Study: In converted landscapes, specific features still need preservation for biodiversity benefits

Humans have transformed the planet to a staggering extent. Studies estimate that, as a species, we’ve modified at least three-quarters of the Earth’s land surface. Over time, vibrant mosaics of forest, grassland and wetland have been replaced with our road networks, bustling cities, and industrial-scale pastures, plantations and croplands.

With so much of the globe under our influence, more focus needs to be placed on recognizing and preserving the biodiversity value of human-dominated landscapes, says an international team of researchers in a new review study published in Global Ecology and Conservation.

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/degraded-but-not-defunct-modified-land-still-has-wildlife-value-study-says/

Biden allows USFWS to introduce endangered species into habitat outside their historical range

The Biden administration is providing greater flexibility for the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect endangered species because of climate change.

A new rule issued Friday from the Fish and Wildlife Service allows for “experimental populations” of endangered species to be introduced into habitats outside of where they have historically lived, removing a requirement that such populations only be introduced to the plant or animal’s “historical range.”

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4075963-biden-administration-relaxes-restrictions-on-endangered-species-protection-efforts-to-account-for-climate-change/

Nepal | Rhinos in Chitwan NP ingesting plastic waste borne on monsoon floods

KATHMANDU– Every monsoon season (June–August), Nepal’s Chitwan National Park becomes a no-go zone for tourists and locals alike. The park, home to the vulnerable one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), is flooded by the rivers that run through it, making it inaccessible and dangerous.

But the water also brings an unwelcome visitor: plastic waste. When the floods recede, plastic bottles, bags and sachets cover the river banks where the rhinos come to graze on the grass.

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/nepals-rhinos-eating-plastic-waste-study-finds/