Ecology News

February 25, 2025

Top Headlines

Environment Nudges Birds to Fast, or Slow, Life Lane

Feb. 25, 2025 — A study shows birds worldwide make strategic decisions about how they live based on their environmental conditions. Some live fast, die young, and leave as many chicks as possible. Others live long and prosper by not breeding ...

Heat-Stressed Reefs May Benefit from Coral-Dwelling Crabs

Feb. 24, 2025 — Crab behavior suggestive of wound-tending may improve coral tolerance to heat ...

How Young Salmon Navigate a Gauntlet of Danger En Route to the Sea

Feb. 24, 2025 — New research uncovers the survival strategy juvenile Chinook salmon adopt to migrate to the ocean, providing insight on how to conserve the threatened ...

Unexpected Discoveries in Study of Giraffe Gut Flora

Feb. 24, 2025 — The gut bacteria of giraffes are not primarily determined by what they eat, but by the species they belong to. This is shown in a new study in which researchers have analyzed the link between diet and gut flora in three giraffe species in Kenya. The ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:20pm EST

10 New Sponge Species Near Hawaii

Feb. 20, 2025 — Biologists, using a technique that explores both genes and structural characteristics, have introduced 10 new species of marine sponge. Despite their distinction as one of Earth's oldest lifeforms ...

Biodiversity in England's Rivers Improved as Metal Pollution Reduced

Feb. 19, 2025 — An improvement in freshwater biodiversity in England's rivers was linked to reductions in pollution of zinc and copper, largely due to the decline of coal burning and heavy industry, say researchers. ...

Urban Environments Promote Adaptation to Multiple Stressors

Feb. 19, 2025 — Animal populations from urban areas show significantly higher resilience to stressful environmental conditions. The mussel and crustacean species studied were able to adapt to disturbed environments, ...

Animals as Architects of Earth: First Global Study Reveals Their Surprising Impact

Feb. 17, 2025 — Animals are not just inhabitants of the natural world -- they are its architects. A new study has revealed how hundreds of species shape the ...

Resilient Algae May Speed Up Greenland Ice Melt

Feb. 19, 2025 — New research reveals that ice algae can store nutrients which may enable them to colonize more of the ice sheet, darkening and melting ...

Study Reveals Extent of Ecological Damage from Niger Delta Oil Spills

Feb. 18, 2025 — An international research team has used earth observation radar data to map oil pipeline networks covering a 9000 km2 region in the Niger Delta and pinpoint where crude oil spills have caused the ...

Rapid Environmental Change Can Threaten Even a Peaceful Daisyworld

Feb. 18, 2025 — Using mathematical modeling, researchers have discovered that rate-induced tipping, which can happen if an environment changes too fast, can happen even in Daisyworld, a simple daisy-filled ...

Foraging Seals Enable Scientists to Measure Fish Abundance Across the Vast Pacific Ocean

Feb. 13, 2025 — A new study by marine biologists reports that seals can essentially act as 'smart sensors' for monitoring fish populations in the ocean's eerily dim ...

Colorado Forests Are Releasing More Carbon Than They Capture Each Year

Feb. 11, 2025 — Colorado's forests store a massive amount of carbon, but dying trees -- mostly due to insects and disease -- have caused the state's forests to emit more carbon than they absorbed in recent years, ...

Twenty Years On, Biodiversity Struggles to Take Root in Restored Wetlands

Feb. 7, 2025 — While the restoration of natural areas is high on political agendas, a comprehensive new study shows that -- after more than two decades -- biodiversity growth has stalled in restored Danish ...

Multinational Research Project Shows How Life on Earth Can Be Measured from Space

Feb. 6, 2025 — Measurements and data collected from space can be used to better understand life on Earth. An ambitious, multinational research project has demonstrated that Earth's biodiversity can be ...

Whale Poop Contains Iron That May Have Helped Fertilize Past Oceans

Feb. 6, 2025 — A recent theory proposes that whales weren't just predators in the ocean environment: Nutrients that whales excreted may have provided a key fertilizer to these marine ecosystems. Oceanographers ...

Climate Change Is Overhauling Marine Nutrient Cycles

Feb. 4, 2025 — Computer models reveal how human-driven climate change will dramatically overhaul critical nutrient cycles in the ocean. Researchers report evidence that marine nutrient cycles -- essential for ...

White Shark Liver Is on Australian Killer Whales' Menu, Genomic Evidence Confirms

Feb. 1, 2025 — DNA evidence has confirmed killer whales in Australia hunted a white shark for its liver. Based on DNA analysis from the bite wounds on the carcass of a large white shark washed ashore near Portland ...

Carbon Capture from Constructed Wetlands Declines as They Age

Jan. 31, 2025 — Constructed wetlands do a good job in their early years of capturing carbon in the environment that contributes to climate change -- but that ability does diminish with time as the wetlands mature, a ...

A Window Into the Future of Amazonia

Jan. 29, 2025 — New research from a team of tropical biologists forecasts some of the changes that may occur in the Amazon rainforest as temperatures rise due to climate ...

Protecting the Plains: Conserving Prairie Dogs Will Revitalize North America's Grasslands

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers have identified priority areas for conserving the black-tailed prairie dog in the United States. Protecting these regions will also benefit North America's Central Grasslands and the ...

Complexity of Tree-Planting Schemes

Jan. 28, 2025 — Research with smallholder farmers in Kenya shows that tree-planting schemes must account for complex local issues and ...

Mapping Antarctica's Hidden Ice-Free Lands: A Blueprint for Conservation

Jan. 28, 2025 — Researchers unveil a new map and classification system that will help protect the unique plants and animals of Earth's most remote and fragile ...

Ecologist's Studies on the Effects of Prey Depletion on Populations of Large African Carnivores

Jan. 28, 2025 — Studies determine how prey density affects African wild dogs and ...

How Tiny Algae Shaped the Evolution of Giant Clams

Jan. 27, 2025 — New research reveals how resident algae altered the genome of these fabled sea creatures, allowing them to access more ...

Scientists Discover Unique Microbes in Amazonian Peatlands That Could Influence Climate Change

Jan. 24, 2025 — Researchers have identified an unknown family of microbes uniquely adapted to the waterlogged, low-oxygen conditions of tropical peatlands in Peru's northwestern Amazonian rainforest. The new ...

How Human Activity Has Shaped Brazil Nut Forests' Past and Future

Jan. 24, 2025 — Researchers use genomic data to study the decline in genetic diversity in the Amazon Basin, particularly in Brazil Nut trees. The research uses genomic data to understand this keystone species' ...

Wildlife Camera Surveys Reveal the Conservation Importance of Habitat Transition Zones

Jan. 22, 2025 — Globally, tropical rain forests are among the most species-rich habitats and are therefore often prioritized in conservation efforts. A team of scientists now show that the diversity of ...

Extreme Climate Pushed Thousands of Lakes in West Greenland 'Across a Tipping Point,' Study Finds

Jan. 21, 2025 — Following two months of record heat and precipitation in fall 2022, an estimated 7,500 lakes in West Greenland turned brown, began emitting carbon and decreased in water quality in less than a year. ...

Cycle of Coral Bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef Now at 'Catastrophic' Levels

Jan. 21, 2025 — Marine scientists highlights the complex interplay between heat stress, disease onset and coral mortality. They found that 66 percent of the colonies were bleached by February 2024 and 80 per cent by ...

Direct Measurements Can Reduce Uncertainty in Soil Carbon Credit Markets

Jan. 17, 2025 — Scientists find a 'measure and remeasure' approach is a feasible method of verifying soil carbon storage in croplands for climate ...

Mussel Bed Surveyed Before World War II Still Thriving

Jan. 16, 2025 — A mussel bed in Northern California is as healthy and biodiverse as it was about 80 years ago, when two young students surveyed it shortly before one was sent to fight in World War II. Resampling the ...

Calls to Curb Invasive Species Spread Via Untreated Water Transfer

Jan. 15, 2025 — Experts are warning of the risks of spreading invasive and non-native species when moving large volumes of untreated lake, reservoir and river ...

Great Barrier Reef Fish Evidence Suggests Shifts in Major Global Biodiversity Patterns

Jan. 14, 2025 — Life on the Great Barrier Reef is undergoing big changes in the face of climate change and other human-caused pressures, a new study reveals. From food security to controlling seaweed and even making ...