ecology

Devils Hole pupfish gather on the precious rocky shelf that supports their entire fragile existence in the wild.

Against all odds, the rare Devils Hole pupfish keeps on swimming

5:00am July 07, 2023

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The Devils Hole pupfish's natural habitat is a single water-filled hole in a cave in the Nevada desert. Its numbers at one point dwindled to just 35 animals. How does it manage to survive?

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A female cockroach considers accepting a sugary offering from a male cockroach.

Science

These cockroaches tweaked their mating rituals after adapting to pest control

10:02am March 31, 2023

by Ari Daniel

The German cockroach evolved to live only in human environments. This roach is very good at adapting to pest control methods — even if it means changing its mating rituals.

Researchers were able to detect DNA from elephants at the Copenhagen Zoo simply by sampling the air nearby.

Scientists vacuum zoo animals' DNA out of the air

7:00am January 09, 2022

by Geoff Brumfiel

Researchers who detected that detecting environmental DNA, or eDNA, in two zoos say the technique could one day be used to look for endangered species in remote locations in the wild.

Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. Her own medical journey inspired her research into, among other things, the way yew trees communicate chemically with neighboring trees for their mutual defense.

Trees Talk To Each Other. 'Mother Tree' Ecologist Hears Lessons For People, Too

1:17am May 05, 2021

by Dave Davies

Ecologist Suzanne Simard says trees are "social creatures" that communicate with each other in remarkable ways — including warning each other of danger and sharing nutrients at critical times.

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Prairie strips in fields of corn or soybeans can protect the soil and allow wildlife to flourish. This strip was established in a field near Traer, Iowa, in 2015.

How Absentee Landowners Keep Farmers From Protecting Water And Soil

12:02pm July 14, 2020

by Dan Charles

America's vast fields of corn and soybeans have displaced wildlife and polluted waterways. Farmers could help solve those problems, but often don't, in part because they rent that land.

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An island fox, trapped by a Nature Conservancy biologist, undergoes a quick check-up before being released.

VIDEO: To Save A Fox, Scientists Took To Land, Air And Sea

3:19pm December 04, 2018

When the population of Channel Islands foxes started to vanish in the '90s, no one knew why. Bringing them back from near-extinction has meant unraveling a mystery that started with World War II.

Humans would do better to accept many of the life forms that share our space, than to scrub them all away, says ecologist Rob Dunn.

Counting The Bugs And Bacteria, You're 'Never Home Alone' (And That's OK)

2:16pm November 12, 2018

by Terry Gross

Ecologist Rob Dunn's new book describes the tiny life forms, helpful and risky, that live in different parts of the home, including on floors and in water faucets, basements and heating systems.

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Education

Bridging Cultures Through Shared Learning From Greensboro To Senegal

6:17am July 09, 2018

by David Ford

An exchange program in the Triad is bringing together Guilford County elementary school students with their peers in Senegal, Africa.

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A female Scandinavian brown bear with her cub. Mother bears take care of their young for a year longer, likely due to hunting regulations that protect bears with cubs.

Science

Mother Bears Are Staying With Their Cubs Longer, Study Finds

4:32pm March 27, 2018

by Rebecca Hersher

In many parts of the world, it is illegal to shoot a brown bear with cubs. The restrictions have made mother bears more likely to spend an extra year with their cubs.

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A white-throated round-eared bat (Tonatia silvicola) catches — and munches — a katydid on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Katydids are "the potato chips of the rain forest," scientists say.

Sound Matters: Sex And Death In The Rain Forest

5:18pm April 04, 2017

Scientists eavesdropping in trees have decoded a high stakes game of hide and seek. Katydids rely on ultrasound to find mates and listen for bats, which use ultrasound to find the bugs, and eat them.