Biodiversity News

April 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Fourteen Years After the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, Endemic Fishes Face an Uncertain Future

Apr. 18, 2024 — The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest accidental spill in history, released almost 100 million gallons of oil, causing significant pollution. A decade later, its long-term ...

Marine Microbial Populations: Potential Sensors of the Global Change in the Ocean

Apr. 18, 2024 — Animal and plant populations have been extensively studied, which has helped to understand ecosystem processes and evolutionary adaptations. However, this has not been the case with microbial ...

Dog Attacks on Mountain Tapirs Highlight a Growing Threat to Endangered Wildlife

Apr. 17, 2024 — Researchers who captured footage of dog attacks on endangered mountain tapirs in Colombia are calling for action to protect threatened ...

38 Trillion Dollars in Damages Each Year: World Economy Already Committed to Income Reduction of 19 % Due to Climate Change

Apr. 17, 2024 — Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19% until 2050 due to climate change, a new study finds. These ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:23am EDT

Unique Field Study Shows How Climate Change Affects Fire-Impacted Forests

Apr. 17, 2024 — During the unusually dry year of 2018, Sweden was hit by numerous forest fires. A research team has investigated how climate change affects recently burnt boreal forests and their ability to absorb ...

Florida Wildlife Corridor Eases Worst Impacts of Climate Change

Apr. 16, 2024 — Florida is projected to lose 3.5 million acres of land to development by 2070. A new study highlights how Florida can buffer itself against both climate change and population pressures by conserving ...

Biodiversity Is Key to the Mental Health Benefits of Nature

Apr. 16, 2024 — New research has found that spaces with a diverse range of natural features are associated with stronger improvements in our mental wellbeing compared to spaces with less natural ...

Tropical Forests Can't Recover Naturally Without Fruit-Eating Birds

Apr. 15, 2024 — Natural forest regeneration is hailed as a cost-effective way to restore biodiversity and sequester carbon. However, the fragmentation of tropical forests has restricted the movement of large birds ...

Tropical Coral-Infecting Parasites Discovered in Cold Marine Ecosystems

Apr. 11, 2024 — Parasites thought only to infect tropical coral reefs have been discovered in a large variety of creatures in cold marine ecosystems along the Northeast Pacific, according to new ...

Hybrid Intelligence Can Reconcile Biodiversity and Agriculture

Apr. 11, 2024 — So far, biodiversity and agricultural productivity could not be reconciled because the socio-ecological system of agriculture is highly complex, and the interactions between humans and the ...

Ants in Colorado Are on the Move Due to Climate Change

Apr. 10, 2024 — Ant species living in Boulder's foothills have shifted their habitat over the last six decades, potentially affecting local ecosystems, suggests a new ...

Deforestation Harms Biodiversity of the Amazon's Perfume-Loving Orchid Bees

Apr. 10, 2024 — A survey of orchid bees in the Brazilian Amazon, carried out in the 1990s, is shedding new light the impact of deforestation on the scent-collecting pollinators, which some view as bellwethers of ...

'Teacher Toads' Can Save Native Animals from Toxic Cane Toads

Apr. 9, 2024 — Scientists from Macquarie University have come up with an innovative way to stop cane toads killing native wildlife by training goannas to avoid eating the deadly ...

Humans Can Increase Biodiversity, Archaeological Study Shows

Apr. 9, 2024 — Through the ages, the presence of humans has increased the heterogeneity and complexity of ecosystems and has often had a positive effect on their ...

Boreal Forest and Tundra Regions Worst Hit Over Next 500 Years of Climate Change, Study Shows

Apr. 8, 2024 — Modelling climate change over a 500 year period shows that much of the boreal forest, the Earth's northernmost forests and most significant provider of carbon storage and clean water, could be ...

Four in Five Bird Species Cannot Tolerate Intense Human Pressures

Apr. 5, 2024 — In a recent study, researchers found that 78% of the world's bird species do not thrive in the most modified human-dominated environments. These species are also most likely to have declining ...

The Life Aquatic: A Game Changer for Frog Vision, but Little Difference Between Night and Day

Apr. 4, 2024 — Frogs display a remarkable diversity of species as a whole, but does the same hold true for their visual abilities? A new study sought to answer this question by collaborating with researchers in ...

Adult Fish Struggle to Bounce Back in Marine Protected Areas

Apr. 4, 2024 — Many marine protected areas are falling short of their most basic purpose: to rebuild struggling fish populations. In a new study, scientists looked at the age breakdown of reef fish in marine ...

With the Planet Facing a 'Polycrisis', Biodiversity Researchers Uncover Major Knowledge Gaps

Apr. 4, 2024 — Connecting the study of infectious disease spread, biodiversity loss and climate change could offer win-win-win solutions for planetary health, but a new analysis has uncovered almost no research ...

Demand for Critical Minerals Puts African Great Apes at Risk

Apr. 3, 2024 — A recent study shows that the threat of mining to the great ape population in Africa has been greatly ...

Groundbreaking Research in Groundwater's Role in Ecosystem Sustainability

Apr. 3, 2024 — Until now, groundwater -- a critical water resource around the globe, especially in dry regions -- has been largely unstudied in its importance and role in sustaining ecosystems. New groundbreaking ...

Older Trees Help to Protect an Endangered Species

Apr. 2, 2024 — The oldest trees in the forest help to prevent the disappearance of endangered species in the natural environment, according to a new study. This is the case of the wolf lichen -- threatened ...

Melting Glaciers in a Warmer Climate Provide New Ground for Invasive Species

Apr. 1, 2024 — In 2022 and 2023, biologists from research institutes in the UK and the Falkland Islands led two expeditions to South Georgia to study the impacts of invasive species on this cold and rugged ...

Combination of the Climate Crisis and Continued Deforestation May Result in Significant Damage to the Animal World

Mar. 31, 2024 — A new study states that the combination of global warming and extreme heat events, alongside the continued expansion of deforestation in the world, may be devastating for many species of animals, ...

North American Cities May See a Major Species Turnover by the End of the Century

Mar. 27, 2024 — Climate change may dramatically affect the animal species observed in North American cities, according to a new ...

Researchers Find Energy Development and Tree Encroachment Impact Wyoming Pronghorn

Mar. 26, 2024 — While Wyoming is home to some of North America's most abundant populations of pronghorn that have largely been stable in recent years, a new analysis shows that many herds are experiencing ...

New Roadmap to Prevent Pandemics Centers on Protecting Biodiversity

Mar. 26, 2024 — An international team of 25 scientists has proposed a roadmap for how to prevent the next pandemic by conserving natural areas and promoting biodiversity, thereby providing animals with enough food, ...

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Species Diversity Is Directly Correlated With Productivity in Eastern U.S. Forests

Mar. 25, 2024 — When officials make tough calls on which areas to prioritize for conservation, biodiversity is often their top consideration. But there are several types of diversity, and not all of them overlap ...

'Winners and Losers' as Global Warming Forces Plants Uphill

Mar. 25, 2024 — Some plant species will 'win' and others will 'lose' as global warming forces them to move uphill, new research ...

Product That Kills Agricultural Pests Also Deadly to Native Pacific Northwest Snail

Mar. 21, 2024 — A product used to control pest slugs on farms in multiple countries is deadly to least one type of native woodland snail endemic to the Pacific Northwest, according to scientists who say more study ...

Species Diversity Promotes Ecosystem Stability

Mar. 21, 2024 — What maintains stability within an ecosystem and prevents a single best competitor from displacing other species from a community? Does ecosystem stability depend upon the presence of a wide variety ...

Forest, Stream Habitats Keep Energy Exchanges in Balance, Global Team Finds

Mar. 21, 2024 — Forests and streams are separate but linked ecosystems, existing side by side, with energy and nutrients crossing their porous borders and flowing back and forth between them. For example, leaves ...

Eyes Open and Toes out of Water: How a Giant Water Bug Reached the Island of Cyprus

Mar. 20, 2024 — A new visitor was reported on the coast of Cyprus, thanks to the growing power of citizen science. Researchers collected information and specimens through personal communication with amateur ...

Monitoring and Measuring Biodiversity Require More Than Just Numbers; Scientists Advocate for Change

Mar. 20, 2024 — Scientists advocate for change to promote standardized practices in the field -- a practice that has been missing from the ...