Biodiversity News
January 1, 2026
Top Headlines
Dec. 31, 2025 Microplastics in rivers, lakes, and oceans aren’t just drifting debris—they’re constantly leaking invisible clouds of chemicals into the water. New research shows that sunlight drives this process, causing different plastics to release ...
Dec. 25, 2025 Deep ocean hot spots packed with heat are making the strongest hurricanes and typhoons more likely—and more dangerous. These regions, especially near the Philippines and the Caribbean, are expanding as climate change warms ocean waters far below ...
Dec. 13, 2025 Researchers analyzing ancient fossils from caves across Western Australia have uncovered a completely new species of bettong along with two new woylie subspecies—remarkable finds made bittersweet by signs that some may already be ...
Dec. 12, 2025 New research shows that crops are far more vulnerable when too much rainfall originates from land rather than the ocean. Land-sourced moisture leads to weaker, less reliable rainfall, heightening drought risk. The U.S. Midwest and East Africa are ...
Dec. 12, 2025 Fossils from Qatar have revealed a small, newly identified sea cow species that lived in the Arabian Gulf more than 20 million years ago. The site contains the densest known collection of fossil sea cow bones, showing that these animals once thrived ...
Dec. 11, 2025 Scientists tracking young Arizona Bald Eagles found that many migrate north during summer and fall, bucking the traditional southbound pattern of most birds. Their routes rely heavily on historic stopover lakes and rivers, and often extend deep into ...
Nov. 22, 2025 Migratory birds that fill North American forests with spring songs depend on Central America’s Five Great Forests far more than most people realize. New research shows these tropical strongholds shelter enormous shares of species like Wood ...
Nov. 20, 2025 Researchers have launched the first coordinated plan to protect microbial biodiversity, calling attention to the “invisible 99% of life” that drives essential Earth systems. The IUCN has formally recognized this effort through the creation of ...
Nov. 19, 2025 Massive Sargassum blooms sweeping across the Caribbean and Atlantic are fueled by a powerful nutrient partnership: phosphorus pulled to the surface by equatorial upwelling and nitrogen supplied by cyanobacteria living directly on the drifting algae. ...
Oct. 29, 2025 Global scientists warn that humanity is on the verge of crossing irreversible climate thresholds, with coral reefs already at their tipping point and polar ice sheets possibly beyond recovery. The Global Tipping Points Report 2025 reveals how rising ...
Oct. 27, 2025 Extinction rates are not spiraling upward as many believe, according to a large-scale study analyzing 500 years of data. Researchers found that species losses peaked about a century ago and have decreased since, with different drivers shaping past ...
Oct. 23, 2025 In the mist-shrouded mountains of New Guinea, a Czech researcher has achieved a world-first — capturing photos, video, and data of the elusive Subalpine Woolly Rat, Mallomys istapantap. Once known only from museum specimens, this giant, shaggy ...
Latest Headlines
updated 9:38am EST
Oct. 22, 2025 Common dolphins in the North Atlantic are living significantly shorter lives, with female longevity dropping seven years since the 1990s. Researchers found this decline by analyzing stranded ...
Oct. 13, 2025 Humanity has reached the first Earth system tipping point, the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs, marking the beginning of irreversible planetary shifts. As global temperatures move beyond ...
Oct. 8, 2025 The Amazon has suffered its most destructive fire season in more than two decades, releasing a staggering 791 million tons of carbon dioxide—on par with Germany’s annual emissions. Scientists ...
Oct. 5, 2025 New research reveals that deep-sea mining could dramatically threaten 30 species of sharks, rays, and ghost sharks whose habitats overlap with proposed mining zones. Many of these species, already at ...
Sep. 20, 2025 Insects are essential for ecosystems, but mounting evidence suggests many populations are collapsing under modern pressures. A new study used cutting-edge genomic techniques on museum specimens to ...
Sep. 15, 2025 Researchers discovered two new parasitic wasp species living in the U.S., tracing their origins back to Europe and uncovering clues about how they spread. Their arrival raises fresh questions about ...
Sep. 9, 2025 Flathead catfish are rapidly reshaping the Susquehanna River’s ecosystem. Once introduced, these voracious predators climbed to the top of the food chain, forcing native fish like channel catfish ...
Sep. 9, 2025 Tiny ocean microbes called Prochlorococcus, once thought to be climate survivors, may struggle as seas warm. These cyanobacteria drive 5% of Earth’s photosynthesis and underpin much of the marine ...
Sep. 7, 2025 Sauropod tooth scratches reveal that some dinosaurs migrated seasonally, others ate a wide variety of plants, and climate strongly shaped their diets. Tanzania’s sand-blasted vegetation left ...
Sep. 5, 2025 Scientists found that Red Sea corals can endure warming seas but grow much smaller and weaken under long-term heat stress. Though recovery is possible in cooler months, rising global temperatures may ...
Earlier Headlines
Aug. 23, 2025 A new study reveals that the majority of Earth’s species stem from a few evolutionary explosions, where new traits or habitats sparked rapid diversification. From flowers to birds, these bursts ...
Aug. 21, 2025 Industrial forests, packed with evenly spaced trees, face nearly 50% higher odds of megafires than public lands. A lidar-powered study of California’s Sierra Nevada reveals how dense plantations ...
Aug. 21, 2025 Planting more trees can help cool the planet and reduce fire risk—but where they are planted matters. According to UC Riverside researchers, tropical regions provide the most powerful climate ...
Aug. 16, 2025 Mediterranean bryozoans, including the “false coral,” are showing alarming changes in structure and microbiomes under acidification and warming. Field studies at volcanic CO₂ vents reveal that ...
Aug. 2, 2025 Between 2003 and 2021, Earth saw a net boost in photosynthesis, mainly thanks to land plants thriving in warming, wetter conditions—especially in temperate and high-latitude regions. Meanwhile, ...
Aug. 4, 2025 An intriguing new study reveals that over 80% of parasites found in the ancient poo of New Zealand’s endangered kākāpō have vanished, even though the bird itself is still hanging on. Researchers ...
July 21, 2025 Gene editing may hold the key to rescuing endangered species—not just by preserving them, but by restoring their lost genetic diversity using DNA from museum specimens and related species. ...
July 29, 2025 A team at the University of Florida used drones and smart modeling to accurately count over 41,000 endangered turtles nesting along the Amazon’s Guaporé River—revealing the world’s largest ...
July 17, 2025 Dogs trained by everyday pet owners are proving to be surprisingly powerful allies in the fight against the invasive spotted lanternfly. In a groundbreaking study, citizen scientists taught their ...
July 16, 2025 After devastating wildfires scorched the Brazilian Pantanal, an unexpected phenomenon unfolded—more jaguars began arriving at a remote wetland already known for having the densest jaguar population ...
July 10, 2025 People can intuitively sense how biodiverse a forest is just by looking at photos or listening to sounds, and their gut feelings surprisingly line up with what scientists ...
July 7, 2025 Feral honey bees, once celebrated for their agricultural value, are now threatening native ecosystems in Southern California by monopolizing pollen sources and overwhelming native pollinators. A new ...
July 6, 2025 Kenyan fig trees can literally turn parts of themselves to stone, using microbes to convert internal crystals into limestone-like deposits that lock away carbon, sweeten surrounding soils, and still ...
July 3, 2025 When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, CO₂ ...
July 3, 2025 Tropical trees are dying faster than ever, and it's not just heat or drought to blame. Scientists have uncovered a surprising culprit: ordinary thunderstorms. These quick, fierce storms, powered ...
June 26, 2025 South Australia’s tiny pygmy bluetongue skink is baking in a warming, drying homeland, so Flinders University scientists have tried a bold fix—move it. Three separate populations were shifted ...
June 19, 2025 During Earth's ancient Snowball periods, when the entire planet was wrapped in ice, life may have endured in tiny meltwater ponds on the surface of equatorial glaciers. MIT researchers ...
June 14, 2025 Ten thousand years after mastodons disappeared, scientists have unearthed powerful fossil evidence proving these elephant cousins were vital seed spreaders for large-fruited trees in South America. ...
June 14, 2025 A University of Queensland-led project has developed a tool to standardise genetic testing of koala populations, providing a significant boost to conservation and recovery ...
June 15, 2025 Underground fungi may be one of Earth s most powerful and overlooked allies in the fight against climate change, yet most of them remain unknown to science. Known only by DNA, these "dark ...
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Thursday, August 21, 2025
- The Surprising Reason Timber Plantations Explode Into Megafires
- This Is Where Tree Planting Has the Biggest Climate Impact
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Saturday, August 2, 2025
Monday, August 4, 2025
Monday, July 21, 2025
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Thursday, July 17, 2025
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Monday, July 7, 2025
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Thursday, July 3, 2025
- When Rainforests Died, the Planet Caught Fire: New Clues from Earth’s Greatest Extinction
- Rainforest Deaths Are Surging and Scientists Just Found the Shocking Cause
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025
- Fruit-Eating Mastodons? Ancient Fossils Confirm a Long-Lost Ecological Alliance
- Koalas on the Brink: Precision DNA Test Offers a Lifeline to Australia’s Icons
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Friday, June 6, 2025
Thursday, May 29, 2025
- Anthropologists Spotlight Human Toll of Glacier Loss
- Does Planting Trees Really Help Cool the Planet?
- Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% With Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows
- Agriculture in Forests Can Provide Climate and Economic Dividends
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
- New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo
- When the Forest Is No Longer a Home -- Forest Bats Seek Refuge in Settlements
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Friday, May 23, 2025
- El Niño and La Niña Climate Swings Threaten Mangroves Worldwide
- Managing Surrogate Species, Providing a Conservation Umbrella for More Species
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- New Study Reveals How Competition Between Algae Is Transforming the Gulf of Maine
- Diversity Is Key to Ecosystem Stability
- Climate Change Poses Severe Threat to Bowhead Whale Habitat
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- MIT Scientists Develop Tool That Makes Underwater Scenes Crystal Clear
- Yeast Reveals How Species Adapt to a Warmer Climate
- Songbirds' Great Risk Results in Great Genetic Reward
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- Coastal Squeeze Is Bad for Biodiversity, and for Us, Experts Say
- Native Turtles Return to Yosemite After Removal of Invasive Bullfrogs
- Surprise Baby Whale Sightings Reveal There's Still Much to Learn About Humpbacks
Monday, May 19, 2025
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Heat-Tolerant Symbionts a Critical Key to Protecting Florida's Elkhorn Coral from Bleaching During Marine Heatwaves
- Rising Temperatures Lead to Unexpectedly Rapid Carbon Release from Soils
- Language a Barrier in Biodiversity Work
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- Amazon Could Survive Long-Term Drought but at a High Cost
- Dual Associations With Two Fungi Improve Tree Fitness
- Human Activity Reduces Plant Diversity Hundreds of Kilometers Away
- Scientists Use Fossils to Assess the Health of Florida's Largest Remaining Seagrass Bed: Surprisingly, It's Doing Well!
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Monday, May 12, 2025
- Invasive Salmon, Clams and Seaweed Are Next Threats to Biodiversity in Britain
- Helping Birds and Floating Solar Energy Coexist
Friday, May 9, 2025
- First Fossil Evidence of Endangered Tropical Tree Discovered
- Heat and Land Use: Bees Suffer in Particular
Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Red Alert for Our Closest Relatives
- Researchers Find New Defense Against Hard-to-Treat Plant Diseases
- Database Reveals Vital Ocean Links to Aid Conservation
- Eco-Friendly Aquatic Robot Is Made from Fish Food
- Just 30 Species of Tree Dominate World's Most Diverse Savanna
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
- Pioneering Research Reveals Tree-Mendous Potential of Inexpensive Drones to Help Community Forests Flourish and Unlock Restoration Funding
- Fewer Parasites in the Indian River Lagoon Signal Big Ecosystem Problems
- Climate Change: Future of Today's Young People
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
- Replanted Rainforests May Benefit from Termite Transplants
- AI Has Untapped Potential to Advance Biodiversity Conservation
- Two New Crocodile Species Discovered
Monday, May 5, 2025
- Halo Patterns Around Coral Reefs May Signal Resilience
- A Fully Automated Tool for Species Tree Inference
- Ancient Poems Tell the Story of Charismatic River Porpoise's Decline Over the Past 1,400 Years
Friday, May 2, 2025
Thursday, May 1, 2025
- Study Shows How Millions of Bird Sightings Unlock Precision Conservation
- Intensifying Farmland Can Sometimes Degrade Biodiversity More Than Expansion
- Invasive Rats and Rainforest Mammals Are Sharing Gut Microbes as Urban Areas Grow
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- International Experts Lead Calls to Embed Nature in City Infrastructure for Better Health and Climate Resilience
- Deciphering the Migratory Behavior and Connectivity of Mediterranean and Atlantic Cory's Shearwaters
- When Sea Stars Fall, Sea Otters Rise: Sea Otters Benefit from Prey Boom Triggered by Loss of Ochre Sea Stars
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
- Forest in Sync: Spruce Trees May Communicate During a Solar Eclipse
- Missed School Is an Overlooked Consequence of Tropical Cyclones, Warming Planet
- Rainfall Triggers Extreme Humid Heat in Tropics and Subtropics
Monday, April 28, 2025
- New Pests and Diseases Will Cut UK Tree Growth
- Elephant Instead of Wild Boar? What Could Have Been in Europe
- Want to Understand Grasslands? Look at the Bigger Picture
- Chip-Shop Fish Among Key Seabed Engineers
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
- Paying Fishers to Release Endangered Catches Can Aid Conservation, but Only If Done Right
- Hotter Temps Trigger Wetlands to Emit More Methane as Microbes Struggle to Keep Up
- Nature Accounting in Colombia Makes Sound Economic Case for Protecting Native Ecosystems
- Newborns Living Near Trees Tend to Be Healthier: New Data Suggests It's Not Because Healthier People Reside Near Parks
- World on Course to Trigger Multiple Climate 'tipping Points' Unless Action Accelerates
Monday, April 21, 2025
- What If Mother Earth Could Sue for Mistreatment?
- Introduced Trees Are Becoming More Common in the Eastern United States, While Native Diversity Declines
Thursday, April 17, 2025
- Land-Use Drives Energy Dynamics of Boreal Lake Food Webs
- Curious Isolation: New Butterfly Species Discovered
- A New Record for California's Highest Tree
- Nutrients Strengthen Link Between Precipitation and Plant Growth, Study Finds
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
- Foraging on the Wing: How Can Ecologically Similar Birds Live Together?
- Colombia's Peatlands Could Be a Crucial Tool to Fight Climate Change: But First We Have to Find Them