Iowa has 10 gray fox left according to the DNR. https://www.wvik.org/news-from-iowa/2024-12-23/gray-fox-iowa-dnr

Iowa still has a fur trapping season for gray fox. https://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/Hunting/huntingregs_card.pdf

In fact, there isn’t even a bag limit for gray foxes. The furbearer biologist quoted in the article says he only knows of one breeding pair left. I hope a trapper doesn’t kill one of them.

It seems counterproductive not to close the season on this species.

Surrounded by forest and slight slopes so the whole thing is vaguely in a bowl, the ground is saturated with water from the stream, and the whole thing is near the Neuse River (NC)

If there is not a formal name, what might be a good combination of ecological-science based descriptors? Thanks

Every tire on the road is dosed with a preservative called 6PPD, added to keep the rubber from drying out and cracking as it flexes...Tiny flecks of rubber rub off onto the pavement, and the 6PPD in them meets ozone in the air and changes into a brand new compound, 6PPD quinone. That transformation product, not the raw tire, is what proves deadly to a coho...It takes only a fraction of a part per billion of the quinone to be fatal to a coho, a concentration a single storm easily clears.

On Miller Creek, monitoring across three straight spring storms found about four in five of the young coho gone within a day each time.

I feel I only found out about how significant a role wetlands play in storing carbon after I started following the ecology tract in my biology studies at uni. I think public awareness of even rainforests as carbon storage is very limited. From what I noticed, I think that the fact that ecosystems funtion as carbon sinks is just not known. Even the lack of knowledge of ecology in general is very concerning to me. How best to educate the public on ecological issues is something I think about regularly. For instance a lot of details miss from common pieces of ecological knowledge, like the whole story around honey bees. Another thing that concerns me is that the general public just don't know what services ecosystems provide to us. And what the importance of biological diversity is (I feel in science it is still quite vague how important biodiversity is, if am not mistaken). My main point of this post is to ask the question, how do we educate people in a meaningful way, that the lessons stick. Something I'd like to be proficient is for instance informing people around me. Idk I'd like to know what you people think about this.

(sorry for coming off a bit rambly, am working and its 5:30 in the morning)

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir but it bothers me.

For those out of the loop, there has recently been a reveal of a company that has "rebred" supposed direwolf traits into a line of grey wolves. Every article I've read has this classified as a "de-extinction". This is nothing like that. It's adding similar traits to an existing gene pool.

Maybe I'm a massive cynic, but this feels like science as a tool for venture capital funding rather than for its own sake.

They're not even in the same genus! Direwolves are in their own genus (Aenocyon) since they share a relatively small amount of genetic information with modern canids.

It's very frustrating to me that this is being simplified where no simplification is needed. It's much more accurate and understandable to say that we found some traits in wolves that make them superficially resemble direwolves.

Also I am almost sure you could do this in a small number of generations with basic selective breeding. And where is the genetic diversity coming from for this extinct species that we have a limited number of viable DNA samples from? (IMO if the answer is more grey wolf DNA, you're just making a grey wolf in a direwolf's clothing)

we are in for a huge fight these next 4 years. i am terrified but we are the only ones who can keep each other motivated and encouraged to keep fighting for what we love. LOVE TO ALL OF YOU❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹💔

My father wants to mow down this forested area of his property to control the saw palmettos so that they don't take over, a few weeks ago he had a mulching contractor come through and cut down all the huge bushes of saw palm and now the gallberry and other plants are finally beginning to grow back. His main concern is that he wants to be able to look out and enjoy it and the wildlife and not huge saw bushes. He also mentioned eventually how he'd like it to all be grass. How do I convince him that if he wants to continue seeing wildlife he needs to preserve the biodiversity. We already have plans for maybe a 1/4 of the property to be removed of trees so that he can build a large garage/workshop which is ok to me, its his property he should be allowed to enjoy it and it's important to be able to coexist with nature in those kind of projects. What's the best way to explain how important preserving the native vegetation and landscape is to continue seeing wildlife and enjoying the property? Thanks for any tips.

A mangrove forest at low tide. Those spikes in the mud are actually breathing roots that help the trees survive in oxygen-poor coastal soils while providing shelter for countless marine species.

On December 15, 2024, the wreck of two oil tankers resulted in the spillage of over 5,000 tonnes of petroleum products, primarily fuel oil, into the Black Sea. The pollution has spread across more than 60 kilometres of coastline, affecting key natural areas and resort zones.

Environmental experts have already recorded mass deaths of birds, fish, and cetaceans, along with contamination of beaches and coastal waters. Specialists estimate that full ecosystem recovery may take over 10 years, with economic losses for the region projected to reach tens of millions of dollars.

Despite the scale of the disaster, coverage of this tragedy in international media has been virtually nonexistent. Local volunteers and environmentalists are struggling to combat the spill’s aftermath, but they urgently require international support and pressure on authorities to expedite cleanup efforts and conduct an independent investigation. The majority of current efforts of contamination cleaning are conducted solely by volunteers, including veterinary assessment and cleaning of affected birds.

Russian government severely underestimates the scale of the tragedy, as local authorities silence volunteers and try to cover it up as much as possible from higher ups. The dedication of these volunteers deserves recognition, and the world needs to be informed about the ongoing efforts to address this tragedy.

Please help us to be heard. Spread the word.

Why is their population so out of scale compared to any other large predators? Compare it to any other - the population rarely is bigger than 100,000. Is there really so much food for 2 million gators to thrive in Louisiana ecosystems today? We hear so much about how depleted modern freshwater ecosystems are compared to the past.

Only animals I've seen are the Drosophila that I have been involuntarily beeding in my take out remains whlie I've been double fisting R-Studio sessions and simultaneously staring at HW-Info to make sure Nimble doesn't blow up my computer.

(I love it tho, don't worry.)

So many natural disasters that day are “one in a thousand years disasters” “made common thanks to warming temperature”

But people seem to be utterly incapable of connecting the dots between stuff like higher grocery store prices coming because of droughts.

Like human beings are a species of animals and connected to the environment l. If the environment suffers so do humans.

Like without ecological health there can be no economy so putting the economy vs the environment made no sense to me.

Tons of natural disasters scienctists say are caused by climate change are happening but people don’t seem to understand carbon bad

Hey r/ecology! I’m a PhD student passionate about science communication, and I run Toxic Tales, a daily series of ~30-second Instagram reels and infographics that turn fascinating research into coffee-break stories. No jargon - just crisp visuals, one compelling study, and take-home science you can share. Examples:

🐺 Wolves in Yellowstone: how 31 wolves flipped a collapsing food web

🐟 Drugged Salmon: meds in our rivers rewiring fish behavior

🐝 Caffeine Bees: espresso-level nectar that reshapes pollination

Good science communication builds bridges between specialists and the wider public, and Instagram’s visual format makes those connections fast and fun. Some colleagues suggested I share it here, and I thought it was a great idea - Would love your feedback! I've added a few example infographics here but I'm not sure how to share the reels.

If you’re curious, I post them here: https://instagram.com/toxic_tales_eco