Using lasers to map forest carbon
Forests cover approximately 4 billion hectares of the Earth's surface, equivalent to a third of it's total land area. According to the WWF, between 12-15 million hectares of forests are lost every year due to human impacts, such as deforestation. It is estimated that forest loss is responsible for around 15% of global carbon emissions.…
Insecticide threat to aquatic biodiversity highlighted in new study
Insecticides can be beneficial to humans in many ways, such as providing crop protection from disease and defoliation and as a tool used in the reduction of mosquitoes and other insects that can transmit diseases such as malaria, to humans. However, once they enter an aquatic system, the environmental costs can be very high. Just…
Why walking in groups is good for you
Despite all the government campaigns, targets and media stories about the importance of regular exercise, a high proportion of the populations of Western countries still leads a very sedentary lifestyle. Cost and availability of facilities such as gyms and sports centres shouldn’t be a factor, given the benefit that can be obtained from simply walking…
Changing attitudes to wood
Wood has many different uses, including shelter, fuel and paper to write on, as well as having a key role in maintaining a healthy planet. More recently however, the development of engineered wood for use in the construction of tall buildings has led to a new generation of ‘ply-scrapers’. So is our attitude to wood…
Is orphanage tourism fuelling child trafficking?
Of all the forms of ‘volunteer tourism’, orphanage visits or volunteering have raised the most concern. A number of charities have warned about the emotional harm that could be caused by a constant stream of volunteers who shower orphans with affection for a few hours or days, and then disappear for ever. Concerns have…
Milk Quotas in European Union to Be Abolished after 31 Years
By Miroslav Djuric, DVM, Editor of Dairy Science Abstracts Milk quotas in the European Union (EU) will be abolished from the 1 April 2015, exactly 31 years after its introduction. The Dairy Produce Quota Regulations were introduced by the European Economic Community (EEC) on the 2 April 1984 and were originally due to run until…
E-Learning Course on Bioinformatics of Animal Viruses
Nucleotide sequencing has become a very popular technique for diagnosis and characterization of pathogens and is accessible to most veterinary practices. A nucleotide sequence provides information on the nature of the pathogen, its source and its main characteristics such as strain, virulence and drug resistance. Bioinformatics provides tools to gather, store, and analyse these biological…
Animal Genetic Research Increasingly Focuses on Medical and Pharmaceutical Markets rather than on Food Production
According to a recent report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), patenting activity in the field of animal genetics is focusing on medical and pharmaceutical markets, rather than animal products for human nutrition. A vast amount of scientific literature on animal genetic resources, transgenic animals and patents in this field is available in the CAB Direct database. The literature, which originates from more than 150 countries and is published in over 50 languages, is translated and indexed by CABI’s specialists for easy searching. The CAB Direct database currently contains more than 23,000 references with abstracts on animal genetic resources.
African Swine Fever on the Move – China, the EU and FAO Assessing Preparedness in East and Southeast Asia, the Region with >50% of the World Pig Population
By M Djuric, DVM African Swine Fever (ASF) continues to spread in traditionally endemic sub-Saharan Africa, but it is also expanding into previously ASF-free countries with a new front opening up along the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. The risk of ASF entering China is of particular concern since the country keeps almost half of the…
CABI author, Stroma Cole, wins tourism award
Last week, one of CABI’s book authors, Stroma Cole, was awarded the ‘Making the Case’ ATHE Award, which is the award for Tourism in Globalisation: Understanding global complexity through tourism. The award was presented at the Association of Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE) annual conference held in Edinburgh on 4 December. The award was for…