After more than 5 years from the environmental disaster of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, on 20 April 2010, Gulf of Mexico, the British Petroleum (BP) agreed to pay a penalty of 18.7 billion dollars in order to end once for all the legal action the United States and other federal states took after the worst
176 new animal species discovered in India
Nel 2014 in alcune aree incontaminate del Paese sono state classificate numerose specie animali ancora ignote alla scienza.
Zoologists’ mission recalls the Myth of Sisyphus: they try to discover and classify the unexplored animal kingdom, but they have to face the relentless and fast environment and ecosystem decline. Yet, despite the damages made by humankind to nature, it never stops surprising us.
In fact, 176 new animal species have been discovered in India in 2014 by biologists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). Most of the newly-classified creatures are insects, since they manage to elude classifications due to their small dimensions. Among the invertebrates, the animal kingdom’s largest phylum, 12 new spider species and 12 new species of crustacean have been discovered.
Even if you are not fans of insects, you can admire biologists’ labour anyway: they classified 24 new amphibians, 23 species of fishes and 2 snakes.
Most of the results have been obtained in the forests of Eastern and Western Ghats, south and north-east of India. These places are considered to be India’s biodiversity-richest areas, together with eastern Himalaya.
Biologists of ZSI, body in charge of the classification of animals and plants that depends on the Indian Ministry for Agriculture and Forests, expressed their concern on the future of the newly-classified species.
“The species we have discovered are available only from a very small geographical area. Therefore they may be on the verge of extinction already. Habitat destruction is the main cause,” ZSI director Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman said.
Researchers keep pushing the metaphorical rock of Sisyphus towards knowledge, conscious that it will constantly roll back, destroying ecosystems and the species that have been just discovered.
Siamo anche su WhatsApp. Segui il canale ufficiale LifeGate per restare aggiornata, aggiornato sulle ultime notizie e sulle nostre attivitĂ .
Quest'opera è distribuita con Licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 4.0 Internazionale.
Il Paese africano ha bruciato oltre una tonnellata di zanne e corni confiscati per esprimere la tolleranza zero per il bracconaggio.
He has already invested 1 billion dollars in tens of projects and innovative realities for the development of renewables all over the world. Maybe not all investments had the success and outcomes desired, but they have certainly been money well spent, since they set a guideline within the energy industry. With this in mind, the world’s richest man,
Una nuova ricerca ha dimostrato che il contatto con la natura inibisce la formazione di pensieri negativi che possono sfociare in gravi patologie come la depressione.
People are increasingly committing themselves to protect one of the Planet’s most important pollinators: bees. And in Norway they are creating a green corridor exactly for them.
100,000 lives were lost in the Sahel region of Africa between 1972 and 1984 due to a long lasting drought and the famine it caused. A recent scientific study shows that global warming has more recently increased rainfall in the area, temporarily relieving it from drought. This has led many, such as Forbes contributor James
L’Unione Internazionale per la Conservazione della Natura ha aggiornato la propria Lista Rossa delle specie minacciate, il leone è in pericolo, in ripresa la lince iberica.
The Lax Kw’alaams live not far from Canada’s border with Alaska, in the northern part of the province of British Columbia. The indigenous community has turned down an offer of $1 billion (Canadian dollars) and lands worth $108 million, i.e. $320,000 for each of the group’s members, for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hub
Laudato Si (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home is the title of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, the second one to be published during his papacy, after the Lumen Fidei on 29 June 2013. The encyclical will be officially released on 18 June, but the Italian magazine l’Espresso has published the