Ecosystems

  1. Ecosystems

    To save Appalachia’s endangered mussels, scientists hatched a bold plan

    Biologists have just begun to learn whether their bold plan worked to save the golden riffleshell, a freshwater mussel teetering on the brink of extinction.

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  2. Plants

    This parasitic plant consists of just flashy flowers and creepy suckers

    With only four known species, Langsdorffia are thieves stripped down to their essentials.

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  3. Oceans

    These ancient seafloor microbes woke up after over 100 million years

    Scientists discover that microbes that had lain dormant in the seafloor for millions of years can revive and multiply.

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  4. Animals

    A wasp was caught on camera attacking and killing a baby bird

    Some wasps scavenge carrion or pluck parasites off birds, but reports of attacks on live birds are rare.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    To prevent the next pandemic, we might need to cut down fewer trees

    Investing in halting deforestation and limiting the wildlife trade could be a cost-effective way to reduce the risk of pandemics, a new analysis finds.

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  6. Animals

    How Yellowstone wolves got their own Ancestry.com page

    Since the wolves’ reintroduction to the park, 25 years of devoted watching has chronicled bold moves, big fights and lots of puppies.

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  7. Animals

    The ‘ratpocalypse’ isn’t nigh, according to service call data

    A new study shows that rat-related reports in New York City went down during COVID-19 lockdowns compared with previous years during March and April.

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  8. Life

    Fish eggs can hatch after being eaten and pooped out by ducks

    In the lab, a few carp eggs survived and even hatched after being pooped out by ducks. The finding may help explain how fish reach isolated waterways.

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  9. Ecosystems

    Bringing sea otters back to the Pacific coast pays off, but not for everyone

    Benefits of reintroducing sea otters in the Pacific Northwest, such as boosting tourism, vastly outweigh the costs, a new analysis shows.

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  10. Animals

    A nose-horned dragon lizard lost to science for over 100 years has been found

    It’s now known that a Modigliani’s lizard, first found in 1891 in Indonesia, is bright green but can shift shades like a chameleon.

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  11. Life

    Fish poop exposes what eats the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish

    During population booms, crown-of-thorns can devastate coral reefs. Identifying predators of the coral polyp slurpers could help protect the reefs.

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  12. Life

    Neon colors may help some corals stage a comeback from bleaching

    When some corals bleach, they turn bright colors. Stunning hues may be part of a response that helps the corals recover and reunite with their algae.

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