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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/seed-dispersal/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 21:36:00 +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>News on Seed Dispersal</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/seed-dispersal/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Most wildlife AI focuses on the ground. This model looks up in the trees</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/most-wildlife-ai-focuses-on-the-ground-this-model-looks-up-in-the-trees/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/most-wildlife-ai-focuses-on-the-ground-this-model-looks-up-in-the-trees/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2026 06:46:16 +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/20/2026/05/28053452/Saimiri_sciureus-1_Luc_Viatour-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320225</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Central America, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Birds, Camera Trapping, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Primates, Research, Seed Dispersal, Species, Technology, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to decoding camera-trap images, artificial intelligence has become all the rage, especially for terrestrial animals, or those that dwell on the ground. But for more evasive species living high up in trees, the technology is still lacking. A newly developed AI model aims to fill that gap. TropiCam-AI was developed to detect [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to decoding camera-trap images, artificial intelligence has become all the rage, especially for terrestrial animals, or those that dwell on the ground. But for more evasive species living high up in trees, the technology is still lacking. A newly developed AI model aims to fill that gap. TropiCam-AI was developed to detect and identify arboreal, or tree-dwelling, species in a part of the world where they abound: the tropical forests of the Americas. Scientists built the model to address the voids that exist in identifying arboreal mammals and birds. “We set up TropiCam-AI with the objective of developing a tool that is specifically meant for neotropical camera-trapping surveys targeting the canopy,” Andrea Zampetti, lead author of the study and Ph.D. candidate in animal biology at the Sapienza University of Rome, told Mongabay in a video interview. Zampetti’s work was done in collaboration with the TROPECOLNET project at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, led by Ana Benítez-López. Arboreal species play a key role in ecosystems. They serve as important seed dispersers, with studies finding that primates, small mammals and birds consume up to 90% of plant species in tropical rainforests. However, these are tree-dependent species that, by their very nature, are especially threatened by deforestation, underscoring the need to study, track and monitor them for conservation purposes. A study published earlier this year by Zampetti and colleagues notes that “arboreal camera trapping remains severely underrepresented compared to AI trained on terrestrial images.” AI models for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/most-wildlife-ai-focuses-on-the-ground-this-model-looks-up-in-the-trees/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/most-wildlife-ai-focuses-on-the-ground-this-model-looks-up-in-the-trees/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon entrepreneur spreads seeds of growth with recycled paper</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/amazon-entrepreneur-spreads-seeds-of-growth-with-recycled-paper/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/amazon-entrepreneur-spreads-seeds-of-growth-with-recycled-paper/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jan 2026 07:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rafael Spuldar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/29160337/B-Ocimum_basilicum_flower_closeup-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312231</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioeconomy, Business, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Innovation, Plants, Pulp And Paper, Reforestation, Seed Dispersal, Sustainability, Trees, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A burnout pushed one woman to build a new, nature-friendly career in one of the rainforest’s most deforested cities.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Alessandra Moreira worked as an administrative assistant in Altamira, an oversized municipality in the Brazilian Amazon — larger than Portugal or Greece. Burned out and facing anxiety and depression, she left her job, but was unsure of what would come next. “I was having panic attacks and couldn’t identify what was happening to me,” she told Mongabay. Then, a suggestion from her brother changed everything: Why not try making seed paper? Altamira, in the state of Pará, is the most deforested municipality in the Brazilian Amazon. There, “development” is often a synonym for deforestation, environmental degradation, and sometimes violence, erupting from clashes between conservationists, loggers and land grabbers. Despite the local culture, Moreira founded Ecoplante, a company that makes plantable seed paper — recycled sheets embedded with seeds that can typically grow into vegetables, herbs, flowers and, in Ecoplante’s specific case, native Amazonian vegetation, too. What began as a personal healing project has grown into an example of how creativity, entrepreneurship and sustainability can coexist in one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems. Plantable seed paper is made by transforming discarded paper into new sheets infused with plant seeds. The process starts with recycled pulp mixed with water, then spread over a fine-mesh screen and layered with seeds, from herbs like basil and arugula, to flowers like daisies. Once dried, the paper can be written on, used, and later planted. When it decomposes, the seeds germinate, turning what would have been waste into greenery. In 2023, Moreira and her brother&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/amazon-entrepreneur-spreads-seeds-of-growth-with-recycled-paper/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312231</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Animals that spread seeds are critical for climate solutions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/animals-that-spread-seeds-are-critical-for-climate-solutions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/animals-that-spread-seeds-are-critical-for-climate-solutions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2025 14:30:33 +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/20/2023/03/30164551/A-Bairds-Tapir-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306267</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Green, Mammals, Rainforests, Seed Dispersal, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When a toucan plucks fruit from a tree in the Amazon Rainforest, it’s doing more than just finding lunch. Moving to a new location and depositing seeds via its droppings could be crucial in addressing climate change. New research shows that when animals that spread seeds disappear, forests lose much of their ability to capture [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When a toucan plucks fruit from a tree in the Amazon Rainforest, it’s doing more than just finding lunch. Moving to a new location and depositing seeds via its droppings could be crucial in addressing climate change. New research shows that when animals that spread seeds disappear, forests lose much of their ability to capture carbon from the atmosphere. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed data from more than 3,000 forest sites across tropical regions worldwide. Areas with fewer seed-dispersing animals store up to four times less carbon than forests with healthy animal populations. “The results underscore the importance of animals in maintaining healthy, carbon-rich tropical forests,” study lead author Evan Fricke, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S., told Mongabay. “When seed-dispersing animals decline, we risk weakening the climate-mitigating power of tropical forests.” Human activities have broken ancient relationships between animals and plants that have sustained forests for thousands of years. Roads block migration routes; deforestation destroys habitat; hunting reduces animal populations. Each disruption affects forests&#8217; ability to store carbon. The study found that 81% of tropical trees depend on animals to spread their seeds. Birds, mammals and other animals carry seeds to new locations, often traveling long distances. When forests are cut down, animals serve as nature&#8217;s delivery system for forest renewal. A tapir and some of the seeds it disperses. Images by Mauro Galetti. “We know that in tropical forests, where more than three-quarters of trees rely on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/animals-that-spread-seeds-are-critical-for-climate-solutions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/animals-that-spread-seeds-are-critical-for-climate-solutions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306267</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As forest elephants plummet, ebony trees decline in Central Africa’s rainforests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-forest-elephants-plummet-ebony-trees-decline-in-central-africas-rainforests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-forest-elephants-plummet-ebony-trees-decline-in-central-africas-rainforests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2025 13:05:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29012123/F-afe-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305092</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Ecosystems, Elephants, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Ivory, Poaching, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, Traditional Knowledge, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2017, when Vincent Deblauwe joined the Cameroon-based Congo Basin Institute (CBI) to study African ebony (Diospyros crassiflora) — economically valuable pitch-black, dense wood — the Indigenous Baka people accompanied him on his field trips. As they sat around campfires and trekked through the rainforests, Deblauwe tapped into their knowledge of flora and fauna, especially [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2017, when Vincent Deblauwe joined the Cameroon-based Congo Basin Institute (CBI) to study African ebony (Diospyros crassiflora) — economically valuable pitch-black, dense wood — the Indigenous Baka people accompanied him on his field trips. As they sat around campfires and trekked through the rainforests, Deblauwe tapped into their knowledge of flora and fauna, especially about ebony trees and their dispersal. They all told him that one animal was responsible for the ebony tree’s future survival: the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Deblauwe observed that in forest patches without elephants, young ebony saplings were few and far between. Over the last three decades, relentless poaching, fueled by the insatiable demand for ivory in China and Southeast Asia, has plunged African forest elephant numbers by a whopping 86%, pushing them perilously close to extinction. However, the long-term impacts of this mass slaughter on the region’s trees remained largely unknown. In the years that followed, Deblauwe and his colleagues braided the Baka people’s knowledge about ebony and elephants with spatial, genetic and experimental data on ebony trees, providing the first convincing evidence of a mutualistic relationship between the two species, now published in a new study in the journal Science Advances. The researchers teased out why elephants play such a vital role in maintaining ebony trees in the forests. When elephants eat the large, pulpy ebony fruits and excrete the seeds, their dung protects those seeds from rodents and other animals that would otherwise eat and destroy them. Ebony fruits, with smooth pulp&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-forest-elephants-plummet-ebony-trees-decline-in-central-africas-rainforests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-forest-elephants-plummet-ebony-trees-decline-in-central-africas-rainforests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305092</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To collect native seeds, Ugandan botanists are climbing forest giants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/to-collect-native-seeds-ugandan-botanists-are-climbing-forest-giants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/to-collect-native-seeds-ugandan-botanists-are-climbing-forest-giants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2025 15:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/23072257/2_ivory-coast-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299532</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Botany, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Reforestation, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The mvule (Milicia excelsa) is a giant of a tree, up to 50 meters (165 feet) tall, with a trunk 6 m (20 ft) around. To collect seeds from such a large tree, climbers work in a team of three, explains Sebastain Walaita, curator at the Tooro Botanical Gardens in Uganda. Spacing themselves out evenly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The mvule (Milicia excelsa) is a giant of a tree, up to 50 meters (165 feet) tall, with a trunk 6 m (20 ft) around. To collect seeds from such a large tree, climbers work in a team of three, explains Sebastain Walaita, curator at the Tooro Botanical Gardens in Uganda. Spacing themselves out evenly around the trunk they climb in tandem upwards using a system of ropes, harnesses and spurs. Once in the crown, the climbers separate, moving along the branches and stashing the mature seeds into their collection bags before descending back to the ground. Walaita first learned high tree climbing for seed collection more than 25 years ago at a course organized by the Danish nonprofit DANIDA Forest Seed Center and has been honing his skills ever since. Over the years, he has trained a cadre of Ugandan botanists at Tooro, who can now safely collect seeds from even the most difficult trees, he says, improving their ability to propagate native species. “It’s a passion,” Walaita says. Collecting native tree seeds for restoration Under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative, or AFR100, governments across the continent have committed to restoring 100 million hectares (247 million acres) of land by 2030. There’s a growing awareness amongst conservationists that it’s best to replant areas with native species for biodiversity. In addition, an alarming number of tree species are now threatened with extinction, including in Africa; globally, more than one in three tree species is at risk of extinction, according&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/to-collect-native-seeds-ugandan-botanists-are-climbing-forest-giants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299532</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lures that attract seed-dispersing bats could aid tropical reforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/lures-that-attract-seed-dispersing-bats-could-aid-tropical-reforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/lures-that-attract-seed-dispersing-bats-could-aid-tropical-reforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2025 19:36:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/30091431/Sebas-short-tailed-bat-Carollia-perspicillata-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293623</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, Trees, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Attracting seed-dispersing bats to degraded landscapes and aiding in tropical forest restoration efforts has long been an alluring prospect for conservationists: potentially a cheaper, less labor-intensive technique than media-hyped plantings of millions of trees. Researchers have experimented with a variety of seed disperser lures for decades, but a recent project in Costa Rica may show [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Attracting seed-dispersing bats to degraded landscapes and aiding in tropical forest restoration efforts has long been an alluring prospect for conservationists: potentially a cheaper, less labor-intensive technique than media-hyped plantings of millions of trees. Researchers have experimented with a variety of seed disperser lures for decades, but a recent project in Costa Rica may show an efficient, less costly way forward. Researchers successfully utilized synthetic chemical compounds derived from the fruit of Piper plants to attract wild fruit-eating bats. “To locate fruits in the dark, bats rely on their sense of smell. In our study, we used synthetic volatile molecules that mimic the scents of fruits preferred by fruit bats to attract them,” Mariana Gelambi, study lead author and Virginia Tech postdoctoral researcher, writes in an email. The research team placed these synthetic bat lures at sites within the La Selva Biological Research Station. They then observed fruit-eating bats from the genus Carollia drawn to the scent and also noted a slight increase in the quantity of seeds dispersed. This work builds on past research that tested the potential of essential oils collected from tropical fruits to attract seed dispersers. The chemical scents used in the Costa Rica experiment could cut the costs of extracting essential oils from fruit, making this new approach a possible candidate for large-scale future use, Gelambi says. In the past, researchers have explored other ways of attracting seed dispersers to deforested areas, deploying artificial bird nests and roosts and making sounds to attract a variety&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/lures-that-attract-seed-dispersing-bats-could-aid-tropical-reforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293623</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study shows degradation changes a forest’s tree profile and its carbon storage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/study-shows-degradation-changes-a-forests-tree-profile-and-its-carbon-storage/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/study-shows-degradation-changes-a-forests-tree-profile-and-its-carbon-storage/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jan 2025 09:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Speetjens]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/06135803/01_amazon_degradation-rhett_butler_mongabay-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293241</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Infrastructure, Rainforests, Research, Seed Dispersal, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As forests continue to be cleared and forested landscapes degraded by human activity, their loss can significantly affect the trees left standing, potentially changing the structure of forests, a recent study has found. In this case, faster-growing trees, with softer wood, tend to prevail over denser species with a higher carbon-storage capacity. In 2023, about [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As forests continue to be cleared and forested landscapes degraded by human activity, their loss can significantly affect the trees left standing, potentially changing the structure of forests, a recent study has found. In this case, faster-growing trees, with softer wood, tend to prevail over denser species with a higher carbon-storage capacity. In 2023, about 3.7 million hectares (8.14 million acres) of primary tropical forest were lost, according to the World Resources Institute. Although forest loss was 9% lower compared to 2022, that’s still an area nearly the size of Switzerland — the equivalent of losing almost 10 football fields of tropical primary forest per minute. Despite a 2024 decrease in deforestation in the Amazon Basin, the tropics continue to lose forest cover at an alarming rate. “It is well known and widely accepted that forest loss threatens biodiversity worldwide, yet the effect of landscape fragmentation is much less [known],” study lead author Bruno Pinho, a researcher at Switzerland’s University of Bern, told Mongabay in a video call.  Degraded forest land in the Brazilian Amazon. Carbon uptake and storage in tropical primary and secondary forests varies place to place depending upon soil properties, climatic conditions, and previous land use, among other factors. Image by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay. “Research so far has mostly centered on changes in the number of species, without considering the traits that make them winners or losers. In our research we looked at the functional composition of forests, and disentangled the causal effects of forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/study-shows-degradation-changes-a-forests-tree-profile-and-its-carbon-storage/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/study-shows-degradation-changes-a-forests-tree-profile-and-its-carbon-storage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293241</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Researcher discovers new role played by manatees, ‘the gardeners of the Amazon’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/researcher-discovers-new-role-played-by-manatees-the-gardeners-of-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/researcher-discovers-new-role-played-by-manatees-the-gardeners-of-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2024 10:42:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tiago da Mota e Silva]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/25103302/Andre-Dib-peixe-boi-amazonico-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290596</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Plants, Research, Seed Dispersal, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANAUS, Amazonas, Brazil — Located near the confluence of the Solimões and Japurá rivers, Lake Amanã, which means “the path of the rain,” is known as the home of the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis). During the dry season, when river levels drop, this mammal finds refuge and food there. It was on the beaches of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANAUS, Amazonas, Brazil — Located near the confluence of the Solimões and Japurá rivers, Lake Amanã, which means “the path of the rain,” is known as the home of the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis). During the dry season, when river levels drop, this mammal finds refuge and food there. It was on the beaches of the Amanã that biologist Michelle Guterres made a surprising discovery: manatee feces with strands of germinating grass. This observation was an important step toward confirming a hypothesis that so far had been only speculated about: the manatee is capable of dispersing seeds, thus helping plants migrate between different habitats. “I remember that, at the beginning of the research, my adviser insisted that the manatee was not a seed disperser,” Guterres says, recalling previous studies that had not found viable seeds in fecal samples. “And I told her: not that we know.” Guterres collected 96 fecal samples, 19 of which had plants germinating in them. One of the major challenges in the research was finding a significant amount of feces. As soon as a manatee defecates, its feces either dissolve in the water or are eaten by fish. That is why these animals were already known for fertilizing the waters, but their role as seed dispersers was a groundbreaking discovery. The extreme drought of 2023 made it easier to collect the samples, which were found on the beaches formed by low water levels. In October, Lake Amanã was only 20 centimeters (8 inches) deep. After that,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/researcher-discovers-new-role-played-by-manatees-the-gardeners-of-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/researcher-discovers-new-role-played-by-manatees-the-gardeners-of-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290596</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Successful Thai community-based hornbill conservation faces uncertain future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/successful-thai-community-based-hornbill-conservation-faces-uncertain-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/successful-thai-community-based-hornbill-conservation-faces-uncertain-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2024 10:42:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/10102250/1.-Banner_Wreathed_hornbill_male2_CC-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287191</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Illegal Trade, Poaching, Research, Seed Dispersal, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Budo-Sungai Padi National Park is a swath of dense tropical rainforest a fifth the size of Bangkok that lies along southern Thailand&#8217;s isthmus linking the country to Peninsular Malaysia. Its rugged peaks and lush valleys cut through Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces — an area facing rising political unrest, unpredictable weather, and escalating wildlife poaching. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Budo-Sungai Padi National Park is a swath of dense tropical rainforest a fifth the size of Bangkok that lies along southern Thailand&#8217;s isthmus linking the country to Peninsular Malaysia. Its rugged peaks and lush valleys cut through Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces — an area facing rising political unrest, unpredictable weather, and escalating wildlife poaching. Despite the environmental and social challenges, conservationists and communities have collaborated over the past three decades to revitalize populations of hornbills in and around the 34,100-hectare (84,300-acre) national park. Populations of the iconic forest birds were at significant risk in the area during the 1990s due to habitat loss and high rates of poaching driven by the lucrative trade in their ornate head casques and live chicks. Poachers would target hornbill nests, often destroying old-growth trees in the process of accessing the birds. But in 1994, the Hornbill Research Foundation (HRF) at Bangkok’s Mahidol University began engaging with local communities, offering poachers an alternative livelihood as nest guardians. Instead of hunting hornbills, they’re now paid wages and trained to monitor nests, collect data, and ultimately protect the species they once exploited. The project has helped to reduce poaching pressure and reverse the trajectory of decline for many species, supporting the fledging of 490 chicks between 1994 and 2008. New research highlights how education programs in local villages and schools are key to the success of this HRF initiative. Quizzing more than 400 villagers about their perceptions of hornbills and local conservation outcomes, the research team&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/successful-thai-community-based-hornbill-conservation-faces-uncertain-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/successful-thai-community-based-hornbill-conservation-faces-uncertain-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287191</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In sub-Saharan Africa, ‘forgotten’ foods could boost climate resilience, nutrition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-sub-saharan-africa-forgotten-foods-could-boost-climate-resilience-nutrition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-sub-saharan-africa-forgotten-foods-could-boost-climate-resilience-nutrition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2024 18:17:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia GeibElodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/26142733/DSCF0434-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285144</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Congo Basin, Niger, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Genetic Engineering, Impact Of Climate Change, and Seed Dispersal]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For many people across sub-Saharan Africa, Cleome gyandra, commonly known as the spider plant, is not food: it’s a weed. A tall, leggy plant with stars of almond-shaped leaves and clusters of white flowers, the spider plant is particularly common in Southern and East African countries. Yet until recently, it was a “forgotten” crop: sometimes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For many people across sub-Saharan Africa, Cleome gyandra, commonly known as the spider plant, is not food: it’s a weed. A tall, leggy plant with stars of almond-shaped leaves and clusters of white flowers, the spider plant is particularly common in Southern and East African countries. Yet until recently, it was a “forgotten” crop: sometimes eaten by rural people for subsistence, but for the most part neglected in larger food systems. This, even though its peppery, mustard-flavored leaves and stems are rich in vitamins, minerals and nutrients — and the fact it may prove more resilient than other staples in a region rapidly being transformed due to climate change. The spider plant is one of 52 crops identified in a 2023 study recently awarded the prestigious Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study examined “forgotten” crops that may help make sub-Saharan food systems more resilient, and more nutritious, as climate change makes it harder to grow the maize, rice, cassava and yams that the region currently relies on. “The changing environment, together with the need to diversify the food system and to chase away some of the health issues that we are having now, should trigger us to change the way we grow things, the way we eat,” says co-author Enoch Achigan-Dako, director of the Genetics, Biotechnology &amp; Seed Sciences Laboratory at Benin’s University of Abomey-Calavi. “The diversity we need is already available.” The researchers began by looking at the present and future&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-sub-saharan-africa-forgotten-foods-could-boost-climate-resilience-nutrition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-sub-saharan-africa-forgotten-foods-could-boost-climate-resilience-nutrition/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285144</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Large birds can boost forest carbon storage — if deforestation doesn&#8217;t interfere</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/large-birds-can-boost-forest-carbon-storage-if-deforestation-doesnt-interfere/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/large-birds-can-boost-forest-carbon-storage-if-deforestation-doesnt-interfere/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jun 2024 10:33:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suzana Camargo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/14102750/Tucano-de-bico-verde_Ramphastos_dicolorus-Cl-udio-Dias-Timm-CC-BY-SA-2.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-e1716993685718-768x489.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283273</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Think of a toucan and you’ll probably picture a toco toucan, with its orange bill and white throat. The largest member of the toucan family, the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) can have a wingspan of more than 1 meter (3 feet) and fly more than 90 meters. On these journeys, it often carries something very [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Think of a toucan and you’ll probably picture a toco toucan, with its orange bill and white throat. The largest member of the toucan family, the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) can have a wingspan of more than 1 meter (3 feet) and fly more than 90 meters. On these journeys, it often carries something very precious for the natural regeneration of forests: seeds from the fruit it feeds on. Like toucans, other species of large frugivorous birds — dusky-legged guans, or jacus (Penelope obscura) and curl-crested jays (Cyanocorax cristatellus), among others — contribute to regenerating tropical forests by dispersing seeds on the ground. In doing so, they help increase a forest’s carbon storage by 38%. That’s the finding from a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change by researchers working with the Crowther Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, or ETH Zurich. &#8220;Reducing deforestation and restoring forests play a fundamental role in decreasing atmospheric carbon and mitigating climate change. However, there are many barriers to large-scale restoration, such as high costs, the level of soil degradation, and the lack of seed banks,&#8221; says study co-author Danielle Leal Ramos, an ecologist at São Paulo State University (Unesp). In tropical forests like the Amazon or the Atlantic Forest, she says, most plant species depend on animals to disperse their seeds. In degraded areas, birds fill in this role by transporting and planting seeds. &#8220;Our aim [with the study] was to quantify the contribution of fruit-eating birds&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/large-birds-can-boost-forest-carbon-storage-if-deforestation-doesnt-interfere/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/large-birds-can-boost-forest-carbon-storage-if-deforestation-doesnt-interfere/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283273</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New database unveils the role of Asian hornbills as forest seed dispersers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2024 15:36:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/15150836/Banner_02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282135</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Rewilding, Seed Dispersal, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biologists have long known hornbills are supreme long-distance seed dispersers. The iconic forest birds are capable of transporting tree seeds over vast distances — up to 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, for some species. In so doing, they distribute tree populations across increasingly fragmented tropical forest landscapes. But actually observing hornbill seed dispersal behavior in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biologists have long known hornbills are supreme long-distance seed dispersers. The iconic forest birds are capable of transporting tree seeds over vast distances — up to 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, for some species. In so doing, they distribute tree populations across increasingly fragmented tropical forest landscapes. But actually observing hornbill seed dispersal behavior in the wild is notoriously difficult. “If you’re collecting data in the field, it’s very hard to observe hornbills interacting with plants, not to mention finding out where the bird flies to when it leaves the fruiting tree,” Hanci Liang, a doctoral candidate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), told Mongabay. While a lot is known about the eating habits of hornbills, many mysteries still remain. To pinpoint where such observational data is needed most, Liang and her colleagues from Singapore and Malaysia have brought together all existing research data on the fruit-eating habits of Asian and New Guinean hornbill species into an open-source digital database. Published in a new study in Global Ecology and Conservation, the database represents the largest continually updatable repository of hornbill frugivory and seed dispersal research in the region. The team says it hopes the resource will enable hornbill specialists and prospective students to quickly identify where information is lacking so that they can target their efforts and limited resources to fill knowledge gaps. Understanding the dynamics of seed dispersal enables biologists to investigate the role of different types of fruit-eating animals within ecosystems. And for tropical trees, long-distance seed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-database-unveils-the-role-of-asian-hornbills-as-forest-seed-dispersers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282135</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Online trade in Philippine hornbills threatens birds and forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/online-trade-in-philippine-hornbills-threatens-birds-and-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/online-trade-in-philippine-hornbills-threatens-birds-and-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2023 15:46:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jhesset O. Enano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/29123029/Luzon-Hornbill-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272692</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Business, Conservation, Crime, Ecosystem Engineers, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Illegal Trade, Industry, International Trade, Seed Dispersal, Social Media, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA – Hornbills in the Philippines already suffer from habitat loss and forest conversion, but the illegal sale of these endangered birds in the online market could further plunge their numbers in the wild, according to a recently published study. This possible decrease in their populations due to poaching could have a knock-on effect on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA – Hornbills in the Philippines already suffer from habitat loss and forest conversion, but the illegal sale of these endangered birds in the online market could further plunge their numbers in the wild, according to a recently published study. This possible decrease in their populations due to poaching could have a knock-on effect on forests, especially on fruit-bearing trees, for which hornbills play a key role in dispersing seeds. Online surveys conducted by the wildlife monitoring group TRAFFIC between 2018 and 2022 revealed that these threatened birds are being sold on Facebook, despite the social network’s policy against the trade of live animals and Philippine laws that seek to protect wildlife from illegal possession and trade. The report found a total of 143 hornbills being offered for sale during the five-year monitoring period. Prices ranged from as low as 1,500 pesos (about $26) for an endemic species to 30,000 pesos ($529) for nonnative species. The study said the low asking prices meant they were likely poached from the wild, given the difficulty of breeding and maintaining the birds in captivity. (Left) A typical post on social media offering to sell wildlife in 2018 included details such as the price and location. (Right) Evolving trade: A post offering to sell a nestling hornbill in April 2023 used code (C1 = for sale) and an envelope emoji (i.e., send a private message). Images from Facebook. Most of the hornbills seen sold online were Luzon tarictic hornbills (Penelopides manillae), which are classified&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/online-trade-in-philippine-hornbills-threatens-birds-and-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/online-trade-in-philippine-hornbills-threatens-birds-and-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272692</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Tree Tech: Cutting-edge drones give reforestation a helping hand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-tree-tech-cutting-edge-drones-give-reforestation-a-helping-hand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-tree-tech-cutting-edge-drones-give-reforestation-a-helping-hand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jul 2023 15:07:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Asher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/06132303/seeds-from-drone-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270623</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Evolving Conservation and Tech for the Trees]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Canada, Global, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, Drones, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, Surveying, Technology, Trees, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Seed-sowing drones and the latest biotechnology could help restore degraded forests at an unprecedented scale — a high-tech nature-based climate solution already at work, and one that shows tremendous promise.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story is the third article of a four-part Mongabay mini-series exploring the latest technological solutions to support reforestation. Read Part One, Part Two and Part Four. Vast tracts of forest have been cleared by logging, degraded by a range of other human activities, consumed by wildfires, and ravaged by invasive insects. Restoring these forests is crucial to curbing global climate change and bringing wild species back from the brink of extinction. But the scale of the challenge before us is huge and time is short. Although some forests can recover naturally with the right protection and support, others need more intensive help in the form of replanting. This need has spawned heavily promoted tree-planting projects that tackle the challenge manually, sending thousands of volunteers into the field to plant saplings by hand, one by one. While these efforts are inspirational, they’re also labor-intensive and cumbersome to organize, and can’t reach degraded land that’s inaccessible by road or where volunteers are few. More importantly, they can’t achieve reforestation at the planetwide scales or timeframe needed to address the climate and biodiversity crises and meet international reforestation targets. Clearly, whatever methods humanity settles on to restore millions of hectares of lost and degraded forest in the 21st century, it will require a herculean effort. But lacking Hercules, it looks like robots may be up to the job. Restoring hundreds of millions of hectares of lost and degraded forest worldwide is a formidable task, made more difficult by the fact that many&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-tree-tech-cutting-edge-drones-give-reforestation-a-helping-hand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/new-tree-tech-cutting-edge-drones-give-reforestation-a-helping-hand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270623</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Elephants promote jumbo trees, boosting the carbon stores in Africa’s forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/elephants-promote-jumbo-trees-boosting-the-carbon-stores-in-africas-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/elephants-promote-jumbo-trees-boosting-the-carbon-stores-in-africas-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jan 2023 18:02:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/27091736/forest-elephant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265032</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Mammals, Rainforests, Seed Dispersal, Soil Carbon, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Previous studies have shown that Africa’s tropical forests store more carbon per hectare than Amazonian forests. But how they do so is still a puzzle. It turns out that elephants play an outsized role in the upkeep of healthy forests. New research shows that without these giant gardeners, forests in West and Central Africa would [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Previous studies have shown that Africa’s tropical forests store more carbon per hectare than Amazonian forests. But how they do so is still a puzzle. It turns out that elephants play an outsized role in the upkeep of healthy forests. New research shows that without these giant gardeners, forests in West and Central Africa would be poorer in biodiversity and carbon. “We talk a lot about trees and soil, but a functioning ecosystem and its services also depend on animals,” said Fabio Berzaghi, lead author of a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The presence of large herbivores, particularly elephants, could be making a difference, the new paper suggests. Forest elephants are smaller than their savanna counterparts but can still weigh anywhere between 2,000 and 6,000 kilograms (4,400 and 13,200 pounds). They have cavernous appetites; an adult can eat 100-200 kgs (220-440 lbs) of food daily, and there are about 350 plant species on their jumbo menu. These pachyderms live in tropical forests of West and Central Africa, with their last strongholds in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. In wider conservation circles, forest elephants were recognized as a distinct species from their savanna-dwelling cousins (Loxodonta africana) only in 2021. While both kinds of elephants are endangered, forest elephant numbers have fallen by more than 60% in the last decade, mainly due to poaching and habitat destruction. Today, they inhabit only about a quarter of their historical range. “Forest elephants are dramatically understudied compared&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/elephants-promote-jumbo-trees-boosting-the-carbon-stores-in-africas-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/elephants-promote-jumbo-trees-boosting-the-carbon-stores-in-africas-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265032</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As animal seed dispersers go the way of the dodo, forest plants are at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/as-animal-seed-dispersers-go-the-way-of-the-dodo-forest-plants-are-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/as-animal-seed-dispersers-go-the-way-of-the-dodo-forest-plants-are-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Apr 2022 15:16:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/28144730/Banner-great-hornbill-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255264</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gabon, Galapagos, Global, Mauritania, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forest Regeneration, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Birds, bats, elephants, apes, rodents and many other animal species spread plant seeds throughout the world. But as those animal populations diminish, so do the plants that rely on wildlife to shift their range, especially as climate change worsens.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The few remaining rainforests on Mauritius whisper with the memory of former residents, now ghosts. This once-lush Indian Ocean island remained mostly uninhabited by humans until 1598, when it became a Dutch port of call. By the time the French government took over some 150 years later and imported slaves to start sugar plantations, the ecological damage was already irreparable. The dodo disappeared, and in the years since would become an icon for extinction. Meanwhile, as jungles fell and humans and domestic animals streamed in, tortoises, parrots, pigeons, fruit bats and giant lizards also dwindled and vanished. Other losses on the island were harder to notice: trees and other plants that relied on those vanished animal species to spread their nuts and seeds. Changes in the plant kingdom are not easily perceived because “we&#8217;re just not seeing the trees within the forest,” says Tammy Mildenstein, a wildlife biologist at Iowa’s Cornell College. But the absence of flora also reverberates, further reducing fauna that rely on those plants for food and homes. In some woodlands, jungles, marshes and grasslands, “vegetation is relatively lush, but you hear only silence,” says Evan Fricke, an ecologist at Rice University. It’s a condition sometimes called empty forest syndrome. “If it doesn&#8217;t have birds and mammals, what happens to those forests?” Fricke asks. In a recent study, his team reported that seed-disbursing creatures have “steeply declined” globally. Their findings wave a red flag, highlighting growing concern about the ability of plant communities to reproduce and survive&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/as-animal-seed-dispersers-go-the-way-of-the-dodo-forest-plants-are-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/as-animal-seed-dispersers-go-the-way-of-the-dodo-forest-plants-are-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255264</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Loss of Sumatran rhinos leaves several plant species without a seed disperser</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/loss-of-sumatran-rhinos-leaves-several-plant-species-without-a-seed-disperser/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/loss-of-sumatran-rhinos-leaves-several-plant-species-without-a-seed-disperser/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Mar 2022 08:13:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Nordseth]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/08044100/indonesia_160026-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253244</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Engineers, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Megafauna, Rainforests, Rhinos, Seed Dispersal, Sumatran Rhino, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos are all that’s left of this critically endangered species. Tremendous conservation efforts are striving to keep these charismatic mammals from being lost forever. But as the species teeters on the brink of extinction, new research suggests their absence throughout much of their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos are all that’s left of this critically endangered species. Tremendous conservation efforts are striving to keep these charismatic mammals from being lost forever. But as the species teeters on the brink of extinction, new research suggests their absence throughout much of their former range has left a troubling vacancy in their role as seed-dispersing eco-engineers. Drawing on empirical research, published literature and Indigenous knowledge, a study in Biotropica reports that Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) once dispersed the seeds of 79 plant species. Some of these plants are still spread by Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus), the only other remaining megafaunal disperser in the region. Evidence suggests, however, that neither elephants nor smaller animals can fully replace the Sumatran rhino as a seed disperser — and the consequences of this loss are unfolding in real time. Harapan, a captive male Sumatran rhino,at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park. New research highlights the importance of rhino feeding patterns to the rainforests they once inhabited. Image by Junaidi Hanafi/Mongabay-Indonesia. Missing: Southeast Asian megafauna The Sumatran rhino’s decline is relatively recent, says study lead author Kim McConkey, from the school of environmental sciences at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. A hundred years ago, these massive animals roamed much of Southeast Asia in temperate and tropical forests and grasslands. Since then, however, habitat loss and unrelenting poaching pressure have devastated this slow-reproducing mammal’s populations. For Rudi Putra, a conservationist&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/loss-of-sumatran-rhinos-leaves-several-plant-species-without-a-seed-disperser/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/loss-of-sumatran-rhinos-leaves-several-plant-species-without-a-seed-disperser/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253244</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As animals vanish, the plants they spread can’t keep pace with climate change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/as-animals-vanish-the-plants-they-spread-cant-keep-pace-with-climate-change/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/as-animals-vanish-the-plants-they-spread-cant-keep-pace-with-climate-change/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jan 2022 16:19:11 +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/20/2022/01/19075240/seed-3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251816</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Research, Seed Dispersal, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Animals that eat fruit and spread the seeds in their droppings offer an all-inclusive transportation service for half the world’s flora. But as more seed-dispersing birds and mammals die off globally, some of these plant species will lose their ability to shift their locations to keep pace with escalating climate change, says new research. “When [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Animals that eat fruit and spread the seeds in their droppings offer an all-inclusive transportation service for half the world’s flora. But as more seed-dispersing birds and mammals die off globally, some of these plant species will lose their ability to shift their locations to keep pace with escalating climate change, says new research. “When you hear the headlines about the biodiversity crisis, some call it the sixth mass extinction, that decline of birds and mammals also means the decline of seed dispersers,” Evan Fricke, lead author of the new study, recently published in Science, told Mongabay. Fricke and colleagues reported that the loss of birds and mammals has reduced the ability of animal-dispersed plants to track climate change by 60%. This number &#8220;is somewhere in the alarm bell territory,” Fricke told Mongabay. “I hope [this finding] focuses people&#8217;s attention on the importance of seed-disperser biodiversity for plant adaptation to climate change.” “If there are no animals available to eat their fruits or carry away their nuts,” Fricke said in a press release, “animal-dispersed plants aren’t moving very far.” A black bear eats hawthorn berries. Large animals can disperse seeds over great distances, but many large seed dispersers are extinct or in decline. Photo by Paul D. Vitucci. As the climate warms, many species will need to change locations to stay within a temperature range that they can tolerate. On a mountain, this might mean they move upslope by just a few to tens of meters per year. On flatter terrain,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/as-animals-vanish-the-plants-they-spread-cant-keep-pace-with-climate-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/as-animals-vanish-the-plants-they-spread-cant-keep-pace-with-climate-change/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251816</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s rainforest species gain ground through landscape linkages</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/australias-rainforest-species-gain-ground-through-landscape-linkages/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/australias-rainforest-species-gain-ground-through-landscape-linkages/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Dec 2021 03:24:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amanda Freeman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/22090803/Victorias-riflebird_Alastair-Freeman-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250997</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Oceania, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Habitat, Happy-upbeat Environmental, NGOs, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reforestation, Restoration, Saving Rainforests, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The tooth-billed bowerbird gave itself away with a not-quite-right call. Suspicious, I’d panned my binoculars toward the sound and there he was, the mimic, high in the canopy of a rainforest tree. It was a satisfying sight. Like many of Australia’s wet tropics-endemic species, tooth-billed bowerbird populations have declined rapidly in recent years, their climate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The tooth-billed bowerbird gave itself away with a not-quite-right call. Suspicious, I’d panned my binoculars toward the sound and there he was, the mimic, high in the canopy of a rainforest tree. It was a satisfying sight. Like many of Australia’s wet tropics-endemic species, tooth-billed bowerbird populations have declined rapidly in recent years, their climate change-induced retreat to higher elevations acknowledged in Birdlife Australia’s new Action Plan for Australian birds. It was not just seeing this charismatic bird that was so satisfying, however, but where it appeared. It wasn’t found in a survey in a large expanse of World Heritage-listed rainforest. Or even in remnant forest surrounding the Atherton Tablelands’ famous Crater Lakes. It was in a 25-year-old rainforest restoration site in Donaghy’s Corridor, a 1-kilometer (0.6-mile) linkage of planted habitat. The tooth-billed bowerbird shows that the linkage is working, at least for some species. A tooth-billed bowerbird was seen in a 25-year-old rainforest restoration site in Donaghy’s Corridor. Image courtesy of Amanda Freeman. Landscape linkages: ‘Acts of faith’ Stretching hundreds of kilometers along Australia’s northeast Queensland coast, the Wet Tropics includes nearly 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) of World Heritage-listed tropical rainforest and is one of the country’s most biodiverse regions. Donaghy&#8217;s Corridor, the Peterson Creek wildlife corridor and the Lakes Corridor are a network of rebuilt forest linkages joining the otherwise isolated Lake Eacham, Lake Barrine and Curtain Fig national parks, each 300-500 hectares (700-1200 acres), to Wooroonooran National Park. At nearly 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres), Wooroonooran is one of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/australias-rainforest-species-gain-ground-through-landscape-linkages/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/australias-rainforest-species-gain-ground-through-landscape-linkages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250997</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Seed dispersal is just as important as pollination (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/seed-dispersal-is-just-as-important-as-pollination-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/seed-dispersal-is-just-as-important-as-pollination-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Aug 2021 15:54:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ariek Norford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/10153844/Chimps-eating-figs-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245759</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Extinction, Forests, Mass Extinction, Plants, Pollinators, Seed Dispersal, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Society has recently become enthralled with bees and the amazing service they provide spreading pollen around and helping to sustain plant populations. From crops to gardens to forests, bees keep the world green, and us fed. But what happens after pollination? Just like for us and most animals, plant offspring do not tolerate staying with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Society has recently become enthralled with bees and the amazing service they provide spreading pollen around and helping to sustain plant populations. From crops to gardens to forests, bees keep the world green, and us fed. But what happens after pollination? Just like for us and most animals, plant offspring do not tolerate staying with their parents forever. But the problem is that they can’t just walk off. So instead, they hitch a ride (either inside or outside) animals (or sometimes by wind and water). Animals are doing most of the work though, dispersing the seeds of about half of temperate plants and three quarters of tropical plants. So, who are these animals? Almost everyone’s favorites play some type of role from bats to monkeys, and even wolves and turtles, because everyone loves fruit. And by eating fruit, animals are eating seeds, and moving them elsewhere when they poop. Here are some of the star seed dispersers: The airline pilots. There are many birds and bats out there that only eat fruit. And because they can fly, they can travel long distances in very short periods of time, taking seeds far away from their parents. One of the best examples are the macaws in Central and South America. These are big birds so they can eat all different sizes of seeds. And they disperse them up to 1.2 km (three quarters of a mile)! Another one of my favorite airline pilots are flying foxes, which are found in East and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/seed-dispersal-is-just-as-important-as-pollination-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/seed-dispersal-is-just-as-important-as-pollination-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-245759</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fruit-eating, seed-pooping animals can help restore degraded forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fruit-eating-seed-pooping-animals-can-help-restore-degraded-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fruit-eating-seed-pooping-animals-can-help-restore-degraded-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Feb 2021 18:16:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emily Harwitz]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/09180328/Maned-Wolf-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239428</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Brazil, South America, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Mammals, Plants, Rainforests, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a once-cleared patch of rainforest, four black-tufted marmosets scamper up to a pile of bananas lying in a plastic dish on the ground. Within the banana flesh are the seeds of a local native tree, hidden there by scientists. After briefly investigating, the marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) dig in. When they’ve eaten their fill, they [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a once-cleared patch of rainforest, four black-tufted marmosets scamper up to a pile of bananas lying in a plastic dish on the ground. Within the banana flesh are the seeds of a local native tree, hidden there by scientists. After briefly investigating, the marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) dig in. When they’ve eaten their fill, they dash away, eventually to poop out their fruity snack — and with it, the precious seeds that could help restore the recovering patch of Brazil&#8217;s Atlantic Forest. That is a scene caught on camera trap as part of a recent study, published in the December 2020 Journal of Applied Ecology. It describes a potential new way to fill in that gap in the forest: enlisting fruit-eating birds and animals, called frugivores, to spread native seeds. A group of black-tufted marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) eating bananas embedded with native tree seeds at a suspended feeder, in camera-trap footage. Image courtesy of Wesley Silva. One of the most common ways to restore a forest is through directly planting seedlings or sowing seeds into the ground. These methods are quite expensive, which is a big obstacle for many restoration projects. The new method aims to help. It “is very simple, very inexpensive, and quite effective,” said Cristina García, a plant ecologist at the University of Liverpool, U.K., and an editor of the journal that published the study. “Instead of planting the trees, what you do is restore the ecological process that drives that natural regeneration,” which often works better&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fruit-eating-seed-pooping-animals-can-help-restore-degraded-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/fruit-eating-seed-pooping-animals-can-help-restore-degraded-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239428</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Restaura Cerrado: Saving Brazil’s savanna by reseeding and restoring it</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/restaura-cerrado-saving-brazils-savanna-by-reseeding-and-restoring-it/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/restaura-cerrado-saving-brazils-savanna-by-reseeding-and-restoring-it/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Dec 2020 10:54:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Sax]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/11135802/BANNER-IMAGE-CE-1210-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237803</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Dry Forests, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Grasslands, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Innovation, Landscape Restoration, National Parks, NGOs, Plants, Research, Restoration, Savannas, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An innovative collaborative group is working to restore Brazil’s savanna by sowing native plant seeds on degraded agricultural lands; it’s an effort that’s working, say participants.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Along with its restoration activities, the Restaura Cerrado network is also engaged in public education on the vital importance of the savanna. Image by ICMBio / Fernando Tatagiba When landscape architect Mariana Siqueira moved from Rio to Brasília, Brazil’s capital, six years ago, she was surprised to learn she was now living in the middle of the Cerrado — the world’s most biodiverse savanna. “In Brazil, when we think of savanna, we think of Africa,” she says. “We think of wide open plains and giraffes and other charismatic animals.” A short time later, Siqueira became aware that the Brazilian Cerrado is the most biodiverse savanna on Earth, but that its vast array of plants and animals is fast vanishing. When a new client asked her to design a “Cerrado garden” using native plants, she was shocked to learn that not a single nursery stocked the native Cerrado grasses and shrubs that dominate the biome’s ecosystems. Ironically, in the midst of so much biodiversity, the nurseries focused instead almost exclusively on exotic plants. That’s not just a problem for landscape architects, but also for environmentalists trying to restore Brazil’s second largest biome. The Cerrado covers around two million square kilometers (772,204 square miles), more than 20% of the nation’s territory. Today, it still harbors about a third of the country’s biodiversity, even after losing a staggering 50% of its native vegetation area to rapidly expanding agribusiness. Worse news: because the world, and even some ecologists, have been slow to recognize the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/restaura-cerrado-saving-brazils-savanna-by-reseeding-and-restoring-it/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/restaura-cerrado-saving-brazils-savanna-by-reseeding-and-restoring-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237803</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar launches massive planting drive, eyes 60 million trees</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/madagascar-launches-massive-planting-drive-eyes-60-million-trees/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/madagascar-launches-massive-planting-drive-eyes-60-million-trees/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jan 2020 01:16:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika VyawahareValisoa Rasolofomboahangy]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/01/20124832/MG_4484-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=226374</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Indian Ocean, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, charcoal, Conservation, Reforestation, Seed Dispersal, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar has embarked on its most ambitious tree-planting drive yet, aiming to plant 60 million trees in the coming months. The island nation celebrates 60 years of independence this year, and the start of the planting campaign on Jan. 19 marked one year since the inauguration of President Andry Rajoelina, who has promised to restore [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar has embarked on its most ambitious tree-planting drive yet, aiming to plant 60 million trees in the coming months. The island nation celebrates 60 years of independence this year, and the start of the planting campaign on Jan. 19 marked one year since the inauguration of President Andry Rajoelina, who has promised to restore Madagascar’s lost forests. “The government has the challenge of making Madagascar a green island again. I encourage the people to protect the environment and reforest for the benefit of the future generations,” Rajoelina told the hundreds of people who attended the launch in Ankazobe district, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of the capital, Antananarivo. In a span of a few hours, about 1 million trees and seeds were planted over 500 hectares (1,235 acres), according to the environment ministry — an area one-and-a-half times the size of New York City’s Central Park. Madagascar, the oldest island in the world and the fourth-largest, spanning 59 million ha (146 million acres), is home to an astounding range of plant and animal life. Between 2001 and 2018, it lost about one-fifth of its tree cover, according to Global Forest Watch, driven primarily by the expansion of shifting agriculture, known locally as tavy. The destruction of Madagascar’s forests could sound the death knell for many of its endemic species, found nowhere else on the planet. Participants at the tree-planting event in Ankazobe district, Madagascar, on Jan. 19, 2020. Image by Valisoa Rasolofomboahangy/Mongabay. Months of planning and a massive nationwide&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/madagascar-launches-massive-planting-drive-eyes-60-million-trees/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/madagascar-launches-massive-planting-drive-eyes-60-million-trees/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-226374</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cities may save some species from extinction, but they don’t save species&#8217; ecological functions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/cities-may-save-some-species-from-extinction-but-they-dont-save-their-ecological-functions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/cities-may-save-some-species-from-extinction-but-they-dont-save-their-ecological-functions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2019 15:05:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/04/19145726/parrots-in-Dominican-Republic_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=217646</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Caribbean and Dominican Republic]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Cities, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The responses of wildlife species when their natural habitat is converted into urban areas are many and varied. Urbanization is one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss around the globe, while, at the same time, some species are not only able to adapt to life in urban areas but actually thrive and grow more [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The responses of wildlife species when their natural habitat is converted into urban areas are many and varied. Urbanization is one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss around the globe, while, at the same time, some species are not only able to adapt to life in urban areas but actually thrive and grow more abundant than they might have in their natural surroundings. Some cities have thus been declared urban conservation hotspots — but research published last year shows that while those cities might help preserve robust populations of otherwise threatened species, they do not help preserve the crucial ecological functions of those species. This is an important distinction to make because the urban population is expected to grow by 1.35 billion people by 2030, which will in turn drive the expansion of urban areas worldwide by some 1.2 million square kilometers (more than 463,000 square miles), according to a 2012 study. That means that, by 2030, there could be three times the amount of global urban land cover that existed in 2000. The Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis). Photo Credit: Álvaro Luna. Of the animals that adapt to life in Earth’s growing urban areas, some of them will surely be threatened with extinction, making conservation efforts in cities imperative. A 2014 study that looked at 54 cities around the globe, for instance, found that about a third of them harbored threatened birds. Urban conservation hotspots may shelter viable populations of threatened species, but that doesn’t mean those species will&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/cities-may-save-some-species-from-extinction-but-they-dont-save-their-ecological-functions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-217646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Brazil, a forest community helps seed new trees far and wide</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/in-brazil-a-forest-community-helps-seed-new-trees-far-and-wide/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/in-brazil-a-forest-community-helps-seed-new-trees-far-and-wide/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2018 16:33:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ignacio Amigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/21153541/IMG_8529_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209420</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ex-situ Conservation, Forest Products, Forests, Rainforests, Seed Dispersal, Supply Chain, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ELDORADO — The first time that somebody mentioned collecting seeds to Seu João Motta, he thought it was the stupidest idea he’d ever heard. Living in the middle of Atlantic Forest, he had always seen seeds as something so abundant that they had to be worthless. Last year he started to think differently. Seu João is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ELDORADO — The first time that somebody mentioned collecting seeds to Seu João Motta, he thought it was the stupidest idea he’d ever heard. Living in the middle of Atlantic Forest, he had always seen seeds as something so abundant that they had to be worthless. Last year he started to think differently. Seu João is a quilombola from Nhunguara, one of hundreds of colonies of former slaves known as quilombos that are spread throughout Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Started as resistance communities by fleeing slaves, some quilombos are today more than 300 years old. Now, the quilombos of Nhunguara, Maria Rosa and Andé Lopes are establishing a network to collect and sell native seeds from the Vale do Ribeira region, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the city of São Paulo. The Vale do Ribeira Seed Network aims to create a new source of income for the communities while providing an alternative way of reforesting degraded lands elsewhere. “Most of the people that buy the seeds are landowners that have been fined for having degraded areas in their properties,” says Juliano Nascimento, from the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), an NGO working with the quilombolas to provide technical assistance and help find seed buyers. “And restoring the land using seeds rather than seedlings is an interesting option for landowners, as they can cut the costs up to two-thirds.” Bags of seeds. Photo courtesy Guilherme Rodrigues. The negotiations with the buyers are concluded before the seeds are collected, Juliano says, to ensure the quilombolas’&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/in-brazil-a-forest-community-helps-seed-new-trees-far-and-wide/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/in-brazil-a-forest-community-helps-seed-new-trees-far-and-wide/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209420</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s plant biodiversity still not fully present in its seed banks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/brazils-plant-biodiversity-still-not-fully-present-in-its-seed-banks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/brazils-plant-biodiversity-still-not-fully-present-in-its-seed-banks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jul 2018 10:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ignacio Amigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/25093055/DSC_0159_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208631</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Botany, Conservation Technology, Ex-situ Conservation, Forests, Plants, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RIO DE JANEIRO — The botanical garden here sits just below Corcovado hill, at the feet of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. Boasting 54 hectares (133 acres) and more than 7,000 trees and plants, it is a favorite spot for visitors to roam and discover some of Brazil’s impressive biodiversity. But in addition to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RIO DE JANEIRO — The botanical garden here sits just below Corcovado hill, at the feet of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. Boasting 54 hectares (133 acres) and more than 7,000 trees and plants, it is a favorite spot for visitors to roam and discover some of Brazil’s impressive biodiversity. But in addition to being a calming, beautiful green space for leisure, the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden is also one of the oldest scientific institutions in the country. Founded in 1808, it was originally created to acclimatize foreign species with commercial interest to the local climate and soil conditions. That scientific spirit is still very much alive today. Inside the Botanical Garden research facilities is one of the most important native seed banks in Brazil. Seed banks are collections of seeds that are kept viable by storing them at low temperatures. Stored seeds in a seed bank. Image by Ignacio Amigo for Mongabay. In recent years, seed banks of native species have been gaining momentum as a way of preserving endangered biodiversity, a critical issue in Brazil, a megadiverse country with many threatened species. “From the species conservation point of view, seed banks are probably one of the cheapest alternatives there are,” said Antônio Carlos Andrade, curator of the botanical garden. “We use the same principles used to preserve food, but in a more refined way.” These principles allow researchers to store the seeds for very long periods at a relatively low cost. The procedure is simple: Following&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/brazils-plant-biodiversity-still-not-fully-present-in-its-seed-banks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208631</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plant communities roar back after rat removal from Pacific islands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/plant-communities-roar-back-after-rat-removal-from-pacific-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/plant-communities-roar-back-after-rat-removal-from-pacific-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jul 2018 11:33:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/19034558/red-footed-boobies-flying-over-palmyra-atoll_6074936066_o-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208518</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Islands and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Invasive Species, Islands, Mammals, Oceans, Plants, Predators, Rainforests, Reforestation, Research, Restoration, Rodents, Saving Rainforests, Seabirds, Seed Dispersal, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[CBO2017]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plant numbers have surged in a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean following the eradication of invasive rats that gobbled up seeds and gnawed away at vegetation, a new study has found. The findings demonstrate the resilience of natural ecosystems, Alex Wegmann, an ecologist with The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and director of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plant numbers have surged in a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean following the eradication of invasive rats that gobbled up seeds and gnawed away at vegetation, a new study has found. The findings demonstrate the resilience of natural ecosystems, Alex Wegmann, an ecologist with The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and director of the group’s Palmyra program, said in a statement. “In an age of well-founded concern about the environment,” Wegmann said, “Palmyra Atoll’s response to the eradication of introduced rats reminds us of the resilience of intact ecosystems and gives us hope for a better tomorrow.” A new tree sprouts in the Palmyra Atoll. Image by Abram Fleishman/Island Conservation. Scientists know that merely removing rats from the islands they’ve infiltrated, mostly as stowaways from visiting ships in the past few centuries, can have a remarkable impact on seabird numbers since they target their eggs and chicks. And recent research has shown that coral reefs thrive next to rat-free islands because the seabirds play a critical role in depositing nutrients in their guano that leach into the surrounding waters. Until now, however, the impact of rat eradication on the recovery of plant communities hasn’t been as clear. Since the early 2000s, researchers have been keeping an eye on the trees living on Palmyra Atoll, a group of 25 small islands around 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) southwest of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Then, in 2011, the California-based NGO Island Conservation teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/plant-communities-roar-back-after-rat-removal-from-pacific-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208518</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists reveal yet another reason fig trees are titans of biodiversity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/scientists-reveal-yet-another-reason-fig-trees-are-titans-of-biodiversity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/scientists-reveal-yet-another-reason-fig-trees-are-titans-of-biodiversity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jul 2018 09:19:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Shanahan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/05122018/Malurus_cyaneus_-Victoria_Australia_-male-8_1200px-cropped-768x492.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208061</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Insects, Research, Seed Dispersal, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Biologist David Mackay got a surprise when he began studying the birds visiting fig trees in his native Australia: While he expected to see plenty of species coming to eat the figs, he didn’t expect the insect eaters to outnumber them two-to-one. Mackay already knew that figs feed more bird species than any other fruit. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Biologist David Mackay got a surprise when he began studying the birds visiting fig trees in his native Australia: While he expected to see plenty of species coming to eat the figs, he didn’t expect the insect eaters to outnumber them two-to-one. Mackay already knew that figs feed more bird species than any other fruit. His research, published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation in June, would show that fig trees are disproportionately important for insect-eaters, too. It adds to growing evidence that fig trees are titans of biodiversity with important roles to play in conservation. What makes fig trees so crucial is their ancient relationship with tiny wasps. The trees depend on the wasps to pollinate their flowers, while the wasps can only breed and lay eggs inside their partner’s figs. Thanks to this partnership, figs are available year-round and have been called ‘keystone’ resources for fruit eaters. Mackay’s study is the first to show that fig-wasps emerging from figs before they ripen are also valuable year-round resources for a diverse variety of insect-eating birds. Altogether, Mackay recorded 55 bird species visiting Ficus rubiginosa fig trees to feed on insects. They included ten species — such as the superb fairy-wren and the shining bronze-cuckoo — whose recent declines in numbers have concerned conservationists. Mackay and his colleagues say fig trees are “very likely” to be similarly important to insect-eating birds throughout tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions globally. Shining bronze-cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus). Photo via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/scientists-reveal-yet-another-reason-fig-trees-are-titans-of-biodiversity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/scientists-reveal-yet-another-reason-fig-trees-are-titans-of-biodiversity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208061</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>India&#8217;s foxes and monkeys are dumpster diving and eating food scraps</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/indias-foxes-and-monkeys-are-dumpster-diving-and-eating-food-scraps/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/indias-foxes-and-monkeys-are-dumpster-diving-and-eating-food-scraps/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 May 2018 07:25:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bhanu Sridharan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/05/04070746/Red-Fox-Spiti-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=206440</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Green, Mammals, Predators, Research, Seed Dispersal, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Spiti Valley, located in the remote Trans-Himalayas, is one of the least populated places in India and home to several rare and endangered wild animals. Here, to see wild herbivores like the Himalayan ibex (Capra sibirica) you may have to trek up to mountain pastures sometimes 5,000 metres (16,404 feet) high. If you want to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Spiti Valley, located in the remote Trans-Himalayas, is one of the least populated places in India and home to several rare and endangered wild animals. Here, to see wild herbivores like the Himalayan ibex (Capra sibirica) you may have to trek up to mountain pastures sometimes 5,000 metres (16,404 feet) high. If you want to see a snow leopard (Panthera uncia), you may have to track herds of the Himalayan blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) and hope to run into a snow leopard doing the same thing. If it is a Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus filchneri) you want, well, good luck to you. But for a red fox (Vulpes vulpes), just go back to a village and take a quiet walk after dinner. You are likely to see a fox rummaging through the kitchen middens – small heaps of food scraps usually discarded in the backyard. Even in this landscape of vast open spaces, people and wildlife can’t help rubbing shoulders, according to researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). In a recent study published in the Journal of Arid Environments, the researchers analysed the diet of red foxes from five locations in three states across the trans-Himalayas and one location in the Dachigam National Park in Kashmir. In locations close to human habitation, such as Spiti Valley, Ladakh and Chiktan village in Kargil, between 30 to 55 percent of the food red foxes ate came from human sources. Human provisioning comprised one third of the red fox diet in Leh town, Ladakh.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/indias-foxes-and-monkeys-are-dumpster-diving-and-eating-food-scraps/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-206440</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Canary Islands, a good seed disperser is hard to find</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/in-the-canary-islands-a-good-seed-disperser-is-hard-to-find/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/in-the-canary-islands-a-good-seed-disperser-is-hard-to-find/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2018 05:57:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bhanu Sridharan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/04/25054150/featured-lizards-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=206083</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Lizards, Plants, Reptiles, Research, Seed Dispersal, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It may seem like yet another set of picture-perfect tropical islands: high cliffs and modest hills rolling into the brilliant blue Atlantic Ocean. Scrubby bushes and small rocks dominate the entire landscape, and everything acquires a lovely tinge of warm sunshine. These vistas draw millions of people to the Canary Islands every year. But not [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It may seem like yet another set of picture-perfect tropical islands: high cliffs and modest hills rolling into the brilliant blue Atlantic Ocean. Scrubby bushes and small rocks dominate the entire landscape, and everything acquires a lovely tinge of warm sunshine. These vistas draw millions of people to the Canary Islands every year. But not everyone is here for the scenery, however lovely. Ecologists Néstor Pérez-Méndez from Río Negro National University in Argentina and Alfredo Valido from the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) in Spain are more interested in the islands’ scrubby plants — and the plants’ surprising seed dispersers. “Gallotia lizards consume fruits and efficiently disperse seeds of approximately 50 plant species” of the archipelago’s 80 native species, says Pérez-Méndez. A male West Canaries Lizard (Gallotia galloti) endemic to the Canarian islands of Tenerife and La Palma. The lizard is one of seven species that eats fruits and disperses seeds in the islands. Image by Beneharo Rodríguez. Just 100 kilometers (60 miles) off the northwestern coast of Africa, the Canary Islands, an archipelago of seven islands and some small islets, are a strange biological fusion of European and African species and even remnants of life before the two continents formed. With no fruit-eating native mammals and very few bird species, endemic lacertids, or wall-climbing lizards, in the genus Gallotia have become the primary seed dispersers on the island. But there is a potential caveat. The lizards have to be large enough. Those fruit-eating giants Having arrived here about 17 million&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/in-the-canary-islands-a-good-seed-disperser-is-hard-to-find/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-206083</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Trees need a little help to reclaim deforested land, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/trees-need-a-little-help-to-reclaim-deforested-land-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/trees-need-a-little-help-to-reclaim-deforested-land-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2017 19:29:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/02/13191718/Malabar_Grey_Hornbill_1800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=193211</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Deforestation, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Fragmentation, Global Environmental Crisis, Rainforests, Reforestation, Seed Dispersal, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation is estimated to be responsible for about 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which is why mechanisms for reducing forest destruction and promoting the reforestation of already degraded forestlands were included prominently in the Paris Climate Agreement. Restoring forests and their ability to sequester carbon is not just a relatively simple way to lower [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation is estimated to be responsible for about 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which is why mechanisms for reducing forest destruction and promoting the reforestation of already degraded forestlands were included prominently in the Paris Climate Agreement. Restoring forests and their ability to sequester carbon is not just a relatively simple way to lower the emissions that contribute to global warming, but also a cost-effective measure that has been shown to actually help curb illegal logging in some cases. But a study published in the journal New Phytologist late last month suggests that tropical trees need a little help in order to find their way back into logged and degraded forests. Many of the world’s governments have set ambitious targets to enhance forest cover in the tropics, the authors of the study note, and the idea that trees will regenerate on their own, provided the land is protected from further disturbance, is crucial to these efforts. One of the forest patches remaining in the agricultural landscape in the study site in India. Photo by Sascha Ismail. Clearing large swaths of rainforest can permanently drive away or kill the large tropical birds that feed on tree fruits and are key to the dispersal of seeds, however. A December 2016 study that surveyed 330 forest, farmland, and tree plantation sites in the Brazilian Amazon determined that recovering forests don’t have the diversity of birds needed to ensure their survival. For the New Phytologist study, scientists with the Swiss university ETH Zurich&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/trees-need-a-little-help-to-reclaim-deforested-land-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-193211</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Big animals have big impacts on tropical forest carbon storage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/hunting-large-wildlife-reduces-carbon-storage-many-tropical-forests-new-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/hunting-large-wildlife-reduces-carbon-storage-many-tropical-forests-new-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2016 18:06:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/05/01213947/10981832_10153097713370552_7274467125015572859_n-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186220</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Australia, Central America, Global, Indonesia, South America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Elephants, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Mammals, Over-hunting, Poaching, Rainforests, Seed Dispersal, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over-hunting is driving several species towards extinction. But the decline in wildlife populations affects more than just the animals in question. It can alter the carbon storage potential of tropical forests, a new study has found. Trees in tropical forests often depend on wild animals to disperse their seeds. Animals such as elephants, tapirs, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over-hunting is driving several species towards extinction. But the decline in wildlife populations affects more than just the animals in question. It can alter the carbon storage potential of tropical forests, a new study has found. Trees in tropical forests often depend on wild animals to disperse their seeds. Animals such as elephants, tapirs, and monkeys eat and chew on fruits, defecating the seeds away from the original tree. Sometimes, seeds simply stick to an animal’s body and spread across the forest. In fact, the fate of many tree species is intricately linked to that of the wild animals in the forest. So the loss of big animals can drive the decline of tree species that depend on them for dispersal of their seeds, in turn changing a forest’s composition. Since trees pull out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, locking the carbon into their wood, a shift in tree species (such as larger trees getting replaced by smaller trees) can then affect how much carbon the forest can store. A new study published in Nature Communications has found that the loss of large wildlife &#8212; called &#8220;defaunation&#8221; &#8212; can reduce the above-ground carbon storage of many tropical forests in the world. “Overhunting and the loss of fauna impact forests in many ways,” William Laurance, a Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University, told Mongabay. “We’re not just losing pretty animals; we’re changing the forest itself in pervasive ways and degrading one of its most important ecosystem services—its capacity to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/hunting-large-wildlife-reduces-carbon-storage-many-tropical-forests-new-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-186220</doi>				</item>
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