Ecosystems
- Environment
Human ingenuity takes on Mother Nature in ‘The Big Ratchet’
Geographer Ruth DeFries explains how technological innovations have allowed humans to overcome environmental challenges throughout history.
- Animals
Invasive rabbitfish team up to raze algal forests
Tropical rabbitfish have expanded into temperate Mediterranean waters, where they destroy algae forests by gobbling both young and adult algae.
- Animals
Even on remote islands, busy ports mean more invasives
Islands with lots of trading ties are more likely to be colonized by invasive species, even when they are geographically remote, a new study of anoles reveals.
- Life
Fledgling birds change rules for caterpillar color
An unusual experiment shows that larvae lose the advantage of warning colors during the seasonal flush of naïve predators.
- Ecosystems
‘Where Do Camels Belong?’ explores invasive species
Ecologist Ken Thompson takes a closer look at the impacts (or lack thereof) of invasive species.
- Ecosystems
Artifacts, fossils tell story of changes to Egypt’s animals
Ancient Egyptian artifacts and fossils from the Nile Valley show a correlation between species extinctions and a growing human population in a drying climate.
- Animals
Corals, fish know bad reefs by their whiff
Compounds drifting off certain overgrown seaweeds discourage young corals and fish from settling in failing reefs.
- Oceans
Viruses might tame some algal blooms
The rapid demise of a giant, carbon-spewing algal bloom points to the influence of viral wranglers.
- Ecosystems
Lake under Antarctic ice bursts with life
Abundant microbes thrive in subglacial lakes deep under the Antarctic ice sheet.
- Agriculture
Killer bug behind coconut plague identified
A pest has devastated coconuts in the Philippines, and scientists now realize the perp is not the bug they thought was causing the damage.
- Life
Animal source of Ebola outbreak eludes scientists
Researchers are trying to determine whether bats or bush meat transmitted the Ebola virus to people in West Africa.
- Life
Airborne transmission of Ebola unlikely, monkey study shows
No evidence found of macaque monkeys passing deadly virus to each other.
