In a recent article published in the `Science’ magazine, titled ‘When the cure kills—CBD limits biodiversity research’, researchers have questioned the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a framework formulated to conserve biodiversity. 

An international team of researchers use a multi-pronged approach to understand the diveristy in tree communities.

Dogs have been introduced in various places across the world, where they were not found before by humans. In a recent study, researchers from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment study how dogs affect the local biodiversity.

Erik Solenheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme visited Center for Ecological Sciences at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru to deliver a talk about the interface of science and policy.

In his talk titled ‘Science Policy Interface: Insights and ideas for a changing world’ Mr. Solenheim spoke about the three main environmental challenges of we face today namely; climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in a rare study combining biology and paleontology show how different climatic factors over evolutionary time have affected the evolution of fan throated lizards.

The 5th of June every year is celebrated across the world as ‘World Environment Day’. People mark this event by planting saplings, spreading awareness about the importance of the environment to our survival and ways we can conserve this gift of nature for the future generations to come. But, have you ever wondered how we go about our lives on the rest of the days? What if we stopped a moment to think of the change it would bring about if we chose to walk to work instead of the car or take the bus? Of course it would change the climate for the good. Find out some tales of inspiration and alarming facts in this special on World Environment Day.

The 22nd of May is celebrated around the world as International Day for Biodiversity -- a day to celebrate the existence of that little sparrow on the tree, the colourful caterpillar on the leaf, the gigantic Blue whale in the ocean and the majestic elephant in our forests. It is a day to appreciate that our planet is blessed with so many life forms and understand each one’s role in maintaining this ecosystem. A small imbalance in this ecosystem can spell doom for all of us. On this day, here is a brief look at how we have understood biodiversity throughout our history and some important takeaways in the process. 

“Where are house sparrows these days? They have just become extinct!”, is a common rhetoric we hear these days in the cities. Yet, it is impossible to scientifically assert that they are dwindling in numbers, since there has not been any systematic observation or data gathered about them.

The case of the ‘vanishing’ sparrows in cities like Bengaluru throws light on an important issue associated with biodiversity – the lack of data. Old-timers across the city are able to recall a time when sparrows were ubiquitous and also observe them diminish by the day. To add to this, there has been significant drop in the tree cover and the number of insects and birds in our neighbourhood. But, to objectively answer any questions like the change in the numbers of any species, the total number of species present and the effects of a vanishing species on an ecosystem, rigorous observations, documentation and research is a necessity. In the lack of these, it is simply impossible to infer or conclude that there has been a change, let alone the decline or disappearance of certain species. This drives us to reconsider the strategies of understanding biodiversity.