Ecosystems
Articles on ecosystems
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Ecosystems
Here’s why scientists have been fertilizing the Arctic
For more than 30 years, scientists have been fertilizing small parcels of Arctic tundra. Here’s what happens when you push an ecosystem to the brink.
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Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Bog
Bogs are a type of wetland in which partially decayed plants sink down and form peat.
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Plants
Earthworm invaders may be stressing out some maples
Worms are great for soil when ecosystems have evolved with them. But in earthworm-free places, like parts of the U.S. Upper Midwest, they can cause problems for plants and animals.
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Oceans
Expedition finds South Pacific plastic patch bigger than India
A giant, floating ‘garbage patch’ in the South Pacific off Chile’s coast is mostly tiny bits of plastic.
By Ilima Loomis -
Ecosystems
As trees come down, some hidden homes are disappearing
Animals such as frogs, toucans and possums live in tree hollows. But as people have cut down trees, a wildlife housing shortage has developed in some places.
By Roberta Kwok -
Oceans
Cool Jobs: Science deep beneath the waves
These scientists probe the sea’s depths, its strange inhabitants, the movement of water and how life evolves in extremes.
By Ilima Loomis -
Animals
Wildebeest drownings feed a river ecosystem for years
Hundreds or thousands of wildebeests can drown at a time in the Mara River. Those carcasses, however, will feed a succession of other animals.
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Animals
Bee hotels are open for business
Bee hotels are creating a buzz in conservation and research by offering nesting places for wild bees.
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Ecosystems
Cool Jobs: Bringing caves’ dark secrets to light
These three cave researchers study caves to learn more about climate, geology and organisms that can survive some of Earth’s most hostile environments.
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Ecosystems
Camera catches new fish species — as it’s eaten!
A video of a lionfish eating a new-found species of fish raises concerns about the threat lionfish pose to undiscovered species in deep reefs.
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Tech
Underwater robot vacuums up lionfish
Lionfish damage coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean. A new underwater robot hunts, stuns and captures the bullies with help from a human operator.
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Life
Cities drive animals and plants to evolve
Biologists are finding that some species have used genetic changes to evolve — adapt — to the pollution and other stressors that they encounter in cities.