Nature is full of color. For flowers, displaying color is primarily a means to attract pollinators. Insects use their color vision not only to locate the right flowers to feed on but also to find mates. The evolutionary interaction between insects and plants has created complex dependencies that can have surprising outcomes. Bees and other…

Researchers highlight the importance of a new analysis based on Earth system modelling, showing that cleaning up ozone precursors within specific economic sectors can increase the mitigation potential of the land carbon sink by enhancing the ability of vegetation to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. In a News and Views article in…

Scientists have discovered Earth’s oldest asteroid strike occurred at Yarrabubba, in outback Western Australia, and coincided with the end of a global deep freeze known as a Snowball Earth. The research used isotopic analysis of minerals to calculate the precise age of the Yarrabubba crater for the first time, putting it at 2.229 billion years…

Researchers have engineered strains of the ubiquitous, nitrogen-fixing soil bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii to produce ammonia and excrete it at high concentrations, transferring it into crop plants in lieu of conventional chemical fertilizers. «We presented conclusive evidence that ammonia released is transferred to the rice plants,» said Florence Mus, Ph.D., assistant research professor, Institute of Biological…

New research shows that fear of humans causes mountain lions to increase their energy expenditures as they move through the landscape, and this can ultimately limit the size of the home ranges they’re able to maintain. «Mountain lions fear us, and that fear has all kinds of impacts on their behavior and ecology, and ultimately,…

As temperatures rise, the risk of devastating forest fires is increasing. Researchers are using artificial intelligence to estimate the long-term impact that an increased number of forest fires will have on forest ecosystems. Their simulations show how Yellowstone National Park in the USA could change by the end of the century. In many places, fire…

Biochemists have developed a new strategy for controlling the biological functions of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) by means of light and therefore provide a tool to investigate processes which take place in cells. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the basis of life on earth. The function of DNA is to store all the genetic information, which an…

A new study involving more than 100 scientists from across the globe and the largest forest database yet assembled estimates that there are about 73,000 tree species on Earth, including about 9,200 species yet to be discovered. The global estimate is about 14% higher than the current number of known tree species. Most of the…

A new study provides the earliest evidence to date of ancient humans significantly altering entire ecosystems with flames. The study combines archaeological evidence — dense clusters of stone artifacts dating as far back as 92,000 years ago — with paleoenvironmental data on the northern shores of Lake Malawi in eastern Africa to document that early…

While site fidelity may be beneficial for animals when environmental conditions don’t change very fast, those benefits may not be realized in the ever-changing world dominated by humans, researchers have found through a review of scientific literature. A team of researchers led by scientists from the University of Wyoming and the University of Washington has…