In response to the call for champions in support of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the Republic of Maldives has pledged to become the first nation where the entire country and its Exclusive Economic Zone will be a Biosphere Reserve.

The Biosphere Reserve’s strategy must integrate management of natural resources with conservation and sustainable use. The plan also must seek to ensure equitable distribution of natural resource wealth. Currently, there are 610 biosphere reserves in 117 countries.

New research conducted by Swedish researchers finds that anxiolytic drugs in surface waters alter animal behaviours that are known to have ecological and evolutionary consequences

Researchers from Umeå University in Sweden examined how perch behaved when exposed to oxazepam, a drug commonly used to treat anxiety disorders in humans.

The scientists exposed the fish to concentrations of the drug similar to those found in the waters near densely populated areas in Sweden.

In a recent publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS, Hellberg and his graduate student Carlos Prada investigate how corals specialize to particular environments in the ocean.

It is very well known that physical barriers and reproductive isolation can lead to the formation of new species on land, especially among plants and animals with short generation times such as insects and annual plants.