Ecosystems

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.

Ecosystems

Climate Upsets: Big model predicts many new neighbors

The biggest effects of climate change during the next 50 years may not be extinctions but major reshuffling of the species in local communities.