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Global trade has made it easier to buy things. But our consumption habits often fuel threats to biodiversity - such as deforestation, overhunting and overfishing - thousands of miles away. Now, scientists have mapped how major consuming countries drive threats to endangered species elsewhere. Such maps could be useful for finding the most efficient ways to protect critical areas important for biodiversity, the researchers suggest in a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. For example, the maps show that commodities used in the United States and the European Union exert several threats on marine species in Southeast Asia, mainly due to overfishing, pollution and aquaculture. The U.S. also exerts pressure on hotspots off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and at the mouth of the Orinoco around Trinidad and Tobago. European Union's impacts extend to the islands around Madagascar: Réunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The maps also revealed some unexpected linkages. For instance, the impact of U.S. consumption in Brazil appears to be much greater in southern Brazil (in the Brazilian Highlands where agriculture and grazing are extensive) than inside the Amazon basin, which receives a larger chunk of the attention. The U.S. also has high biodiversity footprint in southern Spain and Portugal, due to their impacts on threatened fish and bird species. These countries are rarely perceived as threat hotspots.

New analysis reveals troubling evidence of tree cover loss within Alliance for Zero Extinction sites (AZE sites), areas that house species that are endangered and endemic. From 2001 to 2013, AZE sites lost 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of tree cover, an area roughly the size of Connecticut. While this is a relatively small amount of tree cover loss compared to global averages, for species in AZE sites, losing even a small area of tree cover can mean life or death.

interactive infographic showing the 100 most endangered species in the world

Conservationists got a mixed bag of news following an international group overseeing the world's species protection initiatives meeting this weekend. On the positive side, officials decided to officially take the giant panda off of the endangered species list, citing steady successes in preserving the bears' natural habitats. But though this is certainly a small victory, pandas are far from out of the woods when it comes to their species' long-term survival.

A number of biologists have recently made the argument that extinction is part of evolution and that saving species need not be a conservation priority. But this revisionist thinking shows a lack of understanding of evolution and an ignorance of the natural world.

JetBlue is teaming up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help Caribbean vacationers avoid contributing to the illicit trade of threatened and endangered species.

As ever more species face extinction, we lose the vital ecosystem services they provide, such as honeybee crop pollination. For its continued existence, mankind is reliant upon an untold plethora of species that maintain the status quo. As they disappear, that existence becomes increasingly fragile.

Every Fall, college and universities across the country welcome companies on their campuses to provide networking opportunities for students. These events can include career fairs, interviews, and industry specific networking gatherings. One such company is PepsiCo, major user of Conflict Palm Oil and top corporate laggard in Rainforest Action Network's Snack Food 20. "Pepsi's palm oil supply chain is saturated with rainforest destruction, human rights and labor abuses, and species extinction," said Adam Stackable, an Oklahoma student, "I won't work for a company that uses Conflict Palm Oil." Adam and several other students confronted a Pepsi recruiter at Oklahoma State University and delivered a letter urging the company to take action to address the egregious practices in its supply chain.

We've all heard of the troubling mass extinction of animal life, so it may come as a surprise to hear that seeds are in even deeper trouble. Since the turn of the century, 93% of US seed varieties have gone extinct and with them the diversity of our meals.  As clearly shown in the infographic (left) published by National Geographic's John Tomanio, nature's tastiest gifts have dramatically disappeared across the past century. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (the FAO), 75% of the world's food is now generated from only 12 plants and five animal species.

Bees around the world face a real challenge to sustain their populations in the face of threats such as habitat loss and pesticides. Hawaiian yellow-faced bees are no different, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has now moved to protect the insects by placing seven species on the endangered list, a first for any type of bee in the US.

Last month, the first comprehensive study on global bush meat consumption found that 113 species in Southeast Asia have dwindled to precarious numbers, primarily due to bush meat hunting and trapping. But while this region may be one of the worst affected, the study, published in Royal Society Open Science, reports that bush meat hunting is driving many of the world's mammals to the brink of extinction. "The large mammals are much more threatened than the small ones," says William Ripple, a professor of ecology at Oregon State University and lead author of the study. "This is likely because there is more meat on large mammals."

New research found that China's reforestation program, the world's largest, overwhelmingly leads to the planting of monoculture forests that fall short of restoring the biodiversity of native forests -- and can even harm existing wildlife. The researchers found, however, that multi-species forests could be planted without detracting from the economic benefits China's poor and rural citizens receive for replanting forests.

Bordering Myanmar on the southeast and the Indian states of Tripura on the north and Mizoram on the east, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is one of these areas. Characterized by semi-evergreen forest that is considered part of the highly endangered Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, CHT is a refuge for at least 26 globally threatened species, making it a critical conservation priority. But conservation efforts in the region have historically been challenged by the very remoteness and political instability that have helped protect it from deforestation seen in other parts of Bangladesh. That protection is now disappearing with the influx of settlers from other regions who are increasingly clearing forests for agriculture, logging trees for timber and firewood, and hunting wildlife. In other words, time is running out for Bangladesh's last rainforest and its traditional tribes.

Rising temperatures and changing precipitation are taking a toll on coffee farms worldwide, including the plantations around Mount Kilimanjaro. If the world hopes to sustain its two billion cup-a-day habit, scientists say, new climate-resilient species of coffee must be developed.

New York City's Department of Parks & Recreation has launched a Street Tree Map that allows users to not only learn about the city's different tree species, but also about the ecological and economic benefits they offer to the city. Using figures laid out by the U.S. Forest Service, the city, along with a team of 2,300 volunteers, completed a citywide tree census and used the data to calculate the estimated annual benefit in dollars trees provide to New York City.

Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans - our great ape cousins teeter on the precipice of extinction. And it's not much of a secret that we humans have had a lot to do with putting them there. But what about the other primates? The news isn't much better, it turns out. According to a new study, 60 percent of primates - including drills and gibbons, lemurs and tarsiers, bush babies and spider monkeys - face the threat of extinction. Even those not in immediate danger of dying out are at risk, as the numbers of three-quarters of all primate species are trending downward.

Pacific Northwest shellfish producers are the first harbingers of a trend that may have wide ranging implications for the broader fishing industry: ocean acidification. By proactively seeking out adaptation solutions early on, the Northwest shellfish industry is attempting a self-rescue that may provide important lessons as other commercial species begin feeling the impacts of increasing acidification.

A movement is afoot to help cosmopolitan species thrive, with help from surveys and tools like i-Tree and eBird.

A giant solar receiver in California's agricultural region may offer some hope for farmers who have been denied water in a record-setting drought. Conservation policies to protect endangered fish species have have contributed as well.

As evidence mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet

mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet.