The island of Madagascar, off the southern African coast, ha…

The island of Madagascar, off the southern African coast, has a highly unique endemic biota. Roughly 170 million years ago, Madagascar was landlocked in the middle of the supercontinent Gondwana. Gondwana eventually split by continental drift, forming Africa, South America, India, Australia, and Antarctica. For the past 88 million years, Madagascar has been isolated, but some new species can still reach the island from the coast of Africa. This suggests that the evolution of Madagascar’s unique biota is

Before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, hum…

Before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, humans had vastly changed the area. They had destroyed wetlands, extracted oil and gas (which led to sinking of the ground), constructed dams and levees, dredged, and built channels for ship traffic. Also, rising sea levels had caused the death of some cypress swamps. These changes suggest that development of New Orleans destroyed which major ecosystem service that might have lessened the hurricane’s devastation?