Is survival of species more dependent on human preference than biological requirements? Before reading on, rank your willingness to pay to conserve each of the species pictured below. Human impacts such as overexploitation, pollution, forced habitat loss and introduction of invasive species have caused extinction rate to skyrocket >1000x background…

100–200 million curies of radiation were released into the atmosphere after the Chernobyl accident of 1986, leading to permanent evacuation of 116,000 residents and leaving a 4,200km² exclusion zone (CEZ) in its wake. Extreme radiation levels caused plants and wildlife to die within days. Hunting, forestry and agriculture had caused…

Sharks have survived 450ma including 5 mass extinctions, but the past 3 decades have seen population declines over 90% due to anthropogenic pressures including; overfishing, climate change, habitat destruction and water pollution — leaving them virtually extinct in the Mediterranean Sea. Sharks are among the latest maturing and slowest reproducing…