Migration in organisms refers to the directed, typically seasonal or life-stage–dependent movement of individuals or populations between distinct geographic regions, often driven by spatiotemporal variation in resources, breeding opportunities, or environmental conditions. It is characterized by relatively long-distance, persistent movements with clear origin and destination areas, underpinned by evolved orientation and navigation mechanisms (e.g., celestial, geomagnetic, olfactory cues). Migration can be obligate or facultative, partial or complete within a population, and plays critical roles in gene flow, metapopulation dynamics, ecological connectivity, disease spread, and responses to climate and habitat change across taxa including animals, plants (via propagule movement), and microorganisms.
New cases of New World screwworm have recently surfaced in the United States, highlighting the critical need to track its paths to determine where future infestations may occur. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 15, 2026
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Should I stay or should I go? What determines whether birds migrate for the winter? This is one of the questions explored in a new doctoral thesis by Cassandra Ugland from NTNU's Department of Biology. The work is published ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 15, 2026
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As sea levels rise, coastal wetlands around the world are expected to shrink—and researchers at the University of British Columbia have found this could put the world's shorebirds and their critical habitat at risk.
Plants & Animals
Sep 12, 2026
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Harmful algal blooms pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment. The University of Toledo's Dr. Jeanine Refsnider counts it as a positive discovery that northern map turtles tend to steer clear, as she and ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 10, 2026
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Squinting through my binoculars, I scanned the dense branches of a black spruce, trying my best to catch a glimpse of the thin legs of a small black, white and yellow songbird. I was on the hunt for a yellow-rumped warbler—a ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 8, 2026
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New research shows that larval Antarctic krill could be carried far from their birthplace by drifting sea ice, linking distant ecosystems in ways conventional models may miss.
Plants & Animals
Sep 8, 2026
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While the highly virulent avian influenza strain has only recently been discovered on Australian shores, researchers at Deakin University have been working behind the scenes for years, anticipating what an outbreak might ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 6, 2026
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On a high Norwegian plateau in late May, patches of bare ground begin to appear through the snow, and with them arrive some of Europe's most approachable birds. Eurasian dotterels breed on exposed mountain ridges and Arctic ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 2, 2026
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On hearing the first cuckoo of spring, the poet's heart might sing, and while one swallow does not make a summer, the annual migrations of bird species across continents have fascinated us for centuries. Today, however, technology ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 31, 2026
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In 1899, scientists began tracking avian migration by placing a small ring with an identifier around birds' ankles. Researchers then had to recapture the birds elsewhere, leaving the journey between those points a mystery. ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 29, 2026
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