Biodiversity

UN secretary general António Guterres urges world leaders to move ‘from plundering to protection’

Climate change is reducing productivity of the high seas through warming and depletion of nutrients and oxygen

Ella McSweeney: The Department of Housing is proposing to give up trying to restore or naturalise many of our rivers

Due to their size and abundance, these creatures shaped the ecosystems in which they lived – but today all are nearly gone

Syria’s harvest has shrunk as a result of climate change-related drought, further complicating the country’s economic recovery

Storms Éowyn and Darragh highlighted vulnerabilities, with widespread disruptions to power and water

Whales are disappearing from Ireland’s southwest coasts, as trawlers take much of their food

Unlike trees, a living, healthy bog will soak up more carbon per square metre than almost any other ecosystem on Earth

We are asking readers to nominate the places across Ireland they believe deserve to be acknowledged

World lost equivalent of 18 soccer fields of forested land every minute

Deeply personal essay on the use of animals in biological research and biodiversity game announced as winners

Breakfast porridge, our daily bread and rice sustaining more than half of the world’s population are all bred from natural grasses

New study finds that spider venom is ‘prey-specific’

Ireland is one of the last remaining countries in Europe where these mystical creatures can be legally chased by dogs

Eanna Ní Lamhna on how to handle moths that want to make a meal of the food in your kitchen, the mice at risk from your lawnmower, and a bee-bashing bird

Climate crisis requires bigger efforts from business

Calls grow for farming supports to help landowners push ahead with national climate goals

Cranes were culturally significant in Ireland, kept as pets by nobility and may have been associated in folklore with death

Climate change: Art is humanity’s oldest companion and, as we ignore a crisis that threatens both, can be a powerful means of expression

Two layers of stone filled inside with compacted earth and topped off with vegetation or turf, these are irresistible places for plants and animals to live

It’s liberating to accept that you’re never going to be master of your own garden, and this isn’t a failing

A Polish forest gives a glimpse of what Ireland and Britain might have looked like 10,000 years ago

Environmental group calls for increase in shellfish diving and ban on ‘licensed damage’ after destruction in Co Mayo

Ella McSweeney: These astonishingly small creatures are an example of a species thriving in a world that is changing faster than ever

Our mission: To discover whether this small migratory bird was faring any better in its (probable) winter home

Photographing one of these unforgettable birds on a Dublin river led me on journey of reconnection with the natural world

Pollination is a crucial and vibrant interaction between plants and animals, one that is also captivating

Published in 2015, Laudato Si’ spoke of our serious moral responsibility to protect the planet

Éanna Ní Lamhna on the hawthorn shield bug, underground bees, and the red-listed yellowhammer

We need to muster the political mettle we saw during the financial crisis to avert the trade wars that threaten everyone

If you think hospital waiting lists and access to GP care are challenging now, climate change will bring more difficulties

Rosie O’Reilly, Dublin’s first biodiversity artist-in-residence, is on a mission to preserve the capital’s hydro-story

‘The shapes we see in starling murmurations are an example of “emergent behaviour” ... from relatively simple underlying rules’

The mix of plants provides a range of ecosystem services and habitats that natural colonisation would not achieve

Ella McSweeney on a thoughtful man who lived a determined and visionary life as a conservationist and educator

Despite its status as a protected area for birds and wildlife, Lady’s Island Lake in Co Wexford is now suffering from a dangerous, if not fatal, level of pollution

The world now faces record heatwaves, crop failures and ecosystem collapse – a much greater threat than the famines we faced before 1909. What are we doing?

Consumerism has taken hold and celebrations for our national day can generate a lot of waste

Findings will inform targeting of emissions cuts, say University of Galway scientists

High-value habitats can be avoided if identified but it is the less obvious impacts that are so far known to cause the biggest effects