Ecosystems
- Ecosystems
New protection for much-dogged shark
To rebuild northeastern U.S. populations of the spiny dogfish, the first fishing quotas on this species limit the harvest to roughly 10 percent of the 1998 haul.
- Ecosystems
State of U.S. Agro-ecosystems
About one-quarter of the United States’ land cover, excluding Alaska, is farmed–some 430 million to 500 million acres. A massive new project has just assessed this and other food-producing environments, such as coastal waters, fresh waters, and rangelands, to tally factors contributing to health. Released on Sept. 24, it indicates that most ecosystems are undergoing […]
- Ecosystems
No Way to Make Soup—Thirty-two tons of contraband shark fins seized on the high seas
Something looked suspicious. This former swordfishing vessel, out of Honolulu, was clearly heavy with cargo when discovered by U.S. law-enforcement officials 350 miles off of Acapulco, on Aug. 13. A boarding team found no fishing–just shark fins. However, under a new federal law, transporting fins collected by another fishing vessel constitutes illegal “fishing.” US Coast […]
- Ecosystems
Plants hitch rides with box turtles
In the pine rocklands of southern Florida, at least nine plant species find new homes by traveling through a turtle's gut.
- Ecosystems
Tougher Weeds? Borrowed gene helps wild sunflower
Feeding concerns about developing superweeds, a test of sunflowers shows for the first time that a biologically engineered gene moving from a crop can give an advantage to wild relatives under naturalistic conditions.
- Ecosystems
Males live longer with all-year mating
Male butterflies live longer in Madeira, where females are available year-round, than in Sweden, where females mature in one burst.
- Ecosystems
Pfiesteria’s Bite: Microbe may kill fish by skinning, not poisoning
At least one kind of Pfiesteria—accused of killing fish and threatening human health—does not produce a toxin but kills by eating holes in fish's skin, some researchers say.
- Ecosystems
Making Scents of Flowers
Science gets the tools to start sniffing around the ecology of floral scent.
- Ecosystems
The Buzz over Coffee
Most people consider the continued spread of Africanized honeybees in the Americas as horrifying news. Nicknamed killer bees, these notorious social insects rile into stinging mobs with little provocation. But new research finds evidence that these irritable insects have been performing a hitherto unrecognized service for people around the world. They’ve helped keep down the […]
- Ecosystems
Plight of the Iguanas: Hidden die-off followed Galápagos spill
Residues of oil spilled in the Galapágos Islands in January 2001 may have caused a 60 percent decline in one island's colony of marine iguanas.
- Ecosystems
Famine reveals incredible shrinking iguanas
Marine iguanas in the Galápagos Islands are the first vertebrates known to reduce their size during a food shortage and then regrow to their original body lengths.
- Ecosystems
Deprived of Darkness
From anecdotal reports of little-studied phenomena, researchers suspect that artificial night lighting disrupts the physiology and behavior of nocturnal animals.
