TerraNature
Tusked weta

Help rare and odd flightless birds .....

Donate to Terra Nature Fund for Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust breeding programs for endangered Kiwi.....

..... and Threatened Species Trust critically endangered Kakapo and Takahe programs.


What makes the 'edge ecology' internationally important ......

New Zealand was one of the last places on Earth colonized by humans, with one of the worst biological losses. Unique ecological events occurred during the archipelago's 80 million year isolation from the rest of the world, after the Zealandia continent broke away from the Gondwana super-continent.

As mammals developed in most places, New Zealand's exceptionally odd ecology evolved with three bats as the only land mammals.  With the world's most extensive collection of flightless birds, 80 percent endemism in plants, gigantism in insects, and prehistoric living fossils preceding dinosaurs, the country is a biological treasure chest.

Another Amazon drought raises climate change alarms The 2010 drought may have devastated rainforests more than the 2005 drought. More

Arctic sea ice falls to third-lowest extent, downward trend continues In September 2010 the extent of Arctic summer sea ice fell below 2009. More

Deadly kauri tree disease found close to Tane Mahuta The fungus Phytophthora taxon Agathis has infected a kauri 500m from the largest kauri. More

Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea level rise Ice is melting faster than expected, and may be responsible for 25% of global sea rise More

Kakapo population breaks 100 The long campaign to save critically endangered kakapo has reached a milestone with 103 birds. More

Early settlers rapidly transformed lowland forests with fire A few large fires within 200 years of colonisation destroyed much of South Island forest. More

Extinction crisis continues apace The endemic freshwater brown mudfish Neochanna apoda, moves up to 'vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List. More

Three more native birds listed as critically endangered Grey duck, grey-headed mollymawk, and eastern rockhopper penguin now 'nationally critical'. More

Arctic is literally on thin ice After less winter cover, Arctic sea ice has begun its seasonal decline, with a lot of thin first-year ice More

Permafrost threatened by rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice  Arctic warming could triple with rapid sea ice loss, raising concerns about permafrost thawing More

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Explorers marvel at thriving brittlestar colony on a Macquarie Ridge seamount.

Earth impacts linked to human-caused climate change

Tasman Glacier retreat is extreme

Antarctic ice shelf disintegration

No environmental consideration of bottom trawling in orange roughy allowable catch decision

Orange roughy commercial catch reduced to an all time low

Melting Arctic summer sea ice reaches lowest level

Agreement to restrict South Pacific high seas bottom trawling - is it enough?


 
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