2022 22:42:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nikolas Kozloff]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/08222340/risingseas600-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Commentary, Energy, Environment, Mitigation, Sea Levels, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Hopefully, the recent implosion of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and the backlash against crypto investors like Sam Bankman-Fried, will prompt the city of Miami to reconsider its economic priorities. FTX, whose 1.2. million users used the exchange to purchase cryptocurrency tokens such as Bitcoin, recently filed for bankruptcy. Amidst the demise of FTX, Bitcoin has plunged [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Hopefully, the recent implosion of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and the backlash against crypto investors like Sam Bankman-Fried, will prompt the city of Miami to reconsider its economic priorities. FTX, whose 1.2. million users used the exchange to purchase cryptocurrency tokens such as Bitcoin, recently filed for bankruptcy. Amidst the demise of FTX, Bitcoin has plunged along with the entire crypto market. Though certainly concerning for investors, the FTX imbroglio could offer a respite for the environment by discouraging an ongoing crypto craze. Bitcoin transactions consume a lot of energy – the lion’s share of which comes from fossil fuels – since so-called “mining rigs” are comprised of powerful computers working in tandem to solve complex mathematical problems. Bitcoin is so damaging to the environment, in fact, that experts estimate the digital token now consumes more energy than the whole of Argentina, a nation of 45 million people. Indeed, the carbon footprint of a sole Bitcoin transaction is equivalent to almost two million Visa transactions, and 135,229 hours watching YouTube. Unfortunately, billionaires such as Bankman-Fried have been seemingly impervious to such environmental realities. Other moguls such as Elon Musk, meanwhile, have pledged to fight climate change. However, the Tesla boss has had an odd on-and-off relationship with Bitcoin, not to mention the tech CEO’s own Boring Company which conducts business in the digital currency Dogecoin. Large crypto &#8216;mining rigs&#8217; draw massive amounts of electricity to run hundreds or thousands of computers that &#8216;mine&#8217; digital currencies. Photo by Marko Ahtisaari on Flickr and licensed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/will-ftxs-demise-shift-sinking-miamis-crypto-embrace-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/will-ftxs-demise-shift-sinking-miamis-crypto-embrace-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why are Florida manatees showing up in Cuba and Mexico?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/why-are-florida-manatees-showing-up-in-cuba-and-mexico/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/why-are-florida-manatees-showing-up-in-cuba-and-mexico/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2022 16:45:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maxradwin]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/29162035/FEATURE-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255334</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Caribbean, Central America, Cuba, Florida, Latin America, Mexico, North America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Seagrass, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Throughout the winter and spring of 2007, there were several curious sightings of a manatee and her calf in a power plant intake canal in the Cuban town of Santa Cruz del Norte, approximately 33 miles (54 kilometers) east of Havana. Manatees in Cuba aren’t known to frequent power plant canals. That kind of behavior [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Throughout the winter and spring of 2007, there were several curious sightings of a manatee and her calf in a power plant intake canal in the Cuban town of Santa Cruz del Norte, approximately 33 miles (54 kilometers) east of Havana. Manatees in Cuba aren’t known to frequent power plant canals. That kind of behavior is more characteristic of those found in Florida, where colder temperatures force the animals to seek out warm industrial waterways. Researchers shared the information with the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) Manatee Individual Photo-identification System, which has spent over 50 years documenting and registering photos of manatees in the country, often through unique body scars caused by passing boats. The system currently has more than 5,000 manatees in its database. This particular manatee had several scars over its left flipper and across its tail, allowing researchers to confirm it was the same manatee spotted in December 1979 in Crystal River, Florida and again in other rivers in 2005 and 2006. At the time of the new sighting, it seemed like an anomaly. Although some Florida manatees have been known to travel hundreds of miles along the coast to places like Massachusetts and Texas, they had never been documented traveling to Cuba and aren’t known to cross large bodies of deep water. “It was not only the first report of a Florida manatee resident in Cuba but, to me, it was also a revelation that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Strait might be&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/why-are-florida-manatees-showing-up-in-cuba-and-mexico/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/why-are-florida-manatees-showing-up-in-cuba-and-mexico/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255334</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Manatee deaths in Florida point to a global decline in seagrass ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/manatee-deaths-in-florida-point-to-a-global-decline-in-seagrass-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/manatee-deaths-in-florida-point-to-a-global-decline-in-seagrass-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Sep 2021 16:37:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/02124457/6-seagrass-and-manatees-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246682</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Ocean Warming, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In July 2021, the U.S. Fish &#38; Wildlife Service announced that 866 West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) had died in the state of Florida in the first seven months of the year alone. The news shocked and saddened many Floridians, for whom the gentle, slow-moving mammal is a statewide mascot, and served as a large [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In July 2021, the U.S. Fish &amp; Wildlife Service announced that 866 West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) had died in the state of Florida in the first seven months of the year alone. The news shocked and saddened many Floridians, for whom the gentle, slow-moving mammal is a statewide mascot, and served as a large blow to a statewide effort that had brought the Florida subspecies (T. m. latirostris) back from a slide toward extinction.  It came as little surprise, however, to scientists studying the manatees’ primary food source: seagrasses.  “Scientists have said time and time again that seagrass is declining, that there is a hell of a lot of nutrients in these waters, that there’s a big problem here that needs to be solved,” said Benjamin Jones, a seagrass ecologist and co-founder of the U.K.-based research organization Project Seagrass, in an interview with Mongabay. “But still nothing has really been done.” The spate of deaths is still being investigated by the FWS as an unusual mortality event (UME), and so its cause is not yet official. Yet wildlife officers suspect the mass death is linked to the dieback of seagrass in the Indian River Lagoon, a major overwintering location for the Florida manatee, and where most of the deaths occurred.  Healthy seagrass meadows thrive in clean water with ample sunlight. Image by Benjamin Jones/Project Seagrass. Though West Indian manatees eat some other water plants, seagrass is their primary food source, particularly during cold months. Since 2009, seagrass in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/manatee-deaths-in-florida-point-to-a-global-decline-in-seagrass-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/manatee-deaths-in-florida-point-to-a-global-decline-in-seagrass-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246682</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Building back Miami’s Biscayne Bay: Do natural solutions hold hope?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/building-back-miamis-biscayne-bay-do-natural-solutions-hold-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/building-back-miamis-biscayne-bay-do-natural-solutions-hold-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2021 13:12:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marlowe Starling]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/14110852/dead-fish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244774</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Services, Fellows, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Nutrient Pollution, Oceans, Pollution, Population, Research, Restoration, Saltwater Fish, Solutions, Water Pollution, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MIAMI — Along the Miami shoreline, luxury high-rises and condominiums run parallel to Biscayne Bay, one of South Florida’s most biodiverse ecosystems, characterized by its once abundant coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves. But increasing population pressure, pollution, and the effects of climate change have left the bay in shambles. Reefs are dying, seagrass beds [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MIAMI — Along the Miami shoreline, luxury high-rises and condominiums run parallel to Biscayne Bay, one of South Florida’s most biodiverse ecosystems, characterized by its once abundant coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves. But increasing population pressure, pollution, and the effects of climate change have left the bay in shambles. Reefs are dying, seagrass beds have disappeared, and algal blooms have depleted the bay’s marine life as a result of nutrient pollution and hotter temperatures, leaving organisms starved for oxygen. Amid the pandemic, though, a tragic “aha! moment” brought a renewed commitment to the bay.  A massive fish kill in August 2020 prompted communities across Miami to amp up their efforts to restore balance to the bay. The work of scientists, activists and city officials in particular has turned toward effectively undoing more than a century of damage to an ecosystem now in haphazard flux. One of the questions that remains at the fore of the conversation over Biscayne Bay is: Can nature-based solutions bring it back to life? Two octopi found dead from the August 2020 fish kill. Image courtesy of Miami Waterkeeper. An ominous warning sign In August 2020, Miami Beach residents complained of a rotten stench that wafted across the summer air. Fish, rays, eels, lobsters, shrimp, crabs, octopus, and all kinds of other marine life bobbed lifeless on the surface waters of Biscayne Bay. Scientists familiar with past die-offs sprang into action — this wasn’t Biscayne Bay’s first fish kill — concluding that it was the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/building-back-miamis-biscayne-bay-do-natural-solutions-hold-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/building-back-miamis-biscayne-bay-do-natural-solutions-hold-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244774</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An Amazonian arapaima washed up in a Florida river. It didn’t swim there</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/an-amazonian-arapaima-washed-up-in-a-florida-river-it-didnt-swim-there/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/an-amazonian-arapaima-washed-up-in-a-florida-river-it-didnt-swim-there/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2021 19:01:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/09193527/animals_05508_HEAD-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241515</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Florida, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, International Trade, Invasive Species, Pet Trade, Species, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s been called a “river monster,” and for good reason. The arapaima (Arapaima gigas) is a freshwater fish that can grow longer than a horse and weigh up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds). The species lives in the waters that snake through the Amazon lowlands. But a couple of months ago, the rotting body of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s been called a “river monster,” and for good reason. The arapaima (Arapaima gigas) is a freshwater fish that can grow longer than a horse and weigh up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds). The species lives in the waters that snake through the Amazon lowlands. But a couple of months ago, the rotting body of an arapaima washed ashore in south Florida, thousands of kilometers from its native territory. In a statement provided to Mongabay, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said the arapaima had washed ashore from the Caloosahatchee River, which runs into the Gulf of Mexico, in February. Matthew Neilson, a fishery biologist who works at the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, said there was no possibility the fish had traveled here on its own. The more likely explanation was that it had been dumped by an aquarium owner. Arapaima in captivity. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler “Release from aquarium owners or from the pet trade is fairly common,” Neilson told Mongabay in an interview. “These are fish that will pop out at a very, very large size. The maximum length is almost 3 meters long, so you know, close to 10 feet, and close to 400 pounds at maximum size. Most people don&#8217;t have the facilities at home to be able to handle an organism of that size.” It’s unclear why the arapaima died, but cold water may have been the culprit, Neilson said. Arapaimas can only tolerate water temperatures above 16°&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/an-amazonian-arapaima-washed-up-in-a-florida-river-it-didnt-swim-there/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/an-amazonian-arapaima-washed-up-in-a-florida-river-it-didnt-swim-there/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241515</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Bahamas offshore project falls flat, oil driller island-hops across Caribbean</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/as-bahamas-offshore-project-falls-flat-oil-driller-island-hops-across-caribbean/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/as-bahamas-offshore-project-falls-flat-oil-driller-island-hops-across-caribbean/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2021 17:07:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/12153836/Bahamas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239549</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Deep Sea Mining 2021 and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas, Caribbean, and Florida]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oil, Oil Drilling, and Oil Spills]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas Petroleum Company’s controversial bid to drill for offshore oil near the Florida coast hit a wall after its exploratory well did not find commercially viable reserves. Environmentalists in the Bahamas and the U.S. staunchly opposed the offshore drilling they say threatens the fragile marine ecosystem. The Perseverance #1 well is located 240 kilometers (150 miles) from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas Petroleum Company’s controversial bid to drill for offshore oil near the Florida coast hit a wall after its exploratory well did not find commercially viable reserves. Environmentalists in the Bahamas and the U.S. staunchly opposed the offshore drilling they say threatens the fragile marine ecosystem. The Perseverance #1 well is located 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the coast of Florida and 146 km (91 mi) from the nearest Bahamian island of Andros. The Stena IceMAX drillship started drilling on Dec. 20. By Feb. 7 it had plumbed depths of 3,900 meters (12,800 feet). BPC, headquartered in the Isle of Man, a British Crown dependency, had estimated that the targeted reserves could hold between 770 million and 1.44 billion barrels of oil. The well was not for oil production but to determine if viable deposits of oil exist. They do not. “Drilling has now ceased, the well having reached a depth of approximately 3,900 meters without incident, and the well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned,” the company said in a statement in response to questions from Mongabay. It was the first effort in many decades to seek offshore oil deposits in Bahamian waters. BPC has sunk more than $110 million into the project over the course of a decade. Its efforts came to fruition only last year when the Bahamian government issued environmental authorization for its exploratory oil drilling. The go-ahead sparked opposition led by the Our Islands, Our Future (OIOF) campaign, a coalition of local and international NGOs and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/as-bahamas-offshore-project-falls-flat-oil-driller-island-hops-across-caribbean/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fewer than 100 of these giant whales make up a newly described species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fewer-than-100-of-these-giant-whales-make-up-a-newly-described-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fewer-than-100-of-these-giant-whales-make-up-a-newly-described-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Feb 2021 19:05:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Teresa L. Carey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/04185211/1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239292</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Plastic, Shipping, Species Discovery, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For decades, scientists observed a puzzling group of whales in the Gulf of Mexico. The animals looked like Bryde&#8217;s whales — but not quite. They fed like Bryde&#8217;s whales — but at greater depths. What were they? With genetic data and a chance stranding, the scientists finally have their answer. The so-called Gulf of Mexico [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, scientists observed a puzzling group of whales in the Gulf of Mexico. The animals looked like Bryde&#8217;s whales — but not quite. They fed like Bryde&#8217;s whales — but at greater depths. What were they? With genetic data and a chance stranding, the scientists finally have their answer. The so-called Gulf of Mexico Bryde&#8217;s whale is actually a unique species — and for years, it hid in plain sight. A Rice’s whale swims in the Gulf of Mexico. Image courtesy of NOAA. Patience leads to discovery Researchers first reported a Bryde’s whale (pronounced &#8220;broo-dus,” Balaenoptera edeni) in the Gulf of Mexico in 1965 and began tracking a small group of the animals in earnest in 1997. Survey data eventually showed the group lived year-round in the Gulf of Mexico, keeping to a small area along the continental shelf near Florida’s panhandle. Noting the differences from either of the two recognized subspecies of Bryde’s whale, which live in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, they suspected the whales in the Gulf might belong to a unique species all their own. In 2014, researchers with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published the results of a DNA analysis showing that the whales in the Gulf were genetically distinct enough to at least be designated as the third subspecies of Bryde’s whale, if not their own species. &#8220;That is when we got really intrigued by how different they look genetically,” said lead author Patricia Rosel, a research geneticist at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fewer-than-100-of-these-giant-whales-make-up-a-newly-described-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fewer-than-100-of-these-giant-whales-make-up-a-newly-described-species/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239292</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sharks nearby? A bottle of seawater can hold the answer, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/sharks-nearby-a-bottle-of-seawater-can-hold-the-answer-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/sharks-nearby-a-bottle-of-seawater-can-hold-the-answer-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2020 14:32:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/21150107/shark-545834_1920-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=234092</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, DNA, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Fish, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Science, shark finning, Sharks, Surveying, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two liters of seawater, or about half a gallon. That’s all that’s needed to detect the presence of sharks in the ocean, according to a new study. A group of researchers from Florida International University (FIU), New College of Florida and Havenworth Coastal Conservation recently teamed up to develop a new method of detecting the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two liters of seawater, or about half a gallon. That’s all that’s needed to detect the presence of sharks in the ocean, according to a new study. A group of researchers from Florida International University (FIU), New College of Florida and Havenworth Coastal Conservation recently teamed up to develop a new method of detecting the presence of blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) in Terra Ceia Bay, a semi-enclosed bay on the west coast of Florida. While many scientists rely on gill nets or longlines to conduct shark surveys, these researchers tested water samples for sharks’ environmental DNA, or eDNA. Like all animals, including humans, sharks constantly shed DNA in bits of skin, mucus, blood and even poop, and these fragments of genetic material can provide vital clues to a shark’s whereabouts. Blacktip sharks in the Maldives (a different species than the one in the study). Image by David P. Robinson / Coral Reef Image Bank “We detect whatever the animals leave in the environment,” lead author Bautisse Postaire, a postdoctoral researcher at FIU, told Mongabay. “You could detect everything, basically, except actual fresh tissue.” When Postaire and his colleagues embarked on this study two years ago, he said he was initially doubtful it would yield accurate results. “We were skeptical about how sensitive the method would be in detecting the temporal pattern of increases and decreases of blacktip shark abundance in the bay over the seasons,&#8221; Postaire said. &#8220;So, we were actually a little bit surprised that it worked this well,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/sharks-nearby-a-bottle-of-seawater-can-hold-the-answer-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-234092</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shark fin stories by major media &#8216;misleading&#8217;: Q&#038;A with David Shiffman</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/shark-fin-stories-by-major-media-misleading-qa-with-david-shiffman/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/shark-fin-stories-by-major-media-misleading-qa-with-david-shiffman/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2020 19:55:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jimmy Thomson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/13184755/scalloped-hammerhead-banner-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232413</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, Global, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Elasmobranchs, Fish, Fisheries, Interviews, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, shark finning, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If there’s one thing most of the public knows about shark conservation, it’s that they’re under siege by global fleets of vessels that scoop them up, cut off their fins and deposit them back into the ocean to drown, a cruel practice known as shark finning. But what if that practice, while real, isn’t the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If there’s one thing most of the public knows about shark conservation, it’s that they’re under siege by global fleets of vessels that scoop them up, cut off their fins and deposit them back into the ocean to drown, a cruel practice known as shark finning. But what if that practice, while real, isn’t the singular threat it’s made out to be? “There are many threats facing sharks, but one, which is not the biggest threat, gets the most attention,” says David Shiffman, a postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University who studies shark conservation. An analysis of ten years’ worth of media reports, published in June by Shiffman et al in the open-access journal iScience, shows that two-thirds of all articles about threats to sharks focused on finning and the trade in shark fins — two separate issues that are conflated so frequently, write the authors, that “it was impossible to tease these two threats apart.” A more pressing threat, overfishing, was mentioned in just four of ten articles. Recreational fishing for sharks, which the authors call an emerging threat, only made it into a tenth of the articles. David Shiffman (left) with a lemon shark. Photo courtesy of David Shiffman. Critically endangered sharks, meanwhile, got a tiny fraction of the attention of the better-known species, like great white sharks. They showed up just 20 times in nearly 2,000 articles. The result of the skewed media coverage, Shiffman says, is that “a concerned citizen learning about this important issue from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/shark-fin-stories-by-major-media-misleading-qa-with-david-shiffman/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/shark-fin-stories-by-major-media-misleading-qa-with-david-shiffman/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232413</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Slow and steady: Sea turtles mount a long-term recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/slow-and-steady-sea-turtles-mount-a-long-term-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/slow-and-steady-sea-turtles-mount-a-long-term-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2020 14:23:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/22103216/28128852695_38f6e5d2c6_o-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230564</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, Thailand, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, something extraordinary happened in Phuket, Thailand. For the first time in five years, a leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) crept onto a local beach, dug a nest in the sand, and laid 118 tiny white eggs. Not long after that, two more nests appeared. When the next nesting season came around, between November 2019 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, something extraordinary happened in Phuket, Thailand. For the first time in five years, a leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) crept onto a local beach, dug a nest in the sand, and laid 118 tiny white eggs. Not long after that, two more nests appeared. When the next nesting season came around, between November 2019 and February 2020, the amount of nests nearly tripled: local monitors recorded 11 leatherback turtle nests, which resulted in 351 hatchlings. Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, an endangered species specialist and director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre, said this was the highest number of sea turtle nests in Phuket in over 20 years. Ten thousand miles away from Phuket, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Florida, has also observed a rise in turtle nesting. At this time in 2019, there were 1,968 sea turtle nests dotted along a 15-kilometer (9.5-mile) stretch of shore. Now, a year later, there are a lot more. As of May 20, the team counted 196 leatherback nests, 2,028 loggerhead (Caretta caretta) nests and seven green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests, bringing the running tally to 2,231. A freshly laid loggerhead nest found at sunrise during sea turtle nesting surveys in Palm Beach County, Florida. Image by Sarah Hirsch. “We are observing the season with cautious optimism,” Justin Perrault, director of research at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, told Mongabay. David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy, a Florida-based nonprofit that works to protect turtles and tortoises, also reported increased nesting of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/slow-and-steady-sea-turtles-mount-a-long-term-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230564</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Decade after BP Deepwater Horizon spill, oil drilling is as dangerous as ever</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/decade-after-bp-deepwater-horizon-spill-oil-drilling-is-as-dangerous-as-ever/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/decade-after-bp-deepwater-horizon-spill-oil-drilling-is-as-dangerous-as-ever/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Apr 2020 13:55:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/20115648/BP1_U.S.-Coast-Guard2-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=229167</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Disasters, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Planetary Health, Public Health, Sea Turtles, Seabirds, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[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 initiating the largest oil spill in the history of the United States. Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, killing fish, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[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 initiating the largest oil spill in the history of the United States. Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, killing fish, dolphins, crabs, sea turtles, birds, and countless other marine, wetland and coastal plants and animals. When the leak was finally contained, 87 days later, an estimated 4.9 million barrels (480,000 cubic meters, or 210 million gallons) of oil had spilled, reaching 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) of shoreline and causing untold damage to the Gulf Coast region. Close-up of an oiled Kemp&#8217;s Ridley turtle captured during a June 2010 survey. The turtle was cleaned, provided veterinary care, and taken to the Audubon Aquarium. Image courtesy of NOAA. A newly published report by Oceana, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to protecting oceans, looks back at how this spill happened, the resulting ecological and economic impacts, and if this catastrophe has changed government or oil industry approaches to offshore drilling. Oceana reviewed government documents, media coverage, scientific studies, and nonprofit reports. It also interviewed residents, scientists, business owners and policy experts across the Gulf Coast region. What the organization found was troubling. Poor government oversight and inadequate safety culture paved the way for the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion. Now, a decade later, it appears these conditions, the prerequisites for disaster, have not improved. Mark Dodd, wildlife biologist from Georgia&#8217;s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/decade-after-bp-deepwater-horizon-spill-oil-drilling-is-as-dangerous-as-ever/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-229167</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New detection devices could record microplastic pollution levels in real time</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/new-detection-devices-could-record-microplastic-pollution-levels-in-real-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/new-detection-devices-could-record-microplastic-pollution-levels-in-real-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Sep 2019 18:25:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/06111620/21282786668_2ce70ca17c_k_1200px-cropped-768x477.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222384</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, Global, and Hawaii]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coral Reefs, Interviews, Microplastics, Oceans, Research, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The scope of the microplastic pollution problem is astonishing. While nations need to slow the rate of plastics entering Earth&#8217;s waters, discovering what the density of it is, and where it is, is critical to know especially where such areas overlap with large populations of filter feeding organisms, for example. Traditional testing via tow nets [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The scope of the microplastic pollution problem is astonishing. While nations need to slow the rate of plastics entering Earth&#8217;s waters, discovering what the density of it is, and where it is, is critical to know especially where such areas overlap with large populations of filter feeding organisms, for example. Traditional testing via tow nets and lab analysis is slow and expensive, but a new generation of sensors is being developed that can measure microplastics much faster and at various depths. Sheila Hemami, Director of Strategic Technical Opportunities for Massachusetts-based R&amp;D engineering firm Draper, directs the company’s Global Challenges initiative where the microplastics project is managed. She answered some questions for Mongabay ahead of Jackson Wild, a conservation event focused on films and ocean health from September 21-27 in Jackson Hole, where she&#8217;ll be speaking. Sheila Hemami. Image courtesy of Draper. Mongabay: What size microplastics are you focused on detecting? Sheila Hemami: Our initial systems target microplastic in 1 micron to 1 mm range, a size range which includes several classes of plankton. There is evidence that microplastics in this range are ingested by plankton and organisms that feed on plankton, thereby entering the food web. What kind of technology does your system employ and where will your detectors be deployed? The first generation system, which was deployed in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands in early Fall 2018, builds upon a microplastic identification method recently discussed in the literature. With this method, seawater particles are treated with a fluorescent dye called&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/new-detection-devices-could-record-microplastic-pollution-levels-in-real-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222384</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meet the first gene-edited reptile: An albino lizard</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/meet-the-first-gene-edited-reptile-an-albino-lizard/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/meet-the-first-gene-edited-reptile-an-albino-lizard/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2019 03:51:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/27122827/This-image-shows-an-albino-lizard-hatchling-CREDIT-Doug-Menke-e1566923830518-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=221901</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Genetic Engineering, Genetics, Lizards, and Reptiles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Think of a reptile that’s been genetically mutated, and Godzilla springs to mind. Or maybe ninja turtles. But the real thing is here, and it’s neither hell-bent on destroying Tokyo nor eating pizza in the sewers. Instead, it’s a pale, finger-sized lizard — the world’s first gene-edited reptile, researchers at the University of Georgia, U.S., [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Think of a reptile that’s been genetically mutated, and Godzilla springs to mind. Or maybe ninja turtles. But the real thing is here, and it’s neither hell-bent on destroying Tokyo nor eating pizza in the sewers. Instead, it’s a pale, finger-sized lizard — the world’s first gene-edited reptile, researchers at the University of Georgia, U.S., reported this week. In a paper published in the journal Cell Reports, Douglas B. Menke and his colleagues described how they made an albino version of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei), a species of lizard native to Cuba and the Bahamas. “Instead of performing gene-editing on fertilized eggs or single-cell embryos, we performed gene-editing on unfertilized eggs while they are still physically attached to the ovary of adult female lizards,” said Menke, a geneticist and developmental biologist. The first genetically modified animal was a transgenic mouse, created in 1974. But it was only seven years later that researchers could edit genes that were passed on to future generations. In the case of the albino lizard, the changes are inheritable. Though gene editing has been around for decades and the advent of CRISPR technology makes it easier and is more efficient to carry out, doing so in reptilian zygotes is particularly challenging. Researchers consider it best to make an edit when the embryo is newly formed. For animals that reproduce sexually, the target is usually a single cell at this stage. In reptiles, it’s difficult to pin down when fertilization actually happens, in large part due&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/meet-the-first-gene-edited-reptile-an-albino-lizard/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-221901</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Volunteers find bones of new species of extinct heron at Florida fossil site</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/volunteers-find-bones-of-new-species-of-extinct-heron-at-florida-fossil-site/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/volunteers-find-bones-of-new-species-of-extinct-heron-at-florida-fossil-site/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 May 2019 09:18:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/20075003/heron-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218745</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Citizen Science, Environment, Extinction, Fossils, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Paleontology, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In November 2017, two volunteers assisting researchers of the Florida Museum of Natural History dig through a large excavation site in North Florida unearthed the bones of a bird. Those bones, it turned out, belong to a previously undescribed species of extinct heron, according to a new study. The volunteers, Toni-Ann Benjamin and Sharon Shears, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In November 2017, two volunteers assisting researchers of the Florida Museum of Natural History dig through a large excavation site in North Florida unearthed the bones of a bird. Those bones, it turned out, belong to a previously undescribed species of extinct heron, according to a new study. The volunteers, Toni-Ann Benjamin and Sharon Shears, were helping out at the Montbrook site, a large excavation site located on private property near the town of Williston, a 45-minute drive south of Gainesville, Florida. Estimated to be 5 million to 5.5 million years old, Montbrook has previously yielded fossils of bony fish, freshwater turtles, alligators, salamanders, snakes, and small mammals such as rodents and shrews. As for the latest discovery, researchers have named the now-extinct heron Taphophoyx hodgei. The bird’s genus name comes from the Greek words taphos, meaning grave or tomb, and phoyx, meaning heron; its species name honors Eddie Hodge, the owner of the property. Hodge first contacted the Florida Museum of Natural History and allowed them to excavate the site after his granddaughter discovered fossils there in 2015. Since then, nearly 700 volunteers have participated in excavations over multiple field seasons. &#8220;Through the kindness of his heart and being interested &#8212; just wanting to know what&#8217;s in the ground on his land &#8212; Eddie let us in and one thing led to another.&#8221; David Steadman, Florida Museum’s curator of ornithology and the lead author of paper, said in a statement. &#8220;Naming this heron after Eddie is a minor part&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/volunteers-find-bones-of-new-species-of-extinct-heron-at-florida-fossil-site/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218745</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Judas’ snakes lead scientists on a high-tech Easter egg hunt for pythons</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/judas-snakes-lead-scientists-on-a-high-tech-easter-egg-hunt-for-pythons/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/judas-snakes-lead-scientists-on-a-high-tech-easter-egg-hunt-for-pythons/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Apr 2019 17:09:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/04/24132742/florida-python_Big-Cypress-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=217807</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[DNA, Ecosystems, Freshwater, Invasive Species, Mapping, Monitoring, Snakes, Surveying, Technology, Tracking, Wetlands, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Remember that 3-meter (17-foot) pregnant Burmese python recently captured by wildlife authorities in southern Florida? These snakes, invasive to North America and destructive to native wildlife, are cryptic in both their coloration and behavior, making them difficult to find. But scientists found this female with the help of some tracking tags and a cooperative male [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Remember that 3-meter (17-foot) pregnant Burmese python recently captured by wildlife authorities in southern Florida? These snakes, invasive to North America and destructive to native wildlife, are cryptic in both their coloration and behavior, making them difficult to find. But scientists found this female with the help of some tracking tags and a cooperative male python. Moreover, they’ve used DNA the snakes have left behind to identify areas already invaded by the pythons, which can help researchers determine the range limits of these snakes and assess efforts to control their spread. Researchers and National Park Service staff display the full 5.1 meters (17 feet) of the pregnant Burmese python.  Wildlife officials say this snake is the largest Burmese python ever to be removed from Big Cypress National Preserve in the Florida Everglades. Image courtesy of Florida Everglades National Park Service. Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus), native to Southeast Asia, have no predators in Florida, so the few snakes brought to the United States through the pet trade that escaped or were released have quickly reproduced and morphed into an out-of-control, continuously growing population there, likely established since before the 1990s. Pythons’ long life span and large clutches of eggs have further enabled them to spread across southern Florida. Along the way, they’ve decimated the populations of numerous native species, eliminating large portions of the region’s small and medium-sized mammals and now suspected of turning to the iconic wading bird colonies of the Everglades wetland ecosystem. The ‘Judas’ technique Traditional methods of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/judas-snakes-lead-scientists-on-a-high-tech-easter-egg-hunt-for-pythons/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-217807</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tiny bits of ocean plastic threaten the survival of sea turtle hatchlings</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/tiny-bits-of-ocean-plastic-threaten-the-survival-of-sea-turtle-hatchlings/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/tiny-bits-of-ocean-plastic-threaten-the-survival-of-sea-turtle-hatchlings/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Dec 2018 19:52:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Katie Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/05223530/header-hatchling_with_plastic-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=213003</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, Global, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Environment, Herps, Microplastics, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Sea Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plastic pollution in the ocean is a growing threat to the survival of sea turtles, endangering the life cycle of these ancient marine globetrotters, according to a new study. Researchers found startling amounts of plastic in the bodies of nearly 100 sea turtle hatchlings that washed ashore on the Florida coast, including tiny “micronized” bits [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plastic pollution in the ocean is a growing threat to the survival of sea turtles, endangering the life cycle of these ancient marine globetrotters, according to a new study. Researchers found startling amounts of plastic in the bodies of nearly 100 sea turtle hatchlings that washed ashore on the Florida coast, including tiny “micronized” bits that small animals can easily ingest. More than half of these hatchlings died during rehabilitation, a team reported recently in Environmental Science &amp; Technology. Baby sea turtles spend their formative years drifting through life, clinging to large masses of seaweed for shelter and snacking on floating food for survival. “They’re pretty non-discriminatory with what they’re eating at this life stage. They eat whatever floats past them,” said Samantha Clark, a veterinary technician at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) in Juno Beach, Florida, co-author of the study. Samantha Clark holds a rehabilitated post-hatchling sea turtle in one hand and a vile of plastic remains in the other. Photo courtesy of Loggerhead Marinelife Center. Researchers from the LMC and the University of Georgia used a recent rescue project to examine what small sea turtles were eating. They recovered 96 post-hatchling and juvenile sea turtles from a 118-kilometer (75-mile) strip of the coast between Vero Beach and Lake Worth, Florida, from July 2015 to November 2016. They rehabilitated and released 45 turtles, all of which passed plastic through their bodies while in the lab. The team then examined the gut contents of 27 of the turtles that died,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/tiny-bits-of-ocean-plastic-threaten-the-survival-of-sea-turtle-hatchlings/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-213003</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tagging and tracking the Tour de Turtles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/09/tagging-and-tracking-the-tour-de-turtles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/09/tagging-and-tracking-the-tour-de-turtles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Sep 2018 08:30:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Catherine Morris]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/09/13005200/Image7_Tilly_small_Ben-Hicks-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=210227</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Caribbean, Central America, Florida, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Solutions, data, GPS, Oceans, Remote Sensing, Sea Turtles, Solutions, Technology, Tracking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[CBO2017]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last year, a loggerhead named Eliza Ann took the crown. This year, Lucaya, the speedy leatherback, has pulled ahead to take an early lead. Every summer, a handful of sea turtles take to the water to compete in the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s, Tour de Turtles – an underwater marathon that blends competition with conservation. This [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Last year, a loggerhead named Eliza Ann took the crown. This year, Lucaya, the speedy leatherback, has pulled ahead to take an early lead. Every summer, a handful of sea turtles take to the water to compete in the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s, Tour de Turtles – an underwater marathon that blends competition with conservation. This year, 17 sea turtles entered the Tour de Turtles, and the line-up is diverse, encompassing leatherbacks, loggerheads, green sea turtles and hawksbills. Organizers released the competitors from nesting grounds in Costa Rica, Panama, Nevis and Florida. The winner will be the turtle that swims the farthest during its three-month long migration. A loggerhead turtle named Turtlette is equipped with a satellite transmitter on her carapace and released from Melbourne Beach, Florida for this year’s Tour de Turtles. Image by Celeste McWilliams. Small tags tracking over large areas Tagged and monitored remotely, these turtles aren&#8217;t just racing towards the finish line, they&#8217;re also providing scientists with key data collected via satellite telemetry. Sea turtles spend the majority of their lives in the water – feeding, mating and roaming huge distances – but in the vast ocean it’s difficult for scientists to observe their behavior, leading them to turn to technology for answers. Every turtle participating in the Tour de Turtles is fitted with a small, low-wattage Platform Terminal Transmitter (PTT) tag, which is controlled by a micro-processor. These devices, which are designed to safely fall off the turtle after about a year and a half, send&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/09/tagging-and-tracking-the-tour-de-turtles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-210227</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drink beer, help the ocean?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/drink-beer-help-ocean/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/drink-beer-help-ocean/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jun 2016 19:52:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Julia John]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01193412/sea-turtle-wt-520x290.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://wildtech-mongabay-com.mongabay.com/?p=185346</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, Mexico, and New York]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Consumer Action, Consumption, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Technology, Waste, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Beer may have a bad rep among carb-fearing ab-chiseling fitness fans, but it could now be better for the environment than it was before. Well, at least the new kind packaged using edible six-pack rings from south Florida’s Saltwater Brewery. This Delray Beach microbrewery north of Miami, Florida, just launched the first ever 100% compostable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Beer may have a bad rep among carb-fearing ab-chiseling fitness fans, but it could now be better for the environment than it was before. Well, at least the new kind packaged using edible six-pack rings from south Florida’s Saltwater Brewery. This Delray Beach microbrewery north of Miami, Florida, just launched the first ever 100% compostable six-pack rings. Unlike their standard plastic counterparts, these rings feed, rather than harm, marine fauna if they end up in the ocean. Made from brewing byproducts such as barley and wheat ribbons, this design circumvents plastic’s often lethal ensnaring of birds, turtles and fish and its consequent interference with their development. Plastic will outweigh fish in our oceans by 2050; it winds up in the stomachs of everything from plankton to whales. Photo credit: We Believers and Saltwater Brewery. The clever packaging also presents a solution to plastic fatally clogging their digestive tracts when they swallow it, releasing endocrine-disrupting chemicals and bacteria into their bodies–repercussions even conscientiously cut rings have. The innovative rings start disintegrating within an hour of being in the water; if unconsumed, they’ll completely dissolve in two to three months instead of accumulating, polluting the ocean and threatening sea life for centuries as plastic rings do. But the edible rings, which look and feel like cardboard, function just as a carton box does in a household or supermarket fridge; their manufacturers claim these rings are as effective as plastic versions, strong enough to support the weight and handling of six beer cans.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/drink-beer-help-ocean/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-188376</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Preservatives from cosmetics build up in the bodies of far-flung marine mammals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/preservatives-from-cosmetics-build-up-in-the-bodies-of-far-flung-marine-mammals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/preservatives-from-cosmetics-build-up-in-the-bodies-of-far-flung-marine-mammals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Nov 2015 11:58:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bethany Augliere]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/11/03051949/1123-MongabayDolphin_BA_1200px-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cetaceans, Chemicals, Dolphins, Environment, Marine Mammals, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Compounds from our makeup and bathrooms are winding up in the bodies of dolphins, sea otters, and polar bears – sometimes thousands of miles away. For the first time, research in Environmental Science &#38; Technology reports a common cosmetic preservative in marine mammals from the United States coastal waters. Scientists don’t yet know whether these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Compounds from our makeup and bathrooms are winding up in the bodies of dolphins, sea otters, and polar bears – sometimes thousands of miles away. For the first time, research in Environmental Science &amp; Technology reports a common cosmetic preservative in marine mammals from the United States coastal waters. Scientists don’t yet know whether these substances will harm animals, but similar chemicals like PCBs and DDT have shown that our industrial products can cause damage. “These chemicals are not as persistent as PCBs and DDT, so for that reason, people probably didn’t pay attention to looking at them in marine mammals,” said senior author Kurunthachalam Kannan, a research scientist at the State University of New York in Albany and the New York State Department of Public Heath. Parabens are a class of chemicals added to perfumes, processed foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals since the 1950s. They extend the shelf lives of products and prevent bacteria from growing. An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin swims in the Bahamas. Dolphins closest to shore, including in Florida’s Sarasota Bay, had the highest concentrations of parabens in their blubber and other organs. Photo by Bethany Augliere, Courtesy of the Wild Dolphin Project. About 15 years ago, a controversial study linked human breast cancer with cosmetics containing parabens. The effects of parabens on people remain unclear and debated. But scientists do know that parabens are estrogenic: they mimic female hormones. In males, this causes feminization. Recently, Kannan and his colleagues found that parabens accumulate in the fatty tissue&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/preservatives-from-cosmetics-build-up-in-the-bodies-of-far-flung-marine-mammals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-162732</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coastal dune lakes: the threatened &#8216;jewels&#8217; of Florida</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/coastal-dune-lakes-the-threatened-jewels-of-florida/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/coastal-dune-lakes-the-threatened-jewels-of-florida/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2015 20:14:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marie Frei]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/10/03150302/Web_Western_Lake-494x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Interviews, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Interview with Elam Stoltzfus and Nic Stoltzfus of Live Oak Production Group Coastal Dune Lakes: Jewels of Florida’s Emerald Coast.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Coastal dune lakes are shallow, freshwater lakes located within two miles of a coastline and found only in small numbers in New Zealand, Australia, Madagascar, the United States. A special marine ecosystem forms as a result of the intermittent exchange of freshwater and saltwater that occurs when one of the lakes overflows. The film Coastal Dune Lakes: Jewels of Florida’s Emerald Coast, produced by Florida resident and Emmy award-winning filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus, and his son, writer and photographer Nic Stoltzfus, reveals what makes this complex marine environment so special, as well as, some of the conservation challenges the Florida panhandle is currently facing. In Florida, the fifteen brackish lakes dotting a 26-mile stretch along the state’s panhandle are often referred to by locals as “jewels” due to the diverse mix of plants and animals which thrive in this unique ecosystem. In particular, several endangered species rely on the lakes for nourishment, including the Choctawhatchee beach mouse, snowy plover, and loggerhead and green sea turtle. Florida’s coastal dune lakes are also seen as places of refuge and relaxation by local residents whom enjoy partaking in low-impact activities such as stand up paddle boarding, hiking, and biking. With the expansion of human development across the region, it’s now more important than ever for everyone to work together to protect this remarkable coastal habitat. The documentary Coastal Dune Lakes: Jewels of Florida’s Emerald Coast will have its World Premiere at the upcoming Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City on Sunday, October&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/coastal-dune-lakes-the-threatened-jewels-of-florida/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-150456</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fracas over Costa Rican shark-fin exports leads American Airlines to stop shipping fins</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/fracas-over-costa-rican-shark-fin-exports-leads-american-airlines-to-stop-shipping-fins/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/fracas-over-costa-rican-shark-fin-exports-leads-american-airlines-to-stop-shipping-fins/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Apr 2015 19:54:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mrinalini Erkenswick Watsa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/04/fracas-over-costa-rican-shark-fin-exports-leads-american-airlines-to-stop-shipping-fins/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Caribbean, Central America, China, Costa Rica, Florida, Hong Kong, Latin America, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Species, Environment, Fishing, Green, Oceans, Sharks, Trade, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Shipments of hammerhead shark fins were approved by the Costa Rican government in violation of an international treaty, conservation groups allege. A school of hammerhead sharks swim near the Galapagos Islands. Costa Rica has been exporting two species of hammerheads whose trade is limited under Appendix II of CITES. Photo: Alex Hearn. On December 24, [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Shipments of hammerhead shark fins were approved by the Costa Rican government in violation of an international treaty, conservation groups allege. A school of hammerhead sharks swim near the Galapagos Islands. Costa Rica has been exporting two species of hammerheads whose trade is limited under Appendix II of CITES. Photo: Alex Hearn. On December 24, an American Airlines plane carried 411 kilos (904 pounds) of dried hammerhead shark fins from Alajuela, Costa Rica, to Hong Kong, touching down partway through the journey in Miami. The shipment, valued at nearly $53,000, contained fins from around 411 animals, more than seven times the number on its export permit from the Costa Rican government. The fins came from two species of shark: smooth hammerheads (Sphyrna zygaena), which are classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, and scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini), which are classified as Endangered by the IUCN and under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The shipment was one of several shark-fin exports from Costa Rica that touched on U.S. soil in violation of American law last fall and winter, and it was one of at least two shipments approved by the Costa Rican government in violation of an international treaty, conservation groups allege. Public outcry over the shipments prompted American Airlines to announce this month that it had ceased shipping shark fins, becoming the first U.S. company to enact such a blanket ban, according to the groups. The publicity also prompted the Costa Rican government to cease permitting hammerhead fin exports for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/fracas-over-costa-rican-shark-fin-exports-leads-american-airlines-to-stop-shipping-fins/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-23799</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists discover that fish larvae make sounds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/scientists-discover-that-fish-larvae-make-sounds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/scientists-discover-that-fish-larvae-make-sounds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jan 2015 17:28:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexander Montoro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/01/scientists-discover-that-fish-larvae-make-sounds/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean and Florida]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Environment, Fish, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, and Marine Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Photograph of Grey snapper (Lutjanus griseus) in a school of adults on the reef. Photo by: E. D’Alessandro. For the first time, marine biologists in Florida have recorded evidence of fish larvae in the ocean producing sounds. The study was performed by researchers from the University of Miami and focused on the grey snapper (Lutjanus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Photograph of Grey snapper (Lutjanus griseus) in a school of adults on the reef. Photo by: E. D’Alessandro. For the first time, marine biologists in Florida have recorded evidence of fish larvae in the ocean producing sounds. The study was performed by researchers from the University of Miami and focused on the grey snapper (Lutjanus griseus) living in the waters of the northern Florida Keys reef tract. The field of acoustic ecology, which studies animals and their interaction and relationship with sounds in their environment, has often focused on juvenile and adult fish while overlooking fish larvae. The acoustic ecology of coral reef fish has attracted significant scientific interest in the last few years. Adult fish use acoustic signals in a variety of ways and are able to produce and receive sounds. These sounds are used to attract mates, defend territories and frighten predators, and can provide information on the surrounding environment, even for fish that can only receive sounds. According to Erica Staaterman, an applied marine physicist and marine biologist from the University of Miami, &#8220;the scientific community generally assumed that larval fish were merely listening to sounds from other sources, not producing sounds themselves.&#8221; The only record of sound generation from this species was in adult grey snapper found in laboratories. These adult grey snapper emitted sounds in response to manual or electrical stimulation during laboratory experiments. In order to determine whether grey snapper larvae were capable of producing sounds, researchers used in situ —&#8221;on-site&#8221;— Lagrangian recording systems,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/scientists-discover-that-fish-larvae-make-sounds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24164</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Journey to the Edge of Eden: the struggle to preserve Southwest Florida</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/08/journey-to-the-edge-of-eden-the-struggle-to-preserve-southwest-florida/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/08/journey-to-the-edge-of-eden-the-struggle-to-preserve-southwest-florida/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Aug 2013 12:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gabriel Thoumi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/08/journey-to-the-edge-of-eden-the-struggle-to-preserve-southwest-florida/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Books, Cities, Climate Change, Conservation, Development, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, In-situ Conservation, Interviews, Invasive Species, Marine, Marine Conservation, Swamps, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Gary Schmelz, in a Journey to the Edge of Eden, takes us through a wonderful personal account of the conservation history of Southwest Florida. Journey to the Edge of Eden is one part personal memoir similar to the English naturalist Gerald Durrell and one part Florida conservation history. With hilarious stories of unintended naturalist misadventures [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Gary Schmelz, in a Journey to the Edge of Eden, takes us through a wonderful personal account of the conservation history of Southwest Florida. Journey to the Edge of Eden is one part personal memoir similar to the English naturalist Gerald Durrell and one part Florida conservation history. With hilarious stories of unintended naturalist misadventures and recounting conservation “as it happened,” a Journey to the Edge of Eden is one of those rare books you read in a coffee shop and with gusto and pride while laughing along out loud at Gary Schmelz stories. Gary Schmelz discusses at length the conservation history of how Florida conserved the Everglades, Big Cypress Swamp and Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife Refuge. He also interweaves a wonderful personal story of his relationship with his father and how his father impacted and supported Gary Schmelz’s passion for conservation. INTERVIEW WITH GARY SCHMELZ Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) with radio collar crossing road in Big Cypress area. There are only around 100 Florida panthers left. Photo courtesy of Gary Schmelz. Mongabay: While writing a Journey to the Edge of Eden, did you realize how interwoven the personal stories of your youth and your relationship with your father were with the conservation history of Southwest Florida? Gary Schmelz: Yes, I did. Although raised in the city, the outdoor adventures we had together helped me understand and appreciate the wonders of the Southwest Florida environment and the need to conserve it for future generations. Mongabay: What do you&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/08/journey-to-the-edge-of-eden-the-struggle-to-preserve-southwest-florida/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26570</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Florida declares two butterfly species extinct as pollinator crisis worsens</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/08/florida-declares-two-butterfly-species-extinct-as-pollinator-crisis-worsens/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/08/florida-declares-two-butterfly-species-extinct-as-pollinator-crisis-worsens/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Aug 2013 22:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexander Holmgren]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/08/florida-declares-two-butterfly-species-extinct-as-pollinator-crisis-worsens/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Butterflies, Environment, Extinction, Green, Habitat Loss, Insects, Invertebrates, and Pollinators]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationist’s faced a crushing blow last month as two butterfly species native to Florida were declared extinct. &#8220;Occasionally, these types of butterflies disappear for long periods of time but are rediscovered in another location,&#8221; said Larry Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife state supervisor for ecological services. We think it’s apparent now these two species are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationist’s faced a crushing blow last month as two butterfly species native to Florida were declared extinct. &#8220;Occasionally, these types of butterflies disappear for long periods of time but are rediscovered in another location,&#8221; said Larry Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife state supervisor for ecological services. We think it’s apparent now these two species are extinct.&#8221; Neither species has been seen in any environment for at least nine years, the latter of the two not being seen since 2000. This calamity is only made worse by the fact that so much could have been done in order to save these creatures. The first species, the Zestos skipper butterfly (Epargyreus zestos oberon), had strong bodies with large black eyes and large wings that were adorned with spots that looked like eyes. While the Zestos skipper was visibly declining in its environment, the subspecies was denied access to the U.S.’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) because of the confusion between it and other skipper species in the Bahamas. In the end, what was thought to be a bountiful reserve in the Bahamas proved to be a completely different species. By the time the mistake was realized it proved too late. The Rockland grass skipper butterfly (Hesperia meskei pinocayo), an amber golden insect with club like antenna and black eyes, was similarly thought to be making a comeback as the species that had not been seen since the 80’s was spotted back in 2000. But is now believed extinct. A skipper butterfly. Photo by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/08/florida-declares-two-butterfly-species-extinct-as-pollinator-crisis-worsens/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26581</doi>				</item>
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