Ecosystems
- Environment
Landscape Explorer shows how much the American West has changed
The online tool stitches together historical images into a map that’s helping land managers make decisions about preservation and restoration.
- Animals
This bird hasn’t been seen in 38 years. Its song may help track it down
Using bioacoustics, South American scientists are eavesdropping on a forest in hopes of hearing the song of the long-missing purple-winged ground dove.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
