Researchers compile a dataset of over 200,000 plant species worldwide to demonstrate the extent to which species extinctions and non-native invasive plants reorganize plant communities in the Anthropocene revealing biotic homogenization results from human activity whether intentional or unintentional. In a study published December 6 in Nature Communications researchers have compiled a dataset of over…

Carbon, one of the main building blocks for all life on Earth, cycles among living organisms and the environment. This cycle, and how it works in one of the driest places on Earth, is the subject of a new study. While the natural carbon cycle should be balanced each year, with about as much carbon…

The genome of the seadragon, a very unusual fish, has been decoded. Seadragons (Phyllopetryx taeniolatus) live off the coast in western and southern Australia. Evolutionary biologists have now found the genetic basis for some external characteristics of the seadragon, like its lack of teeth and its distinct leaf-like appendages. The team also localized the sex-determination…

Geologists compared the spatial and temporal distribution of methane concentrations in the air of northern Siberia with geological maps. The result: the methane concentrations in the air after last year’s heat wave indicate that increased gas emissions came from limestone formations. What effect did the heat wave of summer 2020 have in Siberia? In a…

Microbiologists have identified a new family of marine megaphages which could change understanding of Earth’s carbon and nitrogen cycles. Researchers from the Universities of Leicester, Warwick, Nottingham, Plymouth and the Marine Biological Association have sequenced the largest genome of its type within a newly-discovered family of ocean-dwelling bacteriophages, from water in the English Channel. Bacteriophages…

According to a new study, the oxygen content in the oceans will continue to decrease for centuries even if all CO2 emissions would be stopped immediately. The slowdown of ocean circulation and the progressive warming of deeper water layers are responsible for this process. «In the study, a model of the Earth system was used…

Fishing line and nets are having a major impact on Cape fur seals, the most common marine mammal observed around the coastline of South Africa and Namibia, where they are endemic. The first results from an ongoing study, initiated in 2018, shows that a high number of affected animals are pups and juveniles, which were…

A new study challenges more than 200 years of coral classification. Researchers say the ‘traditional’ method does not accurately capture the differences between species or their evolutionary relationships. They developed a new genetic tool to help better understand and ultimately work to save coral reefs. «Surprisingly, we still don’t know how many coral species live…

Researchers have developed a remote sensing method of measuring the depth of permafrost by analyzing vegetation cover in boreal ecosystems. But in boreal regions, which harbor a significant portion of the world’s permafrost, obscuring vegetation can stymy even the most advanced remote sensing technology. In a study published in January, researchers in Germany and at…

Researchers have found that flame-sterilizing shake-flasks, to avoid introducing microbial contaminants, considerably increases the carbon dioxide concentration in the flasks. This enhanced carbon dioxide concentration affects the growth of some microbial species, which may affect the quantity of vaccines or other valuable substances produced by the microbes. To keep track of what’s going on in…