Ecosystems

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.

Ecosystems

Scientists Say: Bog

Bogs are a type of wetland in which partially decayed plants sink down and form peat.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Animals

Bee hotels are open for business

Bee hotels are creating a buzz in conservation and research by offering nesting places for wild bees.

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.

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.

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.

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.