Ecosystems

Ecosystems

Madagascar’s Fantastic Forests

Produced by WBUR in Boston to accompany a special program on Madagascar, this award-winning Web site offers a remarkably detailed look at life on this island, with a focus on the struggle to preserve Earth’s diversity of life. It includes photo galleries, audio clips, videos, maps, and much more. Go to: http://www.wbur.org/special/madagascar/

Ecosystems

Fish as Farmers: Reef residents tend an algal crop

A damselfish cultivates underwater gardens of an algal species that researchers haven't found growing on its own.

Ecosystems

A Chronicle of Coasts: Study charts historical changes in seas, estuaries

New research compares the long-term ecological impact of human activities in estuaries and coastal seas on three continents.

Ecosystems

Top-Down Lowdown: Predators shape coastal ecosystem

The health of southern California kelp forests may depend more on the ecosystem's predator population than the forest's access to nutrients.

Ecosystems

Antarctic birds are breeding later

Rising global temperatures are causing Arctic birds to breed earlier in the spring, but for Antarctic birds, the reverse is true.

Ecosystems

Light All Night

New digital images demonstrate that artificial light from urban areas penetrates deep into some of America's most remote wild places, where it may disrupt ecosystems that have evolved with a nightly quota of darkness.

Ecosystems

Caviar Caveats

Caviar may become harder to find as a new trade ban goes into effect that's aimed at giving the most prized sturgeon a much-needed break from overfishing for their roe.

Ecosystems

Corals don’t spread far from their birthplaces

Creating a marine protected area might offer only limited benefits to vulnerable corals, because viable coral larvae don't appear to spread far from their points of origin.

Ecosystems

Saving Sturgeon

Sturgeon species around the world are in trouble, which is why humans will increasingly be stepping in to give them a big assist.

Ecosystems

Forest Field Trip

Take a hike in the woods of Kentucky in this electronic field trip. The site offers an overview of forest ecology and management for grades 4 to 8. It includes video clips, an interactive game, a slideshow about the American chestnut, information about forest careers and tree products, activity pages, and a teacher’s guide. Go […]

Ecosystems

Life Underfoot: Microbial biodiversity takes surprising twist

When it comes to numbers of bacterial species, rainforest dirt is virtually a desert, but desert dirt bursts with biodiversity.

Ecosystems

Squirt Alert

A sea animal of unknown origins and lacking any known predator has begun commandeering ecosystems in cool coastal waters throughout the world.