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Three species of reptile on Christmas Island in Australia have been declared extinct in the wild, according to a study released on Tuesday. Lister's gecko (Lepidodactylus listeri), , the blue-tailed skink (Cryptoblepharus egeriae) and the Christmas Island forest-skink (Emoia nativitatis) were downgraded from "critically endangered" to "extinct in the wild" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) latest report. "The extinctions ...

The number of turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) breeding pairs in the UK has dropped to a record low of 14,000, making an 84 percent drop since 1995."The turtle dove is the fastest declining bird in the country [England] and within ten years we could lose this icon of the British countryside completely,” said a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Turtle doves in the United Kingdom are found in just a few areas of Southern England and migrate during the winter toward Africa.

Though unnoticed by the world at large, a whole giant ecosystem is collapsing. It has taken us a lot of time to understand this catastrophe for two reasons: one cultural, one scientific. Firstly, we generally do not care for insects (bees and butterflies excepted). In the population as a whole there is little sympathy for the fate of the chitin-skeletoned little things that creep and crawl; our default reaction is a shudder. Fewer bugs in the world? Many would cheer.

The once-abundant black tern (Chlidonias niger) is far less abundant in Great Lakes wetlands. And there’s a high risk that more colonies will be abandoned, according to a new study. Since 1991, the number of active black tern colonies has plummeted nearly 90 percent, the study found.

The 20th annual BirdTrends report highlights the rapid decline of the greenfinch, whose population has dropped by 59pc in the UK in just ten years. Bird experts say the decline is caused by a widespread and severe outbreak of a disease called trichomonosis, which first affected bird populations in 2006. The steepest long-term populations declines measured are for Turtle Dove, Tree Sparrow, Willow Tit, Grey Partridge and Nightingale, which have all declined by 90% or more since 1967, as, almost certainly, has Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

With more than 15 centimetres of snow on the ground, clear skies and temperatures ranging between -13 and -22, the 70th annual Christmas Bird Count is a wrap for 2017. The count, held on Sunday, Dec 17, had more than 50 volunteers helping identify and count 82 bird species and 16,910 individual birds. According to the report filed by Mark D. Read with the Kingston Field Naturalists, this count is below the 20-year average of identifying 103 species and is less than 2015’s low count of 84.

Across host–parasite systems, there is evidence that pesticide exposure increases parasite loads and mortality following infection. However, whether these effects are driven by reductions in host resistance to infection or slower rates of parasite clearance is often unclear. Using controlled laboratory experiments, we examined the ability of larval northern leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens) and American toads (Anaxyrus americanus) to resist and clear trematode (Echinoparyphium sp.) infections following exposure to the insecticide carbaryl.

A deadly fungal disease that’s infecting snakes in the eastern and midwestern United States doesn’t appear to discriminate by species, size or habitat, researchers report online December 20 in Science Advances. The infection, caused by the fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, can cover snakes’ bodies with lesions that make it hard for the reptiles to do normal snake things like slither and eat. Many eventually die from the infection. Fungal spores hang around in the soil and can spread to snakes that pick the particles up.