Nibbling by herbivores can have a greater impact on the width of tree rings than climate, new research has found. The study, published this week in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology, could help increase the accuracy of the tree ring record as a way of estimating past climatic conditions.

Many factors in addition to climate are known to affect the tree ring record, including attack from parasites and herbivores, but determining how important these other factors have been in the past is difficult.

Relocating species threatened by climate change is a radical and hotly debated strategy for maintaining biodiversity.

In a paper published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from CSIRO, University of Queensland and United States Geological Survey present a pragmatic decision framework for determining when, if ever, to move species in the face of climate change.

"As our climate changes more rapidly than species can adapt or disperse, natural resource managers increasingly want to know what adaptation options are available to help them conserve biodiversity," said co-author, CSIRO researcher and research fellow at the University of Queensland Dr Eve McDonald-Madden.

New research on the fishing of small fish species near the bottom of their food chains suggests harvesting at levels previously thought to be sustainable could have devastating effects on some marine ecosystems. The researchers strongly suggest harvesting levels should be drastically reduced to protect species further up the food chain that are themselves harvested for human food.

Research scientist Dr Tony Smith of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Hobart, Tasmania, along with Australian and international colleagues, studied species low on the food chains (known as low trophic level species) such as anchovies, sardines, capelin, mackerel, herring, and krill.

Farming is the greatest extinction threat to birds, mammals, plants and insects, and widespread land clearing, irrigation and chemical treatments have profoundly affected wild species and habitats the world over. But why should we care about biodiversity when the necessity of meeting an expected doubling of global food demand is only decades away?

The stark reality, as conservation scientist Professor Andrew Balmford explained, is that biodiversity is not a luxury, it’s a necessity for human life: “As well as being a vital source for many people of food and fuel, wild nature is crucial for every one of us in mitigating climate change, regulating water flows, and buffering people from the impact of storms and floods.”

Populations of spur-thighed tortoises (Testudo graeca), a species classified as vulnerable and at risk of extinction, can withstand fires if outbreaks occur once every three decades or more. However, the youngest tortoises are more vulnerable, and disappear after each fire. These are the results of a study by Spanish researchers, who analysed the impact of a 2004 forest fire in the Sierra de la Carrasquilla mountains in Murcia (Spain) on these reptiles.

"Tortoises can withstand high temperatures, but this does not mean their shells are completely fire proof", Ana Sanz-Aguilar, lead author of the study, tells SINC.

New research suggests that men are what they eat, at least when it comes to reproductive health.

In a study published today in the prestigious journal Ecology Letters, researchers from Monash University and the University of Western Australia (UWA) found that a diet rich in antioxidants helps to protect sperm from free radical damage and boost male fertility.

Dr Damian Dowling from Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences, and Dr. Maria Almbro and Professor Leigh Simmons from UWA’s Centre for Evolutionary Biology based their study on crickets, but said the findings have relevance for humans.

Flip through a field guide to western birds and you'll discover the great gray owl occupies the narrowest of ecological niches in California: dense conifer forests next to moist mountain meadows.

But lately, the elusive owl has been spotted swooping through much different terrain: the sun-baked Sierra Nevada foothills where - surprisingly enough - it is thriving on land owned by the state's largest timber company, Sierra Pacific Industries.

The bird's discovery south of Placerville has startled wildlife biologists and bird-watchers who have long considered the exceedingly rare, brownish-gray owl to be a stalwart of higher elevations, a winged icon of the wilderness.

The long-tailed macaque is being threatened with extinction by a huge surge in international trade and the destruction of its habitat in Southeast Asia, conservationists said on Friday.

Species Survival Network (SSN), an international coalition of over 80 charities, says trade in the species had more than doubled in the second half of the last decade.

The group is pressing countries taking part in a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Geneva this month to review the impact on the macaque of the trade.

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories Limited announced the development of technology to improve the accuracy of plant identification with aerial hyperspectral images. This enables accurate distinctions to be made even among trees with similar coloring, such as the cedar tree and the Japanese cypress.

This technology makes possible the accurate identification of plant species in an area without on-the-ground inspections of river beds or forests, for example, even by non-experts. As a result, studies on a variety of issues, such as the extent to which non-native plant species are flourishing, and thereby threatening native ecosystems, or studies on the distribution of multiple tree species in a given area, can be performed quickly and at low cost.

Britain could get more benefit from its conservation budget if it paid more attention to how effective and cost-efficient previous efforts to protect biodiversity have proved.

A new study suggests that conservation is heavily biased towards certain mammals and birds, with little attention to less glamorous species.

"A more balanced approach could be helpful," says Dr. Piran White, an ecologist at the University of York and one of the authors of the paper, published in Ecological Economics. "For example, if we spent more on conserving invertebrates we'd probably get more overall benefit from an ecological perspective."