A WCS researcher investigates why rainforests stay so moist, and their role in the global water cycle. When we wipe out our forests, he explains, we risk losing much more.

Wildlife Conservation Society gives support to proving “Biotic Pump” model NEW YORK (May 1, 2009)—Climatologists have long assumed that vast rainforests are largely a regional consequence of heavy rain fall, but these ecosystems may actually be huge water pumps that generate most of their rain, says a Wildlife Conservation Society researcher in the most recent edition of BioScience Magazine. In fact, climate experts have largely ignored a recently published hypothesis on how rainforests influenc...

In the face of warming ocean waters due to climate change, some coral reefs off East Africa are demonstrating unusual resiliency. A WCS study shows that successful fisheries management is key.

Successful reef management coupled with geophysical factors produces hearty corals off East Africa coast NEW YORK (April 23, 2009) – The Wildlife Conservation Society announced today a study showing that some coral reefs off East Africa are unusually resilient to climate change due to improved fisheries management and a combination of geophysical factors. WCS announced the results of the study at the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), which is meeting this week in Phuket, Thailand. The ...

WCS researchers find that coral reefs next to middle class communities in East Africa have far fewer fish than the reefs in either poor or affluent communities.

Photographic confirmation of fleet-footed big cats a first for that country NEW YORK (February 23, 2009)—A Wildlife Conservation Society-supported survey of the Sahara has captured the first camera-trap photographs of the critically endangered Saharan cheetah in Algeria. The survey was conducted by researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Office du Parc National de l’Ahaggar (OPNA), and the Université de Béjaïa, with support from WCS and Panthera. The photographs were taken a...

Park safeguards western lowland gorillas, chimps, elephants, and other wildlife NEW YORK (February 18, 2009)—Gorilla population surveys, conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society, have helped the government of Cameroon create a new national park which will protect more than 600 gorillas, along with other threatened species such as chimpanzees, forest elephants, buffaloes, and bongo. Called Deng Deng National Park, the new protected area measures approximately 224 square miles (580 ...

Three months after Cameroon created a park to help protect the Cross River gorilla, it declares a second park to safeguard an important population of western lowland gorillas.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, and other groups say the health of coral reef fish is directly linked to local economies. Wealthy and least developed regions have the healthiest fish populations, while those in the middle are suffering.

Park rangers still need support in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo NEW YORK (January 7, 2009)— Protecting gorillas in Virunga National Park relies on supporting the rangers who have already sacrificed much to save the park’s mountain gorillas and other wildlife, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which has pledged $15,000 in support for the park guards and their families. In the latest bout of insecurity in the war-torn region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the park...