#Ecological Engineering

[ravinders-posts]

Are you interested in being part of a dynamic platform for cross-sectoral collaboration and fostering a rich exchange of ideas and insights that bridge academia, industry, and policy realms? Look no further than the Global Webinar on Ecological Engineering and Environmental Technology! This webinar organized by Displaycia provides an eminent platform for the exchange of knowledge and ideas in the realm of sustainable environmental solutions. With a comprehensive agenda spanning various facets of environmental sciences and technologies, this Webinar gathers scholars, researchers, and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge innovations, strategies, and challenges. It is a forum dedicated to fostering collaboration and disseminating insights to drive positive changes in ecological engineering and environmental technology. Join us and be part of the brightest minds and passionate souls in the pursuit of sustainable solutions for our ever-evolving environmental challenges.

For more details kindly go through this link: https://displaycia.com/scientific-events/global-webinar-ecological-engineering-and-environmental-technology/

For registration details, kindly go through this link: https://displaycia.com/register/webinar/

[wachinyeya]

European bison released in England’s ancient woodland have doubled in number since 2022, and the woodland has gotten healthier since, reviving previously extinct beetle species and increasing sightings of dormice and reptiles. And England isn’t the only European nation getting bison back in business: In the 1920s, there were just 54 European bison after intense hunting over millennia, but thanks to re-wilding efforts there are now around 10,000, mostly in Russia and Belarus. RTBC

[kafkasapartment]

thatgoodnewsgirl: "Two times beavers fought the government and won (first time trying a little compilation here - it's not perfect, but thought it might be fun!)

They're smarter than they look, and apparently better at infrastructure, too. From building a dam faster than government planners to winning a legal battle for her own survival, these beavers aren't playing around.

di Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, Urban Rivers"

[rebeccathenaturalist]

De-Extinction and Dire Wolves: Should We Clone Extinct Animals?

This article originally appeared on my website at https://rebeccalexa.com/de-extinction-and-dire-wolves-should-we-clone-extinct-animals/

My social media feeds this week have been full of headlines about how a trio of genetically engineered dire wolves are the newest advance in the quest to clone extinct animals. The short version is that researchers from Colossal Biosciences altered fourteen genes in the gray wolf (Canis lupus) genome to resemble genes taken from dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) fossils. The DNA was then inserted into denucleated domestic dog (Canis familiaris) egg cells which were then implanted in domestic dog surrogates.

Romulus and Remus, two of Colossal Bioscience’s genetically engineered “dire” wolves.

Three of these eggs resulted in viable pups. Romulus and Remus are six months old, while Khaleesi is two months. The pups are white-furred, heavier-boned than gray wolves, and show wolf-like wariness of humans. But are they true dire wolves?

That’s the real question. You can add in genes from a dire wolf to an extant canid, but that doesn’t make them identical to the extinct species. Moreover, dire wolves are not as closely related to gray wolves as was previously thought; they were recently reassigned to a new genus that reflects their closer resemblance to modern-day jackals. There really isn’t a good analogue to them alive today, particularly when compared to the aurochs, another extinct species, and its domestic cattle descendants.

Is this really a good idea? Find out my thoughts on the matter under the cut!

There have been attempts to backbreed domestic cattle (Bos taurus) to aurochs (Bos primigenius), which went extinct a mere 400 years ago. Heck cattle and the Tauros programme are two examples of efforts to create cattle that more closely resemble their wild forebears. Aurochs backbreeding involves choosing animals that physically resemble the extinct animals, such as having longer faces and legs, curled horns, and dark coloration with a white muzzle. However, just as you can’t make a gray wolf by breeding wolf-like domestic dogs, you can’t make a true aurochs with domesticated cattle.

This gets us into phenotype (appearance and other physical characteristics) vs. genotype (genetic material). We don’t know exactly what dire wolves looked like, beyond their preserved bones, and possibly the genes that gave the three pups their thick, white pelage. We also don’t know how they behaved, and there are no living dire wolves to teach the pups the ways of their world. While we can make some educated guesses based on the behaviors of extant social canids like gray wolves and African painted dogs (Lycaon pictus), we can’t say with full certainty that dire wolves behaved the same way.

Let’s say we could clone extinct animals and somehow make a genotypically perfect dire wolf. The youngest reliably dated dire wolf remains are from about 10,000 years ago. This may seem like a relatively short time, and from a geological perspective it is. But a lot can happen in that time biologically and ecologically–for example, mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) only appeared as a distinct species 10,000 years ago from hybridization of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus). And while human overhunting likely contributed to the extinction of many species of megafauna at the end of the last ice age 11,000-12,000 years ago, climate change was almost certainly a major factor as well. Given that the planet is heating up even more rapidly due to anthropogenic climate change, would it even be ethical to bring these cold-weather animals back under current conditions?

And, finally, would they still fulfill the same ecological role that they did thousands of years ago? Plains bison (Bison bison bison) and domestic cattle may be related, and share some behaviors, but cattle absolutely are not good replacements for bison. Their grazing patterns and migratory tendencies vary significantly, as does the makeup of their manure, all of which have impacts on local ecology. Some people argue that feral domestic horses (Equus caballus) belong in North America because they may fill a niche left when the last native North American horse, Equus occidentalis, went extinct along with other ice age megafauna. However, once again the landscape has changed significantly in 12,000 years, and niches have shifted in intervening millennia, and so domesticated horses are not the perfect replacement for their extinct counterparts.

This isn’t even getting into the ethics of bringing back an extinct species when there’s no place set for them in the wild. The debate over de-extinction overshadows the grim reality that we are still chewing up wild habitat at unprecedented rates, putting an increasing number of species at risk of extinction–or driving them entirely over the edge. It’s easier to get excited about sexy headlines featuring Jurassic Park-style wild science than the ongoing fight to not only put the brakes on environmental destruction–no small feat–but repair the damage.

All of which is to say while it’s interesting to see the genetic engineering advances represented by the three “dire wolves” now revealed to the world, it doesn’t mean that we’ve brought back an entire extinct species. And really, is the best tactic right now to clone extinct animals? While we could potentially use this technology to clone critically endangered species and reinject preserved DNA from long-dead individuals into the active gene pool, it’s very resource-intensive. And none of this is as important as preserving the habitats that these rare species need to survive. Eye-catching headlines about dire wolves may help raise awareness and funding, but they are not a replacement for the ongoing hard work of conservation.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider preordering my book The Everyday Naturalist, taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, or checking out my other articles! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[very-gay-poet]

YO *throws rock out into the wild [of tumblr]* science side of tumblr what single discovery in your field of work would scare the shit out of everyone present???

[a-dash-in-the-middle]

big question for tumblr girlies

what are your favourite research papers?

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The Making of the Colossal Dire Wolves — World's First De-Extinction

7 April 2025

The dire wolf is no longer extinct—and this is the story of how Colossal made it happen.

Discover the advanced tools and technologies behind the revival of the dire wolf, why this breakthrough matters for the future of conservation, and what it means for endangered species across the globe.

In this video, you’ll hear directly from the scientists, conservationists, and visionaries who made the impossible possible.

This moment marks more than just a scientific achievement — it signals the start of a new era in biodiversity and ecological restoration.

The dire wolf is back, and for Colossal, this is only the beginning.

Credit: 3D models created by Visual Science

🐺🥹🤍

[notquitequelled]

nothing's wrong-- i'm just a STEM student...

[i rarely see stem rep-- so here’s PART TWO! (find part one here) the extended edition of ‘stoners in stem’ highlighting the parts of this life that i find myself loving ;p

Thinking of doing sectionals (Physics, Environmental Studies, Mechanics, Entomology, etc.), so if there are any suggestions you'd like to highlight, plz tag or comment !!]

TAG YOURSELF !! I LOVE SEEING WHAT YALL GET UP TO !!

slightly concerned glances being shared between even the worst of acquaintances when your mentor drops some crazy lore surrounding how they entered their field(s)

good god. the apple-cider vinegar and dish soap gnat traps. honey alternatives decidedly never cross anyone's mind (nor the threshold of the lab for that matter)

walking the fine line between the Ridiculous and the Logical during data analysis like the two aren't twin kings of ruin

either strong answers or noncommital shrugs when asked anything about your preferred diet or eating habits

writing exclusively with pen, or exclusively with pencil. feeling borderline disgusted having to use the other in the lab or when you forget your own

'Why do you care?' 'Why don't you??'

Every documentary you watch absolutely changing your life and challenging your worldview

Either hanging onto your textbooks like a lifeline or forgetting about them as they gather dust under your bed. maybe you never bought them at all-- pirated PDFs littering your desktop

anything in jars being considered decor (snakes, regurgitated bones, praying mantis egg cases)

seeing the slant of fences, trees, and lamp posts-- thinking of all the wind and weather that's passed along the same path you have

TREEHUGGER !!! HA HA

the clean quiet that hangs over the linoleum early in the morning; the warmth is not so subtle now that you've rolled up your sleeves.

teaching everyone around you how to bypass PAY FOR ARTICLES because knowledge should always be F[ree]INED [inspect, gear, disable java]

having to just sit by n watch while someone pointedly ignores your input, and a totally avoidable incident (that could have totally been avoided) is not, in fact, avoided

dealing with the consequences of that incident for the rest of the experiment/project

blank stare, lips in a placatingly firm line as you nod along with the stern talking-to you're being given. their words going in one ear and out the other because you're already thinking through another way under admin's nose ('no, I absolutely get you, 100%. it won't happen again.' [sometime later in the halls] 'yeah, no--- fuck that dude, I'm thinking this time we just gotta hit em harder with smth else...')

whaaaaat ? how'd those local Indigenous species just pop up everywhere overnight, ha ha ? wow nature is crazyyy

digging through public records for one reason, only to uncover an entirely different can of worms about the institution you frequent

digging in the literal dirt and uncovering literal worms lol amirite guys

'Please remember that this is just a prototype and that i'm it's in a very fragile state right now.'

going crazy trying to figure out what a specific testing company uses in their chemical compounds, because good fucking god how are you supposed to cite the evidence if you can't even label what it is?

a disastrous experiment being abandoned like Chernobyl once determined beyond salvation-- everyone curious to see how it'll develop and fester when left on its own

'life imitates art,' you think, as you finally recognize one of your unnecessarily complicated formulas being unexpectedly represented in your daily life

often being so bad at the thing you love that you can't do anything about it but laugh

staring for so long at something during a lecture that white begins to leech into your vision. you should probably blink a few times so people don't begin to suspect you're a reptile (even more than they already do)

'Don't.. don't look at me like that...' [speaking to a(n) (INSERT NAME OF LITTLE CRITTER HERE) you had to gently move onto a little scale to collect data]

honing in on where your talents in your field lie; the disappointment in finding your limits that turns to indifference when you remember you're still phenomenal at a million other things you enjoy

'i want to study you like a bug....'

thinly concealed irritation masked by a patient smile and a small 'mhm' when someone tries to explain your life's purpose TO you (ten dollars says they're wrong about it, too)

'and you want me to run this... on a full moon?' 'don't start with that shit again.'

yer disgust is lookin' a lot like morbid curiosity these days...

a lot of your scientific conclusions being discerned by common sense ('Please just use your cognitive functions, you guys...')

a clean earth sciences lab floor.. my white whale...

the small (increasingly large) pile of recyclable material that's waiting to be torn apart or filled with soil and plants; it topples over when people walk past, but no one can bring themselves to throw any away

'all this only cost me like... $270. which is crazy given that these're the real-fuckin'-deal solid-steel reinforcements.' 'man...this shit is so gonna blow down.'

leaning into the obscure, instead of away from it out of habit; seeing its effect in your daily life and work

all the plastic utensils in the dining area being stolen for diagrams, leaving behind only the reusable metalware. this is unexpectedly admirable of the engineers, if only to those who care about the inadvertent environmentalism

taking things apart to see how they work-- having very little planned on how to put them back together

'I don't know what you want me to do about that, you created it.' 'Not on purpose!'

downloading photomath during testing season. your doubt being palpable over your (in)ability to solve simple equations

carrying hand lotion everywhere you go because of how often your work has you washing your hands; colleagues and peers holding their hands out like beggars in a Mel Brooks film ('lotion... dollop of lotion for the poor D:')

borrowing chemical-grade goggles from the lab before going out to protest; supervisors giving you dubious thumbs ups while they 'accidentally' leave the key to the goggle sanitation station right by the cabinet..

'Now that you've poured your blood, sweat, tears, and other secretions into this project-- decide if you want to take it home to maintain, or have it eradicated.'

utilizing the public library, but having to double-check the internet before citing anything from the books you pour over because your city is more concerned with the way the building looks than the content it supplies

'The Martian,' both the book and the movie ... Mark Watney you will always be famous,,

'Why are you taking so many difficult classes at once?' 'My entire degree is difficult classes.'

carrying a small journal everywhere in an attempt to organize your thoughts, tasks, and reminders (you've never looked back on a single thing you've written, but you like to think it at least helps in the moment)

being torn between the scientific evidence that supports getting eight hours of sleep and your own hubris. you can stay up it's fine. it'll be fine.

you're not fine but at least the counters feel so nice against the side of your face

WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN A KILOGRAM 🦅🦅🦅‼??!!!!!

having no idea where your degree will take you, giving everyone who asks a different vague answer

hands being littered with cuts and burns; not being able to stop yourself from touching even at the worst of times

geeking out over carbon sensors and ammonia regulators your supervisor managed to convince the department to splurge on (nothing provided by them will enter your lab for another three semesters)

being one of the most prepared people ever when it comes to disaster prep; this includes zombies

'this was not.. our intended result... someone get the shovel.'

pettiness infiltrating your daily life in the form of utilizing your talents; coding programs and drawing up diagrams and running tests just to prove someone wrong (or just to fuck with them)

studying with your liberal arts friends; both of you staring at your respective incomprehensible lines of symbols and words that neither of you have the brainpower to comprehend. most of the lights are off and the library closes in ten minutes, but you know the night staff and they've learned to keep their distance until absolutely necessary.

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

Soon normal biological functions will become irrelevant with alternatives like this but only with strong support and investment from everyone involved, it will be suppresed and even sabotaged by the patriarchy and biological determinists for daring to break traditional conventions and social norms. Science is the future and our salvation, which makes it worse that capitalism perverts and corrupts everything it touches including scientific research.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Leninism: Why Not

Red Fascism has its roots in Leninist thought, an analysis dating back to critiques in 1939 with The Struggle Against Fascism Begins with the Struggle Against Bolshevism by Otto Rühle[28] and 1921 The Russian Revolution and the Communist Party by “Four Moscow Anarchists”.[29] The latter states:

[State Communism] is not and can never become the threshold of a free, voluntary, non-authoritarian Communist society, because the very essence and nature of governmental, compulsory Communism excludes such an evolution. Its consistent economic and political centralization, its governmentalization and bureaucratization of every sphere of human activity and effort, its inevitable militarization and degradation of the human spirit mechanically destroy every germ of new life and extinguish the stimuli of creative, constructive work.

As Gabriel Kuhn declares in his review of Malm’s recent publications:

As long as it is not clear how future Leninism of any stripe – anti-Stalinist, ecological, whatever – will be able to avoid these pitfalls, I really don’t find it terribly reassuring to suggest that, well, somehow it’ll turn out alright this time.

In a similar fashion, Malm does not add new elements to the discussions on escalation of tactics in the environmental movement, contrary to his book’s promise. It might be this hollow radicality that entertains bourgeois circles and will grant him a broad audience separate from the core of radical change.

Furthermore, his ability to brag about his own past flirtations with direct action, from the comfort of middle-class existence in a social democracy, shows that he really has no understanding of ecological struggle. People who actually risk themselves struggling for their land, their survival, our planet, face death or decades in prison. They do not get to put their actions on their resumé to sell books after just a few years. To put it plainly, Malm does not know the meaning of struggle. His expertise is in writing academic papers, securing a comfortable, privileged existence for himself, and climbing the class ladder.

Malm tries to ridicule James C. Scott for his not very popular nor influential book Two Cheers for Anarchism (2012), where he makes silly comments on traffic lights. If you’re familiar with Scott’s work, it becomes apparent that Malm’s attack might be caused by Scotts critique of Lenin in Seeing like a State (1998), exposing Lenin as controlling and elitist. Scott’s work will be mentioned further in the next sections.

[thequietpartisloud]

I have come to make an announcement

TheQuietPart has a Tumblr blog thingy, now! Yippee! I know that literally, actually nobody will see this because, well, I haven't linked it on my channel yet. So, effectively I'm talking into the void right now. But, it'd be weird if there was really nothing here when everyone takes a look. So. Hi.

[cerbreus]

moodboard for the rest of this week