Environmental

Recent Posts

Northern Long Eared Bat To Be Designated as Threatened, not Endangered – Litigation Immediately Begins
Posted on 18 May 2015 by Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

On April 2, 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that it would be listing the northern long-eared bat as threatened , rather than endangered, as it had originally proposed in October of 2013. The listing gives the bat new protections... Read More

Proposal to List the Big Sandy Crayfish and Guyandotte River Crayfish as Endangered
Posted on 20 Aug 2015 by Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Coal, oil and gas, timber, and multiple other activities within the Guyandotte and Big Sandy watersheds in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky will be subject to new restrictions if the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proceeds with its... Read More

Red Tuna Crabs Overrun CA Beaches
Posted on 30 Jul 2015 by E. Lynn Grayson

Masses of small red tuna crabs have been washing up along San Diego, California area beaches from Ocean Beach to La Jolla. The species, Pleuroncodes planipes, is unique in that it can live its entire life cycle, from larva to adulthood, in the water column... Read More

What Makes a Mammal? The Boundaries May Be Getting a Tad Fuzzy
Posted on 14 Jun 2012 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

What makes an animal a mammal? Well, in school we all learned the characteristics that determine what is a mammal: "warm blooded" (endothermy), body hair, three middle ear bones, live birth, and functional mammary glands in mothers with young... Read More

Unexpectedly, Prions Can Move Between Species and Target Organs Other Than the Brain
Posted on 28 May 2012 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

A recent post noted that viruses from bush meat can jump from one species to the next, and that as such bush meat poses a major health threat. The mobility of prions has also been underestimated. (For a general description of prions, see Prion .) Researchers... Read More

Unexpectedly, Prions Can Move Between Species and Target Organs Other Than the Brain
Posted on 28 May 2012 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

A recent post noted that viruses from bush meat can jump from one species to the next, and that as such bush meat poses a major health threat. The mobility of prions has also been underestimated. (For a general description of prions, see Prion .) Researchers... Read More

What is the genetic mechanism that drives evolution? Perhaps we have been looking in the wrong place.
Posted on 31 Mar 2013 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Prior posts have noted how in the recent past the perceived wisdom was the 1% of the human genome was responsible for what happens (the making of proteins), and the balance (99%) was "junk." Over time the amount deemed relevant has grown and... Read More

What Makes a Mammal? The Boundaries May Be Getting a Tad Fuzzy
Posted on 14 Jun 2012 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

What makes an animal a mammal? Well, in school we all learned the characteristics that determine what is a mammal: "warm blooded" (endothermy), body hair, three middle ear bones, live birth, and functional mammary glands in mothers with young... Read More

Mistletoe can be a keystone species for birds in a wooded environment
Posted on 3 Apr 2013 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

A keystone species is one that "influences the ecological composition, structure, or functioning of its community far more than its abundance would suggest." (See http://glossary.eea.europa.eu/terminology/concept_html?term=keystone%20species... Read More