Ecosystems
- Animals
For some salamanders, finding a mate is a marathon
Small-mouthed salamanders will travel close to nine kilometers on average to mate, a new study finds.
- Climate
Arctic kelp forests may create summer refuges from ocean acidification
Long summer daylight revs up carbon capture in Arctic kelp forests, offering a little relief from acidifying ocean water.
- Ecosystems
Oyster deaths linked to ‘atmospheric rivers’
Atmospheric rivers bring strong storms that could have been behind a 2011 California oyster die-off.
- Ecosystems
Losing tropical forest might raise risks of human skin ulcers, deformed bones
Bacteria that cause Buruli ulcer in people flourish with tropical deforestation.
- Plants
Bacteria help carnivorous plants drown their prey
Pitcher plant drowning traps are more difficult for an insect to escape when bacteria colonize them.
- Animals
An echidna’s to-do list: Sleep. Eat. Dig up Australia.
Short-beaked echidna’s to-do list looks good for a continent losing other digging mammals.
- Life
Lichens are an early warning system for forest health
Lichens, fascinating mosaics of fungi and algae or cyanobacteria, are made for sensing environmental change.
- Life
British red squirrels serve as leprosy reservoir
Red squirrels in the British Isles can harbor the bacteria that cause leprosy.
- Astronomy
Readers unimpressed by Earth’s newest neighbor
Exoplanet fatigue, runaway fish and more in reader feedback.
- Climate
Climate change shifts how long ants hang on to coveted real estate
Simulated climate warming reveals a new pattern in turnover of ant nests.
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- Ecosystems
‘Citizen Scientist’ exalts ordinary heroes in conservation science
Journalist Mary Ellen Hannibal’s “Citizen Scientist” tells tales of ordinary people contributing to science.
