U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Releases Annual List of Candidates for Endangered Species Act

Read the full news release.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today releases its Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals considered candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). One species has been removed from candidate status, five have been added, and four have a change in priority from the last review conducted in November of 2009. There are now 251 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection...

The complete notice and list of proposed and candidate species appears in the Federal Register and can be found online at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/cnor.html

Wind turbines wrong colour for wildlife

Read the full story from the BBC.

A study has revealed that a wind turbine's colour affects how many insects it attracts, shedding more light on why the turbines occasionally kill bats and birds.

Scientists say that turbines, most commonly painted white or grey, draw in insects. These then lure bats and birds - as they pursue their prey - into the path of the turbine blades.

Support for the idea comes from another study showing that bats are most often killed by turbines at night and in summer, when insects are most abundant.

The full paper, to be published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research, is online at http://dx/doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0432-7. The abstract is available online at no charge. UIUC affiliates not on campus can access it via http://www.library.illinois.edu/orr/get.php?instid=302651.

NSF funding opportunities

Three NSF programs relevant to INHS researchers are accepting proposals in January:

Population and Community Ecology
Proposals due January 9, 2011

Evolutionary Processes
Proposals due January 9, 2011

Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB)
Proposals due January 13, 2011