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Showing posts from March, 2022

Scientists Find Oil Rig Noise Pollution Affects Birds

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The Manitoban The bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) A PinP photo We need to rethink the way we regulate noise pollution from oil rigs as the noise from oil drilling can be harmful to prairie songbirds, including species that are at risk. These findings come from a new study authored by Nicola Koper and Patricia Rosa. Koper is a professor at the natural resources institute at the University of Manitoba and Rosa is an assistant professor at St. George’s University. They both study how human activity can interfere with songbird behaviour.  Story here.

Vanishing goats? Not on the watch of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation!

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 Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation (KXN)  the Raincoast Conservation Foundation,  and the University of Victoria. Mountain Goat -  Oreamnos americanus Wildlife populations can too often decline before wildlife managers notice. Although counting animals is one of the most fundamental activities biologists do, it is also the most difficult. Newly published research by the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation (KXN), the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and the University of Victoria shows the importance of listening to those that have lived near wildlife for millennia. Their findings, published in the open-access peer-reviewed journal, Conservation Science and Practice , show that mountain goats in KXN territory and beyond in British Columbia are of conservation concern. First to detect the changes, the KXN will be the first to address them with conservation management. Photos by Connor Stefanison The first signs happened decades ago. KXN community members began to report a decline in sightings of goats once

Government guidelines insufficient to protect North American freshwater ecosystem from salt pollution

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PNAS Canoeing the jacques Cartier_Photo by Jake Dyson Current water quality guidelines aren't protecting freshwater ecosystems from increasing salt pollution due to road de-icing salts, agriculture fertilizers, and mining operations, according to an international study that included researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Published today in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  ( PNAS ), the research shows that freshwater salinization triggers a massive loss of zooplankton and an increase in algae -- even when levels are within the lowest thresholds established in Canada, the U.S., and throughout Europe. Story here.