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Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Andre Rovai measures mangrove growth in forest

Meet the Scientist Uncovering How Mangroves Can Help the U.S. Military

Smithsonian ecologist Andre Rovai studies how mangroves fight sea level rise, protecting military installations on the coast.

Over a dozen blue crabs with red pincers piled in a wooden basket

Cannibalism Takes Major Bite Out of Young Blue Crabs, but the Shallows Offer a Refuge

Smithsonian study finds juvenile crabs rely on shrinking shallow-water habitats to escape cannibalism by adults

Close-up of a bright green patch of seagrass under bright blue water

Eight Weird Facts About Seagrass (and Why It’s Essential)

Fact one: It's not seaweed.

Left: Black and white image of a young man sitting at a desk, examining bird bones and holding a bird skull. Right: A young woman in an orange safety vest bends over a stream, collecting a water sample in a bottle.

Six Ways the Smithsonian Shaped Environmental Science in 60 Years

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center turned 60 this year. We're celebrating with six of our favorite stories since 1965.

A woman wearing a straw sun hat stands on a dock with a forest behind her, holding out a plastic water bottle and smiling.

How Volunteers Helped Train Satellites to Health-Check the Chesapeake

Thousands of water samples. Hundreds of volunteers. Meet Chesapeake Water Watch, the big data project where volunteers are improving how satellites measure water quality in the Bay.

A brown river otter walks beside a white tree, with autumn leaves covering the ground.

River Otters Unfazed by Parasites, Poop While Eating

North American river otters eat, play and defecate in the same place. And their unhealthy habits make them ideal for detecting future health threats in the environment.

A woman in a red shirt stands on a wooden blue canoe beside a mangrove shoreline, unwinding a fishing net.

Local Women’s Voices Often Missing in Marine Protection

A new technique offers a way for managers to make sure they include the perspectives of local women when designing marine protected areas.

Head and shoulders photo of Denise Breitburg, a woman with glasses and shoulder-length gray hair, with forested mountains in the background.

Wait, the Ocean Is Losing Oxygen? Q&A With Denise Breitburg

Marine ecologist Denise Breitburg explains how oxygen loss is crippling our oceans, and why it needs to be included as the tenth "planetary boundary"

A swarm of yellow fish and silver fish with yellow tailfins swim around a coral reef

Adult Fish Aren't Truly 'Protected' in Many Marine Protected Areas

To replenish adult spawners, marine protected areas need strong enforcement and climate-friendly design

Black monkey perches in a tree staring directly at camera

Eight Weird and Wondrous Discoveries From 2023

Life on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the true power of nature sanctuaries and more wild discoveries from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

Underwater photo of a pink and gold coral reef in bright blue water, with small blue and yellow fish. A blurry reflection of the reef appears in the water at the top of the photo.

New Study Reveals Large Holes In America’s Ocean Protection. Here’s How We Can Fix Them.

Many governments are leaning on marine protected areas to fight biodiversity loss. But in America, ocean protections are uneven and often weak, leading scientists to call for new strategies.

Corals as far as the eye can see, with dark blue fishes swimming above

U.S. Needs to Diversify Marine Protected Areas to Reap Full Benefits

Almost all the marine protected areas in the U.S. sit in the central Pacific Ocean, while fragile ecosystems in other regions are being left out

Orange scalefin anthias fish swarm in front of a fire coral in the Red Sea's Ras Mohammed Marine Park, Egypt. (Credit: Alex Mustard, Ocean Image Bank).

Reef Robots. Predicting Marine Life Like Weather. Meet the Ocean of 2030.

Imagine a world where an indigenous fisher can get forecasts of local marine life from a smart phone, or a team of robots can offer real-time data on coral reef health. That's the vision of two Smithsonian projects highlighted by the United Nations for its Decade of Ocean Science.

Cownose rays are migratory animals that come into the Chesapeake in summer and swim to Florida for the winter. (Credit: Jay Fleming/SERC)

For The First Time, Biologists Track Cownose Rays To Florida And Back

Every summer, cownose rays stream into Chesapeake Bay to mate and give birth to their pups. When autumn comes, they disappear—presumably to migrate south, but no one knew for certain where they spent the winter. Now, after a three-year tagging study published Aug. 23 and led by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), scientists have solved the mystery. Cownose rays all along the Atlantic winter near Cape Canaveral, Florida, and it’s likely they return to the same spots each summer.

A Chinese mitten crab found in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, in 2007. Chinese mitten crabs are most recognizable by their brown, spiny shells and furry “mittened” claws. (Credit: SERC)

Wanted: The Hunt for Chinese Mitten Crabs Is Back On

An army of invading crabs has disappeared. But scientists are skeptical about whether they’re gone for good, or just hiding. As warmer temps lure people onto the water, Smithsonian scientists are asking boaters to report any sightings of the elusive Chinese mitten crab.

Male Bocon toadfish of Panama attract mates by singing in a series of “grunts” and “boops.” (Credit: Study authors)

The Ugly Fish That Sings Its Own Song

SERC marine biologist Brianna Tracy holds a plate with marine life pulled from a dock in San Francisco. (Credit: Kristen Minogue/SERC)

Citizen Science: Help Spot Invaders With Your Smart Phone

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