An endemic species is a taxonomic unit whose natural distribution is restricted to a defined geographic area, such as a specific island, mountain range, ecoregion, or political region, and does not occur naturally elsewhere. In biogeography and conservation biology, endemism is used to quantify spatial patterns of biodiversity, identify centers of diversification, and prioritize regions for protection. Endemic species often exhibit high levels of local adaptation and evolutionary distinctiveness but are also disproportionately vulnerable to habitat alteration, invasive species, climate change, and other anthropogenic pressures due to their limited range and frequently small, fragmented populations.
Cape Town, in South Africa, is famous for its dramatic mountains and coastline, but its greatest treasure lies in the plants that carpet its slopes and valleys. Table Mountain National Park and its surrounds are home to 2,785 ...
Ecology
Feb 14, 2026
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About 3 million people visit Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas every year, but few have noticed the tiny yellow sunflower that has called it home for centuries. It may face extinction without federal protection, two groups ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 12, 2026
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New research on avian malaria, which has decimated Hawaii's beloved birds, explains how non-native birds play a key role in transmission and contribute to the widespread distribution of the disease. This disease threatens ...
Ecology
Feb 10, 2026
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It's not what they intended to do or expected to find. They're not even all that interested in birds. When Andre Naranjo and his colleagues began work on a new study published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, ...
Evolution
Feb 5, 2026
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61
California wildlife officials have approved a plan to eradicate Catalina Island's entire deer population as part of a broader effort to restore the island ecosystem, sparking fierce opposition from an unusual coalition of ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 4, 2026
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A comprehensive new review paper reveals the staggering loss of biodiversity among island land snails globally. Lead author Robert Cowie of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 30, 2026
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105
For thousands of years, one tree species defined the cultural and ecological identity of what is now the American South: the longleaf pine. The forest once stretched across 92 million acres from Virginia to Texas, but about ...
Ecology
Jan 27, 2026
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A new list of threatened mammals in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini shows that 11 more species have edged closer to extinction since 2016. Those that have joined the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 21, 2026
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A recent study led by Bucknell University Professor Chris Martine, biology, the David Burpee Professor of Plant Genetics and Research, has identified and described a new species of bush tomato with a special connection to ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 5, 2026
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171
At the base of mossy trees, deep in the mountains of Taiwan and mainland Japan or nestled in the subtropical forests of Okinawa, grows what most might mistake for a mushroom—but it is actually a very unique plant with some ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 10, 2025
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