August 3, 2018
European mammals will struggle under climate change
As temperatures on Earth rise, many animals have already begun migrating to more amenable climates, shifting their ranges. But not all animals …
The EARTH archive
Ecology
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20 articles · Page 1 of 1
May 23, 2018
Down to Earth With: Jessica Whiteside
From Morocco to Connecticut, Jessica Whiteside has explored almost every Mesozoic rock outcrop there is. And she’s only three years out of …
March 19, 2018
Surveying forests from afar
Traditional surveys of forest health and diversity take hours of hiking and sampling by scientists who can only cover relatively small areas. …
February 27, 2018
Geomedia: Books: "Half-Earth" is only half-compelling
Edward O. Wilson, professor emeritus and honorary curator in entomology at Harvard, is a scientist of acclaim and renown, a naturalist and …
February 27, 2018
Ice (Re)Cap: March 2018
From Antarctica to the Arctic; from polar caps, permafrost and glaciers to ocean-rafted sea ice; and from burly bears to cold-loving microbes, …
July 19, 2017
Nineteenth-century cows muddied Southern California continental shelf
When offshore ecosystems deteriorate, scientists often look at changing ocean conditions, urban runoff or fishing as potential explanations. Cows …
August 17, 2016
The current extinction of life will leave a scant fossil record
Life on Earth has endured five major mass extinctions, known as the “Big Five.” We know about these past events thanks to fossils: During mass …
August 16, 2016
Earthworms build big mounds to escape floodwaters
When researchers looking for archaeological remains in satellite imagery came across unidentified mounds — some as tall as humans — in the …
October 23, 2015
Comment: Remarkable geology sets new Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument apart
In the Coast Ranges west of Sacramento, Calif., within easy driving distance of San Francisco, lies a wilderness of steep-sided canyons, …
August 25, 2015
Benchmarks: September 26, 1991: Crew sealed inside Biosphere 2
It takes about an hour to drive from Tucson, Ariz., to the Biosphere 2 research facility, perched atop a plateau in the Santa Catalina Mountains. …
July 20, 2015
Beached iceberg alters Antarctic marine communities
While the extent of sea ice in the Arctic has fallen substantially over the last several decades, the total area covered by sea ice around …
July 16, 2015
Bark beetles not to blame for big fires?
Since the mid-1990s, outbreaks of voracious bark beetles have devastated more than 71,000 square kilometers of forests in the Rocky Mountain …
June 16, 2015
Banana-preserving bacterium shows promise against bat-killing fungus
Since White Nose Syndrome began decimating bat colonies in New England in 2006, most of the news coming out of bat caves in the U.S. hasn’t been …
May 28, 2015
California's big trees dying of thirst
From the days of John Muir’s treks through the sylvan valleys and granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada, California’s majestic forests have …
March 3, 2015
Can dam releases restore river ecosystems?
Worldwide, dams store about 6,200 cubic kilometers of water — roughly three times the combined volume of water flowing in all of the world’s …
December 8, 2014
Down to Earth With: Ecologist Chris Field
Last summer, the American Geophysical Union honored Chris Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, …
August 8, 2014
Longer season for Rocky Mountain wildflowers
A nearly 40-year study of Rocky Mountain wildflower phenology has found that almost two-thirds of species have changed their blooming patterns in …
January 2, 2014
2013 Front Range Flooding: An Ecological Perspective
The 2013 Colorado floods may have been a record-setting event in human terms, but scientists and resource managers emphasize that what happened …
May 20, 2013
N.E.O.N.: Studying critical ecological issues on a continental scale
On the morning of June 9, 2012, a column of thick smoke was seen rising from Roosevelt National Forest 24 kilometers west of Fort Collins, Colo. …
June 18, 2012
No pre-Columbian deforestation of the western Amazon
Deep in the western Amazon rainforest, Crystal McMichael tries not to swat at the sweat bees crawling on the back of her neck as she samples the …