Ecology

Dried sea snot on the surface of the water can be so strong that seagulls can walk on it, and it can damage fishing boat motors.

Turkey Begins to Clean Smelly Sea Snot From Its Shores

The layer of marine mucilage threatens not only tourism and fishing boats but also creatures living in the Sea of Marmara

This bison calf, standing in the doorway of a barn on the Blackfeet Reservation, is a symbol of hope for the Blackfoot people.

When the Bison Return, Will Their Habitat Rebound?

An effort to bring wild bison to the Great Plains aims to restore one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems

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A Journey to the Northernmost Tree in Alaska

Explorer Roman Dial leads a team of young scientists on a mission to document a rapidly changing landscape

Each year, nearly 20,000 Wisconsin residents collide with deer each year, which leads to about 477 injuries and eight deaths annually.

By Creating a 'Landscape of Fear,' Wolves Reduce Car Collisions With Deer

A new study in Wisconsin suggests the predators keep prey away from roads, reducing crashes by 24 percent

A ghost forest on Capers Island, South Carolina.

'Tree Farts' Raise Ghost Forests' Carbon Emissions

As sea level rise poisons woodlands with saltwater, more work is needed to understand these ecosystems' contributions to climate change

A 17-year Brood X cicada.

Will 17-Year Cicadas Be a Buffet or Big Disturbance for Birds?

Local songbirds, including chickadees, bluebirds and cardinals, will take advantage of their abundance and Smithsonian scientists are eager to study

Google Earth image of a healthy forest on the lower right and a ghost forest full of dead trees on the left.

Why Ecologists Are Haunted by the Rapid Growth of Ghost Forests

A study in North Carolina of dying trees may represent a foreboding preview of what may come to coastal ecosystems worldwide

Iran's Lake Urmia, once one of the largest saltwater lakes in the world, is vanishing due to climate change.

Can Climate Fiction Writers Reach People in Ways That Scientists Can't?

A new subgenre of science fiction leans on the expertise of biologists and ecologists to imagine a scientifically plausible future Earth

Smithsonian ecologist Andy Boyce reported the rediscovery and photographed the elusive Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops owl, Otus brookii brookii, in the mountainous forests of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia.

Rare Owl With Bright Orange Eyes Seen for the First Time in More Than 125 Years

The elusive Bornean Rajah scops owl is inspiring scientists and researchers after its brief rediscovery

“We think of fire often as this destructive tool,” says lead author Jessica Thompson. “That doesn’t have to be the case.”

Did Stone Age Humans Shape the African Landscape With Fire 85,000 Years Ago?

New research centered on Lake Malawi may provide the earliest evidence of people using flames to improve land productivity

A donkey digging a well in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.

Wild Donkeys and Horses Dig Wells That Provide Water for a Host of Desert Species

A new study finds these equine wells attracted 59 other vertebrate species, boasting 64 percent more species than the surrounding landscape

The Sts’ailes forest garden near Vancouver, British Columbia seen from the air.

Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia Tended 'Forest Gardens'

Found near villages, research suggests the Indigenous population intentionally planted and maintained these patches of fruit and nut trees

Grasses and coastal scrub photographed at Salt Point State Park in Northern California. This park is one of several coastal areas researchers surveyed as part of a new study of disease-carrying ticks.

California Study Finds Lyme Disease-Carrying Ticks by the Beach

Researchers found as many ticks carrying the bacterium that causes Lyme disease in coastal areas as they did in woodlands

A mounted specimen of the type of tyrannosaur at the heart of new research that suggests these predators may have lived in groups. These skeletons are from a species named Teratophoneus curriei, and show an adult (left) and juvenile (right) at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

New Fossils Suggest Tyrannosaurs May Have Hunted in Packs

Researchers say the trove of four or five specimens found in southern Utah challenges the assumption that these predators were solitary

Smoke rises from a wildfire in the summer of 2019 near Talkeetna, Alaska.

New-Growth Alaskan Forests May Store More Carbon After Wildfires

Researchers find forests are regrowing with more deciduous trees, which are more resistant to burning and may eventually store 160 percent more carbon

Smoke lingers following fires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in August 2020.

Humans Have Altered 97 Percent of Earth's Land Through Habitat and Species Loss

The study, which did not include Antarctica, also identified opportunities to restore up to 20 percent of land ecosystems

Blue pieces of microplastic viewed under a microscope alongside dust, minerals and charcoal collected from a park in Idaho.

Airborne Microplastics 'Now Spiral Around the Globe'

Researchers find the tiny synthetic particles can stay aloft for nearly a week and travel large distances in the wind

The migration advances an average of 25 to 30 miles a day. A cyclist can cover similar distances.

What I Learned Biking the 10,000-Mile Migration Route of Monarch Butterflies

I set off to be the first person to cycle alongside the butterflies to raise awareness of their alarming decline

As many commercial operators and homeowners are shifting to LEDs, which tend to fall somewhere in the blue-white spectrum, the new results may have important implications beyond tropical rainforests.

Using Amber-Filtered Bulbs Instead of White Light Attracts Fewer Bugs

In a tropical rainforest study, 60 percent fewer insects visited traps illuminated in a golden glow. Researchers say the results may be widely applicable

A study of ten narwhal tusks reveals how the animals are responding to a swiftly changing Arctic.

Study of Narwhal Tusks Reveals a Swiftly Changing Arctic

Chemical analysis of ten tusks shows shifting diets and increasing levels of mercury as climate change warms the polar region

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