Better bird nesting also good for giant manta rays
Disrupting tree canopies on a Pacific atoll has ecological consequences
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340803/title/Better_bird_nesting_also_good_for_giant_manta_rays
A lot of people don’t realize that the iconic coconut palm along island’s coast is, for the most part, a human engineered phenomenon. Humans have systematically (though sometimes accidentally) stripped the native vegetation of much of the Pacific islands and replaced that diversity with practically a monoculture of a few dozen species. Often the species thus introduced do quite well and the result is generally an extinction of the original local flora (and fauna that depends on it). Of course, this sort of activity is reproduced all around the world, it is hardly limited to Pacific islands. I talk a bit about how the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone resulted in larger brook trout earlier, the non-linear feedback is actually quite interesting and could be fascinating if it weren’t so critical to the long-term health and welfare of our planet (the only one we got!).
Of course, life will prevail…
Bacteria discovered after 86 million years
http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/63512-bacteria-discovered-after-86-million-years
I believe that once a planet has become ‘infected’ with life there is almost no way to get rid of it without dropping the entire thing into the sun.
