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As erratic weather upends the seasonal rhythms that crops depend on, farmers in the island nation of Madagascar are feeling the effects but struggle to adapt to the new normal.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University along with multiple collaborating institutions including the University of Copenhagen and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have conducted an extensive investigation into microbial ecosystems in the deep ocean hadal zone.

Whales are not just big, they're a big deal for healthy oceans. When they poop, whales move tons of nutrients from deep water to the surface. Now new research shows that whales also move tons of nutrients thousands of miles—in their urine.

Over the past two decades, the Gulf of Maine has become a popular landing spot for invasive species from across the world, says Geoffrey Trussell, an evolutionary biologist and professor at Northeastern University's Marine Science Center in Nahant, Massachusetts.

America's butterflies are disappearing because of insecticides, climate change and habitat loss, with the number of the winged beauties down 22% since 2000, a new study finds.

A new study published in PeerJ reveals that the teeth of South American sea lions (Otaria byronia) hold valuable clues about past population dynamics. Researchers from the Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos, the Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos, and the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco analyzed changes in tooth size and growth layer groups (GLGs) over the past...

Pollinators are animals that help to transport pollen from one location to another in the plant reproduction process. Pollination is crucial to our well-being and to the survival of ecosystems. Pollination is used by about 85% of wild plants and over 70% of cultivated plants to reproduce. However, the diversity of pollinator species is declining due to climate change, habitat loss and the intensification...

A new analysis from researchers at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History reveals that nearly half of the genus Heliconia, a group of tropical plants popular for their bright, beak-shaped flowers, are threatened with extinction.

KTU researchers are proposing an innovative forest regeneration model and a sound analysis system that can predict forest conditions and detect environmental changes in real time.

New research from the University of Oxford has provided fresh insights into how bird songs evolve over time, revealing a significant role for population dynamics in shaping song diversity and change. The findings—based on an analysis of over 100,000 bird songs—have been published in the journal Current Biology.

How do symbioses between plants and fungi develop? How do plants decide whether or not to enter into a partnership with fungi? The team of Prof. Dr. Caroline Gutjahr, director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, is shedding light on the underground partnership of plants.

In February, researchers from conservation organization Condrik Tenerife were about two kilometers off the coast of Tenerife Island, looking for sharks, when they caught sight of something much stranger.

Tropical rainforests play a vital role in global climate regulation and biodiversity conservation. However, a major new study published in Science reveals that forests across the Americas are not adapting quickly enough to keep pace with climate change, raising concerns about their long-term resilience.

Butterflies are beloved creatures that inspire art and play an important ecological role, but according to new research featuring faculty members at Binghamton University, State University of New York, these cherished insects are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Biofilms, ubiquitous bacterial communities embedded in a slimy matrix, are the oldest form of multicellularity on Earth; they are extremely resistant to antibiotics and stick tenaciously to most surfaces, including living tissue.

Whether it is flowers sprouting in the spring, cicadas mating in the blistering heat of summer, or caterpillars hatching to feed on their favorite host plant, across the natural world, the timing of biological events is so important it spawned its own scientific discipline: phenology.

Miranda Zammarelli, Guarini, was a graduate student at Dartmouth for just nine days when her interests in birds, history, and archives converged in a set of old filing cabinets in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

A research team led by William O'Hearn from the German Primate Center—Leibniz Institute for Primate Research has found that female Guinea baboons court males more intensively when they show special foraging abilities. Two baboon groups in their natural habitat in Senegal and one group at Nuremberg Zoo were studied.

Satellite images from space are allowing scientists to delve deeper into the individual functions of different tropical forest canopies with new and surprising results.

Scientists will be able to better identify what amphibian species and habitats will be most impacted by climate change, thanks to a new study by UNSW researchers.

Researchers from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have discovered that bison in Yellowstone National Park—the only group of American bison that has continually existed as wildlife in the United States—now consist of a single large, interbreeding population derived from multiple historic bison herds.

An international team of marine biologists have published research in Molecular Ecology that shows the benefits of gene flow between geographically distant and genetically different killer whale populations. The paper is titled "Admixture Increases Genetic Diversity and Adaptive Potential in Australasian Killer Whales."

Analysis of sedimentary ancient DNA has illuminated 6,000 years of the lives of Adélie penguin colonies on Antarctica's Ross Sea coast, showing how animals in the region responded to climate and environmental change events over millennia.

Scientists at the Natural History Museum (NHM), London, have discovered that a long-overlooked moth specimen in the Museum's collection was in fact collected by explorer and naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, in 1855. This was at the same time as he was formulating his own revolutionary ideas on the origins of species that he would go on to share with Charles Darwin.

Ancient frog relatives survived the aftermath of the largest mass extinction of species by feeding on freshwater prey that evaded terrestrial predators, University of Bristol academics have found.

Researchers at Rice University have uncovered a critical link between rising temperatures and declines in a species' population, shedding new light on how global warming threatens natural ecosystems. The study, published in Ecology and led by Volker Rudolf, revealed that rising temperatures exacerbate competition within populations, ultimately leading to population crashes at higher temperatures. It offers one of the first clear experimental confirmations that...

Hungarian researchers have discovered unique bacterial communities in thermal waters that may help unravel the development of stromatolites, one of Earth's oldest rock formations. These findings not only contribute to understanding Earth's geological past but also provide valuable insights into biological and geological processes occurring in extreme environments today.

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have discovered that what was previously thought to be a unique seaweed species of bladderwrack for the Baltic Sea is in fact a giant clone of common bladderwrack, perhaps the world's largest clone overall. The discovery has implications for predicting the future of seaweed in a changing ocean.

We live in an era when human activities are negatively modifying the world at alarming rates. We are experiencing a massive species extinction due to environmental damage caused by human land use change, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and the introduction of invasive species.

An exploratory expedition describes two deep-sea, low-oxygen ecosystems in the Red Sea, including some surprising fish. The findings are published in PNAS Nexus.

An herbicide may "drift" from the agricultural fields where it's sprayed and harm weeds that grow at the edge of the fields, impacting pollinators.

When sea otters were reintroduced along the coastlines of islands in Southern California and British Columbia, researchers saw kelp forests return to areas that were destroyed by sea urchins. But how slow or fast they grew back depended on the location—and until now, scientists didn't understand why.

A research team has identified a new species of tiger swallowtail butterfly living in eastern parts of North America. In their study, published in the journal ZooKeys, Julian Dupuis, B. Christian Schmidt, Charles J. DeRoller and Xi Wang captured and compared samples of Papilio glaucus and Papilio canadensis hybrids and compared them with both species, finding evidence that the hybrid butterflies were actually a...

Comprehensive screening analysis of organohalogen compounds in blubber samples of 11 toothed whale species stranded on Japanese coasts revealed species-specific accumulation profiles, with a total of more than 300 organohalogen compounds detected. For the first time, the composition profiles of marine natural products were found to be useful indicators of the feeding habitats and migration history of individual whale species.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, working with partners in Africa and the UK, present a novel plant-host identification method that could help in the fight to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases such as malaria, through restricting the preferred plant food sources of mosquitoes.

The narwhal (Monodon monoceros), an iconic whale of remote Arctic waters, is widely known for its long, spiral tusk, which is really an elongated tooth. The tusk, which is predominantly found in males and can grow up to 10 feet long, is one of the most fascinating traits in nature and the inspiration for myths such as the unicorn. It is believed to play...

A study recently published in Science has found that classical models of collective behavior fail to explain the mechanisms driving desert locust swarms—an ecological phenomenon that affects millions of lives worldwide. This research offers a new perspective on the cognitive and sensory mechanisms that underpin collective motion, challenging long-held beliefs in the field of animal behavior.

An analysis of data covering 12 years and 10 U.S. Corn Belt states reveals that farmers suffer economic loss from the overapplication of genetically engineered corn designed to combat rootworm pests.

Researchers from the University of Padua in Italy found a juniper at Utsjoki in Finnish Lapland, which they analyzed to be 1,647 years old by examining the annual rings. The paper is published in the journal Ecology.

Conservation strategies are turning back the doomsday clock in threatened Florida-Scrub Jays—but not without caveats, a new study published in Current Biology shows.

Animals have to make strategic decisions when foraging, especially when they are very hungry. One of these decisions involves choosing between predictable (less risky) and unpredictable (more risky) sources of food, especially if the latter promises greater reward.

A new study suggests that the removal of predatory fish such as sharks from coral reefs may be a key factor driving outbreaks of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.

Researchers from Polar Bears International, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and the University of Toronto Scarborough reveal the first detailed look at polar bear cubs emerging from their dens, captured through nearly a decade of remote camera footage in Svalbard, Norway. This research, published today on International Polar Bear Day in the Journal of Wildlife Management, marks the first combination...

The reason why so many tree species can coexist in species-rich forests has long been a subject of debate in ecology. This question is key to understanding the mechanisms governing the dynamics and stability of forests. An international team of scientists led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has now discovered unexpected patterns in the spatial distribution of tree species, as reported...

Animal antics have captured public attention and viral views across the U.S. in the last few years with the advent of mini cameras that capture the movements of animals in front yards nationwide, from bear to deer.

Eavesdropping on baleen whale songs in the Pacific Ocean reveals year-to-year variations that track changes in the availability of the species they forage on, reports a new study led by John Ryan, of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), published in PLOS One.

Shark sightings by scuba divers reveal the movements of marine predators throughout the year, according to a study published in PLOS One by George Balchin, William Hughes and colleagues at the University of Sussex, U.K., and Aquaplanet Dive Center, South Africa.

Fire is an element that has always been present in Mediterranean ecosystems. Thus, once the direct impacts caused by fires have been overcome, to a greater or lesser extent, in the medium or long term, there is a recovery of forest mass, and life re-emerges.

The effects of pesticide exposure on pollinator health may be more complicated than originally thought, according to a team of researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences who recently published an article on the topic in Biology Letters.