Ecosystems
- Climate
Tranquil ecosystems may explain wild swings in carbon dioxide stashing
Semiarid ecosystems, such as grasslands and shrublands, are behind the large variation in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide sucked in by land each year.
- Animals
Ants snap jaws, shoot skyward, escape death
Emergency trap jaw launchings help some ants pass death tests.
- Oceans
Mysterious form of phosphorus explained
Mysterious form of phosphorus may be used as shadow currency by marine microbes, potentially upending scientists’ understanding of nutrient exchanges.
- Plants
Medfly control methods were ready for pest’s influx
50 years ago, researchers prepared to greet Mediterranean fruit flies with sterile males.
- Ecosystems
Just 1 percent of Amazon’s trees hold half of its carbon
Roughly 1 percent of tree species in the Amazon rainforest account for half of the jungle’s carbon storage.
- Animals
Only three wolves left on Michigan island
Without an infusion of new wolves, the Isle Royale wolf population, and the famous study associated with it, will die off.
- Particle Physics
Particle hunting in space, life in the urban jungle and more reader feedback
Readers discuss wheat's journey to England, share stories about urban wildlife and more.
- Ecosystems
Before you plant this spring, consider the birds
A study of Chicago neighborhoods finds that the plants in private yards influence the variety of birds that live in the area.
- Paleontology
Tyrannosaurs fought and ate each other
Evidence from a tyrannosaur skull and jaw fossils add to the argument that the ancient reptiles fought and weren’t above scavenging their own.
- Animals
Eggs and other land foods won’t feed polar bears
Polar bears will not be able to survive on land by eating birds, eggs and vegetation, a new review concludes.
- Environment
Five years on, Deepwater Horizon oil spill’s impact lingers
Five years after the Gulf of Mexico’s largest disaster, researchers are still studying its ecological impact and struggling to learn the fate of most of the spilled oil.
- Animals
Parasites make cannibal shrimp hungry
Parasites make sometimes-cannibalistic shrimp more cannibalistic, a new study suggests.
