Green & indigenous News

What if cattle were selected not only for their productivity, but also for their resistance to disease? A study conducted by a team of scientists combining systemic immunology, genomics and machine learning provides a better understanding of what shapes animals' immunity, even before they fall ill. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications.

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Geographic information system (GIS) maps help researchers, policymakers, and community members see how environmental risks are spread throughout a given region. These types of interactive, layered maps can be used for storytelling, education, and environmental activism. When community members are involved in their use and creation, GIS maps can also be a tool for equity.

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A new study reports that climate warming can increase soil carbon accumulation in boreal Sphagnum peatlands by boosting plant productivity, protecting iron, and inhibiting microbial decomposition. These responses contrast sharply with warming-enhanced soil carbon mineralization—the process by which carbon is released as CO2—in boreal forests and tundra. Together, these contrasting processes highlight the vital yet often overlooked role of Sphagnum peatlands in counteracting boreal carbon loss under future warming.

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Hurricane Helene, one of the deadliest hurricanes in US history, did not affect people's views on climate change or their intentions to vote for politicians advocating stricter climate policies. This is shown in a new study from the University of Gothenburg. "Attitudes unchanged: no support for increased climate change beliefs, concerns, or voting intentions after Hurricane Helene" is published in Environmental Research Communications.

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A national survey of the four supply-chain sectors involved in the production and sale of flowers and ornamental plants shows that sustainability practices—those already implemented and those planned for the future—differ by sector. The findings could provide a roadmap of specific needs to help all sectors reach sustainability goals.

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Research at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) reveals that autonomous parvoviruses, such as canine parvovirus, are highly capable of affecting the internal balance of the nucleolus. The results provide new basic information about the interaction between viruses and nucleolus. The study is published in Communications Biology.

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A decade-long study has revealed that rising atmospheric CO₂ and warming work together to reduce the availability of phosphorus in rice-upland crop rotation systems, potentially threatening future food security. The research, which was led by scientists from the Institute of Soil Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shows that warming plays a dominant role in redirecting phosphorus into less accessible soil pools.

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Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH), a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), together with an interdisciplinary team of partners, have identified the fire-footed rope squirrel (Funisciurus pyrropus) as a likely natural reservoir of the monkeypox virus (MPXV). Their study was published today in Nature. The discovery was based on the detailed investigation of an mpox outbreak among wild sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire. Scientists combined ecological, behavioral, and molecular evidence to document, for the first time, the interspecies transmission of MPXV in the wild, from fire-footed rope squirrels to sooty mangabeys.

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The soil microbiome is critical for the ecosystem, and agricultural practices that promote microbial diversity can support plant health and help protect against pests. But it is unclear which practices are most beneficial, and what motivates farmers to choose them.

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New research shows the effects of marine heat waves on sponges could be much more severe as temperatures rise. More intense marine heat waves as a result of climate change could lead to the mass loss of a sponge species found around Aotearoa New Zealand, a new study suggests.

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With the February 13 deadline for public comment approaching, hundreds of Alaskans are weighing in on a U.S. Department of Interior review of federal subsistence management. A Safari Club International petition is at the center of the debate. It calls for changes that rural subsistence users fear will threaten their legal right to hunt and fish and provide for their families.

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A multi-institutional team of researchers led by Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC has for the first time identified specific patterns of brain chemical activity that predict how quickly individual honey bees learn new associations, offering important insights into the biological basis of learning and decision-making. The study, published in Science Advances, found that the balance between the neurotransmitters octopamine and tyramine can predict whether a bee will learn quickly, slowly, or not at all, as they associate an odor with a reward.

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New archaeological evidence reveals that seabird guano—nutrient-rich bird droppings—was not only essential to boosting corn yields and supercharging agriculture in ancient Peru, but it may have been a driving force behind the rise of the Chincha Kingdom as one of the most prosperous and influential pre-Inca societies.

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Global climate mitigation scenarios shape real-world policy choices of who cuts emissions, who pays, and who benefits from climate action. A new IIASA-led essay published in PLOS Climate identifies how these influential tools address equity and justice, with implications for perceptions of fairness and public trust in climate policy.

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Researchers have identified a new type of visual cell in deep-sea fish larvae that challenges a century of knowledge about vertebrate visual systems. Dr. Fabio Cortesi from The University of Queensland's School of the Environment said the finding could lead to new camera technology and medical treatments.

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On India’s railways, stowaways are not limited to ticketless passengers. Some arrive without limbs, luggage or much interest in timetables. A paper recently published in Biotropica suggests that king cobras (Ophiophagus kaalinga) may occasionally hitch a ride on trains in western India, turning railways into unexpected dispersal routes. The study, by Dikansh S. Parmar and colleagues, focuses on Goa, a small coastal state better known for beaches than for the world’s longest venomous snake. The authors assembled two decades of snake-rescue records, verified sightings and local reports. Most king cobras turned up where one would expect: forested, wetter, inland parts of the Western Ghats. A species-distribution model broadly supported this pattern. Five cases stood out. Each involved a king cobra found in places the model deemed unsuitable. Each lay close to railway infrastructure. One animal was rescued at Chandor railway station, sheltering among stored rails and concrete pillars. Others appeared near stations or tracks in Vasco da Gama, Loliem, Patnem and Palolem; all of them were poor locations for a forest-dwelling snake. Statistically, they were outliers. The simplest explanation is not that cobras prefer platforms to leaf litter, but that they arrived by accident. Cargo trains pass through high-quality cobra habitat before descending into Goa’s drier lowlands. Rail yards offer cover, rodents and other snakes. A large reptile entering a freight wagon at night could travel dozens of kilometers with little effort, emerging somewhere ecologically unfamiliar. Such journeys are not merely hypothetical. Indian media have documented snakes on moving trains,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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February 11, 2026 – Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins joined Governor Greg Abbott in Texas Monday to announce the opening of a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) facility that will be able to disperse sterile flies in an effort to prevent the spread of New World screwworm flies, which can kill cattle and other animals and infect humans.

The facility is one piece of a larger plan Rollins rolled out last June. In July 2025, she shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to cattle imports, and the USDA has been collaborating with Mexico on detecting and stopping the spread aouth of the border. At the end of January, the USDA said it would shift its efforts further north and release more flies in Texas.

“The Trump Administration continues to bring the full force of the federal government to fight New World Screwworm,” Rollins said in a press release.

The screwworm fly is named for the ability of its larvae to burrow into animal flesh to feed. If untreated, they can kill cattle within seven to 10 days, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

The screwworm is endemic in many Caribbean and South American countries and has been spreading north in recent years, following an outbreak in Central America in 2023. It has since been detected in southern Mexico, prompting fears it is heading north and could impact the U.S. livestock industry.

According to the USDA, no cases that originated in the U.S. have been detected. But at the end of January, a standard USDA inspection discovered an infection in a horse that had arrived from Argentina.

Adult screwworm flies only mate once, so dispersing sterile flies stops reproduction. The USDA currently produces and releases them in Panama, but the Texas facility will help the agency implement its plan to shift dispersal north to an area along the U.S.-Mexico border. It will have the capacity to release up to 100 million sterile flies per week. The agency is also building a production facility at the same location, where it will breed sterile flies.

Screwworms are one of many livestock diseases that have presented challenges for producers in the U.S. in recent years. Since the start of a bird flu outbreak in 2022, more than 190 million chickens and turkeys have been culled; cases have been surging since last fall and again at the start of 2026.

Like bird flu, the screwworm can also impact humans, but it does not currently pose a public health threat in the U.S, according to the Centers for Disease Control. (Link to this post.)

The post USDA Opens ‘Sterile Fly’ Facility to Prevent Cattle Disease appeared first on Civil Eats.

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Tribal leaders have opposed potential SBA rule changes affecting Alaska Native corporations. Alaska’s largest professional theater postponed Anchorage shows over financial concerns.

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The Trump administration's drive to increase domestic production of fossil fuels and mining of key minerals likely cannot be accomplished without a key constituency: Native nations.

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At the Winter Olympics, athletes race down immaculate white slopes. The snow looks perfect. But it is largely manufactured.

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A team of researchers say that human-caused climate change had an important impact on the recent ferocious wildfires that engulfed parts of Chile and Argentina’s Patagonia region, making the extremely high-risk conditions that led to widespread burning up to three times more likely than in a world without global warming. The hot, dry and gusty weather that fed last month’s deadly wildfires in central and southern Chile was made around 200% more likely by human-made greenhouse gas emissions while the high-fire-risk conditions that fueled the blazes still racing through southern Argentina were made 150% more likely. That’s according to a report released Wednesday by World Weather Attribution, a scientific initiative that investigates extreme weather events. By Isabel Debre, Associated Press  This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Dashiell Hammett mentioned Sam Spade's jutting chin in the opening sentence of his novel, "The Maltese Falcon." Spade's chin was among the facial features Hammett used to describe his fictional detective's appearance, but starting with that distinctive chin was—at least from an evolutionary perspective—an unintentional redundancy, since every chin is distinctive in the sense that humans are the only primates to possess that physical characteristic.

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MOMBASA COUNTY, Kenya — Five minutes’ walk up the hilly road from the mangroves lining the tidal flats of Jomvu Creek, the sharp scent of sea water fills the air. A dozen women fill a small hall with laughter and conversation. In the coastal villages of Mombasa county, these gatherings of women to manage informal savings and loans schemes are known as chamas. But this is no ordinary chama. Here, discussions revolve around tides, crab feed, cage repairs and mangrove seedlings. The women, aged 35-60 years, are members of Jomvu Women in Fisheries and Culture, a community-based organization determined to transform their livelihoods and their environment through an unlikely venture: mud crab farming. Four years ago, these same women were scattered across the village. Most worked as what is known locally as mama karanga, the Swahili term for the women who fry fish over charcoal fires for sale near the beaches where fishers land their catch. Some would have been selling fresh fish, and a few were at home, tending to children and grandchildren. But dwindling fish stocks, health problems from cooking smoke and the daily uncertainty of small-scale trade had begun to take their toll. When a Kenya Marine Fisheries and Socio-Economic Development (KEMFSED) project offered grants for blue-economy enterprises in 2021, a few of these women decided to take the opportunity. The women have converted crates used for transporting bread into cages for their crabs. Image by Asha Bekidusa for Mongabay. New concepts Crab farming was a completely…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Islands are famous for producing some of the world's strangest creatures, and now a new international study shows that the evolution of bird species on Hawaiian islands includes an ibis with unusually small eyes and limited visual capacity. The team from University of Lethbridge in Canada and Flinders University in Australia made the discovery while examining the skull of Apteribis, an extinct flightless ibis that once inhabited the Hawaiian islands.

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Officials in Suriname are trying to cancel a controversial agribusiness contract that could result in the clearance of over a hundred thousand hectares of Amazon rainforest, risking the country’s carbon-negative status. In 2024, the agriculture ministry partnered with a private company to develop 113,465 hectares (280,378 acres) of rainforest for industrial agriculture in the northwestern district of Nickerie. Although development wasn’t immediately carried out, the legal framework remains in place and has allowed clearing to begin in recent months. “This is not just a local issue. This is a regional issue because of the role rainforests play on the continent,” John Goedschalk, a climate advisor to Suriname’s president, told Mongabay. “The continued deforestation in the Guiana Shield endangers access to water for people all the way to Argentina.” The land is being developed through a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and Suriname Green Energy Agriculture N.V., a private company working in agriculture and bioenergy. The company began clearing the forest despite not receiving permits from the National Environmental Authority (NMA), government officials said in internal emails reviewed by Mongabay. The area almost completely overlaps with logging concessions regulated by multiple-use and sustainability regulations designed to protect primary forest. The company has also hired Mennonites, members of a conservative Protestant denomination, to work on the land, reigniting fears that the religious group will establish large farming communities that rapidly expand into forested areas, as has happened in other parts of the region. Suriname Green Energy Agriculture and the agriculture…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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