~ecology-news-biolog | Bookmarks (436)

Covering over 70% of Earth's surface, the oceans are home to countless life forms that maintain ecological balance and support human well-being. Among these, brown algae (Phaeophyceae) play a crucial role in sustaining coastal habitats, supporting marine biodiversity, and combating climate change through carbon capture. While they have long captured the interest of the scientific world, the genomic and evolutionary history of these organisms...

A new scientific study from Temple University's College of Science and Technology (CST) has identified 35 new species of forest lizards, all from islands in the Caribbean. However, that same study has also found that these species of lizards won't be around for long unless significant conservation efforts are undertaken to protect them.

The phytoplankton that populate oceans are known to play a key role in marine ecosystems and climate regulation. Like terrestrial plants, they store atmospheric CO₂, and produce half of our planet's oxygen via photosynthesis. However, the mechanisms that control their distribution remain poorly understood.

Try taking a picture of each of North America's roughly 11,000 tree species, and you'll have a mere fraction of the millions of photos within nature image datasets. These massive collections of snapshots—ranging from butterflies to humpback whales—are a great research tool for ecologists because they provide evidence of organisms' unique behaviors, rare conditions, migration patterns, and responses to pollution and other forms of...

Which microbes thrive below us in darkness—in gold mines, in aquifers, in deep boreholes in the seafloor—and how do they compare to the microbiomes that envelop the Earth's surfaces, on land and sea?

Andean bears carefully select the best foraging locations and plants to maximize nutrition and avoid livestock, according to a study published December 18, 2024, in PLOS ONE by Nicholas Pilfold at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in California, U.S., and colleagues.

A team of marine biologists, zoologists, and cetologists from Université Paris-Saclay, Université d'Antananarivo and Ambodiforaha Sainte Marie has learned more about the ways baby humpback whales and their mothers communicate.

In South Florida, two Caribbean lizard species met for the first time. What followed provided some of the clearest evidence to date of evolution in action.

A group of international scientists—including two from the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)—has developed a new method for examining the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) on two sandy beach crustacean species.

Artificial light can wake sleeping fish and attract predators, changing nighttime coral reef communities, according to new research using novel underwater infrared cameras.

A ground squirrel with cheeks stuffed with nuts, seeds or grains is a common sight. But a new study provides the first evidence that California ground squirrels also hunt, kill and eat voles. The study, led by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and University of California, Davis, is the first to chronicle widespread carnivorous behavior among squirrels.

Apes orphaned by the illegal trade in bushmeat and pets can overcome trauma and develop social abilities like those of their mother-reared peers.

A study reveals corals must be within only a few meters of each other to successfully reproduce, leaving them vulnerable in a warming world.

When we think of climate change we often think of extreme events like flooding rains and large bushfires. But climate change can also have slower, more subtle impacts on our landscapes.

Weedy rice is a close relative of cultivated rice that infests rice fields worldwide and drastically reduces yields. To combat this agricultural pest, rice growers in the southeastern United States have been planting rice cultivars that were tweaked to allow them to apply herbicides that target weedy rice without harming the crop.

A century-old grapevine cutting is providing new clues into the history of a deadly plant pathogen that is decimating crops across the globe.

Researchers from Swansea and Deakin Universities have found that marine animals across mammals, birds and reptiles swim at similar relative depths when traveling and not feeding to save energy.

Climate change is bleaching and killing off vast amounts of the world's coral due to rising sea temperatures. Dr. Benyamin Rosental of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and his colleagues have proposed an out of the box potential solution: transplanting stem cells from resilient individuals to revive them.

On February 2, 1887, residents of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, consulted a large rodent regarding the arrival of spring, marking the first official celebration of Groundhog Day. According to Rob Guralnick, curator of biodiversity informatics at the Florida Museum of Natural History, our ability to predict the timing of seasons hasn't improved much since then.

People around the world are dealing with drought, so it's not shocking that it affects wildlife, too: lack of moisture contributes to habitat loss, affects how animals compete for resources, and leads to dehydration and heat stress. The surprising part? The extreme degree to which many animals may need to adapt.

A team of biologists, mycologists and microbiologists in the U.S., South Africa and Zimbabwe reports that a species of mushroom growing in parts of Africa is the closest relative of Psilocybe cubensis, the most widespread hallucinogenic mushroom known to science.

Waterfall Bluff Rock Shelter (WB) (Eastern Cape Province (ECP), South Africa) contains archaeological deposits demonstrating persistent and continuous human occupation spanning from Late Marine Isotope Stage 3 (~39ka–29ka) to the mid-Holocene (~8ka). It is at this site that the first leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) specimen was recently recovered from a Pleistocene and Holocene zooarchaeological assemblage along South Africa's coast.

Exporting agricultural products from tropical regions to China, the U.S., the Middle East, and Europe is three times more harmful to biodiversity than previously assumed.

New research has found that the punishing summer temperatures and persistent drought conditions in much of Arizona and the Southwest are dealing a double whammy to trees attempting to regulate their own temperature, putting a critical part of the desert ecosystem at risk.