There was much talk a couple of years back about re-wilding – a suggestion to establish a plausible facsimile of the Pleistocene fauna of North America by introducing carnivore and herbivore species (including wild relatives of livestock) from Africa and elsewhere to the Great Plains. 1 But perhaps Europe might be a better candidate for this kind of thing.
Where the rubber hits the road
The rubber tree comes from Brazil, but natural rubber itself mostly comes from SE Asia plantations these days. One of reasons is the leaf blight fungus, but now comes news of resistant varieties. This may herald a resurgence in climate-friendly natural rubber at the expense of the synthetic kind, which is made from oil. But will that positive effect be negated by increased cutting down of the rainforest to establish new plantations in Brazil?
Bioinformatics projects database
Interested in information on biodiversity information projects?
Agave paper
There’s a paper out on the diversity of Agave in Mexico, the source of tequila.
Insect diet
A Kenyan researcher tries to get people to eat more insects.