Study aims to assess effects of coastal light pollution

Have you ever given a thought to how light pollution in our coastal towns may be affecting our marine neighbours? The School of Ocean Sciences...

A reprieve for mako sharks in the North Atlantic

International fishery managers agree to historic yet potentially short-term ban On 23 November, conservationists were celebrating a hard-fought ban on retention of North Atlantic shortfin...

Super sewer progress

Recent aerial photography shows some of the changes being made to the banks of the Thames during the construction of London’s 25-km super-sewer, Tideway. Now said to be three-quarters complete – and on-schedule to finish in 2025 – the 2.5m-diameter tunnel will provide an extra 1.6 million m3 of storage in London’s sewers.

DNA probes will be deployed in Antarctic krill project

A new project launched on 1 November aims to protect the Southern Ocean ecosystem by focusing on Antarctic krill, a keystone species. Rising ocean...

Earthworm research spurs farmers to act

A study of England’s farmland has found key earthworm types are rare or absent in two out of five fields and has led to...

Parliamentary recognition of the importance and decline of invertebrates

The importance of invertebrates to the environment and food security has received a significant mark of recognition from the House of Commons Science, Innovation...

Scientists propose rethinking ‘endangered species’ definition to save slow-breeding giants

Researchers at the Smithsonian Institute have proposed a ‘demographic safe space’ for Asian elephants, to improve conservation of these and other large, slow-breeding animals. Conservation...

Utility launches £15 million project to rejuvenate the River Kelvin in Glasgow’s West End

Scottish Water’s multi-million pound investment project in Glasgow’s West End to help improve the environment and water quality in the River Kelvin is under...

Replanting logged forests with diverse mixtures of seedlings accelerates restoration, says study

Satellite observations of one of the world’s biggest ecological experiments on the island of Borneo appear to reveal that replanting logged forests with diverse...

‘Stressed’ trees share resources to overcome environmental challenges

A length of steel pipe and a heart monitor are the unlikely tools underpinning new research which suggests that trees may work together to...

UK tree map reveals link between trees and mental health

The location and size of urban trees plays an important role in providing health and wellbeing benefits, according to a new study by Exeter...

Metaldehyde slug pellet use to be banned outdoors from Spring

A ban on the outdoor use of metaldehyde, a pesticide used to control slugs in a range of crops and in gardens, is to...

Photobioreactors assist with examining algal blooms

Scientists at the John Innes Centre are using automatic photobioreactors from algal specialists Algenuity to look more closely at algal blooms – a phenomenon...

New study shows EU pesticide ban is failing to protect suburban bee populations

Bees living in suburban habitats are still being exposed to significant levels of pesticides despite the EU ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides...

Technology aims to boost environmental biosecurity in Great Barrier Reef

Reef rehabilitation trials began at two reef sites in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in the Whitsunday Islands in January. The Great Barrier Reef has...

Chemical dosing contributes to harmful algal blooms, finds research

Ultrasonic algae control specialist LG Sonic suggests its time to move on from using chemicals when managing this aspect of the environment Usage of chemicals...

Farmland water “battery” storage and leak-detecting broadband cables among winners in Ofwat innovation competition

Farmers could soon be reimbursed for creating water storage ponds or water “batteries” as part of an innovative drought-prevention project that has received funding...

Using mussels to clean up microplastics: UK laboratory trials nature-based solution

Scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) have launched a series of in-situ trials of what they describe as a unique microplastic clean-up method using...

Biospherian will share water stories from ‘Spaceship Earth’

Through a radical two-year experiment living inside a mini-Earth, ecologist Dr Mark Nelson developed a deep understanding of humans’ connection with the planetary biosphere...

River conservation is ‘blind’ without high-resolution monitoring

Scientists from the University of Portsmouth have been investigating nutrient concentrations in the Upper River Itchen, in Hampshire, UK, on behalf of Salmon &...