More than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa.

Scientists warn that, coupled with the commercial hunting of gorillas, it may be enough to push them to extinction.

[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6220122.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)

The reports keep coming in — elk, deer, antelope, bighorn sheep and other big-game animals — killed in a wave of poaching that has alarmed state and federal wildlife officials in Nevada and several other Western states.

Authorities said they are seeing more organized rings of poachers and unlicensed guides chasing the biggest elk and mule deer, with the largest antler array, sometimes trading them on Internet auction sites or submitting pictures to glossy hunting magazines that prominently feature big kills.

[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/09poach.html?ex=1323320400&en=7af95b4625c39fff&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss “Read the Story”) (New York Times)

There are more black bears in Virginia now than at any time since before the Civil War, biologists say, and it isn’t because hunters have quit going after them.

The bear population is rising from 3% to 7% each year, with strongholds in the mountains and the Great Dismal Swamp. There are about 5,000 to 6,000 bears statewide, with most in the Appalachian Mountains. It’s estimated that as many as 350 bears live in the Great Dismal Swamp.

It’s also estimated that hunters kill 20% of Virginia’s bear population each year. Wildlife officials say that the bear population can withstand those kill levels.

[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=997117 “Read the Story”) (AP via WTOP)

Virginians are killing their cliffs. In Shenandoah National Park, people are trampling rare plants and other distinctive features of ancient rock formations.

The perpetrators are not vandals but everyday people and their children. Some are rock climbers and long-distance hikers. Most are day hikers who follow short, unofficial trails to natural overlooks.

[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=994588 “Read the Story”) (AP via WTOP)

Microbes are frequently thought of as the lowest of the low, sitting at the bottom of the food chain, decomposing other organisms scraps, but a new study suggests that microbes act as top-level competitors. Georgia Tech biologists found that microbes make rotting food stink so they can compete with bigger predators that would otherwise scavenge the food source.

Microbes don’t simply sit passively around, waiting for upper levels of the food chain to deliver them the leftovers. Instead, they meddle directly with the top of the food chain, making certain foods off-limits to upper-level consumers.

[Read](http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/11/microbes_scent_knocks_out_comp_3.php?utm_source=seedmag-main&utm_medium=rss “Read the Story”) (SEED Magazine)

A diverse group of organizations has launched a project to begin long-term monitoring of the Appalachian Trai’ls environmental health, with plans to tap into an army of volunteer “citizen scientists” and their professional counterparts.

Together, they will collect information about the health of plants, air and water quality, and animal migration patterns to build an early warning system for the 120 million people along the Eastern Seaboard.

The Appalachian Mountains are ideal for the project because they are home to one of the richest collections of temperate zone species in the world. They also has a variety of ecosystems that blend into one another — hardwood forests next to softwood forests next to alpine forests.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15893091/ “Read the Story”) (AP via MSNBC)

There are too many wild horses on Assateague Island, and they are threatening the environment by eating essential grasses.

The horses eat two types of grasses that are essential to the landscape. They enjoy the beach grasses that maintain the structure of sand dunes, which prevent flooding, and their favorite food source is cord grass, which is beneficial for the Chesapeake Bay and for humans living near it.

This has prompted the National Park Service to consider ways to reduce the number of horses.

[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=985370 “Read the Story”) (AP via WTOP)

Far fewer polar bears cubs are surviving off Alaskas northern coast, a federal government report released Wednesday has concluded.

The study of polar bears in the south Beaufort Sea, which spans the northern coasts of Alaska and western Canada, also found that adult males weigh less and have smaller skulls than those captured and measured two decades ago.

[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=220&pid=0&sid=976521&page=1 “Read the Story”) (AP via WTOP)

Give them a little booze, and fruit flies get rowdy. After too much alcohol, they’ll stagger and, eventually, pass out. But for a select few flies, alcohol’s effects are much weaker. Now, scientists have identified the genetic mutation responsible for this difference.

[Read](http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/11/mutant_fruit_flies_have_geneti.php “Read the Story”) (Seed Magazine)

A pair of black bear cubs got more than they bargained for when they went digging for food inside a dumpster at a Nevada campground. The dumpster’s bear-proof lid, which someone had left open, closed on the cubs after they climbed inside.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15333684/ “Read the Story”) (LiveScience via MSNBC)

The number of “dead zones” in the world’s oceans may have increased by a third in just two years, threatening fish stocks and the people who depend on them. Fertilizers, sewage, fossil fuel burning and other pollutants have led to a doubling in the number of oxygen-deficient coastal areas every decade since the 1960s.

The damage is caused by explosive blooms of tiny plants known as phytoplankton, which die and sink to the bottom, and then are eaten by bacteria which use up the oxygen in the water. Those blooms are triggered by too many nutrients — particularly phosphorous and nitrogen.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15329993/ “Read the Story”) (MSNBC)

Federal wetlands regulators have dropped a bombshell on environmentalists with a little-publicized proposal to relax restrictions on filling in certain wetlands along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast to speed recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

The Corps’ proposal would allow property owners and developers to skirt the conventional “regional general permit” process for any projects that fill up to 5 acres of “low-quality” wetlands in the six southernmost Mississippi counties. Especially galling to environmentalists: The new process would also eliminate the requirement for public notice of such projects.

The change in procedure would allow property owners to **decide on their own that any wetlands in planned developments are 5 acres or less and of “low quality,” and proceed quickly to the building phase**. The proposal covers virtually all land uses from houses to shopping centers. Tidal wetlands, historic sites and any known habitat of endangered or threatened species are excluded.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15305378/ “Read the Story”) (MSNBC)