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Historically, the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) was found in 35 states, including Missouri, according to Bob Merz, zoological manager for invertebrates at the St. Louis Zoo and director of the Center for Conservation of the American Burying Beetle at the zoo’s Wildcare Institute. It is a partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Nature Conservancy in beetle restoration. The last orange-and-black American burying beetle found in Missouri was collected in 1972 in Newton County.

In Colorado’s San Juan National Forest, between 7,000 and 10,000 feet, quaking aspen grow in glorious, shimmering groves. In mid-2004, Forest Service rangers noticed the aspen groves sickening. Trees crowns browned in patchy clusters. Their lime-green, spear-shaped leaves dropped. Aerial surveys observed a rapidly widening area of forest illness and death in the years that followed. Sudden aspen decline, or SAD, as scientists have termed the crown deterioration, spread from southwest Colorado throughout the entire western half of the state.

New research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found that wild bumblebee queens are less able to develop their ovaries when exposed to a common neonicotinoid pesticide. The research was conducted by Dr Gemma Baron , Professor Mark Brown of Royal Holloway, University of London and Professor Nigel Raine, (now based at the University of Guelph). The study investigated the impact of exposure to field-realistic levels of a neonicotinoid insecticide (thiamethoxam) on the feeding behaviour and ovary development of four species of bumblebee queen.

Analysis of Geneva Lake’s zooplankton populations shows that the numbers of the little animals that populate the bottom of the lake’s food chain are continuing to disappear in disturbing numbers. In a written report to the Geneva Lake Environmental Agency board of directors on Thursday, Ted Peters, GLEA director, said that in an email the analyst doing the zooplankton count for the GLEA has indicated that other species of zooplankton are now also starting to disappear.

Salmon fishing groups have called for urgent action over the "unprecedented collapse" of a major run in Argyll. The 2017 count from the River Awe in the south-west Highlands is projected to be the lowest since records began. The group said this year's count from the Awe has only been running at a third of the 2016 count, which was itself only just above the all-time low since records began in 1965. The 2016 total was 807 fish, but STCS said the 2017 count may "struggle to reach 400", with 30 weeks of the season already past.

The red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythocephalus) was once a very common woodpecker. These birds fly to catch insects in the air or on the ground, forage on trees or gather and store nuts. They are omnivorous, eating insects, seeds, fruits, berries, nuts, and occasionally even the eggs of other birds. In the mid-1800s, John James Audubon stated that the red-headed woodpecker was the most common woodpecker in North America. He called them semi-domesticated because they weren’t afraid of people. He stated that they were camp robbers and also a pest.

The widespread contamination of a significant proportion of the planet’s land and water with pesticides is undeniable. While this takes place, innumerable species of animals associated with agricultural landscapes are declining at rates that may put them on the brink to extinction in the span of a lifetime. It is evident, therefore, that our current risk assessment of agrochemicals has failed to protect the environment.

Just a few years ago, Northeast Georgia was home to thousands of bats. In a relatively short amount of time, however, that number has plummeted. Georgia’s bat population has dropped dramatically due to an emerging disease known as White Nose Syndrome. In the past seven years, the population of affected bat species has fallen by approximately 94 percent, said Trina Morris with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division. In Rabun County, the decline has been even more pronounced, at roughly 97 percent.

In a new study, biologists at Bielefeld University show the effects of pesticides and how even slight traces lead to long-term damage to beetles. One finding is that leaf beetles lay roughly 35 per cent fewer eggs after coming into contact with traces of a frequently used pesticide: a pyrethroid. The researchers also showed that female offspring develop malformations through the poison. The biologists have published their study in the journal Environmental Pollution.

More than 180 pesticides and their by-products were detected in small streams throughout 11 Midwestern states, some at concentrations likely to harm aquatic insects, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. The mixtures of pesticides are more complex than previously reported by the USGS—94 pesticides and 89 pesticide byproducts were detected. On average, 52 pesticide compounds were identified in each stream.