An endangered species is a taxonomic group (typically at the species level) that faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future across all or a significant portion of its range, as determined by quantitative assessment criteria such as population size, rate of decline, geographic range, and degree of habitat fragmentation. In conservation biology and environmental policy, endangered status guides prioritization of management actions, legal protections, and resource allocation. Scientific evaluation commonly uses standardized frameworks (e.g., formal Red List–type criteria) based on demographic trends, reproductive rates, and known or projected threats, including habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution, and climate change.
The most effective conservation strategies for protecting vertebrates on a global scale are those aimed at mitigating the effects of overexploitation, habitat loss and climate change, which are the most widespread threats ...
Ecology
Feb 12, 2026
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The Yangtze River Basin, a global biodiversity hotspot, has endured severe ecological degradation over several decades due to intense human activity, leading to a marked decline in aquatic biodiversity. In order to halt this ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 12, 2026
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The stunning Sierra Nevada red fox is one of the nation's rarest and most critically threatened mammals, with fewer than 50 believed to remain in the Sierra. And now, for the first time, a specimen has been successfully GPS-collared ...
Ecology
Feb 11, 2026
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It's been a good few months in the press for the rakali (known as moytj in Noongar)—Australia's native water rat. These long-whiskered rodents finally received the recognition they deserve, with the ABC's National Science ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 11, 2026
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Most seals give birth to a pup around the same time each year, and wean them and send them on their way within 12 months in an annual cycle.
Plants & Animals
Feb 10, 2026
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Harbor porpoises "buzz" less when boats and ships are nearby—suggesting a drop in feeding and socializing, new research shows. The paper, published in the journal Marine Mammal Science, is titled "Seasonal and diurnal patterns ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 9, 2026
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Goats are increasingly being used in efforts to manage invasive common buckthorn in Midwestern woodlands. New research demonstrates when and how they are best used.
Ecology
Feb 9, 2026
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The charismatic, robust, and impressive North American mountain sheep is losing its habitat to industrial mining, the changing climate, and human activity. And unless action is taken to protect this popular and inherently ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 9, 2026
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13
Reducing wolves to protect endangered caribou doesn't always deliver the expected results, and the shape of the land may be the deciding factor.
Plants & Animals
Feb 7, 2026
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242
Despite decades of independent progress in population ecology and movement ecology, researchers have lacked a theoretical bridge between these two disciplines. "Ecologists have been trying to establish this link since the ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 5, 2026
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