The emergence of ‘Brood X’ periodical cicadas in the US in 2021 gave birds a new food source, leading to knock-on effects throughout forest ecosystems. When big broods of cicadas emerge every 13 or 17 years, birds are treated to a smorgasbord of fresh food – and this sudden glut has cascading effects on other […]
ecology
Lakes freezing later in winter leads to less algae in the spring
A unique experiment in a Canadian lake has found that the timing of when ice forms can have a big impact on the organisms that live in it the following year. The timing of when ice forms on lakes in the winter can have big knock-on effects on life in the water the next spring […]
Oil Spills’ Overlooked Victims: Water Insects
New research shows how oil spills and their cleanup harm water striders, raising questions about the broader ecological impacts of even small spills. The dangers of freshwater oil spills to fish and birds are well known, but what about the other creatures, like insects, that live in or on rivers and lakes? Tyler Black, a […]
What Tear Gas Does to Fish
Previous work shows the main ingredient in tear gas can kill fish—but little else is known about how riot control agents affect the environment. Juniper Simonis was radicalized on July 10, 2020, in Portland, Oregon. That’s the date, Simonis says, that—while they were chalking the property line of a federal building to show protesters where […]
Acid rain: it’s not over yet for this tiny shrimp
Ecosystems have bounced back remarkably well from the environmental scourge of the ’70s and ’80s, but Canadian scientists are finding impacts to the food chain remain. Over the past year, Michael Rennie has dumped 30,000 tiny freshwater shrimp into a remote lake in northern Ontario. Rennie, a freshwater ecologist at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, […]
How Island Bats Took Over the Mainland
South America’s short-faced fruit bats are the descendants of “reverse colonists.” When it comes to colonizing new habitats, island species tend to get the short end of the stick. Typically, organisms from the mainland invade an island and take over—pushing the natives to near extinction. But sometimes, colonization can go the other way. In a […]
The Effects of Invasive Pythons Slither through the Everglades
Pythons may be setting off a cascade of ecosystem changes. The huge Burmese pythons that are slowly taking over Florida’s Everglades wetlands are a threat to the mammals that live there. But new research shows the pythons’ influence extends far beyond their own appetites: the snakes are setting off cascading changes to the ecosystem. Read more […]
Why grey wolves kill less prey when brown bears are around
Wolves may be better at sharing their meals with bears than we thought. Biologists have long assumed that when wolves and brown bears share territory, the wolves are forced to kill more often to make up for the food stolen by scavenging bears. But when Aimee Tallian, a biologist at Utah State University, and her […]
Endangered frog recovers thanks to resistance to deadly fungus
For decades a deadly fungus has been slaughtering amphibians around the world, driving many to the brink of extinction or even beyond. But now one frog’s recovery shows that, with a little luck and habitat preservation, some amphibians may be able to evolve resistance to the fungus. Read more in New Scientist.
Trump’s border-wall pledge threatens delicate desert ecosystems
Ecologists fear plan to seal off the United States from Mexico would put wildlife at risk. With Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talking about walling off the United States from Mexico, ecologists fear for the future of the delicate and surprisingly diverse ecosystems that span Mexico’s border with the southwestern United States. “The southwestern US […]