Wildlife
Tough winter good for some endangered species
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Heavy snowfall is proving to be helpful for some of Michigan’s endangered species, like Karner blue butterflies.
Wildlife
Landscope: Backpacks trace birds to Bahamas
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Endangered Kirtland’s warblers spend the summer nesting only in certain areas of Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario.
They winter in the Bahamas. Researchers are using tiny light sensors to track how the birds travel between those areas.
Advances in technology help researchers track the birds to get a better understanding of their migration route to the Bahamas.
Wildlife
Pursuit of endangered species hooked on ethics, culture
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Is hunting consistent with species recovery?
Echo
Upending the basin: Can freshwater snorkeling promote preservation?
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Freshwater snorkeling is opening a window on Tennessee’s river biodiversity.
Could a similar effort in the Great Lakes region build a consitutency for conserving aquatic species here?
Wildlife
Bass-o-matic a port in ecological storm
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The Bay Shore power plant on Lake Erie has had a checkered environmental past.
But researchers have discovered that the coal-fired power plant near Toledo has also been a harbor in an ecological storm.
Wildlife
Anishinabek say project could restore fish, knowledge, weather cycle
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Its size and age make the endangered lake sturgeon a fascinating species for most people. But for many Native Americans, the fish is also sacred. And it’s survival of greed, oil spills and habitat destruction signals that the sturgeon remains vigilant in protecting the environment.
Wildlife
Volunteers needed to monitor endangered piping plovers
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If you enjoy birdwatching, you may be able to use your hobby to help protect an endangered Great Lakes shorebird. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is relying on volunteers to monitor the critically endangered piping plover during its nesting season this summer, from May 1st to July 15th. Patrols have already been established in Michigan national forest and state parks, including Sleeping Bear Dunes lakeshore. Most remaining breeding pairs nest in Michigan — with the intensive patrol programs, the number of Great Lakes nesting plovers rose from 17 pairs in 1986 to 59 pairs in 2005, according to the National Park Service. But numbers have dropped in recent years: 25 pairs in 2009, 23 pairs in 2010 and 18 pairs in 2011.
Wildlife
Michigan mussels disappear within a child’s lifetime
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Native mussels have rapidly declined in the Great Lakes region, casualties of the zebra and quagga mussels brought in the ballast of ships. The foreign mussels attach to the native ones so that they can’t open, feed, breathe or breed.
Wildlife
Researchers strive to restore beetle that raises its own young
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Scientists are using small, dead animals to trap the endangered American burying beetles. They are raising the beetles in Ohio and introducing them into forests. Other researchers are looking for them in Michigan.
Wildlife
New St. Clair River reefs to spur sturgeon spawning
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Alright, sturgeon … they made your bed, now spawn in it.
Michigan organizations and agencies are building nine rock reefs in the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River to bolster native fish spawning and restore habitat.