Habitats, as a scientific topic, encompass the physical and biotic environments that support particular organisms or ecological communities, defined by specific combinations of abiotic factors (e.g., temperature, moisture, light, substrate, chemistry) and biotic interactions (e.g., competition, predation, mutualism). Research on habitats addresses spatial structure, heterogeneity, and connectivity, including concepts such as microhabitats, habitat patches, niches, and landscape mosaics. It underpins studies of species distributions, population dynamics, community assembly, and responses to environmental change, and is central to applied fields such as habitat suitability modeling, conservation planning, restoration ecology, biodiversity assessment, and the design of protected area networks.
Coyotes may be building dens and having litters of pups near you, according to new research from the University of Georgia. But chances are you won't see them—even if they are denning right next door. In one of the first ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 16, 2026
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170 species of wild bees live on the Hubland Campus of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU). This is the result of a study carried out by the Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology at the JMU Biocentre from ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 9, 2026
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15
When it comes to research on habitats for pollinating insects, villages have so far received relatively little attention. The project Summende Dörfer (Buzzing Villages), based at the Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 6, 2026
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30
The desert tortoise, a once-resilient reptile, is a keystone species in the Mojave Desert, where other animals depend for their survival on the burrows it digs. But it is imperiled in California thanks in part to an unusual ...
Ecology
Feb 26, 2026
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40
New research shows that, off the U.S. West Coast, humpback whales face a higher risk of getting entangled in fishing equipment during years with lower availability of cool-water habitat, where the whales feed. Jarrod Santora ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 25, 2026
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National parks are public conservation assets, created to protect biodiversity and provide affordable access to nature for all. But, new research published in npjBiodiversity highlights a growing global issue: According to ...
Environment
Feb 12, 2026
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16
A new study published in the journal Urban Ecosystems has revealed that the common black garden ant (Lasius niger) behaves differently depending on whether it lives in a bustling city or the quiet countryside. The researchers, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 9, 2026
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13
A new Curtin University study warns that large parts of Australia, including major cities and farming regions, could be highly vulnerable to a fast-spreading invasive beetle, already causing severe damage across the Perth ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 5, 2026
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34
When people think about habitats on Earth, they likely picture forests, oceans or grasslands. Few think to look up. Yet the lower atmosphere, or troposphere, may be the largest habitat on the planet. A new study published ...
Ecology
Jan 15, 2026
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37
Botswana's fertile Okavango Delta is one of the last remaining high-biodiversity ecosystems in the world, home to cheetahs, African wild dogs, baobab trees, crocodiles, termites and owls that catch fish. Roughly the size ...
Ecology
Oct 13, 2025
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