extinction Archive

  • frog

    Key correct to doubt quick recovery - by frog



    John Key has poured cold water on the APEC meeting’s joint statement, which expressed confidence that “we can overcome this crisis in a period of 18 months.” He was correct to do so, although he probably doesn’t arrive at that conclusion by the same path I do. The fundamentals of the global economy are not [...] read more
    November 25, 2008 12:17 pm - 27 Comments
  • frog

    Exotic - by frog



    The New York Times has an interesting and controversial article this week on the risks and benefits of exotic species.  And the environment it uses as its case study is New Zealand. Today, 22,000 non-native plants grow in New Zealand. Most of them can survive only with the loving care of gardeners and farmers. But [...] read more
    September 12, 2008 8:51 am - No Comments
  • frog

    Speedy species extinctions - by frog



    Scientists warned this week that endangered species may become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought. Writing in the journal Nature, leading ecologists claim that methods used to predict when species will die out are seriously flawed, and dramatically underestimate the speed at which some plants and animals will be wiped out. As you’ll know [...] read more
    July 10, 2008 4:29 pm - 51 Comments
  • frog

    Climate change to kill off tuataras - by frog



    Extinction has a very poor sense of humour.  Nature.com via Climate Kiwi reports that one of its next victims is likely to be the poor old tuatara (rather than, say for instance, species of roading lobby groups): Rising temperatures look set to produce male-only offspring in the tuatara, condemning the ancient reptile species to extinction [...] read more
    July 4, 2008 2:45 pm - 25 Comments
  • frog

    Which animals and plants should we choose for extinction? - by frog



    Dot Earth has been hosting an interesting discussion over the last few days by asking what creatures we can afford to allow to slip into extinction?  The premise is basically that we humans are not very good at protecting or preserving other creatures and plants in our environment and its kind of inevitable that some [...] read more
    June 12, 2008 7:13 am - 21 Comments