Ecosystems
- Earth
Ocean’s plastics offer a floating fortress to a mess of microbes
Microbes take up residence on ocean plastics, potentially causing changes in ocean environments.
- Animals
Harvester ants are restless, enigmatic architects
Florida harvester ants dig complex, curly nests over, then leave and do it again.
- Climate
Phytoplankton rapidly disappearing from the Indian Ocean
Phytoplankton populations in the Indian Ocean fell 30 percent over the last 16 years largely due to global warming, new research suggests.
- Agriculture
Just adding pollinators could boost small-farm yields
Adding pollinators could start closing gap in yields for small farms.
- Oceans
Phytoplankton flunk photosynthesis efficiency test
Nutrient-poor ocean waters make phytoplankton photosynthesis inefficient
- Climate
Arctic passageways let species mingle
People aren’t the only animals likely to use passages that open up as the Arctic melts.
- Animals
Year in review: Woes of artificial lighting add up for wildlife
Studies published this year add dodging death, flirting and mothering to the tasks that artificial light can discombobulate in wild animals.
- Animals
Forgetful male voles more likely to wander from mate
Poor memory linked to a hormone receptor in the brain could make male prairie voles more promiscuous.
- Animals
Some warblers make their long winter migration even longer
Blackpoll warblers in western North America head east to fatten up before their transoceanic migration.
- Animals
Pygmy slow loris hibernates in winter
The pygmy slow loris truly hibernates, making it the first primate found outside Madagascar to do so, a new study says.
- Animals
Pygmy slow loris in Asia takes unusual downtime in winter
The pygmy slow loris is the first primate outside Madagascar found to hibernate.
- Animals
Ponds and their toads cured of dreaded disease
Treating both tadpoles and their ponds for infection by deadly Bd chytrid fungus lets midwife toads go wild again.
