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The life of a plant scientist involves long hours in the lab, thinking up, designing, and monitoring experiments that might tell us something new about how life works. But sometimes it helps to log off the computer, hang up the lab coats, and seek inspiration in nature.

Sitting atop the land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, located on the eastern hills of the Santa Cruz Mountains and about five miles southwest of Stanford University's main campus, is one of its most beautiful classrooms: Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma). Since 1965, this site, a part of the School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S), has been the center of long-term scientific studies...

The scent of blooming flowers and fresh plant life is not just a perk of springtime; it is a key driver in the survival and evolution of butterflies and moths. New research led by scientists at Penn State reveals how the daily cycles of plant aromas are linked to the dietary habits and evolution of the winged insects collectively known as Lepidoptera.

New research from the University of Minnesota upends long-held understanding about how wolves, bears and cougars—three of Yellowstone National Park's most iconic carnivores—compete for prey.

Our environment is changing rapidly, largely as a result of human activities, leading to a significant decline in biodiversity. According to researchers from the University of Victoria and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, this decline does not only affect animal life, but also our understanding of their behavior, including tool use.

Insects are the dominant form of animal life on our planet, providing humans and wildlife with pollination, food, and recycling services but, despite concerns about population declines, little is known about how 99% of species globally are faring.

Why do some animals solve problems while others don't? The new study from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, now featured on the cover of Oikos, tackles this question with an unexpected star: the wild house mouse. This research dives into how different personality types—especially traits like boldness and shyness—influence innovation.

Commonly called the "corpse flower," Amorphophallus titanum is endangered for many reasons, including habitat destruction, climate change and encroachment from invasive species.

A new study has found that the world's finest yodelers aren't from Austria or Switzerland, but the rainforests of Latin America.

A study recently published in Nature indicates that human activities have a negative effect on the biodiversity of wildlife hundreds of kilometers away. A research collaboration led by the University of Tartu assessed the health of ecosystems worldwide, considering both the number of plant species found and the dark diversity—the missing ecologically suitable species.

Camouflage is a common defensive strategy among animals. By modifying their coloration and patterning, animals evade predators or ambush prey. Notably, more than 40% of alpine plant species in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and adjacent regions exhibit typical camouflage coloration.

An international team of researchers has found that climate change is negatively impacting the Californian wild salmon population, which should serve as a warning to Australia.

Butterfly collections are a common sight in museums, their brightly colored wings and unique patterns drawing the eyes of visitors. While these pinned specimens on display are stunning on their own, a new study from the University of Georgia explored how museum specimens can be used to track the spread of disease.

Beekeepers in the United States lost more than 55% of managed colonies last year—the highest loss rate since the Apiary Inspectors of America began determining them in 2011.

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.