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	<span style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; ">Thawing Permafrost, Penny-sized Frogs, 140 New Species Discovered, Ploughsare Tortoise Conservation, and Other News</span></p>
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			<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Page-cover(1).jpg" style="width: 570px; height: 320px; " /></p>
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			Photo credit: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com">www.nytimes.com</a>&nbsp;(Associated Press)&nbsp;(left);&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bbc.com">www.bbc.com</a>&nbsp;(Durrell Conservation Trust and TRAFFIC)&nbsp;(right)</p>
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				The California Academy of Sciences described&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215095613.htm">140 new species</a>&nbsp;</strong>in 2011, traversing six continents and three oceans to discover all these new creatures, and reminding us that there are plenty of new species to be found throughout the globe. &nbsp;Other researchers have found <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212123943.htm">the world&#39;s smallest known frogs</a></strong>,&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16112187">rare black-throated robins nesting grounds</a></strong>, and <strong><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/leaping-cockroach-discovered.html?_r=4&amp;ref=science">cockroaches with extreme leaping ability</a></strong>.</li>
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				Researchers at the University of Adelaide raise the question about <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212132632.htm">hundreds of threatened US species failing to make the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) list</a>&nbsp;</strong>by comparing the ESA list with&nbsp;the&nbsp;International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) globally threatened list.</li>
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				A number of species are facing questions about their future, including <strong><a href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/hunting-wolves-out-west-more-less/">US wolf populations</a></strong>, <strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16138206">lemurs in Madagascar</a></strong>, and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/science/canada-begins-hearings-on-infectious-salmon-anemia-virus.html?_r=1&amp;ref=science" style="font-weight: bold; ">Pacific Northwest salmon</a>.<strong>&nbsp; </strong>Officials in Sierra Leone hope to <strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16165760">preserve&nbsp;</a><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16165760">bird species through e</a><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16165760">cotourism</a></strong>.</li>
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				The world&#39;s most endangered (and perhaps beautiful) tortoise, the Ploughshare Tortoise (above), is featured in a <strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14293351">great BBC video</a></strong> on the unique tactics used for protecting tortoises from poachers when they&#39;re released from captive breeding. &nbsp;</li>
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				Danish researchers have used <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111211134006.htm">DNA techniques to identify all fauna present in an entire lake</a></strong>... using a water sample the size of a shot glass (<a href="http://ausable.org/courses/course_information/summer_session_i/#Molecular%20Tools">Molecular Tools</a> anyone?).</li>
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				Climate change may be <strong><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/science/earth/warming-arctic-permafrost-fuels-climate-change-worries.html?_r=1&amp;hp">exacerbated by thawing permafrost</a></strong>, releasing tremendous amounts of methane into the atmosphere.</li>
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				The National Association of Evangelicals released a report on how global changes are impacting the world&#39;s poor titled, &quot;<strong><a href="">Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment</a></strong>.&quot;</li>
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				Forests in Canada may be tettering on thresholds for <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111216084215.htm">forest fires</a></strong>, and <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111209150200.htm">expanding deadzones</a></strong> are making fish counts much more challenging. &nbsp;Climate change is the likely driver for both.</li>
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				In positive climate change news, flowers and bees appear to be <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212124601.htm">keeping pace with climate variations</a></strong>.</li>
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				Scientists shed light on the <strong><a href="">extremely long distances</a>&nbsp;</strong>elephant seals travel, <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111216112903.htm">the early life of barracudas</a></strong>, and the <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111209105326.htm"><strong>physics of great white shark attacks on seals</strong></a>.</li>
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				Hydraulic fracturing may be to blame for <strong><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/some-blame-hydraulic-fracturing-for-earthquake-epidemic.html?_r=1&amp;ref=science">earthquakes</a></strong> in areas where little seismic activity has been experienced&nbsp;historically.</li>
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				Human pollution is reaching <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111216112510.htm">remote, arctic lakes</a></strong>, and parking lots (and other built environments) are causing&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/12/15/143795309/ornithologist-discusses-causes-of-bird-downings">bird downings</a></strong>&nbsp;during migration.</li>
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