Ecosystems
Articles on ecosystems
- Ecosystems
A weird upside-down world lurks beneath Antarctica’s ice
A vast swath of ocean surrounds Antarctica, hidden under the ice. Here, strange creatures burrow into the dark underbelly of a floating glacier.
By Douglas Fox - Animals
Swimming in schools lets fish save lots of energy
Each tail flap uses less than half as much energy than swimming solo, making it easier for fish to catch their breath after an underwater sprint.
- Animals
Paw-print DNA lets scientists track out-of-sight polar bears
This environmental DNA can aid in conserving species that are hard or dangerous to observe.
- Ecosystems
Restoring giant underwater forests, one blade at a time
Giant kelp are at risk due to climate change and human activities. In New Zealand, a community effort is rebuilding these underwater algal forests.
- Earth
Analyze This: Tropical forests have gotten patchier
Although many of the world's forests have gotten less fragmented since 2000, tropical forests have gotten more chopped up, putting animals at risk.
- Ecosystems
The Amazon is in trouble. Here’s why — and why it matters
Challenges from human-caused climate change, deforestation and degradation leave the fate of this vast forest uncertain.
By Nikk Ogasa - Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Predator and Prey
Ecological relationships between predators and their prey drive the evolution of plants, animals and microbes.
- Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Food web
All the species in an ecosystem and the feeding relationships between them get summed up with this handy picture.
- Fossils
Ocean life may have bounced back after the ‘Great Dying’
Marine ecosystems may have been back in action just a million years after the most severe extinction event known.
By Nikk Ogasa - Ecosystems
Let’s learn about how wildfires keep ecosystems healthy
Wildfires are so important for many ecosystems that sometimes professionals set them on purpose.
- Animals
Study finds big drop in animal populations since 1970
But the same thing is not happening throughout the kingdom. For instance, more than half of vertebrate populations are stable or increasing.
- Animals
If mosquitoes vanished, would we miss them? Vampire spiders might
Vampire spiders get their meals from blood-filled Anopheles mosquitoes. But if those insects disappear, the spiders will likely adapt.