CC106 delves into the current issues with biodiversity. Here is a sample from an article about exciting new technology that battles these issues:
Global biodiversity is not doing so well these days, with many scientists even believing that we’re on the brink of the world’s sixth mass extinction.
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Simply put: We just don’t know how well (or how poorly) many species are doing.A major problem is that assessing the health of species is a costly and time-consuming endeavor, which often requires scientists to repeatedly go into the field to count individual animals or monitor their calls. Sometimes scientists will enlist the help of community volunteers for citizen science programs, but such projects rarely — if ever — benefit species in dense tropical ecosystems or other remote areas.
So to help give experts the long-term data they need to monitor biodiversity, a team of researchers designed a system that automatically records and identifies species, called the Automated Remote Biodiversity Monitoring Network, or ARBIMON.
The Sabana Seca, Puerto Rico ARBIMON station. Courtesy of Mitchell Aide.
To find out more about ARBIMON, visit bit.ly/15HskYR.
