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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.

New research finds that giraffes much prefer flat terrain and do not traverse slopes of more than 20°, which severely limits the areas in, and outside, protected reserves they can access. The findings, which are yet to be published, were presented at the British Ecological Society's (BES) Annual meeting in Liverpool on the 13 December.

Increases in catch rates for fish such as tuna have been demonstrated near recently created Large-Scale Marine Protected Areas (LSMPAs), including Revillagigedo in Mexico. This shows that LSPMAs are large enough to protect highly migratory species such as tuna, especially bigeye tuna. Those are the findings of two research scientists, including an economics professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, who analyzed publicly...

The common murre, a large black-and-white seabird native to northern waters, has become far less common in Alaska over the past decade due to the impacts of climate change.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder—even if that beholder is a barn swallow. Depending on where the birds live, some of them may favor mates with a paler chest color while others find a redder chest more attractive. The difference in what these birds prefer when it comes to choosing a mate is helping scientists unlock one of biology's greatest mysteries: How...

Soil plays a much bigger role in the spread of antibiotic resistance than one might imagine. Surprisingly, the ground beneath us is packed with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs)—tiny codes that allow bacteria to resist antibiotics. Human activities, such as pollution and changing land use, can disturb soil ecosystems and make it easier for resistance genes to transfer from soil bacteria and infect humans.

Researchers have discovered a rare example of "great fish parenting" with a common coral reef species found to actively protect their young by eating parasites.

A new study suggests that increased maple populations may leave forests in western North Carolina more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions like flooding and drought.

A study reveals that Africa's low rates of Zika virus outbreaks may be due to a surprising factor: the genetic makeup of local mosquito populations.

An international team of marine biologists, oceanographers and cetacean specialists has found evidence of a male humpback whale traveling a record-breaking distance, likely in order to breed. In their study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group analyzed pictures from an image database and discovered evidence of the same male in two quite distant regions.

Based on vast experience at sea and in the laboratory over the last 10 years, the latest study by the Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research at the University of Porto (CIIMAR-UP), Portugal, in collaboration with the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona, Spain, predicts that Mediterranean corals and the communities that depend on them may be permanently compromised.

Ecologists have devised a new framework to classify how biodiversity credit operators define what a unit of nature is. The new analysis demonstrates the challenges involved with devising a biodiversity credit market to fund nature recovery, and the risks of relying too heavily on 'offsetting.'

The genome of a once-endangered songbird shows extensive signs of inbreeding, according to a new study by Penn State researchers. Because inbreeding can negatively impact survival and reproduction, the results could guide continuing conservation efforts for Kirtland's warblers, whose populations still rely on extensive management.

It might not be a pleasant image, but recycling all the human and livestock feces and urine on the planet would contribute substantially to meeting the nutrient supply for all crops worldwide, thereby reducing the need to mine fertilizers such as phosphorus and dramatically reducing the dependency on fossil fuels, according to a global analysis of nutrient recycling published in Nature Sustainability.

Grizzly bears are doing more than building fat reserves as they feast on huckleberries each summer in the Canadian Rocky Mountains—they're playing a vital role in plant ecology.

All living organisms host microbiomes composed of both beneficial and harmful microbes that influence health. Microbiome diversity affects host fitness: low diversity can lead to immune issues and poor nutrient absorption, while high diversity can boost resilience to stress and pathogens.

Fast-growing and small-seeded tree species are dominating Brazilian forests in regions with high levels of deforestation and degradation, a study shows. This has potential implications for the ecosystem services these forests provide, including the ability of these "disturbed" forests to absorb and store carbon. This is because these "winning" species grow fast but die young, as their stems and branches are far less dense...

Freshwater fish populations that dwell nearer the poles are outperforming their equatorial counterparts, researchers have found. Large-bodied migratory species such as Atlantic salmon are thriving as warming temperatures open up new habitats at the poleward edge of their ranges.

New research has revealed less than a quarter of the remaining tropical rainforests around the globe can safeguard thousands of threatened species from extinction.