Biodiversity

The former Rocky Flats federal nuclear plant was supposedly cleaned up before it was repurposed as a National Wildlife Refuge. But lack of money and invasive plants may keep plutonium worries alive.

"A group of eight senators is asking the FDA to cease consideration of the fish as food, and is threatening to pull funding for the study if the agency does not comply."

"Shrimp boats that fish in the Gulf of Mexico without the required turtle-excluder devices are killing more sea turtles than is allowed under the Endangered Species Act, the advocacy group Oceana said in a report Tuesday."

"Polar bear cubs forced to swim long distances with their mothers as their icy Arctic habitat melts appear to have a higher mortality rate than cubs that didn't have to swim as far, a new study reports."

Weeds in southern Missouri are becoming resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. Some farmers now resort to chemical cocktails -- or even hoes.

"The devastation that bark beetles and fungus have wreaked on hundreds of thousands of acres of whitebark pine trees in the northern Rockies has been tracked and chronicled for 30 years. Now the Fish and Wildlife Service has weighed in with a finding that climate change threatens the long-term survival of the species."

"A bat killed by a wind turbine in Somerset can lead to higher tomato prices at the Wichita farmers market."

"Everybody knows what the tea party members oppose. High taxes. Big government. Obama's health care plan. High-speed rail. Now, for at least some local tea party members, there's one more to add: manatee protection."

"Japan intends to send its whaling fleet back to the Antarctic this year, a senior official has told BBC News."