News by Subject Biology

Infrastructure development and other man-made changes have already fragmented or disrupted two-thirds of Earth's longest rivers. Dams and reservoirs are the leading contributors to connectivity loss in global rivers. A team of 34 international researchers from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), McGill and other institutions assessed the connectivity status of 12 million kilometers of rivers worldwide, providing the first-ever global assessment of the location and extent of the planet's remaining free-flowing rivers.

The Sea Lab's Discovery Hall Programs Outreach Coordinator Rachel McDonald's work conducting outreach on ACER's research is featured in a special issue of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative's (GoMRI) Current: The Journal of Marine Education.

For the first time, researchers at King's College London, in collaboration with the University of Suffolk, have found a diverse array of chemicals, including illicit drugs and pesticides in UK river wildlife. The study published today in Environment International, looked at the exposure of wildlife, such as the freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex, to different micropollutants (chemicals found at exceptionally low levels) and the levels of these compounds in the animals.

The taxonomic and trophic composition of freshwater fishes in the Ohio River Basin has changed significantly in recent decades, possibly due to environmental modifications related to land use and hydrology, according to a study published April 24 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mark Pyron of Ball State University, and colleagues.

Global warming has caused twice as many ocean-dwelling species as land-dwelling species to disappear from their habitats, a unique Rutgers-led study found. The greater vulnerability of sea creatures may significantly impact human communities that rely on fish and shellfish for food and economic activity, according to the study published in the journal Nature.