Ecosystems
- Ecosystems
Killer Consequences: Has whaling driven orcas to a diet of sea lions?
Killer whales may have been responsible for steep declines in seal, sea lion, and otter populations after whaling wiped out the great whales that killer whales had been eating.
- Ecosystems
Risky High Life: Mountain creatures prove extra-vulnerable
Some of the species hardest hit by climate change will be those living in particular mountain highlands.
- Ecosystems
Shark Serengeti: Ocean predators have diversity hot spots
The first search for oceanic spots of exceptional diversity in predators has turned up marine versions of the teeming Serengeti plains.
- Ecosystems
Virtual skylarks suffer weed shortfall
A new mathematical model raises the concern that switching to transgenic herbicide-tolerant crops could deprive birds of weed seeds.
- Ecosystems
Zebra mussels to the rescue
Bioengineers have harnessed zebra mussels to help avert algal blooms by cleaning particles, including algae, from the water.
- Ecosystems
At a Snail’s Place: Rock climbing cuts mollusk diversity
As rock climbing soars in popularity, some cliff-side snail populations may be crashing.
- Ecosystems
Cultivating Weeds
Some formerly mild-mannered plants turn into horticultural bullies when planted far outside their native range.
- Ecosystems
Spring Forward
Scientists who study biological responses to seasonal and climatic changes have noted that the annual cycles for many organisms are beginning earlier on average, as global temperatures rise.
- Ecosystems
After Invasions: Can an ant takeover change the rules?
A rare before-and-after study of a takeover by an invasive ant species shows the interloper quickly disassembling the basic rules of the invaded community.
- Ecosystems
Lab ecosystems show signs of evolving
An ambitious test of group selection considers whether natural selection can act on whole ecosystems as evolutionary units.
- Ecosystems
Ultimate Sea Weed Loose in America
The unusually invasive strain of seaweed that has been smothering coastal areas of the Mediterranean has shown up in a California lagoon, the first sighting of this ecologically devastating alga in the Americas.
- Ecosystems
Why didn’t the beetle cross the road?
Beetle populations confined to specific forest areas by roads seem to have lost some of their genetic diversity.
