Ecosystems

  1. Animals

    One mountain in Brazil is home to a surprising number of these parasitic wasps

    Darwin wasps were thought to prefer temperate areas. But researchers scoured a mountain in the Brazilian tropics and found nearly a hundred species.

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  2. Plants

    On some Australian islands, sea level rise may be helping mangroves thrive

    Rising seas usually spell trouble for mangroves. But the first survey of the Howick Islands in 50 years finds that mangroves there have expanded a lot.

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  3. Animals

    Fake fog, ‘re-skinning’ and ‘sea-weeding’ could help coral reefs survive

    Coral reefs are in global peril, but scientists around the world are working hard to find ways to help them survive the Anthropocene.

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  4. Animals

    At the foot of a melting glacier in Peru, llamas helped revitalize the land

    A partnership between scientists and farmers suggests how llama herding can mitigate some of the impacts of climate change.

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  5. Life

    See the wonders of two newfound deep-sea coral reefs off the Galápagos

    Coral reefs around the world are in trouble. But these reefs in the Galápagos Island Marine Reserve have yet to be damaged by humans.

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  6. Life

    10 billion snow crabs have disappeared off the Alaskan coast. Here’s why

    In the eastern Bering Sea, the snow crab population plummeted after a marine heat wave in 2018. The crabs may have starved, a new study finds.

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  7. Paleontology

    A one-of-a-kind trilobite fossil hints at what and how these creatures ate

    The preserved contents suggest the trilobite fed almost continuously and had a gut environment with an alkaline or neutral pH, researchers say.

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  8. Ecosystems

    ‘Crossings’ explores the science of road ecology

    Ben Goldfarb talks about his new book, which looks at the science that’s helping to prevent animals from becoming roadkill.

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  9. Earth

    When discussing flora and fauna, don’t forget ‘funga’

    Conservation efforts often overlook fungi. That can change by using “mycologically inclusive language,” researchers say.

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  10. Animals

    Adult corals have been safely frozen and revived for the first time

    Chunks of living corals could be frozen for safekeeping and revived later to restore reef ecosystems that are withering in warming seas.

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  11. Climate

    Some leaves in tropical forests may be getting too hot for photosynthesis

    Climate change may be forcing some tropical leaves to stop photosynthesis and die. It’s still unclear what effect this will have on entire forests.

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  12. Ecosystems

    This seagrass is taking over the Chesapeake Bay. That’s good and bad news

    Higher water temperatures are wiping out eelgrass in the Chesapeake Bay and weedy widgeongrass is expanding. Here’s why that seagrass change matters.

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