In a narrow patch of land beside Missouri Flat Creek near downtown Pullman and the Washington State University campus, a new set of creatively designed signs celebrates a decade of ecological restoration efforts and a unique town–gown partnership combining environmental science and the arts.
There’s an artistic side to freshman biological sciences major Isabelle Busch: she’s the author and illustrator of the colorful, creative, and detailed Theoretical Dragon Anatomy book and was recently tapped to design the 2020 International Cheetah Day T-shirt. Busch has worked with the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which sponsors the annual celebration, since kindergarten. In 2020 […]
Over the past couple of decades an increasing number of reports have warned of dramatic declines in insect populations worldwide. Faced with data sufficient to cause grave concern, WSU scientists embrace a mixture of trust in insect resilience and a determination that despair is not an option. Referring to her efforts to restore pollinator habitat […]
Wildlife need to move to survive: to find food, reproduce and escape wildfires and other hazards. Yet as soon as they leave protected areas like national forests or parks, they often wind up on a landscape that is very fragmented in terms of natural boundaries and human ones. To help create more corridors for wildlife […]
Resembling an overgrown house cat with black-tipped ears and a stubby tail, the Canada lynx, a native of North America, teeters on the brink of extinction in the U.S. The few lynx that now roam parts of Washington and the mountainous Northwest survive largely because of a network of protected landscapes that crosses the U.S.–Canada […]
Charles Bangley, an international expert in shark ecology and conservation, presented the 2019 Robert Jonas Lecture in Biological Sciences on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at WSU Pullman. His talk, titled “Where sharks want to be: Using tracking technology to define important habitat,” showcased efforts to conserve and manage sharks and rays, which is difficult because of their wide‑ranging […]
A new technology being developed at Washington State University could help save amphibians around the world from deadly pathogens like Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a particularly nasty type of fungus that attacks the skin of frogs and salamanders. The new tool, know as environmental DNA, or eDNA, detects telltale bits of genetic material that living creatures […]
The impact of pollutants from the world’s largest oil sand field on the health of amphibians marks the focus of a team of research biologists from Washington State University and Canada. The scientists are studying the effects of development in the Athabasca oil sands region of Northern Alberta on the habitat, physiology, behavior and long-term health of wood […]
PULLMAN, Wash. – Accelerating deforestation of jaguar habitat, especially in corridors connecting conservation areas, threatens the long-term survival of the iconic predator, according to new research by Dan Thornton, an assistant professor in the Washington State University School of the Environment. He and colleague Peter Olsoy, a WSU environmental sciences doctoral student, suggest conservation groups […]