News by Subject Policy & Ethics

Researchers examine global strategies for dealing with predators.

Over half of the tropical forests is under hunting pressure. According to scientists at Radboud University, hunting causes an abundance decline of on average 27 and 40% of medium and large-size mammals in the tropics of central and south America, Africa and Asia. Even forests that are considered intact according to satellite images, could be partially defaunated. These results are published in PLOS Biology.

Without sound decision-making, responses to seeming environmental tragedies can often make matters worse, according to ethicists who analyzed a controversial goat removal program on an Australian island.

Mice have a strong preference to nest away from their own waste, UBC research has found. The study showed that mice who were housed in a system of three interconnected cages used separate cages for nesting and eliminating waste. Typically, laboratories house mice in close proximity with their excrement. The study suggests this compromises their welfare and may also negatively affect research data.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, recently investigated levels of methylmercury in a small sampling of commercial dog foods and found good news for dog owners. Of the 24 diets tested, only three were positive for low concentrations of total mercury, and only one of those contained detectable methylmercury.

In a paper recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, an international team of conservationists highlights the importance of tree dens as a choice for pandas raising infants in native habitats. The study, conducted in Fengtongzai Reserve in China, analyzed the difference in microhabitats of cave dens and tree dens used by female pandas. The result of the research suggests that conservation efforts need to take into account species use of microhabitats and habitat features as well as overall ecological systems.

A new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications finds that some sparrow species will go extinct within the century due to climate change.