Ecosystems

  1. Animals

    The last leg of the longest butterfly migration has now been identified

    After a long journey across the Sahara, painted lady butterflies from Europe set up camp in central Africa to wait out winter and breed.

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  2. Animals

    A ‘fire wolf’ fish could expand what we know about one unusual deep-sea ecosystem

    Unlike other known methane seeps, Jacó Scar is slightly warmer than the surrounding water and is a home for both cold-loving and heat-loving organisms.

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  3. Environment

    The Deepwater Horizon oil spill ruined long-term shore stability

    For at least eight years, the oil disaster continued to kill soil-retaining marsh plants along the Louisiana coast, accelerating shoreline loss.

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  4. Climate

    Wildfires in boreal forests released a record amount of CO2 in 2021

    Boreal forests store about one-third of the world’s land-based carbon. With wildfires increasing there, fighting climate change could get even harder.

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  5. Paleontology

    In the wake of history’s deadliest mass extinction, ocean life may have flourished

    Ocean life may have recovered in just a million years after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, fossils from South China suggest.

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  6. Animals

    A rare rabbit plays an important ecological role by spreading seeds

    Rabbits aren’t thought of as seed dispersers, but the Amami rabbit of Japan has now been recorded munching on a plant’s seeds and pooping them out.

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  7. Microbes

    Scientists have found the first known microbes that can eat only viruses

    Lab experiments show that Halteria ciliates can chow down solely on viruses. Whether these “virovores” do the same in the wild is unclear.

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  8. Ecosystems

    Tiger sharks helped discover the world’s largest seagrass prairie

    Instrument-equipped sharks went where divers couldn’t to survey the Bahama Banks seagrass ecosystem.

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  9. Oceans

    Sharks face rising odds of extinction even as other big fish populations recover

    Over the last 70 years, large ocean fishes like tuna and marlin have been recovering from overfishing. But sharks continue to decline toward extinction.

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  10. Environment

    Heat waves in U.S. rivers are on the rise. Here’s why that’s a problem

    In recent years, heat waves in U.S. rivers have gotten more frequent, causing trouble for fish, plants and water quality.

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  11. Animals

    Tree-climbing carnivores called fishers are back in Washington’s forests

    Thanks to a 14-year reintroduction effort, fishers, or “tree wolverines,” are once again climbing and hunting in Washington’s forests after fur trapping and habitat loss wiped them out.

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  12. Ecosystems

    ‘Fen, Bog & Swamp’ reminds readers why peatlands matter

    In her latest book, author Annie Proulx chronicles people’s long history with peatlands and examines the ecological value of these overlooked places.

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