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If a tree falls in the forest—whether or not anyone registers the sound—one thing is for sure: there are lots of fungi around. Within a forest's soil, hundreds of species decompose debris, mobilize nutrients from that decay, and deliver those nutrients to tree roots and soil. These fungi help shape a forest's ecology. They store carbon and cycle key nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus.

When we think of evolution, we think of a process that happens over hundreds or thousands of years. In research published in Ecology and Evolution a team led by Rick Relyea, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences and David M. Darrin Senior Endowed Chair at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, found a species of frog that has evolved over the course of merely 25 years. The adaptation...

A new way of quickly distinguishing between illegal elephant ivory and legal mammoth tusk ivory could prove critical to fighting the illegal ivory trade. A laser-based approach developed by scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Lancaster, could be used by customs worldwide to aid in the enforcement of illegal ivory from being traded under the guise of legal ivory. The study is published...

Climate change can be characterized as the Grim Reaper or some other harbinger of dire times for humanity and natural environment, including forests. Previous studies reporting a decline in forest productivity due to climate warming and long-term drought may suggest that trees' survival hangs in the balance.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite that spreads from bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. If left untreated in humans, malaria can cause severe symptoms, health complications and even death.

A new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences sheds light on how parasites influence the intricate relationships between predator and prey populations.

A new algorithm is making it easier for ecologists and conservationists to find bat roost locations—reducing search areas by nearly 375 times their previous size. The technology combines microphone detector data with a bat movement model to identify optimal searching regions and predict roost locations.

In a finding with implications for the search for extraterrestrial life, researchers have discovered microbial life 13 feet below Earth's most inhospitable desert. The research is published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

The day a male spear squid hatches determines which mating tactic he will use throughout his life, according to new research. Spear squid (Heterololigo bleekeri) that hatch earlier in the season become "consorts" that fight for mating opportunities. Those that hatch later become "sneakers," which use more clandestine mating tactics. Researchers found that the mating tactic determined by the birth date was fixed for...

A parasitic wasp that preys on the young of a prolific fruit fly pest demonstrates both molecular evolution and behavioral adaptations in the face of ecological pressures, according to new research.

Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbor vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these "long unburnt" habitats can be eliminated by a single blaze.

A study led by the University of Stirling jointly with the University of Wisconsin-Madison has shed new light on cross-species virus spillovers that can cause pandemics.

An algorithm developed by a Florida Tech graduate student creates a new ecological survey method that allows scientists to unlock important historical data from a vast trove of coral-reef photographs dating back more than a century.

Serious wine drinkers often have their preferences: Some prefer sweet hints of chocolate in a Malbec from Argentina, while others are drawn to a spicy and fruity Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Wine connoisseurs firmly believe that the soil in which grapes are grown determines how it tastes.

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are as bitter and toxic as they are hard to pronounce. They're produced by several different types of plants and are among the leading causes of accidental death in cattle.

Governments in the Mesoamerican Reef region are exploring the use of nature-based solutions to strengthen coral health and societal benefits for coastal communities. A new study led by Stanford researchers in collaboration with scientists from the World Wildlife Fund, the Healthy Reefs Initiative, and others from the Smart Coasts project quantified the outcomes of different watershed interventions to support coral health at regional versus...

A University of Melbourne researcher has spotted a rare evolutionary phenomenon happening rapidly in real time in bats living in the Solomon Islands.

What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa.

Thanks to drastic and evidence-based solutions, more southern mountain caribou roam Western Canada today than in previous decades; however, herd numbers are too fragile to sustain themselves without continued intervention.

Bayreuth researchers shed light on the natural evidence for the occurrence and function of networks of fungi and plants—so-called mycorrhizal networks. Through this "Wood Wide Web," plants can exchange resources and even information with each other. The researchers have now reported their findings in the journal Nature Plants.

Remember #BabyShark? And no, this was not the very catchy song for kids that took the internet by storm. Earlier this year, social media was abuzz with stunning footage of a newborn great white shark, captured by a flying drone.

While it's common knowledge that mountaintops are colder than the valleys below, a new University of Vermont (UVM) study is flipping the script on what we know about forests and climate.

Anticipating changes to ecosystems is often at best an educated guess, but what if there was a way to better tune into possible changes occurring?

Migration and reproduction are two of the most demanding events in a bird's annual cycle, so much so that the vast majority of migratory birds separate the two tasks into different times of the year.

Soil bacteria help regulate the cycling of carbon and nutrients on Earth. Over time, these bacteria have evolved strategies that determine where they live, what they do, and how they deal with a changing environment. However, microbiologists do not fully understand how bacteria's genes relate to their life strategies.

It's not a single pesticide or virus stressing honey bees, and affecting their health, but exposure to a complex web of multiple interacting stressors encountered while at work pollinating crops, new research from York University has found.

Researchers at the American Museum of Natural History have found that over the last 120 years, the porosity—or small-scale holes—in mussel shells along the East Coast of the United States has increased, potentially due to warming waters. The study, which analyzed modern mussel shells in comparison to specimens in the Museum's historic collection, was published in the journal PLoS ONE.

During the unusually dry year of 2018, Sweden was hit by numerous forest fires. A research team led from Lund University in Sweden has investigated how climate change affects recently burned boreal forests and their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

When babies learn to talk or birds learn to sing, the same principle applies: listen and then imitate. This is how the first babble becomes the first word or vocalization. Male zebra finch chicks initially memorize the song of an adult bird. Later, they refine their own vocalization until they resemble the learned song.

A trio of biologists and veterinarians with CRG Barcelona, the University of Cambridge and The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, respectively, has found evidence contradicting results found by a prior team of researchers who claimed that they had found that tumor transmission in Tasmanian devils was slowing.

With long legs and large wings, the white stork is a prominent star of the pageant that is animal migration. Flying from Europe towards Africa in autumn, and then back again in spring, birds can be seen taking to the sky in conspicuous flocks that herald the changing of the seasons.

Marine communities migrated to Antarctica during the Earth's warmest period in 66 million years long before a mass-extinction event.

The loss of biodiversity poses a challenge for nature and humans alike. A study led by Ulm University shows that a decline in biodiversity promotes the spread of potentially zoonotic pathogens.

Monash University ornithologists have shed light on the intricate relationship between social structure, environmental conditions, and cooperative behavior in superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus).

Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall—how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by an ERC project led by microbiologist Dagmar Woebken from the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna.

Bumblebees can surprisingly withstand days underwater, according to a study published Wednesday, suggesting they could withstand increased floods brought on by climate change that threaten their winter hibernation burrows.

The Atlantic surf clam, an economically valuable species that is the main ingredient in clam chowder and fried clam strips, has returned to Virginia waters in a big way, reversing a die-off that started more than two decades ago.

A new study has highlighted how bats can be valuable allies for farmers, by feeding on important agricultural pests. The findings demonstrate that encouraging bat species can be a win-win for both conservation efforts and local farmers.

Young male blue tits are less successful in fathering offspring outside their breeding pair, not because of a lack of experience, but because they are outcompeted by older males, Bart Kempenaers and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence in Germany report in a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

Tagging marine animals with sensors to track and study their movements can provide researchers with important environmental and behavioral information, including energy usage, habitat changes, and migration patterns. But existing techniques to attach sensors currently largely rely on invasive physical anchors, suction cups, and rigid glues. While these techniques can be effective for marine animals with hard exoskeletons and large animals such as sharks,...

In this era of accelerating climate crisis, accounting for all aspects of Earth's carbon cycle is a crucial task. The magnitude of atmospheric carbon burden means trees and forests are limited but important instruments among a suite of mitigation options.

Some Australian desert mammals use distinct strategies to promote evolutionary fitness in response to changing environmental conditions over short timescales, according to a new study.

Tropical marine species venturing into new areas as the climate changes could fall victim to another effect of the phenomenon—as bursts of cold water from the deep sea suddenly kill them.

The blue antelope (Hippotragus leucophaeus) was an African antelope with a bluish-gray pelt related to the sable and the roan antelope. The last blue antelope was shot around 1800, just 34 years after it was first described scientifically.

Bumblebees appear to be quite resistant to common pesticides. This is shown by a new study, the results of which have now been published by scientists from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in the journal Environment International.

Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identifies how gentrified parts of a city have notably more urban wildlife than ungentrified parts of the same city, further limiting marginalized communities' opportunity to connect with nature.

Climate change has an effect on forests and trees. They suffer from heat waves and periods of drought. But although we see tree mortality increase as a result, much is still unknown about the underlying mechanisms.

Recent research by the University of New Mexico alumnus Melanie Kazenel and colleagues predicts climate change will reshape bee communities in the southwest United States, with some thriving and others declining. The research, titled "Heat and desiccation tolerances predict bee abundance under climate change," was recently published in Nature.

New research from The University of Western Australia has examined how fine root lifespan is linked to root strategies of resource acquisition and protection.