Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Reposted by Paul Ganderton

Journal of Animal Ecology @animalecology.bsky.social · 4h

🦫 This article highlights a recent study reporting cascade effects of beaver ecosystem engineering, which positively impact bat populations. The study authors show behavioural responses with increasing foraging activity, indirectly due to beaver presence➡️https://buff.ly/EpQyz14

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Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 2h

Looking at the spellings, I'm going 1965

Since 2020, 4 of Australia’s natural World Heritage properties have deteriorated

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 3h

Wasn't this government supposed to stop the decline of #worldheritage sites? Australia, world leader in destroying nature, again - theconversation.com/since-2020-4...

Globally important natural areas such as Ningaloo and Shark Bay have been hard hit in recent years. But Macquarie Island is recovering.

Wild honeybees now officially listed as endangered in the EU

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 3h

#honeybees as #endangered species! theconversation.com/wild-honeybe...

The wild cousins of beehive honeybees are disappearing – here’s why that matters.

Wolves have returned to Denmark, and not everyone is happy about it

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 3h

Interesting counterpoint to the Yellowstone story. Wolves in Europe have generally been well handled but their are still issues. It needs to get the locals on board - #conservation - theconversation.com/wolves-have-...

As wolves reappear, Danes are divided – a new poll shows just how much.

Emissions linked to Woodside’s Scarborough gas project could lead to at least 480 deaths, research suggests

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 3h

As we continue to expand #fossilfuels, stand by for increased mortality - www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Scientists have examined the $16.5bn project’s climate impact and found it could expose more than half a million people to unprecedented heat

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 3h

We are about to start finding out! - #biodiversity #climatechange - www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries monitors a world out of balance - Nature

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 3h

A reminder that conventional economics is not solving global issues and that #doughnut #economics at least puts finance in context. Ecology is not a subset of economics; it's the reverse! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A revised ‘Doughnut’ providing a visual assessment of trends in social deprivation and planetary degradation over the past two decades shows more than doubling of global GDP accompanied by accelerating ecological overshoot but only a modest reduction in human deprivation.

www.nature.com

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, but does the devil lie in the detail of the extent/rate of resistance or recovery and where are we starting from anyway in a dynamic system? I see parallels with biodiversity - a seemingly simple term mired in detail.

History shows war against immigrants will backfire on all Americans

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 2d

The realities of #migration. Generally, positive! The problem not discussed is why we can't have a grown up discussion about it. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Deportations are likely to cause employers to let go of US workers, and reduce the labor force

The fledgling UN tried to rein in mass-scale misinformation. The world turned its back and is now paying the price | Roland Burke

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 2d

Unrestrained misinformation and cynical professions of “freedom of expression” from fascist demagogues was a lesson briefly and bloodily learned in the age of the crystal oscillator.... It is very grim to be learning it again in the age of fibre optic. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The ruinous result of the US approach to freedom of information and media has made anti-democratic contagion impossible to ignore

And then there were none: Australia’s only shrew declared extinct

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 2d

#Australia leading the world again in #extinction rates! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The tally of Australian mammals extinct since 1788 is now 39 species – far more than for any other country

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

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Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 2d

#migration has net benefits. Just look at the origins and destinations of #nobel laureates. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Paul Ganderton

Gregor Semieniuk @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social · 4d

🚨NEW PAPER🚨
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

River or sankey diagram showing the allocation of profits from global oil and gas companies to quantiles of the US wealth size distribution via financial system intermediaries, such as asset managers, and categories of ultimate beneficiaries, such as business owners, pension funds and shareholders in listed companies. The scale is hundreds of billions of US dollars, and ultimately 50.4% of profits reaching the US personal wealth distribution go to the richest 1% of households.

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Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 4d

As it should. The final capture of anything ecological with strange undefinable bits of "economics" means that the sham of conservation will finally be removed, so naked exploitation and despoilation will be evident.

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 4d

The difficult job of figuring out the environmental costs of #ultraprocessedfoods - www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The hidden cost of ultra-processed foods on the environment: ‘The whole industry should pay’

Industrially made foods involve several ingredients and processes to put together, making it difficult to examine their true cost

Illegal gold mining clears 140,000 hectares of Peruvian Amazon

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 4d

The downside of the increase in gold prices. #deforestation - www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Armed criminal groups tear down precious rainforest to capitalise on record gold prices, report finds

Century-old papers saved from the bin reveal changes in Europe’s plant life

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 4d

Brilliant. The need for and value of more old records of #biodiversity and subsequent change - www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Plant inventories dating back to 1884 and nearly thrown away enable unique time-lapse study of biodiversity in Swiss meadows

National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 4d

Stunning that we still need to say that #climatechange is a #security issue. Surely we figured this out in the 1990s? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Report by joint intelligence committee delayed, with concerns expressed that it may not be published

Half the UK’s fish stocks are overfished – but the evidence shows how they can be revived

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 4d

Unsustainable yields drive fish decline but they can be reversed. theconversation.com/half-the-uks...

Overfishing affects food security, blue economy jobs and climate resilience.

Are Carbon Offsets Fixable?

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 4d

"A growing number of studies have found that the most widely used offset programs continue to greatly overestimate their probable climate impact often by a factor of 5 to10 or more" So, essentially, useless. Is this a bug or part of the design? #ecology #economy www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

This article provides a systematic review of the literature on carbon offsets. A growing number of studies have found that the most widely used offset programs continue to greatly overestimate their p...

www.annualreviews.org

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 5d

Same playbook, different topic. #disinformation - www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Media and political attacks on Australia’s emissions targets ‘straight out of the climate obstruction playbook’, expert says

Prof Christian Downie points to the Business Council of Australia and News Corp newspapers as examples of deliberate obstruction

Brexit has done nothing to stem sharp decline of UK fish populations, shows study

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 5d

Another #brexit lie. Fishing stocks have got worse! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Experts call for urgent strategy to end overfishing as report shows just 41% of stocks of species such as cod and mackerel considered healthy

Plans to weaken protections for national parks will have ‘disastrous consequences’ say green groups

Paul Ganderton @ecogeog.bsky.social · 5d

It's a pity this Labour government doesn't seem to have the foresight of that of the 1949 government and the National Parks Act! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Exclusive: Letter from 170-plus organisations calls on government to drop proposed changes to planning law