Biodiversity tagged posts

Proposed lunar biorepository could store genetic samples without electricity or liquid nitrogen. New research led by scientists at the Smithsonian proposes a plan to safeguard Earth’s imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. The moon’s permanently shadowed craters are cold enough for cryogenic preservation without the need for electricity or liquid nitrogen, according to the researchers.

The paper, published today in BioScience and written in collaboration with researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and others, outlines a roadmap to create a lunar biorepository, including ideas for governance, t...

Hotspot Map example. The hotspot maps show protected areas (as of 2015) broken into three broad groups based on their primary management objectives as classified by the IUCN: categories I-IV; categories V-VI; and NA. The categories range from strictly protected nature reserves, wildlands and parks (I-IV) to areas of more lenient management with the potential for development and the sustainable use of natural resources (V-VI). Representing roughly 35% of the number of global protected areas tabulated, the NA category does not denote lax management policy, simply areas that for one reason or another have not adapted the IUCN management classification system.

In a forum on global urbanization, biodiversity and policy held at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design yesterday Earth Day,...

Zircones. Credit: Anders Lindskog

Sustained meteorite bombardment. Some 470 million years ago, during the middle part of the geological period known as the Ordovician, an asteroid collision took place somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. The collision caused an explosion that sent a cascade of meteorites towards Earth. The heavy bombardment of Earth continued for millions of years, and even today some 20% of all meteorites that reach Earth originate from this asteroid break-up. At the same time Earth witnessed the greatest rise in marine biodiversity since the origin of multicellular life...