Ecosystems
- Oceans
Fleeting dead zones can muck with seafloor life for decades
Low-oxygen conditions can fundamentally disrupt seafloor ecosystems and increase carbon burial, new research shows.
- Animals
Young penguins follow false food cues
Juvenile African penguins are being trapped in barren habitats, led astray by biological cues that are no longer reliable because of human activity.
- Ecosystems
Zika virus ‘spillback’ into primates raises risk of future human outbreaks
Spillback of Zika virus into monkeys may complicate eradication efforts.
- Animals
Pectoral sandpipers go the distance, and then some
Even after a long migration, male pectoral sandpipers keep flying, adding 3,000 extra kilometers on quest for mates.
- Animals
Desert ants look to the sky, rely on memory to navigate backward
Desert ants appear to use a combination of visual memory and celestial cues to make it back to the nest walking butt-first, researchers find.
- Animals
How desert ants navigate walking backward
Desert ants appear to use a combination of visual memory and celestial cues to make it back to the nest walking butt-first, researchers find.
- Ecosystems
In debate over origin of fairy circles, both sides might be right
Odd bare spots called fairy circles in African grasslands might be caused by both termites and plants.
- Plants
Meat-eating pitcher plants raise deathtraps to an art
The carnivorous California pitcher plant ensnares its dinner using a medley of techniques.
- Ecosystems
Long-ignored, high-flying arthropods could make up largest land migrations
Forget birds. 3.5 trillion insects, spiders and mites a year fly over the southern United Kingdom.
- Animals
For some salamanders, finding a mate is a marathon
Small-mouthed salamanders will travel close to nine kilometers on average to mate, a new study finds.
- Climate
Arctic kelp forests may create summer refuges from ocean acidification
Long summer daylight revs up carbon capture in Arctic kelp forests, offering a little relief from acidifying ocean water.
- Ecosystems
Oyster deaths linked to ‘atmospheric rivers’
Atmospheric rivers bring strong storms that could have been behind a 2011 California oyster die-off.
