Help support our cutting-edge work in the Population and Sustainability Program.

Our planet now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. But there’s still ...

For the past century a federal program called Wildlife Services, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has been slaughtering wildlife deemed “undesirable” by agribusiness. They’re usually ...

Three vital provisions give the Act its teeth. It’s “citizen-suit” provision lets public-interest groups and individuals petition and sue sluggish federal agencies to make sure the Act protects ...

The variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems. Biological diversity, often shortened to biodiversity, is ...

The U.S. transportation sector is responsible for about a third of our country’s climate-damaging emissions. In California transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas pollution, accounting ...

Synthetic phosphate fertilizer poses a serious threat to our environment. Phosphate rock mining, along with the inorganic fertilizers and animal feed supplements and pesticides for which phosphate is ...

For every county in the United States, the map below shows information on all the animals and plants protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act as threatened or endangered. To see the number of ...

The grizzly bear is so named because its hair is grizzled, or silver tipped, yet the name is commonly believed to be derived from “grisly,” meaning “horrible.” DESCRIPTION: A subspecies of brown bear, ...

The word jaguar comes from the South American Tupi and Guarani languages. A likely origin is the word yaguareté, meaning “true, fierce beast.” DESCRIPTION: The largest cat native to North America and ...

DESCRIPTION: Freshwater mussels are bivalve mollusks that have a two- valved hard shell, a soft body with respiratory, digestive and reproductive organs, and a muscular foot for locomotion, burrowing ...

Freshwater mussels are some of the planet's most fascinating and underappreciated animals. With their beautifully colorful shells, diversity of shapes and interesting adornments — including ridges, ...