Ecosystems
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Ecosystems
Forest Field Trip
Take a hike in the woods of Kentucky in this electronic field trip. The site offers an overview of forest ecology and management for grades 4 to 8. It includes video clips, an interactive game, a slideshow about the American chestnut, information about forest careers and tree products, activity pages, and a teacher’s guide. Go […]
By Science News -
Ecosystems
Life Underfoot: Microbial biodiversity takes surprising twist
When it comes to numbers of bacterial species, rainforest dirt is virtually a desert, but desert dirt bursts with biodiversity.
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Ecosystems
Squirt Alert
A sea animal of unknown origins and lacking any known predator has begun commandeering ecosystems in cool coastal waters throughout the world.
By Janet Raloff -
Ecosystems
When Worms Fly: Insect larvae can survive bird guts
Insects can travel as larval stowaways in the guts of migrating birds.
By Susan Milius -
Ecosystems
Feminized cod on the high seas
Male cod in the open ocean are producing an egg-yolk protein ordinarily made only by females, signaling their potential exposure to estrogen-mimicking pollutants.
By Janet Raloff -
Ecosystems
Valuing Nature
With help from ecotourism-oriented commerce, the threatened birds of Uganda's Mabira Forest Reserve might just save themselves and set an example for conservationists elsewhere.
By Ben Harder -
Ecosystems
West Nile virus fells endangered condor
A 3-month-old California condor chick, one of only four of this highly endangered species born in the wild this year, succumbed to a West Nile virus infection.
By Janet Raloff -
Ecosystems
Tallgrass Prairie
The Openlands Project played a key role in converting the former Joliet Arsenal in Illinois into the first national tallgrass prairie. This Web site traces the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie’s history and provides a variety of classroom activities for students in grades 1 to 12. Lessons include plant investigations, predator and prey relationships, prairie climate, […]
By Science News -
Ecosystems
Empty Nets
New research has begun challenging long-held assumptions about the consequences for fish stocks of harvesting the biggest fish first.
By Janet Raloff -
Ecosystems
Pesticide makes bees bumble
The pesticide spinosad, previously thought safe for bees, may damage their ability to forage for nectar.
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Ecosystems
Decades of Dinner
Sunken whale carcasses support unique marine ecosystems that display stages of succession and change, just as land ecosystems do.
By Susan Milius -
Ecosystems
Where Tuna Go: Atlantic fish mix for feeding, not spawning
The largest high-tech tag study yet of Atlantic bluefin tuna suggests that two groups mix on feeding grounds but spawn on opposite sides of the ocean.
By Susan Milius