Topic description and stories

Life on Earth is at risk from an unprecedented rate of environmental change that threatens the natural resources on which we depend.

Light microscope image of the five tentacle temnocephalan Temnosewellia c.f rouxi from cultured redclaw crayfish

A 100 million-year partnership on the brink of extinction

25 May 2016

A symbiotic relationship that has existed since the time of the dinosaurs is at risk of ending, as habitat loss and environmental change mean that a...

Read more
La felicità nella luce della sera

Does nature make you happy? Crowdsourcing app looks at relationship between the outdoors and wellbeing

26 Apr 2016

A new app will crowdsource data to help scientists understand the relationship between biodiversity and wellbeing. The app, developed at the...

Read more

Biggest library of bat sounds compiled to track biodiversity

14 Apr 2016

Researchers have compiled the largest known library of bat calls to identify and conserve rare species in Mexico – a country which is home to many of...

Read more

From the Mayans to the moors: a new film series shows biodiversity conservation in a new light

14 Apr 2016

From the plight of the Ethiopian Bush Crow, to representation of nature in Winnie the Pooh, to the extinction of ancient Latin American languages...

Read more
Lion Cub with Mother in the Serengeti

Global carnivore conservation at risk

06 Apr 2016

Shrinking habitat, increased conflict projected in regions critical to survival of threatened apex predators.

Read more
Carpenter bee (Xylocopa flavorufa) visiting coffee flower (Coffea arabica)

Pollinator species vital to our food supply are under threat, warn experts

26 Feb 2016

A new report from experts and Government around the world addresses threats to animal pollinators such as bees, birds and bats that are vital to more...

Read more

How 'more food per field' could help save our wild spaces

28 Jan 2016

Increased farm yields could help to spare land from agriculture for natural habitats that benefit wildlife and store greenhouse gases, but only if...

Read more
Lion waiting in Namibia

Banning trophy hunting could do more harm than good

11 Jan 2016

Trophy hunting shouldn’t be banned, but instead it should be better regulated to ensure funds generated from permits are invested back into local...

Read more
Tassie devil orphan

Second contagious form of cancer found in Tasmanian devils

28 Dec 2015

Transmissible cancers – cancers which can spread between individuals by the transfer of living cancer cells – are believed to arise extremely rarely...

Read more

Silver Lake, Wasatch watershed, Utah

Opinion: Paying people to stay away is not always the best way to protect watersheds

24 Dec 2015

Libby Blanchard and Bhaskar Vira from Cambridge's Department of Geography argue that we need to consider alternative approaches in order to protect...

Read more
Rougier Gabon

‘Traditional authority’ linked to rates of deforestation in Africa

24 Nov 2015

New analysis reveals a strong correlation between precolonial institutions in Africa and current levels of deforestation. Researchers suggest that...

Read more

Madagascan President discusses conservation challenges with Cambridge experts

20 Nov 2015

The President of the Republic of Madagascar, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, today visited the University of Cambridge to discuss ways in which the...

Read more

Pages