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Some creatures defend territories extending over several kilometers, but when Jayne Yack (Carleton University, Canada) encountered miniature newborn warty birch caterpillars (Falcaria bilineata), she wondered if she might have discovered one of the world's smallest, and youngest, territorial critters.

North America's smallest falcon, the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), has declined across the continent since the 1970s, yet the causes continue to stump raptor biologists. A new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research adds a piece to the puzzle with the discovery that in the Northeast, where declines are most alarming, fledglings demonstrate a relatively high survival rate.

A team of environmental scientists at the University of Sydney, working with a pair of colleagues from the University of Copenhagen, are pondering possible ways to save the extremely endangered orange-bellied parrot. In their paper published in the journal Molecular Ecology, the group outlines possible ideas for saving the birds, and the drawbacks of each.

A Yale-led study warns that global climate change may have a devastating effect on butterflies, turning their species-rich, mountain habitats from refuges into traps.

Aya Goldshtein, Omer Mazar, and Yossi Yovel have spent many evenings standing outside bat caves. Even so, seeing thousands of bats erupting out of a cave and flapping into the night, sometimes in densities so high that they appear liquid, astounds the scientists every time. But until recently, the bat biologists were even more baffled by what they didn't see.

University of Manchester scientists have discovered significant concentrations of microplastics in the male reproductive system of sea turtles.

It's tricky to predict precisely what the impacts of climate change will be, given the many variables involved. To predict the impacts of a warmer world on plant life, some researchers look at urban "heat islands," where, because of the effects of urban structures, temperatures consistently run a few degrees higher than those of the surrounding rural areas. This enables side-by-side comparisons of plant...

A new artificial intelligence tool could aid in limiting or even prevent pandemics by identifying animal species that may harbor and spread viruses capable of infecting humans.

In a study published in Systematic Biology, researchers from Imperial College London, UCL, Dalhousie University and the United Nations Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Center described how their new simulation methods improve understanding of how patterns of biodiversity emerge across the globe.

When monitoring the health of mammal populations, scientists often use camera traps to observe the animals in their habitats. But weasels are so sneaky they're rarely caught on camera—leaving scientists with questions about this population of predators.

Scientists have revealed for the first time that some fish sneak up on their prey by hiding behind sharks.

Why do some plants thrive in specific regions but not in others? A study led by researchers at the University of Göttingen explores the factors shaping plant distributions and how these patterns have changed over millions of years. Analyzing nearly 270,000 seed plant species worldwide, the research highlights the roles of environmental conditions and dispersal barriers in influencing global plant diversity. The results were...

A research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) was able to revive dormant stages of algae that sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea almost 7,000 years ago. Despite thousands of years of inactivity in the sediment without light and oxygen, the investigated diatom species regained full viability.

A team of scientists led by The University of Western Australia has discovered two new species of trapdoor spiders in the Kimberley region, marking the first time members of the species have been found in northern Australia.

Deforestation, farming and climate-fueled fires are driving increasing threats to fungi, the lifeblood of most plants on Earth, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warned Thursday.

It probably feels obvious that having a close friend can influence your well-being. But do the groups that you're a part of also affect your well-being? For example, does the culture of your work colleagues influence your productivity?

A new study led by McGill University researchers indicates that humpback whales in the southeastern Pacific combine real-time environmental cues with their memories of conditions in their Antarctic feeding grounds to determine when to embark on their annual 10,000-kilometer journey. With climate change accelerating, the researchers warn this strategy may become less effective amid shifting ocean conditions.

Coral diseases, particularly in the Caribbean, have caused major declines in coral populations, especially affecting staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (A. palmata) corals, which play a crucial role in reef ecosystems.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found that the critically endangered regent honeyeater faces hidden genetic risks while still retaining relatively high genetic diversity, risks that become apparent when combining genomic data across time with ecological modeling.

An extinct lineage of parasitic wasps dating from the mid-Cretaceous period and preserved in amber may have used their Venus flytrap-like abdomen to capture and immobilize their prey.

Scientists don't call it the "Great Dying" for nothing. About 252 million years ago, upward of 80% of all marine species vanished during the end-Permian mass extinction—the most extreme event of its kind in Earth's history.

While sneaking up on prey, cuttlefish employ a dynamic skin display to avoid detection in the last moments of approach, researchers at the University of Bristol have found.

A small international team of marine biologists has observed the first known instance of a shark intentionally making sounds. In their study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group reveals that several of the sharks made clicking noises when they were handled, and they suggest ways the noises might have been made.

Getting zapped with millions of volts of electricity may not sound like a healthy activity, but for some trees, it is. A new study, published in New Phytologist, reports that some tropical tree species are not only able to tolerate lightning strikes, but benefit from them. The trees may have even evolved to act as lightning rods.

A new study has revealed that African elephants have an extraordinary ability to meet their colossal food requirements as efficiently as possible. Data from over 150 elephants demonstrated that these giants plan their journeys based on energy costs and resource availability.

The world's amphibians are in trouble. Because of their sensitivity to climate change, habitat loss, and pollution, they may be the canary in the coal mine for the nascent anthropogenic mass extinction. Approximately 200 amphibian species have become extinct since the 1970s, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that 34% of the 7,296 known remaining species are likewise at risk.

Would you answer someone's cry for help if that someone was sitting unharmed in front of you? Most probably would not, and bats have similar reservations, according to a new study published in Current Biology in which researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the University of Naples Federico II show that bats can reconcile what they see or smell with what they...

Known for their powerful ability to launch out of the water in pursuit of prey, the loss of great white sharks from False Bay in South Africa has scientists and conservationists concerned about the rippling effects on the ecosystem.

How much will strawberry harvests shrink when extreme heat harms pollinators? How much will timber production decline when windstorms flatten forests? How much will recreational value disappear when large wildfires sweep through Colorado's mountain towns?

Georgia Tech scientists are revealing how decades-long research programs have transformed our understanding of evolution, from laboratory petri dishes to tropical islands—along the way uncovering secrets that would remain hidden in shorter studies.

A team of scientists with the Sea Mammal Research Unit, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, in the U.K. has found that gray seals are able to monitor their blood oxygen levels as a means to prevent drowning. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes experiments they conducted at a pool with captured gray seals involving changes to oxygen...

Insecticides may help growers hoping to protect their crops from harmful insects, but they also may contribute to a larger amount of some weeds, according to a study led by researchers at Penn State.

An international team on board Schmidt Ocean Institute's R/V Falkor (too) working in the Bellingshausen Sea rapidly pivoted their research plans to study an area that was, until last month, covered by ice. On January 13, 2025, an iceberg the size of Chicago, named A-84, broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf, one of the massive floating glaciers attached to the Antarctic Peninsula...

Researchers from the University of Florence and University of Pisa conducted an experiment demonstrating that managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) on Giannutri Island significantly deplete nectar and pollen availability, leading to around an 80% decline in wild bee populations. Results provide strong causal evidence that honeybee competition, rather than environmental change, is responsible for wild bee decline.

Climate change is causing the world's glaciers to disappear at an alarming rate. Scientists have been studying and modeling this process for years, but until now, no research group has specifically examined how glacier melt will affect glacier-fed streams and their ecosystems.

A team of botanists with members from Muse–Museo delle Scienze, Udzungwa Corridor LTD, Via Grazia Deledda and the National Museum of Kenya has discovered a new species of tree growing in the mountainous rain forests of Tanzania. In their paper published in the journal Phytotaxa, the group describes how and where the tree was found and its characteristics.

A new study has discovered that birds in the Galápagos Islands are changing their behavior due to traffic noise, with those frequently exposed to vehicles showing heightened levels of aggression.

Protecting native forests combined with transitioning fallow and unmanaged agricultural lands to 'Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) and other place-based agroforestry systems has direct benefits for local fisheries, according to a new study published in npj Ocean Sustainability by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Kamehameha Schools and Seascape Solutions.

Forests provide many ecosystem services, including microclimate regulation, biodiversity preservation, air and water purification, and soil protection. Together with the oceans, they are one of the two most important carbon sinks, due to their capacity to store carbon in the soil and in tree biomass.

The oceans teem with photosynthesizing bacteria, tiny-tailed dinoflagellates gobbling other plankton, algae surrounded by intricate glass skeletons. In the 1960s, the ecologist G. Evelyn Hutchinson pointed out something confusing: Why do so many kinds of plankton exist? Mathematically, they shouldn't all be able to survive when they must compete for the same set of nutrients.

Scientists stalking a small marsupial through a remote Australian rainforest say they may have found a clue to the mystery of why its bigger kangaroo cousins hop instead of walk.

Imagine looking at the world through the stalked compound eyes of krill in the Southern Ocean. All of a sudden, a penguin appears like a voracious giant, streamlined like a torpedo, chasing and consuming thousands of krill at rapid speed.

Climatic stress events, such as extreme temperatures and prolonged droughts, are increasingly affecting tree growth and phenology—the timing of developmental stages like leaf burst and senescence.

When Jeff Kneebone was a college student in 2002, his research involved a marine mystery that has stumped curious scientists for the last two decades. That mystery had to do with thorny skates in the North Atlantic. In some parts of their range, individuals of this species come in two distinct sizes, irrespective of sex, and no one could figure out why. At the...

A study conducted by researchers from São Paulo State University (UNESP), in Brazil, and collaborators shows that lemon leafcutter ants (Atta sexdens) exhibit behaviors that go beyond so-called social immunity, i.e. the ability to detect pathogens and try to get rid of them for the benefit of the colony.

A major review of over 67,000 animal species has found that while the natural world continues to face a biodiversity crisis, targeted conservation efforts are helping bring many species back from the brink of extinction.

The red coral colonies that were transplanted a decade ago on the seabed of the Medes Islands have survived successfully. They are very similar to the original communities and have contributed to the recovery of the functioning of the coral reef, a habitat where species usually grow very slowly.

Although fungi of the genus Piloderma are common, scientists have now discovered five previously unknown species. One of these is one of the most widely distributed species in Northern Europe, while another is found only in old-growth forests.

Recent research by scientists at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), Texas Tech University, and several other collaborating institutions have identified ancient fossils of a newly described tree species named Astropanax eogetem.

In the summer of 2020, researchers from the University of Manitoba set up a time-lapse camera overlooking the Churchill River Estuary. The goal of their research was to understand the interactions between beluga whales and marine vessels. However, what they captured was unexpected—a group of bowhead whales, a phenomenon never before documented in the area.