Ecosystems

  1. 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 […]

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  2. 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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  3. 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.

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  4. Ecosystems

    When Worms Fly: Insect larvae can survive bird guts

    Insects can travel as larval stowaways in the guts of migrating birds.

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  5. 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.

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  6. 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.

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  7. 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.

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  8. 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, […]

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  9. Ecosystems

    Empty Nets

    New research has begun challenging long-held assumptions about the consequences for fish stocks of harvesting the biggest fish first.

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  10. 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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  11. Ecosystems

    Decades of Dinner

    Sunken whale carcasses support unique marine ecosystems that display stages of succession and change, just as land ecosystems do.

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  12. 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.

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