A new study shows that whales and outsized land mammals — as well as seabirds and migrating fish — historically played a vital role in keeping the planet fertile by transporting nutrients from ocean depths and spreading them across seas, up rivers, and deep inland, even to mountaintops. However, massive declines and extinctions of many of these animals has deeply damaged this planetary nutrient recycling system. Listen to Professor Joe Roman's interview with Scientific American...

The research was widely covered in news outlets worldwide. Read the Guardian's coverage: "Our philosophical attitude towards poo needs to change."