Green & indigenous News

A global study of mangroves has found that a modest boost in conserved areas could significantly increase their ability to adapt to the changing climate, including rising sea levels. University of Queensland Ph.D. candidate Alvise Dabalà led the analysis, which showed that safeguarding the coastal mangrove ecosystem didn't require huge expansions in protected areas, just smarter planning. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

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When a coastal carpet python was brought into a wildlife hospital in South East Queensland in August 2024, vets were confronted with something they didn't recognize. The python had damaged scales, crusted lesions across its body and a mysterious fungal infection that defied explanation.

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Outdoor air pollution is estimated to contribute to more than 100,000 premature deaths in the United States each year, according to the National Weather Service. Accurate air quality forecasts—designed to protect public health, alerting communities to dangerous levels of pollutants linked to asthma attacks, heart disease and premature death—are critical for helping people limit exposure and for guiding regulatory action.

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Up to half of the insects in the Amazon region could be exposed to life-threatening heat levels due to progressive, anthropogenic global warming. This is shown by a recent study by the universities of Würzburg and Bremen.

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If a tree falls in the forest, it can create an opening for more incoming light, and that makes a significant impact on the surrounding environment, according to new research. An international science team has used supercomputer simulations to model forest population dynamics of tree diversity in tropical forests. The researchers hope their work will help support forest management efforts and aid in conservation.

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Rural communities bordering the Tongass National Forest harvest more than 4.5 million pounds of wild food per year, including 100 different species that our public lands help support. Just how much food is this? An average quarter-pound cheeseburger might weigh around 6 oz, depending on your toppings of choice. Assuming a 6-oz weight, the wild food harvests in this region are equivalent to more than 12 million cheeseburgers a year. To replace the same amount of wild foods with grocery store purchases, it would cost these communities about $41 million.

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This story was originally published by North Dakota Monitor.

Mary Steurer
North Dakota Monitor

North Dakota Ethics Commission Chair Cynthia Lindquist will step down effective June 1 to move to Denver to become the chief strategy officer for the American Indian College Fund.

Lindquist, whose background is in Indigenous health and education, was one of the original members of the five-person Ethics Commission. She was first appointed to the commission in 2019 and reappointed in 2023.

Lindquist was elected chair of the Ethics Commission in July following the death of former chair Dave Anderson in May.

“In the last six years, the Commission has made significant progress and will continue to do so in the future,” Lindquist said in an announcement from the Ethics Commission.

Lindquist is a citizen of the Spirit Lake Nation and is director of the University of North Dakota’s Tribal Initiatives and Collaborations. She previously served as president of Cankdeska Cikana Community College for over two decades.

Lindquist also was executive director of the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission under former Gov. Ed Schafer and was a founding member of the National Indian Women’s Health Resource Center.

She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of North Dakota.

Lindquist said she hopes to support the commission as much as possible in her last few months of service on the board.

“We’ve accomplished a lot, but there’s still much to do,” she said.

Lindquist’s replacement will finish out the remainder of her four-year term, which ends in August 2027. Members of the North Dakota Ethics Commission are appointed by a consensus vote of the governor, Senate majority leader and Senate minority leader.

“I’m hoping that the selection process will go smoothly,” Lindquist said.

The commission recently welcomed three new members, former North Dakota Office of Management and Budget Director Pam Sharp, attorney Mark Western and Jared Huibregtse, a project manager for an engineering firm.

The most recent appointment process took several months. Senate Majority Leader David Hogue and Senate Minority Leader Lathy Hogan supported the re-appointment of former Commissioner Murray Sagsveen, though this was opposed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong, who said he wanted a “reset” of the commission’s culture. The commission had been publicly at odds with the executive branch over the scope of the board’s authority. Sagsveen eventually withdrew his name from consideration.

The Ethics Commission was created in 2018 through a constitutional amendment approved by North Dakota voters. Its job is to promote ethical behavior in the areas of elections, transparency, lobbying and corruption.

The post North Dakota Ethics Commission chair to resign for new job appeared first on ICT.

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Canada's drinking water can remain at risk long after wildfires burn out, according to a UBC-led global review that found water-quality impacts often emerge months or years later—not just immediately after a fire. Researchers analyzed 23 studies across 28 watersheds worldwide, comparing pre- and post-fire levels of sediment, nutrients, metals, organic carbon, ions and wildfire-fighting chemicals. Across climates, contamination often intensified over time, particularly when storms or snowmelt washed stored ash and debris into rivers.

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Scientists have discovered that a widely recognized Amazonian antbird is not one, but five distinct species—including two completely new to science. This revelation of hidden biodiversity was achieved by integrating artificial intelligence, vocal analysis, and traditional museum work, demonstrating how cutting-edge technology can transform our understanding of life in Earth's richest ecosystems.

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Nested within the current biodiversity crisis sits an equally complex and concerning human crisis, but one that receives even less attention: the poor mental health and well-being of the conservation workforce. The scale of this problem is clearly set out in a recent Mongabay article. In a sector that has always relied on the passion and commitment of individuals, where one’s value is measured by selfless dedication to the cause — which can manifest as an expectation to prioritize work above all else, take on unpaid or poorly paid work, accept poor working conditions, or compromise on personal safety — staff well-being has never been a priority. This unhealthy culture of self-sacrifice provides the context within which sector-wide stressors are impacting the well-being of the workforce. The growing ecological crisis in itself is having a significant impact on well-being, and this is set out powerfully in the Mongabay article. In addition to this, the changing funding and geopolitical landscape, which is deprioritizing conservation and climate action, further increases instability and uncertainty, putting further pressure on the conservation sector. Working in conservation isn’t all rainbows. Photo illustration of a rainforest rainbow in Malaysian Borneo by Rhett Butler/Mongabay. The impact of all of these chronic stressors are emotional and psychological distress, poor mental health and burnout, increasing the risk that conservation professionals will give up on their aspirations and leave the profession. Recent research found 27% of conservationists are suffering from moderate or severe distress, and women face particular challenges as conservationists,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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March 4, 2026 – Four more states will restrict what can be purchased with federal food assistance dollars after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved waivers on Wednesday.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins signed waivers allowing Kansas, Nevada, Ohio, and Wyoming to restrict certain food purchases under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), bringing the total number of states with SNAP waivers to 22. During the event, Rollins said another eight SNAP waivers are “in the pipeline.”

Already, several waivers have taken effect across the country. The latest will restrict items including candy, soda, and other sweetened beverages. Most of these waivers have been approved in Republican-led states. So far, Kansas, Colorado and Hawai’i are the only states with Democratic governors to have waivers approved.

Supporters of the restrictions—which are part of the Make America Healthy Again agenda—call them a significant re-shaping of one of the largest federal food programs. But in the states that have implemented similar waivers, SNAP recipients, retailers, and anti-hunger advocates have reported confusion over the new policies.

On Wednesday, Rollins backed a state-driven approach to these waivers, but also acknowledged this has created some challenges and confusion. She said her team at the USDA is working with state leaders to solve “almost every single challenge.”

Rollins also said the agency is poised to release a final rule on the types of food that SNAP retailers must offer in order to remain eligible for the program. The last update was made in 2016, and Rollins said this will more than double the number of required food varieties across four staple food groups.

The final rule will ensure SNAP retailers are offering healthy food options, Rollins said, and would ensure items like jelly could no longer count as a fruit. But public health groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest warned the proposed rule, which was released in September, did not sufficiently ensure an increase in healthy, whole-food options. (Link to this post.)

The post USDA Approves More SNAP Waivers Limiting Soda and Candy appeared first on Civil Eats.

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What did the face of our ancestors look like three million years ago? Our international team has answered this question by virtually reconstructing the facial fragments of Little Foot, the most complete Australopithecus skeleton yet discovered. This reconstruction sheds light on the influence of the environment on how our face evolved. Our findings have just been published in the Comptes Rendus Palevol journal, and the new 3D face of Little Foot can be explored online on the MorphoSource platform.

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Stanford researchers have combined two microscopy techniques to create a one-of-a-kind instrument that can show cell structures interacting in real time at an unprecedented 120-nanometer resolution—the highest achieved without the use of fluorescent labels. This new "label-free" technology, called Interferometric Image Scanning Microscopy, or iISM, will allow scientists to observe cellular structures in their wider context, including their responses to intrusions, such as pathogens or drugs.

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Researchers from the University of Nottingham have uncovered a surprising biological quirk in domestic cats that may help explain why they are so prone to chronic kidney disease. Unlike dogs and most other mammals, cats appear to accumulate unusual fats inside the cells of their kidneys, sometimes from a very young age. This new study, published in Frontiers of Veterinary Science, and led by Professor David Gardner and Dr. Rebecca Brociek from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University, shows they are anything but ordinary.

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By converting plastic waste into a microbe-friendly food source, scientists have built an upcycling pipeline that turns the waste into a variety of useful products. The findings are detailed in the journal Nature Sustainability.

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Large protein machines in the body carry out many of the cell's most essential tasks, from energy production to the regulation of signal transmission. Although they can now be imaged in great detail using cryo-electron microscopy, it has long been difficult to understand how these complexes actually move and function. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now developed a computational method capable of simulating the movements of some of the cell's largest protein complexes.

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A new study has uncovered how an exceptionally scarce protein can orchestrate the assembly of large-scale gene-silencing structures inside cells, and what happens when that process breaks down. The findings, published today in Molecular Cell, identify a self-clustering mechanism in the Polycomb protein CBX2 that is essential for initiating the formation of gene-repressive condensates and guiding stem cells toward their proper fates.

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The cold season is in full swing, throats are scratchy and noses are running. We feel ill and hope it is not the flu. The influenza virus continues to pose a threat to our health. It triggers seasonal epidemics and, from time to time, potentially serious global pandemics. Existing antiviral drugs are often less effective than hoped because the influenza virus mutates rapidly to escape their effect.

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Paleobiologist Geerat Vermeij is enthralled with mollusks. Their shells line the surfaces and fill the cabinets and drawers in his office on the second floor of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Building at UC Davis. But Vermeij's deep study of these organisms isn't just about the animals themselves, it's an avenue for deeper insights about the principles governing evolution and history.

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Mitochondria are essential for cell survival, repair, and adaptation. Not only do they generate most of the energy needed during a cell's life, but they also regulate cell death, calcium balance, and responses to stress. When mitochondria fail, which is a common feature of neurodegenerative diseases and many inflammatory and metabolic disorders, cells lose their ability to meet energy demands and maintain internal stability.

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A new study shows how climate and light conditions interaction affect the early growth in abarco, a highly valued tropical timber species, offering critical guidance for reforestation and sustainable forest management in the face of climate change. Abarco—a native South American tree prized for its timber and ecological importance—shows strong early growth and survival but also sensitivity to air humidity and sunlight intensity, according to researchers from the University of Eastern Finland and AGROSAVIA—Colombia.

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For the first time, research shows that a key social trait in honey bees is linked to measurable physiological advantages that can improve colony survival. A study published on the bioRxiv preprint server uncovers how hygienic honey bee colonies mount stronger individual immune defenses against Nosema ceranae, a widespread pathogen that threatens honey bee health worldwide.

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Different regions of the United States are experiencing different patterns of warming climate, requiring region-specific adaptation, according to a study published in PLOS Climate by María Dolores Gadea Rivas of the University of Zaragoza, Spain and Jesús Gonzalo of University Carlos III, Spain.

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Throughout the Amazon Rainforest, forest fragmentation represents an escalating and existential threat to the preservation of fauna. Driven by intensive economic development, the expansion of agribusiness and large-scale infrastructure projects — such as highways, railways, power transmission lines and gas pipelines — continues carrying profound environmental risks. Foremost among these ecological pressures are the geographic isolation of animal populations and high mortality rates resulting from roadkill and other related accidents. Arboreal mammal species, including primates, sloths and porcupines, are among the most affected by this confinement, as their survival is strictly dependent on canopy connectivity. Paradoxically, these specialized tree-dwelling animals often benefit the least from standard environmental mitigation measures, such as the implementation of artificial crossings. To address critical gaps in understanding animal behavior and habitat use, biologists Justin Santiago and Lindsey Swierk from the State University of New York at Binghamton, U.S., conducted pioneering research in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon. The study site was located at the Amazon Conservatory for Tropical Studies (ACTS) Field Station within Napo-Sucusari Biological Reserve, a 1,674-hectare (4,137-acre) protected area near the city of Iquitos, in the northern region of Loreto. The researchers deployed a sophisticated system of canopy bridges that used a combination of nets, thick ropes and platforms situated at varying heights. These elements were integrated to form extensive suspended corridors designed to facilitate safe movement for wildlife from one treetop to another. A specialist installs a camera on a tree connected to the canopy bridge system in the Peruvian Amazon.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Climate change's rising seas may threaten tens of millions more people than scientists and government planners originally thought because of mistaken research assumptions on how high coastal waters already are, a new study said.

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