Coral reef ecosystems are severely threatened by climate change. The urgent need to address the issue is driving a new era of innovation in reef science, shown by a global multidisciplinary exploration of different approaches to enhance coral resilience.
The high-contrast pattern of giant pandas helps them blend in with their natural environment.
Many curious animals can be found on the Indonesian Island of Sulawesi – such as the deer-hog and the midget buffalo.
A new Berkeley Lab analysis finds that if greenhouse gas emissions continue along the high-emissions scenario, low-to-no-snow winters will become a regular occurrence in the western U.S. in 35 to 60 years.
A study is the first to explore whether greater amounts of neighborhood open space and forest are associated with neighborhood-based walking in older adults in the U.S. Moreover, this is the first known nationally representative study to suggest that physical activity levels among older African Americans may benefit from greater amounts of neighborhood open space, including parks.
Children from less affluent backgrounds are likely to have found COVID-19 lockdowns more challenging to their mental health because they experienced a lower connection with nature than their wealthier peers, a new study suggests.
Seabirds from Gough Island in the south Atlantic, Marion Island near Antarctica and the coasts of both Hawaii and Western Australia have a dangerous habit: eating plastic.
In 1973, a scientist stumbled upon a strange tree in the Amazon rainforest, unlike anything he’d ever seen.
An international team has combined observations, experiments and computer modeling to better understand the repeating patterns of stones that form in frost-prone landscapes.
Mature oak trees will increase their rate of photosynthesis by up to a third in response to the raised CO2 levels expected to be the world average by about 2050, new research shows.
The number of threatened Australian native bee species is expected to increase by nearly five times after the devastating Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20, new research led by Flinders University has found.
“Throw me the idol; I’ll throw you the whip!” - From Raiders of the Lost Ark
A new study led by the University of Washington, in collaboration with Washington Department of Natural Resources, has found that recent bigleaf maple die-off in Washington is linked to hotter, drier summers that predispose this species to decline. These conditions essentially weaken the tree’s immune system, making it easier to succumb to other stressors and diseases.
The presence of greenspaces near homes and schools is strongly associated with improved physical activity and mental health outcomes in kids, according to a massive review of data from nearly 300 studies.
Sustainability is a 21st century buzzword, but a new interdisciplinary study shows that some communities have been conducting sustainable practices for at least a thousand years. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and coauthored by University of Oregon archaeologist Scott Fitzpatrick, the study integrates data from archaeology, history and paleoecology to gain new insight into human-environmental interactions in the deep past. Focused on tropical island archipelagoes including Palau in Micronesia, the interdisciplinary data suggest that human-driven environmental change created feedback loops that prompted new approaches to resource management. The data from Palau point to human impacts on marine ecology beginning about 3,000 years ago, impacts that affected fish populations and therefore one of ancient Palau’s most important food sources.
An emergency response mission to save corals in Dry Tortugas National Park was recently conducted and the results exceeded researchers’ expectations
New Research from Oxford University has revealed that shifts in the timing of egg laying by great tits in response to climate change vary markedly between breeding sites within the same woodland and that this variation is linked to the health of nearby oak trees.
Microorganisms, plants, and animals accomplish great feats every day. For example, by decomposing material, producing plant biomass, or pollinating flowers, they keep nature ‘up and running,’ thereby securing the livelihood of humans.
The hauling of rope on maritime vessels could result in billions of microplastic fragments entering the ocean every year, according to new research.
Researchers at Aalto University have found a way to mimic the natural processes that create complex shapes and landscapes with the help of a vibrating plate and resulting energy fields. The results are published on 22 September 2021 in Science Advances.
A study recently published in Nature Communications suggests that displacing cold-water communities of algae with warm-adapted ones threatens to destabilize the delicate marine food web. The team was led by University of East Anglia researchers and included DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers.
Fish can drown. While it may not seem like it, fish do require oxygen to breathe; it’s just that they get what they need from the oxygen dissolved in water rather than in the air.
In Greek mythology, Hydra was a monstrous water serpent that lived in a swamp and terrorized nearby residents. When intrepid Hercules sliced off one of Hydra’s multiple heads, two more heads grew back in its place. This counterintuitive result — when an action taken to reduce a problem actually multiplies it — is known as a hydra effect.
The green crab, Carcinus maenas, is considered a globally distributed invasive species, an organism introduced by humans that eventually becomes overpopulated, with increased potential to negatively alter its new environment. Traditionally, it’s been assumed that successful populations contain high genetic diversity, or a variety of characteristics allowing them to adapt and thrive. On the contrary, the green crab - like many successful invasive populations - has low genetic diversity, while still spreading rapidly in a new part of the world.
A novel scientific framework to consistently understand, plan, establish, evaluate and monitor ocean protection in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) developed by an international team of scientists including Ellen Pikitch, PhD, of Stony Brook University, is published in Science.
In order for it to get cloudy or rain, first moisture has to condense around particulate matter in the air called aerosols, and volatile organic compounds made by trees can be precursors to the kinds of tiny particles that eventually make clouds and rain.
Wingtips of certain species of silkmoth are structured to reflect sound and throw off attackers, according to a new study.
Sunlight was once thought to only fragment plastics in the marine environment into smaller particles that chemically resemble the original material and persist forever. However, scientists more recently have learned that sunlight also chemically transforms plastic into a suite of polymer-, dissolved-, and gas-phased products.
Bears that are killed often end up in museum collections. New technology allows us to see how the genes in these bears have changed over the years, and the same applies to their bacteria.
By testing easier-to-study coyotes, researchers from the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab, in collaboration with the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, have identified a range of lethal diseases threatening black-footed ferrets – one of the most endangered animals in North America.
Stepping patterns become slower and more variable if a person is uncomfortable with their surroundings, researchers have found.
When an organism encounters a threat in its environment, it is to the species’ advantage to warn others of the peril.
New research suggests that while there is an association between income and diversity of medium to large mammals, another factor is stronger: “urban intensity”, or the degree to which wild lands have been converted to densely-populated, paved-over grey cities.
New research reveals the location and intensity of key threats to biodiversity on land and identifies priority areas to help inform conservation decision making at national and local levels.
Managing a strategically placed 30% of land for conservation could safeguard 70% of all considered terrestrial plant and vertebrate animal species, while simultaneously conserving more than 62% of the world’s above and below ground vulnerable carbon, and 68% of all clean water.
Scientists studying tropical forests in Africa’s mountains were surprised to uncover how much carbon they store, and how fast some of these forests are being cleared.
Waves breaking and hitting the shore are a familiar sight to any beachgoer, but these powerful acts of nature play a big role in whether sea turtle nests thrive in their coastal surroundings. Researchers from the Florida State University Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science have found that powerful ocean waves pose a significant threat to sea turtle nests, with wave exposure potentially affecting egg incubation and hatchling productivity.
Woods Hole, Mass. (August 19th, 2021) -- A team led by Anne Cohen, a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, received $1.75M in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how coral reefs survive extreme heat events caused by climate change. The multidisciplinary project taps into expertise across four WHOI departments to uncover the oceanographic and biological processes that enable corals to survive marine heatwaves.
A team of NUS researchers has developed an integrative approach that increases the accuracy of mosquito surveillance and management. The two-pronged strategy boosts accuracy in sampling by including mosquito larvae, and species identification using short DNA sequences.
Expert Q&A: Do breakthrough cases mean we will soon need COVID boosters? The extremely contagious Delta variant continues to spread, prompting mask mandates, proof of vaccination, and other measures. Media invited to ask the experts about these and related topics.
A new study shows how an increase in nighttime lighting (light pollution) and heat from urban areas disturbs the hibernation periods of insects.
Chlorophyll, the green pigment found in plants and algae, emits faint red and far-red light when illuminated during photosynthesis.
A relatively new way of analyzing tree rings has allowed researchers to reconstruct temperatures in Mongolia since 1269 C.E.
A spot of sunshine, a love of nature, and a desire to make a difference – it’s a simple combination, but together, these three elements could be key to improving physical activity, health, and wellbeing of older South Australians.
Even in the wettest parts of the Amazon, the impact of forest fires, which spread through these areas only during extreme droughts, is sufficient to change the characteristics of the vegetation in the coming decades, although it is not as significant as in other parts of the biome.
An international research team has retraced the astonishing lifetime journey of an Arctic woolly mammoth, which covered enough of the Alaska landscape during its 28 years to almost circle the Earth twice.
A new study published by researchers from the University of Georgia suggests competition for food from coyotes—a relative newcomer to the Southeast—may be putting pressure on foxes, particularly the gray fox.
As people sheltered in place at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, sightings of wildlife in urban areas helped spawn a meme, “Nature is healing,” that reflected an intuitive belief: Carnivores were stretching their legs, and their ranges, by expanding into long-lost territory.
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