At Land Conservation Local and regional conservation groups in California have set aside 1.25 million acres of open land. In doing so, they have also set a record. For perspective, the amount of land is greater than the total area of Rhode Island, and nearly equal to the size of Delaware. In a related landmark event, all 50 states now contain permanently protected land. Nationwide, the cumulative efforts of smaller conservation groups have preserved upwards of 6.4 million acres.
Many birds take advantage of Earth's magnetic field to navigate the globe.
Doing just that, biologists from Sweden's Lund University have shown that birds can still navigate near the pole, even when the magnetic field plunges into the ground at right angles. On clear nights, the birds were able to navigate without difficulty by using the starry sky as an aid. The chemical caused birds to lay weak shells that broke during incubation. Now Jennifer Fox of Tulane University has found that DDT, other pesticides, herbicides and pollutants can mimic estrogen well enough to throw plant systems awry. The chemicals cloud the communication lines between plants in the bean family and the beneficial root bacteria they rely on to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form.