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A team of international researchers has uncovered a surprising genetic mechanism that influences the vibrant and complex patterns on butterfly wings. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team, led by Luca Livraghi at the George Washington University and the University of Cambridge, discovered that an RNA molecule, rather than a protein as previously thought, plays a...

As far as the causes of global biodiversity loss are concerned, there are evidently perception gaps among students of environment-related subjects worldwide, as a survey conducted by Goethe University Frankfurt with more than 4,000 students from 37 countries has now shown.

Climate change is affecting ecosystems in many different ways. One of its consequences is increasingly longer and more intense periods of heat, which affect essential natural processes—such as pollination. A team of researchers from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) has now investigated in more detail how heat affects one particular player in these processes—the bumblebee.

A team of biologists in the U.K. and Canada has found that at least one type of bird has its own distinct nest building style. In their study, published in the journal Science, the group conducted a two-year study of nest-building by sparrow weavers in the Kalahari Desert.

Researchers predict that 12.7% of marine teleost fish species are at risk of extinction, up five-fold from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's prior estimate of 2.5%.

A new study from Hebrew University reveals that marmoset monkeys use specific calls, known as "phee-calls," to name each other, a behavior previously known to exist only in humans, dolphins, and elephants. This discovery highlights the complexity of social communication in marmosets and suggests that their ability to vocally label each other may provide valuable insights into the evolution of human language.

If you'd rather be watching TV on your couch than dancing at the club, you might have something in common with aging griffon vultures. New research shows that young griffon vultures move frequently between sleeping sites in different locations and interact with many friends but get set in their ways as they age, roosting in the same spots with the same individuals. As moving...

Just like human societies, ant societies have a division of labor. Within a colony, some individuals feed the young while others are soldiers who protect the colony from intruders. New research across 794 ant species, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, reveals that group size determines whether or not division of labor evolves.

Rutgers University-New Brunswick scientists have discovered a virus that caused a nationwide die-off of superworms, a common food for birds, reptiles, other pets and, more and more so, even for humans as an alternative protein source. In doing so, they pioneered a different way to search for and identify emerging viruses and pathogens in humans, plants and animals.

Tropical birds known for their massive bills, hornbills include 32 Asian and 27 African species in the avian family Bucerotidae. Many hornbills have a casque on their upper mandible, which in some species is spectacularly colorful. Many species also share a unique breeding strategy, in which nesting females incubate eggs and raise chicks inside sealed natural tree cavities for up to 100 days, depending...

Male fruit flies will become oblivious to physical danger as they become more engaged in courtship and sex, new research shows.

Microplastics widely distributed in the ocean are readily ingested by marine organisms, particularly zooplankton, whose food particles are similar in size to microplastics.

Curtin University researchers have used state-of-the-art imaging technology to shed light on the hearing sensitivity of Australian Little Penguins and the danger of marine noise pollution.

Humans must regulate blood sugar concentrations to stay healthy and to fuel our cells. Too little or too much can cause serious health complications, and high blood sugar is a hallmark of the metabolic condition, diabetes. New research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research may enable potential solutions to metabolic disease by turning to evolution and to bats.

How does one species become two? If you're a biologist, that's a loaded question. The consensus is that, in most cases, the process of speciation occurs when individuals from a single population become geographically isolated. If they remain separate long enough, they lose the ability to interbreed.

Whether you're strolling through a garden, wandering a park, or simply enjoying an open space in the United States, you're likely to notice bees buzzing about the flowers. While honeybees, imported from Europe in the 17th century to produce honey, are the most recognizable, they aren't the only bees at work. If you're a keen observer, you might spot some of the thousands of...

An international study led by biologists from Monash University and the University of Tuscia has revealed how long-term exposure to pharmaceutical pollutants is dramatically altering fish behavior, life history, and reproductive traits.

A team of researchers led by Rutgers University-New Brunswick scientists has analyzed crop yields of more than 1,500 fields on six continents, and found that production worldwide of important, nutritionally dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes is being limited by a lack of pollinators.

A team of marine biologists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that climate change is the reason for the population collapse of Alaskan snow crabs in the Bering Sea.

Most fungi need only wind or water to disperse their spores. But some, including truffles, need a little help from animals.

Two recent amphibian-focused studies shed light on the ecological importance of red-backed salamanders, while confirming that proactive measures would prevent costly impacts from a wildlife disease spreading across Europe that has not yet reached North America.

Education and community awareness, removal of problem animals and exclusion areas are significantly more effective in reducing saltwater crocodile attacks in the Northern Territory than a widespread culling program to reduce crocodile numbers, according to a new study published in the journal People and Nature.

Community scientists in Pennsylvania have reported multiple new species of bees never before found in the commonwealth through a monitoring program led by Penn State.

A team of researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has discovered that aoudad—an animal in the sheep and goat family—can catch and spread many of the same respiratory pathogens that can impact desert bighorn sheep, a native species in Texas that often shares its habitat with aoudad.