Build Back Smaller? Extinction and Origination Patterns Change After Mass Extinctions
A sweeping analysis of marine fossils from most of the past half-billion years shows the usual rules of body size evolution change during mass extinctions…
Biodiversity
Worldwide Decline in Quantity and Diversity of Insects in the Light of Land Use and Climate
Worldwide, the quantity and diversity of insects are declining: scientists have reported more and more evidence for this in recent years. In politics and society,…
Coral Reef Biodiversity Predicted To Shuffle Rather Than Collapse As Climate Changes With Ocean Warming and Acidification
Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse, complex, and productive ecosystems on the planet. Most of coral reef biodiversity consists of tiny organisms living…
Solved: Charles Darwin’s Mysterious Short-Beak Enigma
Mutation in the ROR2 gene is linked to beak length in domestic pigeons, has a surprising connection with a human congenital disorder. Charles Darwin was…
Coral Reef Cover, Biodiversity, and Fish Catches Have Declined by Half Since the 1950s
Coral reefs around the world are under threat because of climate change, overfishing, pollution, and more. Now, researchers reporting in the journal One Earth today (September…
Integrated Strategies To Meet Biodiversity, Climate, and Water Objectives
We are collectively failing to conserve the world’s biodiversity and to mobilize natural solutions to help curb global warming. A new study carried out by…
Let Them Burn? How Wildfire Restored a Lost Forest Ecosystem in Yosemite
Half a century of allowing lightning fires to burn in Yosemite’s Illilouette Creek Basin has created a lost forest ecosystem that is far more resilient…
Venom Contributed to the Extraordinary Species Diversity of Fish and Insects
The extraordinary diversity of insects and fishes, the most species-rich invertebrate and vertebrate groups in the animal kingdom, is partly due to the origin of…
Biological Invasions Are Threatening Bird and Mammal Diversity
Biological invasions are one of the most important factors of biodiversity loss. They threaten the diversity of ecological strategies – the ways in which species…
New Research Helps Explain the Diversity of Life and “Paradox of Sex”
New University of Arizona research finds that sexual reproduction and multicellularity drive diversity among different species. There are huge differences in species numbers among…
Citrus Mystery: Juicy Past of Favorite Okinawan Fruit Revealed
Citrus fruits from the mandarin family have important commercial value but how their diversity arose has been something of a mystery Researchers analyzed the genomes…
Nearly 20% of Intact Forest Landscapes Overlap With Extractive Industries Such As Mining, Oil and Gas
Intact Forest Landscapes are critical for conserving biodiversity and fighting climate change. A new study from WCS and WWF reveals that nearly 20 percent of…
New Early Alert System to Detect Wildlife Illness and Death
Network of wildlife rehabilitation organizations helps track emerging threats. From domoic acid poisoning in seabirds to canine distemper in raccoons, wildlife face a variety of…
Complexity Yields Simplicity: The Shifting Dynamics and Loss of Biodiversity in Temperate Marine Ecosystems
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba find that ocean warming and acidification are shifting temperate coastal reefs to simple turf-dominated ecosystems. At Shikine Island, Japan,…
Answers to a Fundamental Puzzle: Why Are Some Fish Warm-Blooded When Most Are Not?
New research from marine biologists offers answers to a fundamental puzzle that had until now remained unsolved: why are some fish warm-blooded when most are…
Diversity of Tiny Bobtail Squid Driven by Major Ancient Biogeographic Events
Bobtail and bottletail squids are tiny marine invertebrates that are found throughout the world’s oceans and are useful model animals for research There are 68…
Male Dragonflies Lose Their “Bling” in Hotter Climates – May Make It Difficult to Find a Mate
Less pigmentation keeps them cool, but could make it difficult to find a mate. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…
The Mysterious Chinese Mountain Cat Was Likely Not Involved in Feline Domestication
Genomic evidence for the Chinese mountain cat as a wildcat conspecific (Felis silvestris bieti) and its introgression to domestic cats. Analyses of genomic data suggest…