During Droughts, Soil Microbes Produce Volatile Carbon Metabolites
Department of Energy, Office of ScienceSoil microbes use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a food source but can also release VOCs as gases that enter the atmosphere.
Soil microbes use volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a food source but can also release VOCs as gases that enter the atmosphere.
A new study reveals compelling evidence that forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council®(FSC®) in Gabon and the Republic of Congo harbour a higher abundance of larger mammals and critically endangered species, such as gorillas and elephants, compared to non-FSC certified forests.
Severe droughts and wildfires, invasive species, and large insect outbreaks are straining national forests and surrounding lands. A new report outlines a new approach to forest stewardship that “braids together” Indigenous knowledge and Western science to conserve and restore more resilient forestlands in the U.S.
Researchers have introduced an innovative underwater vest equipped with an antioxidant MXene hydrogel for the sensitive recognition of fish locomotion. This novel device aims to deepen our understanding of aquatic life by enabling precise monitoring of fish behavior in their natural habitats.
The path to quantum supremacy is made challenging by the issues associated with scaling up the number of qubits. One key problem is the way that qubits are measured.
Research has uncovered important new insights into the evolution of oxygen, carbon, and other vital elements over the entire history of Earth – and it could help assess which other planets can develop life, ranging from plants to animals and humans.
Children who live in areas with natural spaces (e.g., forests, parks, backyards) from birth may experience fewer emotional issues between the ages of 2 and 5, according to a study funded by the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program.
Meet Michael Strickland and Zachary Kayler, associate professors in the Department of Soil and Water Systems at University of Idaho. They are leading a national contingency of scientists in building what amounts to huge terrariums at U of I: all to study a world that scientists still don’t understand — the deep soils under our feet.
In the context of global warming, natural vegetations have been altered worldwide in spite of they are far away in the niches. Warming plus precipitation increase can extend the distributions of forest, grassland and savanna northwards while cooling plus drought may drive the tundra towards the equator.
For millions of years, underground fungi have lived in symbiosis with plant roots. Researchers have been able to study both sides of this interaction up close, using RNA sequencing to understand gene expression: one of the first cross-kingdom spatially-resolved transcriptomics studies to date.
As highlighted by both national and international media, a severe winter weather disaster—the phenomenon known as a ‘dzud’—during the 2023-2024 winter has presented unprecedented challenges for the people of Mongolia.
Ten years later, data gathered in Brazil have proven highly influential across atmospheric science
While climate change has led to an increase in the abundance of octopuses, heat stress from projected ocean warming could impair their vision and impact the survivability of the species.
By analyzing 42 years worth of canned salmon, University of Washington scientists show that levels a common marine parasite rose in two salmon species in the Gulf of Alaska from 1979 to 2021. The rise may be a sign of ecosystem recovery, possibly influenced by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.
A new research paper in the Journal of Threatened Taxa has confirmed for the first time the nesting of a reintroduced female Siamese crocodile. Two hatchlings resulted from the nesting, and they are now being head-started, raised by conservationists in captivity until they are old enough to be successfully released into the wild.
Meet Kenny Wallen, an assistant professor of human dimensions in the Department of Natural Resources and Society at the University of Idaho. Everyone has opinions about how Idaho’s natural resources should be used.
Using cutting-edge computational methods and supercomputing infrastructure at UC San Diego, researchers have built the largest and most detailed bird family tree to date—an intricate chart delineating 93 million years of evolutionary relationships between 363 bird species, representing 92% of all bird families.
To woo a mate, the Albert’s Lyrebird of Australia becomes a real song-and-dance bird. Each male first chooses a stage of entangled vines, then in performance he shakes the vines as part of his courtship footwork, synchronizing each shake with the beat of his striking song.
Research highlights the potential significance of ectomycorrhizal fungi diversity in promoting forest ecosystem health and strengthening the symbiotic relationship between mycorrhizae and host plants.
The following statement was released today by Central Park Zoo:Postmortem testing has been completed for Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl that was found down in the courtyard of a Manhattan building a little over a year after his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo was vandalized on February 2, 2023.
According to the traditional model of nuclear shells, oxygen-28 is expected to be a doubly magic nucleus with 20 neutrons and 8 protons. However, an experiment performed at the Rare Isotope Beam Facility in Japan measured the direct decay of oxygen-28 into four neutrons and oxygen-24 and found that it is not a bound nucleus.
“USFICA would create a public-private partnership to save wildlife and wild places around the world. What that means is government funds would leverage private support, making public dollars go much farther. And those monies would go directly to protected areas and parks around the world.” John Calvelli, WCS Executive VP for Public Affairs
In a new study recently published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology, an international team of scientists led by palaeobiologist Julia Türtscher from the University of Vienna has explored the puzzling world of rays that lived 150 million years ago and discovered a previously hidden diversity – including a new ray species.
In natural environments, plants encounter biotic and abiotic stresses that can significantly affect their productivity and health.
Roots play a vital role in plant health, adapting to environmental changes and indicating crop growth.
Animal reproductive medicine, theriogenology, helps with breeding and conservation of species, says Tufts University faculty member.
A study led by University of Florida scientists published today in the journal of Trends and Ecology and Evolution advocates for change to promote standardized practices in the field – a practice that has been missing from the science.
Funding of field conservation research stations worldwide has been drastically reduced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising the alarm for more than 170 conservation researchers representing 157 field stations in 56 countries in a new paper published in Conservation Letters.
The blue whale genome was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, and the Etruscan shrew genome was published in the journal Scientific Data.
Leafhoppers, a common backyard insect, secrete and coat themselves in tiny mysterious particles that could provide both the inspiration and the instructions for next-generation technology, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.
A study highlights the significant advancements in water environment analysis facilitated by the Landsat missions. This research, for the first time, offers a comprehensive global assessment of cloud-free observations (NCOs) from Landsat, underscoring its pivotal role in environmental and hydrological studies.
Researchers from the University of Arizona and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy user facility, discovered that that plants can maintain specific microbe partnerships during times of drought, revealing a new level of resilience.
Born this winter, Bobbin, 7 weeks old; and Sage, 3 weeks old have joined a flock of 8 adult sheep in the Tisch Children’s Zoo.
Recent studies highlight a significant transformation in China’s urban landscape, where the greening of city cores is compensating for vegetation loss in expanding urban areas.
A recent study reveals significant shifts in the composition of global forests and their carbon stocks from 2001 to 2020.
The fertility of both female and male tsetse flies is affected by a single burst of hot weather, researchers at the University of Bristol and Stellenbosch University in South Africa have found.
New research led by the University of South Australia explains how eating faeces (known as coprophagy) shapes wild birds’ digestive tracts (gut biota), enabling them to absorb lost or deficient nutrients and adjust to seasonal variations in food sources.
The researchers carried out a hybridization experiment between female koi carp and male Chinese rare minnow, eventually obtaining allodiploid and allotriploid hybrid offspring. They made a systemic comparison between them and found that the triploid hybrids showed faster growth, higher expression of growth-promoting genes and lower expression of growth-inhibiting genes than the diploid hybrids. This study provides implications to explain the faster growth of polyploid fish.
The SMART Partnership is pleased to announce the inaugural SMART Global Congress in Windhoek, Namibia from 10-14 March 2024.
PNNL scientists have been studying how rivers and streams breathe. Their research focuses on respiration, organic matter, and natural disturbances that affect rivers and streams.
A streaming camera has gone live on the Great Horned Owl named Athena. She's nested for more than a dozen years at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. Now, everyone can see her family grow.
Anoles are the scuba-diving champions of the lizard world, able to stay underwater for more than 16 minutes. For animals whose body temperature depends on the environment, time spent in a cool running stream can have some tradeoffs, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Mass General Brigham study reveals that ED visits and death are heightened weeks after major climate-driven extreme weather events – highlighting the long-lasting impacts these events may have on health and infrastructure
For more than a decade, invasive Asian honeybees have defied evolutionary expectations and established a thriving population in North Queensland, much to the annoyance of the honey industry and biosecurity officials.
Imagine: You find the dried-up remains of a once green and lush philodendron on your bookshelf and realize you can’t remember the last time you watered your houseplants.
A team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst that specializes in accounting for the carbon dioxide release by streams, rivers and lakes recently demonstrated that the chemical process known as “carbonate buffering” can account for the majority of emissions in highly alkaline waters.
The critical role of gardeners in identifying 'future invaders' - ornamental plants that could become invasive species – has been revealed by researchers from the University of Reading and the Royal Horticultural Society.
New research in journals of the American Meteorological Society suggest altered ocean-sea ice dynamics, dampened temperature extremes, differing responses to solar radiation.
Walleye are one of the most sought-after species in freshwater sportfishing, a delicacy on Midwestern menus and a critically important part of the culture of many Indigenous communities. They are also struggling to survive in the warming waters of the Midwestern United States and Canada.According to a new study published Feb. 26 in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters, part of the problem is that walleye are creatures of habit, and the seasons — especially winter — are changing so fast that this iconic species of freshwater fish can’t keep up.