Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Cardinal Pedro Barreto received death threats and harassment during his almost 20-year campaign against a US mining company’s operations in the Andes A Peruvian cardinal who received a barrage of death threats when he challenged the firm behind a toxic smelter has called a $150m (£111m) out-of-court settlement to more than 1,000 people who were allegedly poisoned by the plant as children “a historic milestone”. Cardinal Pedro Barreto, 82, was in Rome meeting Pope Leo XIV and other cardinals in June when he received news that the firm that ran the smelter, the Doe Run Company, a subsidiary of Renco Group, would pay $150m to 1,373 Peruvians who have suffered health impacts since childhood. Continue reading...

New research shows early-warning species is on the move, expanding or contracting geographic range and changing altitude Butterflies, often considered a “sentinel of change”, are on the move across every continent they inhabit, shifting to survive as global heating reshapes their environment. About one in 10 species have already expanded or contracted their geographic range, or shifted in altitude, according to a global study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Continue reading...

Cristian Lucañas has discovered multiple species of cockroach in the Philippines, and believes there’s far more to the much-maligned insect than meets the eye When Cristian Lucañas tells people about his job, their response is normally a mix of shock and confusion. “The majority would actually be questioning why,” says Lucañas, 32, who is the only entomologist specialising in cockroaches in the Philippines, where he is known as the “Cockroach Lord”. He recalls one person, apparently perplexed at the insects’ existence, asking simply: “Did God create cockroaches?” Others seek advice on how best to kill them. Continue reading...

This week, we launched our third annual vote to honour nature’s unsung heroes. The Guardian’s natural history writer – and woodlouse fanboy – Patrick Barkham is now answering your questionsAsk a question: log in or sign up here Sprockertime asks: Is building an invertebrate home in the garden just lobbing a log in the herbaceous border? Patrick: Thanks Sprockertime, I love your question. The answer is yes! I’ve done all kinds of fancy things for wildlife in my garden (filling in a “sunken garden” with five tonnes of chalk raised a few eyebrows in my neighbourhood) and I salute everyone who has erected bird boxes and bug hotels. Thanks for your contribution Cathy247, I am picturing your garden and your respect and curiosity for the tiny lives around you and hooray for all that! I suspect your insect is a solitary bee or wasp, and it is great to know the bug hotel is being used. As your comments show, it is so easy to help invertebrate life; even if we have no garden, we can live alongside woodlice and spiders in our flats and houses. Continue reading...