Background Articles

Scientist warns of "seagrass crisis" in Caribbeans MEXICO CITY (Rahnuma): Massive quantities of Sargassum seaweed are invading Caribbean beaches mostly thanks to global warming and countries should work closely with scientists for a sustainable solution, said a researcher at a leading Mexican university on

More than 100 fires are burning in B.C.'s Southeast Fire Region, with half of them caused from a lightning storm earlier in the week.

From floods to fires, drought to coastal erosion, climate change is already having an impact on Canada's communities, landscapes and wildlife

ALBANY - After years of trying to slow a voracious Chinese beetle that is decimating ash trees, state environmental officials are waving the white flag: The Department of Environmental Conservation dropped a logging quarantine, and said it might be time to cut healthy trees still uninfested. In a brief notice posted online Wednesday, the DEC repealed logging restrictions that had failed to contain the spread of the emerald ash borer (EAB) by limiting shipments of ash. The state created the quarantine in 2015 to slow the insect, which is a shiny green beetle about the size of a penny. The borer likely will ultimately bring about the end of the state's 700 million ash trees - down from earlier estimates of 900 million ash trees before the beetles' arrival - and forever change an industry that uses ash to produce bats for major league baseball.

Culturally vital, ecologically unique, and economically valuable, the yellow cedar’s fate is closely tied to snow

Coastal sand ecosystem returning to health after 1.5 years of work

Warmer temperatures and declining sea ice pulls foreign animals and plants to the Arctic, with drastic consequences for these sensitive ecosystems.

Creamy jasmine wildflowers once common in the Colorado high country may be vanishing as climate change brings warmer and drier conditions.

A scientific paper published recently hints at how increasing winter rainfall will affect the Arctic muskox. An N.W.T. biologist says winter rain isn't good for the mammal, but it's actually warmer summers that could prove detrimental.

Habitat of the endangered Vancouver Island marmot is disappearing as the warming climate allows trees to grow higher up mountainsides, turning alpine meadows into forest. Adam Taylor, executive . . .

Serious and unusual outbreaks of illness from eating raw or undercooked walrus to call attention to the risks.

Longer hot, dry spells in the boreal forests that stretch across Alaska and the Northwest Territories create the conditions for wildfires triggered by lightning strikes.

In the Arctic, brown bears (Ursus arctos) are expanding their range northward, in some cases competing with and even mating with polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Beavers (Castor canadensis) have been found as far north as the coast of the Beaufort Sea. The list includes mammals, amphibians, fish and insects.

A new report breaks down climate impacts on health by US region

Some farmers in the United States and Canada have noticed that the quantity and quality of their maple syrup is changing with climate variability. Now researchers who are investigating these observations.

Somebody is poisoning the moose of Anchorage. It's probably you. And many of your relatives, friends, and neighbors. Because the entire city is a garden laced with poisonous plants.

Dust. Trees. Grasses. Mold. How to read the signs about whether 2016 will be gentle or monstrous for allergy sufferers.

Trace 134Cs in northern fur seal tissue suggests that the population under study had been minimally exposed Fukushima-derived radionuclides. Despite this inference, the radionuclide quantities detected are small and no impact is expected as a result of the measured radiation exposure, either in northern fur seal or human populations consuming this species.

A new study from USGS, ANTHC, and the Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network, provides a view statewide trends in wild berry harvests. The authors conclude that monitoring and experimental studies are needed to understand how climate change may affect the species of wild berries that are important to Alaskans. They also recommended that methods by which rural communities can increase their resilience to declining or more variable berry harvests be explored.

Populations of marine wildlife have plummeted by a half on average over the past 40 years with some species suffering far greater declines as a result of habitat loss, overfishing, rising sea temperatures and worsening ocean acidity, a major report has found.