biodiversity

• Holly Doremus
• June 27, 2009

Biodiversity-friendly seawalls

Seawalls as typically constructed are smooth, vertical structures, beautiful to an engineer’s eye but unappealing to tidal creatures looking for the more complex physical structure typical of a rocky shore. A new paper (Oecologia, subscription required) out of the University of Sydney shows that engineering and ecology need not be at odds, however. The authors …

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• Dan Farber
• February 12, 2009

Don’t Know Much Biology

As a famous biologist once said, “without evolution nothing in biology makes sense.”   And biological science  is obviously basic to a lot of environmental policy. Thus, it is dismaying to learn that only four out of ten Americans believe in evolution.  Trying to understand environmental policy without believing in evolution is like trying to understand …

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• Dan Farber
• January 29, 2009

New Jungles for Old?

The New York Times has an interesting article about the growth of new forests as poor people abandon farms and move to the cities in less developed countries.  Carbon storage is complicated, so we don’t really know yet just how much effect this might have on climate.  But it’s obviously a very interesting development.