Project to study all 11,000 species of butterflies and moths finds ‘two species in the act of being created from one’
The chalkhill blue has some surprising claims to fame. For a start, it is one of the UK’s most beautiful butterflies, as can be seen as they flutter above the grasslands of southern England in summer.
Then there is their close and unusual relationship with ants. Caterpillars of Lysandra coridon – found across Europe – exude a type of honeydew that is milked by ants and provides them with energy. In return, they are given protection in cells below ground especially created for them by the ants. Chalkhill blues thrive as a result, though their numbers are now coming under threat.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/11/2024 - 04:00
08/10/2024 - 17:14
Controversial mining project is a political fault line in Balkan country over fears about environmental impacts
Thousands hit the streets in Serbia’s capital Belgrade Saturday to protest against the rebooting of a controversial lithium mine set to serve as a vital source to power Europe’s green energy transition.
Before the rally, two leading protest figures said they were briefly detained by security officials who warned that any moves to block roads during the protest would be viewed as illegal.
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08/10/2024 - 11:00
‘Two-tier policing’ claims are nonsense, but government is guilty of ‘two-tier sentencing’, says green energy boss Dale Vince
A Labour donor has called on the government to review a sentencing regime that led to a climate protester being given a longer prison sentence than a Southport rioter who punched a police officer in the face, as he derided what he called “two-tier sentencing”.
Dale Vince, the green energy entrepreneur who has given millions of pounds to Labour, said it was “absurd” that a Just Stop Oil protester received a five-year prison sentence for their role in conspiring to cause gridlock on the M25 while a man pleading guilty to violent disorder received a significantly shorter sentence.
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08/10/2024 - 06:00
Some areas see days of temperatures over 100F, drying plants and fueling wildfires as extreme heat creates deadly conditions
California experienced its hottest month on record in July as grueling heat baked the American west for weeks on end.
The state’s average temperature for the month was 81.7F (27.6C), according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, but some areas endured days of temperatures greater than 100F (about 38C). Several cities broke temperature records during a heatwave in early July – Palm Springs hit 124F on 5 July, while Redding in the state’s far north saw a high of 119F on 6 July.
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08/10/2024 - 06:00
As California sees increasingly devastating fires, Butte county residents lose their insurance – and homes
Kristy and Michael Daneau breathed a deep sigh of relief when they found the home for sale on a heavily wooded lane in northern California’s Butte county five years ago. Everything lined up.
The owner was looking to sell only to survivors of the Camp fire. A few months earlier, the couple and their four daughters had lost everything in the blaze, save for their four dogs. Kristy barely escaped the fast-moving flames.
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08/10/2024 - 03:15
The group says the logging in a state-owned forest in Queensland is taking place less than 3km from a high-density population group of endangered greater gliders. Conservation groups want swathes of St Mary state forest near Maryborough to be included in the Queensland government's proposed Greater Glider Forest park
• After 25 years, logging and bushfires, a greater glider has been spotted in Deongwar state forest
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08/10/2024 - 00:00
For first time, moors must hold licence under regime aiming to reduce unlawful killing of birds of prey by gamekeepers
Wildlife campaigners are calling for even tougher policing of Scottish grouse moors on the eve of this year’s “Glorious Twelfth”, which marks the legal start of the grouse shooting season.
On Monday 12 August moors across the British uplands will echo to the sound of shotguns and estate vehicles.
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08/09/2024 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 10 August 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00073-7
Ecosystem services “on the move” as a nature-based solution for financing the Global Biodiversity Framework
08/09/2024 - 19:00
Queensland Conservation Council is urging the state government to protect the endangered greater glider population as logging continues
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There is “damning evidence” of logging occurring close to endangered greater glider populations, conservationists say as they call on the Queensland government to urgently act on a promise to create a park to protect the species.
Volunteers used drones in July to film logging in St Mary state forest near Maryborough, about three km from where gliders had been seen.
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08/09/2024 - 12:58
New research has shown that glossy black-cockatoos prefer to feed from trees growing in acidic soils.
