By Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries 4/6/2020 More and more animals and plants are being taken from their habitat by humans – consciously and unconsciously. Many cannot adapt to the new living conditions, but some are becoming firmly established. “Some non-native species cause serious problems for native species – as predators, competitors for food and habitat, or vectors…
By Florida International University 3/31/2020 Even minor amounts of human activity can increase nutrient concentrations in fresh waters that can damage the environment, according to a new study. These findings suggest most U.S. streams and rivers have higher levels of nitrogen and phosphorus than is recommended. Although nutrients are a natural part of aquatic ecosystems like streams and rivers, too…
By National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis 3/16/2020 Conserving natural habitat around strawberry fields can help protect growers’ yields, their bottom line and the environment with no detectable threat to food safety, indicates a study led by the University of California, Davis. KNOXVILLE—The best bargains for conserving some of the world’s most vulnerable salamanders and other vertebrate species can…
By University of Gothenberg 3/13/2020 Researchers have used a new method to identify which eelgrass meadows on the Swedish coasts are particularly vulnerable or valuable and which meadows should be restored in the future. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a marine flowering plant that provides a habitat for a wide range of marine plants and animals, including several commercial fish, such as…
By University of Washington 3/12/2020 As oceans absorb more carbon dioxide, they are becoming increasingly acidic and shifting the delicate balance that supports marine life. How species will cope with ocean acidification and the other consequences of global climate change is still very much unknown and could have sweeping consequences. Researchers from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery…
By University of California, Davis 3/11/2020 Conserving natural habitat around strawberry fields can help protect growers’ yields, their bottom line and the environment with no detectable threat to food safety, indicates a study led by the University of California, Davis. In the study, published in the journal Ecological Applications, researchers conducted grower surveys and experiments at 20 strawberry farms stretching between Santa Cruz, Watsonville,…
By University of Washington 3/9/2020 Spring is coming, and with it comes the promise of warmer weather, longer days and renewed life. For residents of the Pacific Northwest, one of the most idyllic scenes of this renewed life is the wildflowers that light up Mount Rainier’s subalpine meadows once the winter snowpack finally melts. These floral ecosystems, which typically arrive…
By University of Hawai’i, Manoa 3/5/2020 The Haleakalā silversword, already one of the rarest species in the Hawaiian Islands, has been declining in recent decades due to drier and warmer climate conditions. Efforts to restore the population should focus on outplanting new plants in geographic areas with the most favorable climatic conditions. That’s according to a three-year study by researchers from…
By the National Science Foundation 3/4/2020 Why are there so many species of plants? Why do some plants thrive, while others don’t? Ecologist Noelle Beckman of Utah State University and her colleagues explore these questions in new findings about seed-to-seedling transitions published in the journal Ecology. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation. “This team used a new approach to analyzing spatial…
By University of Central Florida 3/4/2020 Sea level rise and hurricanes are a threat to sea turtle nesting habitat along national seashores in the Southeast, but a new study predicts the greatest impact to turtles will be at Canaveral National Seashore. The University of Central Florida-led study, which was published recently in the journal Ecological Applications, examined loggerhead and green sea turtle nests…
By University of California Riverside 3/4/2020 Entomologists at UC Riverside have documented that a species of native sweat bee widespread throughout North and South America has a daily routine that makes it a promising pollinator. Because the bee can thrive in environments that have been highly modified by humans, such as cities and agricultural areas, it could become a suitable supplement…
By University of Gottingen 3/2/2020 The threat to insects and other small creatures from rainforest clearance and the consequences for the environment in tropical regions are recognised. What has not been studied so far is whether, and how, the oil palm plantations are able to sustain the populations of tiny below-ground animals that work to keep the soil healthy. In a…
By Tufts University 3/2/2020 MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (March 2, 2020)— Using more than 30 years of earth satellite images, scientists at Tufts University and the non-profit conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife have discovered that habitat loss for imperiled species in the U.S. over this period was more than twice as great on non-protected private lands than on federally protected lands. As…
By University of Washington 2/27/2020 The 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire in north central Washington was the largest contiguous fire in state history. In just a single day, flames spread over 160,000 acres of forest and rangeland and ultimately burned more than 250,000 acres in the midst of a particularly hot, dry summer. The wildfire, driven by strong winds and explosive growth,…
By Utah State University 2/27/2020 Utah State University ecologist Noelle Beckman and colleagues Philippe Marchand of the University of Quebec, Liza Comita of Yale University, Joseph Wright of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, Richard Condit of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History and internationally renowned ecologist Stephen P. Hubbell of the University of California, Los Angeles, explore these questions…
By University Of California, Santa Barbara 2/27/2020 Deron Burkepile, a professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology has been working in southern Africa for longer than a decade, monitoring the complex and diverse plant communities which populate the region. Burkepile first began doing field work in Kruger National Park, South Africa about 15 years ago,…
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is honored to announce this year’s Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipients. This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to receive policy and communication training in Washington, DC before they meet lawmakers.
By University of Copenhagen 2/11/2020 As a result of global warming many species are currently shifting altitudinal distribution in mountain areas. Even though most move to higher altitudes, there are large differences among species, and some even shift downward to lower altitudes. A recently published paper in the acclaimed journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment from the Ecological…
A new study published in the Ecological Society of America’s journal Ecological Applications examines how warming and increased precipitation (rain and snow) harms the seeds in the ground of the Tibetan Plateau and elsewhere.
By University of New Hampshire 2/18/2020 DURHAM, N.H.—Small mammals such as mice and chipmunks who are not picky eaters play a more important role than previously known in dispersing the spores of wild mushrooms and truffles, according to new research from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire. Mushrooms and truffles colonize the roots of…