Habitat

Hopefulness Despite 2.9 Billion Lost Birds

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By Jim Steele – Re-Blogged From WUWT

What’s Natural

In 2019 bird researchers published Rosenberg et al “Decline of the North American Avifauna”, reporting a decline in 57% of the bird species. They estimated a net loss of nearly 2.9 billion birds since 1970, and urged us to remedy the threats, claiming all were “exacerbated by climate change”, and we must stave off the “potential collapse of the continental avifauna.” Months before publication the researchers had organize and extensive media campaign. Typical doomsday media like the New York Times piled on with “Birds Are Vanishing From North America” and Scientific American wrote, “Silent Skies: Billions of North American Birds Have Vanished.”

As I have now been sheltering in place, I finally had ample time to thoroughly peruse Rosenberg’s study. I had a very personal interest in it, having professionally studied bird populations for over 20 years and had worked to restore their habitat. I also had conducted 20 years of surveys which were part of the study’s database. Carefully looking at their data, a far more optimistic perspective is needed. So here I join a chorus of other ecologists, as reported in Slate, that “There Is No Impending Bird Apocalypse”. As one ecologist wrote, it’s “not what’s really happening. I think it hurts the credibility of scientists.”

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Genetic Diversity of a Species

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Re-Blogged From WUWT

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”

An analysis of the alpine marmot’s genome

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

IMAGE: Playing marmots. Credit: Carole and Denis Favre-Bonvin

IMAGE: Playing marmots. Credit: Carole and Denis Favre-Bonvin

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Green Land Grabs on Steroids

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By Paul Driessen – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Using bees to block human activities on land 15 times bigger than Virginia – or even more.

Foreword:

The Endangered Species Act has increasingly been used and abused to delay, block or bankrupt numerous projects and activities across America. We all hope there will be far less of this under President Trump, but there are no guarantees. The designation of rusty patched bumblebees and potential designation of other bumblebee and insect species certainly raises the specter that these problems will only get worse. The possible presence of these species on tiny tracts of land scattered across hundreds of millions of acres means the United States could be faced with land grabs of unprecedented proportions.

And when those tactics are contrasted with the way radical environmentalists ignore the growing carnage from wind turbines – and how AOC’s Green New Deal would increase US onshore wind turbines by hundreds of thousands – the impact and hypocrisy become incredible to behold.

Guest essay by Paul Driessen

Special interest environmental groups got stung recently by an 8-0 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that held private landowners cannot be compelled to forego future economic uses of their property and at their own expense convert their land into suitable habitat for an endangered frog. Now radical greens are eyeing even bigger land grabs.

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The sky is falling?!?

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By Greg Walcher – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Ridiculous report claims humans have killed more than half the world’s wildlife in past 48 years

A recent World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report claims humans have killed more than half of all the wildlife in the world since 1970. Alex HortonEmail Bio Follow The report attracted media mass attention, even though the actual 145-page essay doesn’t really say that, much less prove it.

More ironic, the political focus is mostly on countries where the declining wildlife populations do not live, and the solution suggested is so vague it couldn’t possibly address the issue.

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