Exotic Species News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Mixed Forests Reduce the Risk of Forest Damage in a Warmer Climate

Nov. 20, 2024 — Forests with few tree species pose considerably higher risk of being damaged and especially vulnerable is the introduced lodgepole ...

Tree Islands Restore Nature in Oil Palm Plantations

Nov. 18, 2024 — Southeast Asia's tropical forests are renowned for their biodiversity, but at the same time face significant threats from the expansion of oil palm plantations. With global demand for palm oil rising, the urgency for effective restoration strategies ...

Diverse and Diverging Demands on Forests in Germany

Nov. 14, 2024 — Forests provide biodiversity, ecosystem functions, income and much more. How can these diverse and seemingly diverging demands be met? An international research team addressed this question by analyzing the effects of enriching beech forests in ...

New Species Discovered With Refined DNA Technology

Nov. 13, 2024 — Sometimes plants are so similar to each other that the methods developed by 18th century scientist Carl Linnaeus for identifying species are not enough. Completely new species of daisies have been discovered when analyzed using modern DNA ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:23pm EST

Frog Populations Once Decimated by Disease Mount a Major Comeback

Nov. 14, 2024 — Thanks to the consistent and focused efforts of researchers and conservationists to save, then reintroduce, mountain yellow-legged frogs to lakes in Yosemite National Park, their populations are ...

New Study Reveals Half a Century of Change on Britain's Iconic Limestone Pavements

Nov. 14, 2024 — Fifty years of change on iconic limestone pavements has revealed mixed fortunes for one of the most distinctive landscapes in the UK. The findings, ...

More Evidence That Europe's Ancient Landscapes Were Open Woodlands: Oak, Hazel and Yew Were Abundant

Nov. 12, 2024 — A new study finds that the disturbance-demanding plant species oak, hazel and yew were abundant in Europe's forests before modern humans arrived, ...

More Than One Third of Vietnam's Mammal Species Are at Risk of Extinction, Study Finds

Nov. 12, 2024 — A recent study highlights that over one-third of Vietnam's 329 mammal species are threatened with ...

How Gophers Brought Mount St. Helens Back to Life in One Day

Nov. 6, 2024 — When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, lava incinerated anything living for miles around. As an experiment, scientists dropped gophers onto parts of the scorched mountain for only 24 hours. The ...

Researchers' New Outreach Strategy Succeeds, Sets Blueprint for Detecting Invasive Species in Florida

Oct. 28, 2024 — Researchers are showcasing how a focused outreach initiative in Palm Beach County has led to a successful increase in reports of invasive reptiles in ...

Invasive Plants Drive Homogenization of Soil Microbial Communities Across U.S.

Oct. 28, 2024 — A new study reveals that invasive plants are reshaping soil microbial communities across the U.S., making them more uniform and altering how ...

Move Along, Moose: Study Reveals the 'Most Canadian' Animals

Oct. 25, 2024 — What is the 'most Canadian' animal? Spoiler: it's not the beaver, or the moose. A new study ranks species of terrestrial vertebrates in Canada by their level of Canadian evolutionary distinctness: ...

New Parasite Discovered Amid Decline of California's Unique Channel Island Fox

Oct. 23, 2024 — In the 1990s, the San Miguel Island fox nearly went extinct, with numbers dropping to just 15. A recovery program increased their population by 2010, ...

Human Actions Likely Cause Insect Color Change

Oct. 24, 2024 — New Zealand's native stoneflies have changed colour in response to human-driven environmental changes, new research shows. The study provides arguably the world's most clear-cut case of animal ...

Marri Trees a Lifeline for Many Native Bee Species in Biodiversity Hotspot

Oct. 24, 2024 — New research has revealed Marri trees are critical to the survival of more than 80 species of native bee in Western Australia's South West region, which is one of the world's most ...

Invasive Flathead Catfish Impacting Susquehanna's Food Chain

Oct. 22, 2024 — Flathead catfish -- native to the Mississippi River basin -- were first detected in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania in 2002, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In the two decades since ...

Grasslands Live in the Climate Change Fast Lane

Oct. 16, 2024 — Grasslands are responding to climate change almost in real time, according to new ...

Nitrogen Pollution and Rising Carbon Dioxide: A Joint Threat to Grassland Biodiversity?

Oct. 16, 2024 — An ecologically realistic 24-year field study of grasslands showed that elevated levels of carbon dioxide nearly tripled species losses attributed to nitrogen ...

One in Three Plants Call Islands Home: Many at Risk

Oct. 16, 2024 — From Tasmania to Madagascar to New Guinea, islands make up just over five per cent of Earth's land yet are home to 31 per cent of the world's plant species. A new study shows that of all ...

Honey Bees in Demand: New Contract Strategies to Support Pollination Services

Oct. 15, 2024 — As the world's native bee populations are declining, crop production requiring pollinators increasingly relies on commercial pollination services. In the U.S., the beekeeping industry is in ...

Modern Mass Extinction in an Ecuadorean Cloud Forest Found to Be a Mirage

Oct. 15, 2024 — An international team of botanists finds no proof of extinctions in Centinela, but abundant evidence that Centinela's flora lives on in the scattered remaining fragments of coastal ...

Tube Sock-Like Skunk Covers More Ground Than Deer, Impacted by Winter Weather, Study Finds

Oct. 15, 2024 — A study in the Cascade Range in Oregon of a tiny, elusive skunk found the animal can cover more ground than deer and is sensitive to climate change, particularly severe winter ...

Environmental Law Reform Needed to Protect Endangered Marine Species

Oct. 8, 2024 — Researchers are calling for reforms to Australia's environmental laws, as threatened fish species continue to be legally ...

Adding Fall Blooming Plants May Help Both Managed and Wild Bees in Cities

Oct. 8, 2024 — There are nearly 4,000 native bee species in the United States, contributing to pollination in agricultural, urban and natural landscapes. Honey bees, however, are not native to the U.S., which has ...

New Species of Clearwing Moth from Guyana Discovered in Wales

Oct. 8, 2024 — A new species of clearwing moth was found in Port Talbot, Wales. A few moths had been accidentally brought into the UK from Guyana in a camera bag after a photography trip. They stood out as unusual ...

The Rate of Climate Change Threatens to Exceed the Adaptive Capacity of Species

Oct. 2, 2024 — A recent study focusing on the Arctic Siberian primrose underscores the critical need to curb climate change to allow species time to adapt through ...

Megadiverse Flowering Plant Family on Isolated Islands

Sep. 30, 2024 — Asteraceae, a family of flowering plants which includes daisies, sunflowers and asters, are the most diverse group of flowering plants in the world. This plant family comprises around 34,000 species, ...

These Tadpoles Have Discovered a Unique Way of Not Contaminating Their Water Supply: Not Pooping

Sep. 25, 2024 — The Eiffinger's tree frog found in Japan has a unique biological adaptation: its tadpoles do not defecate during their early developmental stages to reduce the risk of contaminating their small ...

Flowers Use Adjustable 'Paint by Numbers' Petal Designs to Attract Pollinators

Sep. 13, 2024 — Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes -- a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ...

Providing Blooms All Season Long May Be the Key to Attracting Pollinators, No Matter What Landscape Your Garden Is Near

Sep. 4, 2024 — A diverse and abundant flower planting that provides flowers in bloom all season may be more important to bees and other pollinators than whatever is surrounding the flower garden, according to a new ...

Number of Fish Species at Risk of Extinction Fivefold Higher Than Previous Estimates, According to a New Prediction

Aug. 29, 2024 — Researchers predict that 12.7% of marine teleost fish species are at risk of extinction, up fivefold from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's prior estimate of 2.5%. Their ...

How a Salt Giant Radically Reshaped Mediterranean Marine Biodiversity

Aug. 29, 2024 — A new study paves the way to understanding biotic recovery after an ecological crisis in the Mediterranean Sea about 5.5 million years ago. Researchers have now been able to quantify how marine biota ...

Aoudad, Bighorn Sheep Share Respiratory Pathogens

Aug. 27, 2024 — A team of researchers has discovered that aoudad -- an animal in the sheep and goat family -- can catch and spread many of the same respiratory pathogens that can impact desert bighorn sheep, a ...

Keeping Native Bees Buzzing Requires Rethinking Pest Control

Aug. 27, 2024 — New research shows a strong correlation between pesticide use and declining sightings of wild bees, with pesticide use causing appearances of some species to drop as much as 56%. The loss of wild ...