Update: the International Union for Conservation of Nature has updated the gopher tortoise’s status from “vulnerable” to “critically endangered.” But the U.S. federal government still declines to give the species protections under the Endangered Species Act.

bioGraphic@biographic.bsky.social · last mo.

Between 2009 and 2023, more than 97,000 gopher tortoises were shuttled around Florida to accommodate new development projects, representing around a third of the state's tortoise population. Does moving animals out of harm's way actually help them, or just make us feel like we're helping them?

Here’s a sneak peak at an excerpt from our new book, The Best Science Stories and How They Work, featuring writing by @kamal-t.bsky.social for @biographic.bsky.social and annotations by @bengoldfarb.bsky.social. Order here: www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci...

My @thexylom.com colleagues are not doing enough ecosystems reporting, but not for a lack of trying. I'd say WIRE, Macaranga (from Malaysia), @dialogueearth.bsky.social @mongabay.com @icaruscomplexmag.bsky.social @biographic.bsky.social are among the best in the business: wireonline.org

Wildlife Investigative Reporters and Editors | WIRE

WIRE is an independent nonprofit journalism project. Rigorous investigative reporting and compelling narratives by highly accomplished journalists are hallmarks of WIRE stories. The overarching goal: ...

wireonline.org

I had the enviable job of annotating @kamal-t.bsky.social's "Seeing the River For the Fish," on a wondrous fish called the mahseer, written for @biographic.bsky.social. It's a terrific story and I had a blast breaking it down. Nab your copy of the book here: www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci...

The Best Science Stories and How They Work: A Collection with Commentary - The Open Notebook

An invitation to engage with some of today’s most respected science journalists as they take readers beneath the surface to tell the stories behind eleven of the best science stories.

theopennotebook.com

“Seeing the River for the Fish,” written by @kamal-t.bsky.social for @biographic.bsky.social, appears in our new book, The Best Science Stories and How They Work, with annotations by @bengoldfarb.bsky.social. Pre-order: www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci...

Oh give me a bay With a turtle and ray And a shopping cart where corals grow Where disease isn't seen And the algae that's green Doesn't kill but instead gives a glow (Loved editing this gem by @cgeib.bsky.social about @coralcitycamera.bsky.social and Miami's urban corals!)

The Corals That Shouldn’t Exist - bioGraphic

Beneath Miami’s skyscrapers, a colony of corals defies expectations—and offers insight into other undersea urban ecosystems.

biographic.com

@biographic.bsky.social 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England’s #RedKites repay an old debt to 🇪🇸 Spain. Protected by English royal statute in the 1400s because they picked city streets clean of offal and rotting meat, red kites later lost their usefulness as sanitation improved and were driven into the countryside.

The Return of the Kite - bioGraphic

In the 1990s, red kites were reintroduced to England from Spain. Now, the English are returning the favor.

biographic.com

"Stories of optimism about coral reefs are more effective at getting the public to care: 'When the graph is going up, people want to be a part of that story. When the graph is going down, everybody wants to get off that ship.'" via @biographic.bsky.social www.biographic.com/the-corals-t...

The Corals That Shouldn’t Exist - bioGraphic

Beneath Miami’s skyscrapers, a colony of corals defies expectations—and offers insight into other undersea urban ecosystems.

biographic.com

My latest for @biographic.bsky.social! Despite ship traffic, trash, runoff, sediment, & roasting water temps, corals are thriving in the port of Miami. How do they do it? Researchers are trying to find out, and see if these resilient traits can be passed on: www.biographic.com/the-corals-t...

The Corals That Shouldn’t Exist - bioGraphic

Beneath Miami’s skyscrapers, a colony of corals defies expectations—and offers insight into other undersea urban ecosystems.

biographic.com

📣 BIG NEWS! 📣 We're re-launching bioGraphic as a completely independent nonprofit! As we make this transition, we're taking a publishing (and social media) break in July and August. Then we'll be back with more inspiring, paywall-free journalism about the natural world. More details below 👇

Things that make me cautiously optimistic?

bioGraphic@biographic.bsky.social · last mo.

📣 BIG NEWS! 📣 We're re-launching bioGraphic as a completely independent nonprofit! As we make this transition, we're taking a publishing (and social media) break in July and August. Then we'll be back with more inspiring, paywall-free journalism about the natural world. More details below 👇

My latest for @biographic.bsky.social: transforming biomass trash into green hydrogen and carbon gold

Colin Schultz@colinschultz.bsky.social · last mo.

This is by far one of the most technically complicated stories I've assigned in a while, and @ashleybraun.bsky.social, as always, managed to deftly squeeze an ungodly amount of information into a tight, engaging package www.biographic.com/shrimp-shell...

One year ago this month, the MSC Elsa 3 was sailing up the Indian coast when it began to tilt dangerously to its right side. The next morning, the ship sank, spilling more than 70,000 bags of a particularly pernicious cargo of tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles www.biographic.com/no-one-knows...

No One Knows How to Handle Nurdle Spills - bioGraphic

A year after a shipwreck flooded India’s beaches with tiny plastic pieces, scientists fear the environmental damage has just begun.

biographic.com

are you interested in toad calls, cemeteries, walking around at night, and/or what the wood frog has in common with Jesus Christ? you can learn about all these things and more in my new essay for @biographic.bsky.social: www.biographic.com/listening-fo...

Listening for Life Among the Dead - bioGraphic

A local chapter of a national frog survey convenes at a storied Massachusetts cemetery.

biographic.com

Shrimp Shell Slurry to the Rescue? A new, multistep chemical process can turn bits of organic waste into “carbon-negative” fuel, food, and construction material. by @ashleybraun.bsky.social www.biographic.com/shrimp-shell...

Shrimp Shell Slurry to the Rescue? - bioGraphic

A new, multistep chemical process can turn bits of organic waste into “carbon-negative” fuel, food, and construction material.

biographic.com

Shrimp Shell Slurry to the Rescue? A new, multistep chemical process can turn bits of organic waste into “carbon-negative” fuel, food, and construction material. by @ashleybraun.bsky.social www.biographic.com/shrimp-shell...

Shrimp Shell Slurry to the Rescue? - bioGraphic

A new, multistep chemical process can turn bits of organic waste into “carbon-negative” fuel, food, and construction material.

biographic.com

The Lonely Race to Save Ukraine’s Past In a country ravaged by war, Ukraine’s conservators are torn between protecting the country’s past and fighting for its future. by Gina Errico www.biographic.com/the-lonely-r...

The Lonely Race to Save Ukraine’s Past - bioGraphic

In a country ravaged by war, Ukraine’s conservators are torn between protecting the country’s past and fighting for its future.

biographic.com

Introducing: bioGraphic Field Notes! Before scientists & conservationists reveal new discoveries or advance our knowledge, they’re hard at work gathering data, observing changes, and testing new ideas to understand & protect the natural world. Field Notes offers a firsthand glimpse into this work

bioGraphic@biographic.bsky.social · last mo.

A cemetery may seem like a strange place to survey frogs, but this one has balanced life and death since its founding in 1831. Guests come to visit their late loved ones, and to be among the living: to walk under trees, to point at warblers, and to volunteer for community science projects

A cemetery may seem like a strange place to survey frogs, but this one has balanced life and death since its founding in 1831. Guests come to visit their late loved ones, and to be among the living: to walk under trees, to point at warblers, and to volunteer for community science projects

Listening for Life Among the Dead - bioGraphic

A local chapter of a national frog survey convenes at a storied Massachusetts cemetery.

biographic.com

Now, more than ever, it is unbelievably important to support publications like bioGraphic, which does incredible work in science and nature journalism even as other publications are being bought up and gutted

bioGraphic@biographic.bsky.social · last mo.

📣 BIG NEWS! 📣 We're re-launching bioGraphic as a completely independent nonprofit! As we make this transition, we're taking a publishing (and social media) break in July and August. Then we'll be back with more inspiring, paywall-free journalism about the natural world. More details below 👇

Sad to hear that this is happening because the California Academy of Sciences is no longer funding them — but hopefully the independence works out! If you know fancy people with fancy checkbooks for donations, now would be a great time to tell them about this shiny new science media nonprofit.

bioGraphic@biographic.bsky.social · last mo.

📣 BIG NEWS! 📣 We're re-launching bioGraphic as a completely independent nonprofit! As we make this transition, we're taking a publishing (and social media) break in July and August. Then we'll be back with more inspiring, paywall-free journalism about the natural world. More details below 👇

We will, however, be occasionally sending out email newsletters over the summer. Our newsletter is the best way to stay up-to-date about new stories, fundraising efforts, and the latest rhyming couplets in our ever-popular Rhyme Time game. Sign up via the link below:

Between 2009 and 2023, more than 97,000 gopher tortoises were shuttled around Florida to accommodate new development projects, representing around a third of the state's tortoise population. Does moving animals out of harm's way actually help them, or just make us feel like we're helping them?

Pave Paradise, Relocate a Gopher Tortoise - bioGraphic

As Florida’s human population booms, a lucrative cottage industry has sprung up: moving gopher tortoises away from new developments. What does it mean for the reptiles?

biographic.com

📣 BIG NEWS! 📣 We're re-launching bioGraphic as a completely independent nonprofit! As we make this transition, we're taking a publishing (and social media) break in July and August. Then we'll be back with more inspiring, paywall-free journalism about the natural world. More details below 👇

Our team has been working hard over the past six weeks to secure the magazine’s future. Read about what’s next for bioGraphic: 45450221.hs-sites.com/the-email-yo...

The Lonely Race to Save Ukraine’s Past In a country ravaged by war, Ukraine’s conservators are torn between protecting the country’s past and fighting for its future. by Gina Errico www.biographic.com/the-lonely-r...

The Lonely Race to Save Ukraine’s Past - bioGraphic

In a country ravaged by war, Ukraine’s conservators are torn between protecting the country’s past and fighting for its future.

biographic.com

A sad, but excellent article on 'slowing the long decline' of gopher tortoises. Cohabiting animals in tortoise burrows are mentioned, but not the fact that many of those species are obligate burrow endemics. Their fate will follow that of the tortoises.

bioGraphic@biographic.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Florida's construction boom is encroaching on the habitat of a reclusive reptile known as the gopher tortoise--and creating a lucrative, tortoise-shuffling cottage industry that raises questions about the efficacy of animal translocations.

"On a dripping-hot morning in July, the kind of day that makes you wonder why anyone moves to Florida, I exited the interstate and headed toward a ragged field sandwiched between Hollywood Boulevard and a Walmart Supercenter." One of the best openers I've had the pleasure of editing this year

bioGraphic@biographic.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Florida's construction boom is encroaching on the habitat of a reclusive reptile known as the gopher tortoise--and creating a lucrative, tortoise-shuffling cottage industry that raises questions about the efficacy of animal translocations.

Florida's construction boom is encroaching on the habitat of a reclusive reptile known as the gopher tortoise--and creating a lucrative, tortoise-shuffling cottage industry that raises questions about the efficacy of animal translocations.

Pave Paradise, Relocate a Gopher Tortoise - bioGraphic

As Florida’s human population booms, a lucrative cottage industry has sprung up: moving gopher tortoises away from new developments. What does it mean for the reptiles?

biographic.com

How Argentina’s Getting Its Jaguars Back With the birth of a wild cub, a jaguar reintroduction project in the Gran Chaco Forest achieves its biggest milestone to date. by Lucila Pinto www.biographic.com/how-argentin...

How Argentina's Getting Its Jaguars Back - bioGraphic

With the birth of a wild cub, a jaguar reintroduction project in the Gran Chaco Forest achieves its biggest milestone to date.

biographic.com