Move over, cockroaches. Blogger Craig Leisher argues that it’s the horseshoe crab that’s the ultimate survivor. But can this ancient species survive a new list of human-induced threats?

Do conservation NGOs use tigers, lions and pandas to market and fundraise at the expense of other threatened species? David Salt and Hugh Possingham say yes. Here’s why their solution isn’t the answer.

Cheatgrass keeps ecologists up at night. Its spread eliminates native plants, sage grouse and mule deer. New research adds golden eagles to that list.

Snakes should fear us more than we fear them. In Vermont, timber rattlesnake research unexpectedly exposes humanity’s tangled relationship with snakes. Can education shape a new future?

Researchers in Vermont were tracking the movements of timber rattlesnakes for conservation planning, but they also made an unexpected discovery: snake fungal disease. Could these lesions be deadly to snakes ? Could it affect snake populations the way white-nose syndrome affects bats?

There could be a rattlesnake anywhere: Join researchers as they scamper up rocky slopes while tracking snakes in Vermont, all to gain a better understanding of the timber rattler’s movements, habits and health. Just watch where you put your hands.

Eelgrass and shellfish restoration programs are among the most successful in The Nature Conservancy’s marine portfolio — but what’s left to understand or implement? Bo Lusk, marine steward with The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coast Reserve program, discusses both the science we still need to accelerate the impact of sea grass and shellfish restoration, and what science we already have that should be applied more widely.

Anne Bradley is The Nature Conservancy’s forest conservation program director in New Mexico. Find out in this interview why the “sky islands” of the Jemez Mountains inspire her, why singing in bear country is a very good idea, and why conservation has always been about people’s values.

What science do we need that could jump start wide-spread coral reef restoration? And what science do we already know that needs wider application? James Byrne, marine science program manager for The Nature Conservancy’s South Florida and Caribbean programs, says it’s about maximizing genetic diversity, learning how to grow a coral thicket, and mapping out the locations over and under the 10 percent live coral cover tipping point.

Quick Study is just what it says — a rapid-fire look at a new conservation science study that might turn some heads.

The Study: McDonald, R. and E. Girvetz. 2013. Two challenges for U.S. irrigation due to climate change: increasing irrigated area in wet states and increasing irrigation rates in dry states. PLoS ONE 8(6): e65589. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065589.

The Questions: Climate change models forecast higher average temperatures that will cause crop-growing seasons in the United States to become hotter and drier. How will this impact the irrigation needs of agriculture in the United States? And how will farmers respond to drier conditions?

Mangroves are tough, opportunistic weeds, says Conservancy senior marine scientist Mark Spalding. But that doesn’t just mean you can restore them anywhere — there’s a narrow line above mid-tide that works, and legalities and laziness cause many restoration projects to fail. Communicate the science of proper mangrove planting, though, and you’ve got one of the most optimistic conservation tools around.

Christian Marks runs a dating service. For elm trees.

As Marks sees it, American elms may be stunningly beautiful, but they could use far more help finding suitable mates than those unlucky-in-love singles scanning Match.com.

Marks, a floodplain ecologist for The Nature Conservancy’s Connecticut River program, is leading a research effort to restore populations of elms, once one of the most iconic and beloved trees in the eastern and midwestern United States.

Restoring trees might seem simple: plant them and they will grow. But in this case, it will require more than Arbor Day volunteers to return elms. Marks’ project involves quests for hidden survivors, sophisticated plant breeding, clones and extensive monitoring – all aimed at speeding up the process of natural selection.

Conservancy Lead Marine Scientist Mike Beck comes off a week of conversations in New Orleans about coastal hazards to have the best talk of all about them with a cab driver — who blows him away with his knowledge of flood insurance and federal policy, the protective role of wetlands in Louisiana, and why we need to restore them now.

There are some new neighbors in town, and I can’t stop spying on them!

Allie and Bama recently moved to Orange Beach, Alabama. They live on prime real estate in this pristine beach town along the northern Gulf Coast. The climate is sub-tropical, grocery shopping is close-by, and the commute to work is more than manageable. They utilize locally sourced food for nourishment and have recycled building material for their humble abode. Their family is healthy and quickly growing with the arrival of two new offspring.

Allie, Bama and their newborns are not your typical beach-town family. They are birds of prey, called osprey (Pandion haliaetus) and in late spring this spring, The Nature Conservancy and our partners installed a camera to monitor their activities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We have been invited into the home of Allie and Bama, and it has been the best unscripted reality show I’ve ever seen!

In January, Nature Conservancy Senior Freshwater Scientist Jeff Opperman took a 1,500-mile trip down the Mekong River in January with his wife, son and daughter — to explore one of the most amazing freshwater ecosystems on the planet, one that could be radically changed in the next two decades by hydropower development. But the trip turned out to be straightforward compared with blogging about it afterwards for The New York Times.