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In coral reef ecosystems, amid stony corals, fronds of algae and schools of fish, microorganisms are essential for recycling nutrients—transforming bits of organic matter into forms of nitrogen and phosphorus, for example, that are useful to photosynthetic organisms.
A team of researchers with members from Norway, Austria, Russia and Germany has found a kind of bacteria that oxidizes methane. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their findings and suggest their work could lead to progress in combati ...
Bacteria are known for breaking down lactose to make yogurt and sugar to make beer. Now researchers led by Northwestern University and LanzaTech have harnessed bacteria to break down waste carbon dioxide (CO2) to make valuable industrial chemicals.
Micro-organisms persisting deep below the seafloor for millions of years continue to evolve despite living at the energy limit to life. On the surface of the Earth where nutrients are in ample supply, bacteria proliferate and evolve at an accelerated rate compared to plants and animals.
Two recently published scientific papers have highlighted the importance of maintaining small and degraded forests to support the conservation of biodiversity.
The Crown Estate has partnered with the Rich North Sea programme to harness state-of-the-art modelling to help identify how best to protect marine life.
Fish stocks in a marine national park in Indonesia increased significantly in the years after a ban on the use of coral-destroying nets was imposed, a recent study has found.
A small nocturnal marsupial that once roamed the Australian mainland has been brought back from the brink of extinction after a decades-long conservation effort, authorities said Wednesday.
A lonely rhinoceros at a Bangladesh zoo is looking for new love after losing her partner seven years ago, but pandemic travel restrictions are hampering her keeper's attempts to play matchmaker.
As part of the pioneering UK-led Darwin Tree of Life project (DToL), the Wellcome and UKRI-BBSRC funded ‘Barcoding the Broads’ programme provides training on how to collect samples and then sequence a DNA barcode of species found in the East of England. Showcasing the modern scientific disciplin ...
The best bargains for conserving some of the world's most vulnerable salamanders and other vertebrate species can be found in Central Texas and the Appalachians, according to new conservation tools.
Ants and honeybees share nests of hundreds or thousands of individuals in a very small space. Hence the risk is high that infectious diseases may spread rapidly. In order to reduce this risk, the animals have developed special social behaviors that are referred to as "social immune defense."
The raucous calls of tree hyraxes—small, herbivorous mammals—reverberate through the night in the forests of West and Central Africa, but their sound differs depending on the location.
Nectar-feeding bats foraging in intensively managed banana plantations in Costa Rica have a less diverse set of gut microbes in comparison to bats feeding in their natural forest habitat or organic plantations, reveals new research published today in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
Theresa Laverty had a lot of flexibility in deciding what she would study for her doctoral dissertation when she arrived at Colorado State University, thanks to a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation. After many conversations with her advisor, Professor Joel Berger, ...
The idea that certain creatures such as bats pose a higher risk of spreading viruses to humans may not be accurate, new research suggests.
Beating the bite of mosquitoes this spring and summer could hinge on your attire and skin, suggests a new study.
Scientists from the Quadram Institute at the Norwich Research Park have made an important discovery into the workings of bacterial communities.
A new study from Columbia Engineering and Harvard identified the critical physiological importance of suitable temperatures for butterfly wings to function properly, and discovered that the insects exquisitely regulate their wing temperatures through both structural and behavioral adaptations.
Insects have been studied in over 900 locations throughout the world in a new meta-study that examines long-term data. The observed changes in the number of a group of insects in the same location reveal relatively little about other insect species.
When we think of Australia's threatened corals, the Great Barrier Reef probably springs to mind. But elsewhere, coral species are also struggling—including a rare type known as "cauliflower soft coral" which is, sadly, on the brink of extinction.
Beavers have alleviated flooding, reduced pollution and boosted populations of fish, amphibians and other wildlife, according to a five-year study of wild-living animals in Devon.
One of the most comprehensive studies conducted on beavers has conclusively demonstrated that beavers are essential for freshwater conservation and ecosystem stability by creating and preserving aquatic and wetland environments in Minnesota.
The potential of using immersive virtual reality (iVR) technologies to enhance nature relatedness by embodying non-human beings, such as plants or animals, is only sparsely researched. T
Recently discovered genetic knowledge of two nuisance western honey bee subspecies will help commercial and hobby beekeepers. A new UF/IFAS study identified genetic characteristics relevant to the production and behavioral attributes of these two key bee subspecies.
The biodiversity buzz is alive and well in Fiji, but climate change, noxious weeds and multiple human activities are making possible extinction a counter buzzword.
Ecosystems that contain only a few bee species underperform in terms of plant production whereas those with many different species thrive, according to research which highlights the importance of bee diversity to securing the world's food supply.
Declines in native bee populations are widely reported, but can existing data really analyze these trends? In the Jan. 17, 2019, online edition of PLOS One, Utah State University and USDA researchers report findings about pollinator biodiversity in California's Pinnacles National Park derived fr ...
How do Swiss beeches respond to extreme drought? To answer this question, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) studied 75 National Forest Inventory (NFI) sample plots during and after the dry summer of 2018. Reduced growth and an abundance of p ...
The use of many chemical fumigants in agriculture have been demonstrated to be harmful to human health and the environment and therefore banned from use.
We've known for a while that honey bees are smart cookies. They have excellent navigation skills, they communicate symbolically through dance, and they're the only insects that have been shown to learn abstract concepts.
The world's bees face a major threat from deformed wing virus, a pathogen transmitted by the parasitic varroa mite. It is responsible for causing the death of millions of colonies in the US, Europe and Asia. The major losses started in the early 1990s with at least 30% of colonies dying each year.
An international research team led by Monash University has demonstrated that cooling temperatures and glacial cycles over the past 15 million years were essential for an explosion in terrestrial animal diversity throughout the Antarctic region.
Various beetle species have gobbled through grain stores and weakened food production worldwide since ancient times. Now, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a better way of targeting and eliminating these teeny pests. Instead of using toxic pesticides that damage biodive ...
Almost all crop plants form associations with a particular type of fungi—called arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi—in the soil, which greatly expand their root surface area. This mutually beneficial interaction boosts the plant's ability to take up nutrients that are vital for growth.
Led by Christopher L. Lawson, a PhD Candidate in the School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Queensland, a group of scientists set out to learn more about the bioenergetics models for shark and rays. “A bioenergetics model describes the energy requirements of an animal and how energy ...
Ten Belgian scientists will leave for Antarctica on Tuesday aboard a sailboat to study marine biodiversity and the presence of plastic in the Southern Ocean, following a failed attempt last year.
A project led by 24-year-old Alexander Vanhaelen from Belgium is investigating changes to marine life as a result of climate change, with the research conducted aboard a floating laboratory in the form of the vessel St. Helena.
The monarch butterfly fluttered a step closer to extinction Thursday, as scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list because of its fast dwindling numbers.
A new IMAS study has identified potential benefits and risks for marine ecosystems from two of the key approaches for carbon removal proposed to cut atmospheric carbon levels and slow climate change.
A recent interdisciplinary research project about how pollinator-attracting companion plants help increase yield in some horticulture crops showcases the intersection of excellence when researchers from diverse fields combine research, teaching and extension efforts to solve scientific questions.
Scientists hope to harness fungi that decompose the most abundant type of biomass in wood, lignocellulose. Lignocellulose could be used to create the building-blocks of polymers for bioproducts.
Comfortable urban public spaces play an important role in shaping healthy behaviors and raising well-being among citizens. Given the context of climate change, unplanned urbanization, and the worldwide air-borne pandemic, there is prominent concern about comfort in urban planning and municipal p ...
It's clear that rising greenhouse gas emissions are the main driver of global warming. But on a regional level, several other factors are at play. That's especially true in the Arctic—a massive oceanic region around the North Pole which is warming two to three times faster than the rest of the p ...
It’s no secret that Earth’s biodiversity is at risk. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 26% of all mammals, 14% of birds and 41% of amphibians are currently threatened worldwide, mainly due to human impacts such as climate change and development.
A meadow's lush array of flowers needs a full phalanx of bees to pollinate them—far more than just the honeybees and bumblebees that most people are familiar with, according to a new study by a team of researchers including University of Maryland entomologist Michael Roswell.
Arizona State University researchers have found that larger tropical stingless bee species fly better in hot conditions than smaller bees do. Larger size may help certain bee species better tolerate high body temperatures.
Los Angeles and Mumbai, India, share many superlatives as pinnacles of cinema, fashion, and traffic congestion. But another similarity lurks in the shadows, most often seen at night walking silently on four paws.
9 July 2018 – A global platform for sharing information about the world’s biodiversity has passed a major milestone, with the publication of the one-billionth species record of where a species lives through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
The oldest green seaweed on record, the ancestor of all land plants, lived about 1 billion years ago, a new study finds. Scientists have discovered the fossils of what may be the oldest green algae ever known. The newfound seaweed — called Proterocladus antiquus — lived about a billion years ago.