Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Plants
Scientists Say: Superbloom
These massive wildflower blooms create colorful carpets over desert landscapes during unusually rainy years.
- Animals
Watch the first sperm whale birth caught on video by scientists
The footage shows other sperm whales huddled around the mother, helping lift the newborn calf to the surface until it’s ready to swim.
- Animals
Emperor penguins are on the march — toward extinction
Along with Antarctic fur seals, these iconic birds, the largest of all penguins, are now endangered by their continent’s warming.
- Ecosystems
Let’s learn about wetlands
Just how wet these lands are varies a lot — from seasonally soaked to permanently flooded.
- Ecosystems
Hurricane Katrina shaped this coastal ecologist’s life and work
Surviving Hurricane Katrina inspired Elliott White Jr.’s scientific journey to studying how humans and climate change impact wetlands.
- Tech
Backyard leafhoppers inspire next-generation cloaking tech
Engineers are borrowing this insect’s trick, an "invisibility cloak" of anti-reflective spheres. It could lead to new clean energy tech or military gear.
- Life
After the dino-killer asteroid, life bounced back quickly
New ocean dwellers arrived millennia — maybe decades — after the Chicxulub impact. That forces a rethink of evolution's response to wipeout events.
- Environment
Human-built ‘beaver’ dams help save struggling streams
To help restore streams, ecologists and other scientists are taking tips from the rodents — and hoping some beavers also join in.
- Animals
Intricate silk helps net-casting spiders trap prey in webs
Rufous net-casting spiders can adjust the stiffness and stretchiness of their webs thanks to looping strands of silk.
- Oceans
The sea surface covered by seaweed is now as big as South America
The first global mapping of macroalgae blooms in the ocean, last year, reveals rapid growth and a new record for the area seaweed blankets.
- Ecosystems
The Okefenokee’s dark waters hold secrets about climate and more
This Georgia peat swamp’s vast stores of carbon and water are under threat from mining and pollution. Scientists and locals are fighting to protect it.
- Animals
Animals’ personalities can affect a species’ survival
From bold foxes to shy parrots, animals’ personalities are increasingly being seen as key to saving species.
