Feature Channels: Nature

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The SMART Partnership is pleased to announce the inaugural SMART Global Congress in Windhoek, Namibia from 10-14 March 2024.

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PNNL scientists have been studying how rivers and streams breathe. Their research focuses on respiration, organic matter, and natural disturbances that affect rivers and streams.

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A streaming camera has gone live on the Great Horned Owl named Athena. She's nested for more than a dozen years at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. Now, everyone can see her family grow.

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Anoles are the scuba-diving champions of the lizard world, able to stay underwater for more than 16 minutes. For animals whose body temperature depends on the environment, time spent in a cool running stream can have some tradeoffs, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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For more than a decade, invasive Asian honeybees have defied evolutionary expectations and established a thriving population in North Queensland, much to the annoyance of the honey industry and biosecurity officials.

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Imagine: You find the dried-up remains of a once green and lush philodendron on your bookshelf and realize you can’t remember the last time you watered your houseplants.

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A team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst that specializes in accounting for the carbon dioxide release by streams, rivers and lakes recently demonstrated that the chemical process known as “carbonate buffering” can account for the majority of emissions in highly alkaline waters.

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The critical role of gardeners in identifying 'future invaders' - ornamental plants that could become invasive species – has been revealed by researchers from the University of Reading and the Royal Horticultural Society.

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Walleye are one of the most sought-after species in freshwater sportfishing, a delicacy on Midwestern menus and a critically important part of the culture of many Indigenous communities. They are also struggling to survive in the warming waters of the Midwestern United States and Canada.According to a new study published Feb. 26 in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters, part of the problem is that walleye are creatures of habit, and the seasons — especially winter — are changing so fast that this iconic species of freshwater fish can’t keep up.

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This study uses forest inventory data from over 25,000 plots to show that the prevalence of tree pests is jointly controlled by the diversity and phylogenetic composition of forests.

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With fish stocks declining globally, more than 190 countries recently made a commitment to protect about a third of the world’s oceans within “Marine Protected Areas,” or MPAs by the year 2030.

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Among the vast expanse of Antarctica lies the Thwaites Glacier, the world’s widest glacier measuring about 80 miles on the western edge of the continent.

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Eight new Pacific bee species and new insights into Fijian bird behaviour on Viti Levu Island have been described in new scientific studies led by Flinders University.

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In 1934, American entomologist Elwood Zimmerman, then an undergraduate student at Berkeley, participated in the ‘Mangarevan expedition’ to Polynesia.

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Copper smelting, a critical process in metal production, often leads to the generation of slag containing valuable metals. Traditionally, this slag has been discarded, causing environmental issues and resource loss. A recent study introduce a method for recovering copper, lead, and zinc from copper smelting slag, addressing both environmental concerns and resource recovery.

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Forests in the coolest, wettest parts of the western Pacific Northwest are likely to see the biggest increases in burn probability, fire size and number of blazes as the climate continues to get warmer and drier, according to new modeling led by an Oregon State University scientist.

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A study of more than 60,000 specimens of snakes and lizards worldwide reveals that snakes stand out alone in the evolution of reptiles. The team of scientists discovered that snakes evolved incredibly fast, as their ancestors shed limbs and adapted on multiple levels to live and spread out into thousands of species of snakes over 66 million years, up to today.

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Researchers evaluated the prevalence, concentration and tissue distribution of essential and non-essential trace elements, including heavy metal toxicants in tissue (blubber, kidney, liver, skeletal muscle, skin) and fecal samples. Findings reveal how toxicant levels relate to their sex, breed, age and other demographic factors.

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Biologists have discovered a breeding population of a Cantor's Giant Softshell Turtle, as part of conservation efforts in the south of India.

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Membranes of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VaCNT) can be used to clean or desalinate water at high flow rate and low pressure. Recently, researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and partners carried out steroid hormone adsorption experiments to study the interplay of forces in the small pores. They found that VaCNT of specific pore geometry and pore surface structure are suited for use as highly selective membranes. The researchers report in Nature Communications. (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44883-2)

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In a world where human activities have left an indelible mark on ecosystems, the preservation of species and natural landscapes has become an urgent global concern.

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A team of scientists on location with a film crew in the remote Amazon has uncovered a previously undocumented species of giant anaconda.

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The reproduction of giant sea spiders in Antarctica has been largely unknown to researchers for more than 140 years, until now.

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In a group of plants that is famous for luring its pollinators into a death trap, one species offers its flowers as a nursery in exchange.

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One of the most invasive Australian weeds is being touted as a potential economic crop, with benefits for the construction, mining and forestry industries, and potentially many First Nations communities.

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Increasing access to water in extremely arid parts of sub-Saharan Africa can help nomadic livestock farmers in the short term.

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Our planet’s lithosphere is broken into several tectonic plates. Their configuration is ever-shifting, as supercontinents are assembled and broken up, and oceans form, grow, and then start to close in what is known as the Wilson cycle.

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Africa's forested areas – an estimated 14 % of the global forest area – are continuing to decline at an increasing rate – mostly because of human activities to convert forest land for economic purposes.

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In a recent PeerJ Life & Environment study, Professor Jennifer Vonk from Oakland University presents compelling evidence that exotic cats possess the remarkable ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar human voices.

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A recent genetic discovery has revealed that the pale grey plumage of the tawny owl is linked to crucial functions that aid the bird's survival in cold environments.

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Global warming may be interacting with regional rainfall and deforestation to accelerate forest loss in the Amazon, pushing it towards partial or total collapse.

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One recent study estimates that the total amount of fishing line lost annually could stretch from the moon and back. A new study from Norway shows that roughly one-third of lines could be recycled.

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More time stranded on land means greater risk of starvation for polar bears, a new study indicates.

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Honey bees carrying nectar have the remarkable ability to adjust their flight behavior to avoid overheating when air temperatures increase, according to research led by a University of Wyoming scientist.

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Researchers have developed the largest-ever dataset of biological images suitable for use by machine learning – and a new vision-based artificial intelligence tool to learn from it.

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A group of scientists led by researchers of Khamai Foundation discovered five dazzling new species of eyelash vipers in the jungles and cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador.

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In recent geological history, the so-called Quaternary period, there have been repeated ice ages and warm periods.

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“If governments do everything they have committed to do, then the next ‘State of the World’s Migratory Species’ will have some good news.” WCS VP of International Policy Susan Lieberman

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Some animals live in such remote and inaccessible regions of the globe that it is nearly impossible to study them in their natural habitats.

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A Wildlife Conservation Society delegation is heading to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals CoP14, Feb. 12-17, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

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UC Riverside scientists have discovered a tiny worm species that infects and kills insects.

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When it comes to making fuel from plants, the first step has always been the hardest — breaking down the plant matter