Feature Channels: Nature

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For a quarter of a century the annual Great Backyard Bird Count has been a bright spot for nature lovers. The 25th edition of the event is coming up February 18 through 21.

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The carbon stock in managed boreal forest landscapes is increasing, while it is relatively unchanged in less intensively utilized forests where carbon losses due to forest fires have instead been significant during 1990-2017, according to a new report by the International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA).

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A British scientist has discovered a new species that belongs to a group of insects so rare that its closest relative was last seen in 1969.

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New study Amazon forests capture high levels of atmospheric mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining published in Nature Communications. An international team of researchers documented substantial mercury accumulation in soils, biomass, and resident songbirds in some of the Amazon’s most protected and biodiverse areas.

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Green spaces in cities have a number of positive effects: they’re good for our physical and mental health, they’re good for the environment, and they can even help fight off the effects of climate change.

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A wildlife biologist at the University of Rhode Island has observed a significant growth in the local population of white-footed mice this year, which could increase Lyme disease risk next year while also providing additional food to area predators and increasing the likelihood that homeowners find mice in their basements.

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The history of life on Earth has been marked five times by events of mass biodiversity extinction caused by extreme natural phenomena.

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From lifting our moods, to boosting our immune systems, the intrinsic health benefits of being in nature are well known. But as urbanisation continues to encroach on green spaces, finding ways to connect with natural environments is becoming more challenging.

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Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have discovered the southern pine beetle, one of the most damaging tree-dwelling insects in the Southeast, in forests in Maine and New Hampshire. The southern pine beetle has never been seen this far north and has forestry experts concerned, specifically about the pitch pine barren found throughout New England.

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Miller found the bird – a species never previously observed in the Ocean State – during an all-day event he organized in which dozens of local birders sought rare birds along the Rhode Island coast.

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A group of grassland scientists will assess how the biodiversity of restoration mixes, specifically species richness, genetic composition and relatedness, may impact soil health and pollinator habitat.

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What’s at the heart of California’s uncertain future precipitation? New study finds natural cycles are likely cause.

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There are more than 300,000 septic systems permitted in six counties adjacent to the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon (IRL) in Florida. Researchers assessed water quality and measured stable nitrogen isotopes in groundwater, surface water, and macrophyte tissue to identify nitrogen sources impacting the lagoon.

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When a fire broke out on the deck of the M/V XPress Pearl cargo ship on May 20, 2021, an estimated 70-75 billion pellets of preproduction plastic material, known as nurdles, spilled into the ocean and along the Sri Lankan coastline. That spill of about 1,500 tons of nurdles, many of which were burnt by the fire, has threatened marine life and poses a complex clean-up challenge.

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Nebraska scientist says time is running out for West Antarctic ice sheet

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A new study co-led by a Cornell researcher has identified serpentinite – a green rock that looks a bit like snakeskin and holds fluids in its mineral structures – as a key driver of the oxygen recycling process, which helped create and maintain the sustaining atmosphere for life on Earth.

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A new study by an international team of researchers explored the physical and macroeconomic impacts associated with mitigation pathways with different levels of temperature overshoot.

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A new international study coordinated by IIASA shows how near-term mitigation can help to prevent an overshoot in global temperatures, thereby reducing climate risks and bringing long-term economic gains.

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In California’s Sierra Nevada, western pine beetle infestations amped up by global warming were found to kill 30% more ponderosa pine trees than the beetles do under drought alone.

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For at least the last 30 years, not a single country has met the basic needs of its residents without overconsuming natural resources, according to new research led by the University of Leeds.

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The tiny cosmos of organisms living on a streamer of algae in a river could help scientists learn what turns an environment from healthy to toxic and back again. A multidisciplinary team led by NAU has won $3 million from the NSF to translate the codex contained in the microbiome of common algae into computer algorithms that can predict a wide range of microbial interactions.

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Researchers at the University of Bristol have identified the huge impact of flowering plants on the evolution of life on Earth.

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Climate change is altering familiar conditions of the world’s oceans and creating new environments that could undermine efforts to protect sea life in the world’s largest marine protected areas, new research from Oregon State University shows.

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Surprising as it sounds, all life forms in the ocean, from small krill to large tuna, seem to obey a simple mathematical law that links an organism’s abundance to its body size.

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Molecular self-assembly expert Chun-Long Chen describes the challenges and opportunities in bio-inspired nanomaterials in a special issue of Chemical Reviews.

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Human-caused bird extinctions are driving losses of functional diversity on islands worldwide, and the gaps they leave behind are not being filled by introduced (alien) species, finds a new study led by UCL and University of Gothenburg researchers.

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Researchers studying honey bees have found that colony size matters in determining how members make decisions in the face of dynamic survival conditions. Large, established colonies are less likely to take chances while smaller colonies are much more willing to take risks.

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The high-contrast pattern of giant pandas helps them blend in with their natural environment.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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An international team has combined observations, experiments and computer modeling to better understand the repeating patterns of stones that form in frost-prone landscapes.

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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.

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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.

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“Throw me the idol; I’ll throw you the whip!” - From Raiders of the Lost Ark

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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.

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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.

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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.

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An emergency response mission to save corals in Dry Tortugas National Park was recently conducted and the results exceeded researchers’ expectations