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In a succession of studies published this week and last month in the journals PeerJ and Zootaxa, researchers at Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) Toonen-Bowen (ToBo) Lab, using a technique that explores both genes and structural characteristics, have introduced 10 new species of marine sponge. Despite their distinction as one of Earth's oldest lifeforms and the key role they play in sustaining coral...

A new study by Connecticut College provides strong evidence that palm trees once thrived in subarctic Canada, reshaping scientific understanding of past Arctic climates.

Mild, proactive exposure to environmental stress can help biological communities resist severe disturbances and maintain genetic diversity, a recent study from McGill University has found.

Humanity can farm more food from the seas to help feed the planet while shrinking mariculture's negative impacts on biodiversity, according to new research led by the University of Michigan.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have examined how social models influence memory in great apes. They presented young and adult apes with videos of either a human hand (a social model) or a mechanical claw (a non-social model) building a tower. The results showed that while adult apes remembered towers built by a human hand better than...

Glaciers are huge white ice masses that can reflect a lot of sunlight. However, especially where the glaciers are not covered in snow and the bare ice is exposed, they sometimes have dark patches. These are microscopic algae that grow on the ice and darken its surface. As a result of this darkening, the tiny inhabitants cause the ice to warm up and melt...

The discovery of a new species in the Andean cloud forests of northern Peru has reinforced the vital role of citizen science in plant research.

Most orchids live in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in their roots: The plants provide sugar they produce through photosynthesis and in return receive water and minerals from the fungi. However, some orchids have stopped producing their own food and completely feed on fungi.

New University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka research shows Aotearoa has been increasingly accepting new bird species from around the world since the start of the Ice Age, offering clues into future migration patterns.

For years, scientific divers at a research station in the Mediterranean Sea had a problem: at some point in every field season, local fish would follow them and steal food intended as experimental rewards. Intriguingly, these wild fish appeared to recognize the specific diver who had previously carried food, choosing to follow only them while ignoring other divers.

Tropical riparian ecosystems—those found along rivers and wetlands—recovered much faster than expected following the end-Permian mass extinction around 252 million years ago, according to new research.

It's spring, the sun is shining and something is about to happen with the plankton in the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. Long bright days and rising temperatures have awakened the phytoplankton. The spring bloom has begun, and populations of these tiny plankton are growing explosively beneath the surface.

Plants play a key role in regulating Earth's climate, but recent research suggests that rising temperatures could disrupt this balance, because plants are leaking more water than previously thought.

Humans have been poisoning rodents for centuries. But fast-breeding rats and mice have evolved resistance to earlier poisons. In response, manufacturers have produced second generation anticoagulant rodenticides such as bromadiolone, widely used in Australian households.

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is rising rapidly, with numerous negative consequences for the climate. However, there is also a positive effect, as scientists from WUR have discovered: for the past century, the extra CO2 has led to more efficient photosynthesis in tropical trees.

Animals are not just inhabitants of the natural world—they are its architects. A new study led by Professor Gemma Harvey from Queen Mary University of London has revealed how hundreds of species shape the landscapes we depend on, from vast termite mounds visible from space to hippos carving drainage systems and beavers creating entire wetlands.

Scientists with the National Audubon Society published research in Nature Ecology & Evolution that will help inform global efforts to protect migratory birds. In the study, "Multispecies migratory connectivity indicates hemispheric-scale risk to bird populations from global change," the researchers propose a new way to measure risk and identify where conservation efforts are most needed for species that travel between specific breeding and non-breeding...

A team of environmental scientists at Duke University, working with colleagues from the University of New South Wales, the University of Queensland and the University of California, has found that green staghorn coral around Heron Island (part of the Great Barrier Reef) are more likely to survive warming water temperatures if hoof-clawed crabs live in the near vicinity.

The clownfish-anemone living arrangement is one of the most widely recognized examples of symbiosis. Researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding how anemonefish can live safely among sea anemones without being stung by their venomous tentacles, solving a century-long mystery.

A new Colorado State University study of the interior U.S. West has found that tree ranges are generally contracting in response to climate change but not expanding into cooler, wetter climates—suggesting that forests are not regenerating fast enough to keep pace with climate change, wildfire, insects and disease.

Undersea mountains are key locations for predators—with 41 times more sharks than the open ocean, new research shows.

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a vital cash-crop for four to six million small-holder farmers across the tropics, and supports a global chocolate industry valued at over USD 100 billion annually. The combination of millions of farmers relying on cocoa for their livelihoods, and increasing global demand for the crop, has driven cocoa plantation expansion and intensification of farming practices, often at the expense...

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln research team has identified new microscopic players in the global carbon cycle, a discovery that paints a clearer picture of carbon flow through the environment and provides key information for the sustainable development of bioenergy sources.

Biodiversity loss has accelerated at an alarming rate in recent decades, driven largely by human activities such as clearing forests to grow crops or harvest timber. While countries often degrade ecosystems within their own borders through these activities, they also play a significant role in driving habitat loss overseas by outsourcing agricultural production, i.e., importing food or timber from other countries, thereby leading those...