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The extensive northern forests of Canada, Alaska and Siberia are about to fundamentally change their tree density because of climate change. According to a new study led by researchers from Wageningen University & Research and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this change will increase the risk of forest fires. The research team explored 20 years of tree cover data...

Advances in data availability and accessibility have resulted in a new study on wild animal hunting in African tropical forests. It suggests that the commercial trade in wild-sourced meat is increasing, and highlights the urgent need for countries to develop robust frameworks to ensure hunting and trade is sustainable in a growing commercialized sector.

International research involving the University of Adelaide has found almost 30,000 wild species have been traded in the United States, according to data captured by U.S. wildlife trade monitoring organization Law Enforcement Manage Information System.

Tracking coyote movement in metropolitan areas shows the animals spend lots of time in natural settings, but a new study suggests the human element of city life has a bigger impact than the environment on urban coyote survival.

Birds make sounds to communicate, whether to find a potential mate, ward off predators, or just sing for pleasure.

In a new study, researchers at Indiana University Bloomington have discovered a new way that bacteria can kill its competitors in complex microbial communities, revealing novel approaches to leverage viruses to kill harmful bacteria.

A quarter of freshwater animals, including fish, insects and crustaceans, are at high risk of extinction due to threats including pollution, dams and farming, according to a new study published on Wednesday.

A small international team of marine mammal scientists has found evidence that just 7% of the male humpback whales residing near New Caledonia, in the southwest Pacific, may have fathered offspring. For their project, reported in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group studied photographs of the whales and conducted a genetic analysis from samples collected over the years 1995 to 2019.

The streams draining the glaciers on our planet's mountaintops harbor a wealth of unique microorganisms, yet little was known about these complex ecosystems until recently. A team of scientists led by EPFL has carried out an unprecedented study, taking an in-depth look at the microbiome of these glacier-fed streams.

A team of evolutionary biologists has demonstrated that ants learn from experience. Led by Dr. Volker Nehring, research associate in the Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology group at the University of Freiburg, and doctoral student Mélanie Bey, the team repeatedly confronted ants with competitors from another nest. The test ants remembered the negative experiences they had during these encounters.

There is a new mouth to feed in the coastal waters of the Northwest where juvenile salmon first enter the ocean, and it's a hungry one.

Lemurs, small, big-eyed primates that live in the trees of Madagascar off the southeast coast of Africa, are a mystery of evolution. When the first ones arrived there tens of millions of years ago, they found an island with wildly diverse ecosystems, from wet tropical forests in the east to arid expanses in the southwest.

Working out the kinks of mating in the animal kingdom helps to gain insights into the survival of species. Among animals that have multiple partners who deposit eggs outside their body, such as most fish, the males release sperm several times a day, but producing these gametes requires energy and time.

A team of ecologists, evolutionary biologists and resource managers affiliated with several institutions across the U.S. has found that the snail darter, which was famously used by environmentalists in the 1970s to block construction of a damn, is not actually a distinct fish species. In their study, published in the journal Current Biology, the group used standard species determination testing to investigate the distinctiveness...

Scientists have revealed a parasite's role in boosting male insect appeal by modulating host processes to facilitate female attraction, thereby enhancing the parasite's own transmission and survival.

Glowing mushrooms are often associated with tropical environments, but they can also be found in Switzerland. In fact, Zurich-based artists Heidy Baggenstos and Andreas Rudolf have been working with bioluminescent organisms for more than 10 years. "We want to show that these bioluminescent mushrooms are present in Swiss forests and that we do not have to travel far to find them," explains Baggenstos.

Spiders have always lived alongside humans, so it's surprising how much we still don't know about them. One long-standing mystery was related to how spiders detect smells. Now, our latest research has finally uncovered the secret.

Computer models developed by the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory predict that hotter, drier conditions in North America will limit the growth of a fungus that normally curbs the spread of the spongy moth, an invasive species that has caused millions of dollars in damage to forests.

Courtship and procreative behavior in many species of elasmobranchs—cartilaginous fish including rays, sawfish, sharks, and skates—may include following and biting. However, there has been little research on procreative behavior specific to whale sharks (Rhincodon typus). Now a multi-institutional research team from Australia has observed a sexually mature male whale shark following and biting a smaller female in the wild.

A new biological pest control method that targets the lifespan of female insects could significantly reduce the threat of insect pests such as disease-carrying mosquitoes by offering faster and more effective results than current methods.

Is walking on water possible for frogs? Several species have fascinated observers with their abilities to skip side-to-side and leap into the air from the surface of a pond as if the water were land. One such breed native to Virginia and North Carolina is the cricket frog. The way these frogs move in the water could bring insights to tools for the future...

The tiny particles that are shed from clothing, packaging and other plastic products are winding up in the fish that people eat, according to a new study from Portland State researchers, highlighting a need for technologies and strategies to reduce microfiber pollution entering the environment.

When a new species is introduced into an ecosystem, it may succeed in establishing itself, or it may fail to gain a foothold and die out. Physicists at MIT have now devised a formula that can predict which of those outcomes is most likely.

One of the hardest-working organisms in the ocean is the tiny, emerald-tinged Prochlorococcus marinus. These single-celled "picoplankton," which are smaller than a human red blood cell, can be found in staggering numbers throughout the ocean's surface waters, making Prochlorococcus the most abundant photosynthesizing organism on the planet. (Collectively, Prochlorococcus fix as much carbon as all the crops on land.) Scientists continue to find new...