Background Articles

BRUNY ISLAND, TASMANIA (WASHINGTON POST) - Even before the ocean caught fever and reached temperatures no one had ever seen, Australia's ancient giant kelp was cooked.. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Birdwatchers in 2019 spotted the second-largest number of rare woodpeckers recorded so far in Finland. White-backed and three-toed woodpeckers rarely appear in the hundreds.

North American coyotes don’t live in South America, but new research suggests that could change, should deforestation in Central America continue.

The Arctic Salmon Project collected 2,400 samples from the western Arctic this year — more than the past 20 years combined.

Hunters say grizzly bears are showing up in growing numbers on islands of the Beaufort Sea.

The tree line is moving up mountains at a rate of half a meter a year, say researchers from Krasnoyarsk Science Centre, part of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Temperatures across the Arctic have been warmer than usual this fall, with one community in the Northwest Territories recording above-average temperatures for 72 days in a row.

The Mulchatna herd was not at the peak numbers it once had decades ago. Over-hunting, migration changes and wolf predation could be leading causes of decline in herd.

NOAA Fisheries' summer trawl survey shows Norton Sound red king crab are moving, Arctic cod numbers have dropped significantly, and Pacific cod are continuing to increase as the Northern Bering Sea ecosystem undergoes drastic change.

The fast-warming Sea of Okhotsk, wedged between Russia and Japan, is a cautionary tale of the far-reaching consequences when climate dominoes begin to fall.

Chukotka officials propose to classify polar bear sightings in populated areas as emergencies to mobilize resources for managing these situations.

Alaska’s warming winters and the broader habitat for ticks in the Lower 48 and Canada may provide a channel for rarer types to get to Alaska and survive there.

Halifax-based scuba diver Lloyd Bond says in the last three years he's seen increasing numbers of butterfly fish, seahorses, cornet fish, trigger fish, puffer fish, and many other species not native to Canadian waters.

For example, when looking at water in some areas around St. Lawrence Island, from 2010 to 2017, the bottom temperature went up by eight degrees Celsius (about 14° Fahrenheit).

Somewhere between the size of a sewer rat and a beaver, with a tail resembling that of an opossum and protruding, nacho cheese-colored teeth, the nutria is both impressively unattractive and highly destructive.

These changes seem to be heralding population spikes and downturns for a number of species like walleye pollock and Pacific cod, and even more pronounced in small, fatty forage species.

Earth’s natural cycles can’t account for the recent warming seen over the past 100 years, new research suggests.

From California to Alaska, animals born during the infamous Blob are coming of age.

Grizzly bears sightings are on the rise on Vancouver Island, and experts have a few theories as to why this is happening.

The odds of an attack are low, experts say, yet their advice today is not to go into the ocean above your waist. Are our carefree swimming days over?