Phenology is the study of the timing of recurring biological events in organisms, particularly plants and animals, and the environmental drivers that regulate these events. It focuses on phase transitions such as leaf-out, flowering, fruiting, migration, and reproduction, and quantifies their relationships with abiotic factors like temperature, photoperiod, and precipitation. As a research topic, phenology integrates field observations, remote sensing, and modeling to analyze interannual variability, long-term trends, and spatial patterns. It is central to understanding organismal responses to climate variability and change, trophic synchrony or mismatch, and feedbacks between biosphere processes and the climate system.
How will a warming Arctic affect plant growth on Svalbard? Researchers encased plant plots in a thick layer of ice during the winter and used little greenhouses to heat up those plots in the summer. The surprise? The plants ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 18, 2026
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17
When you look out across a snowy winter landscape, it might seem like nature is fast asleep. Yet, under the surface, tiny organisms are hard at work, consuming the previous year's dead plant material and other organic matter.
Ecology
Feb 17, 2026
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413
A study from the University of California, Davis, found that temperature affects the sound and quality of male frogs' mating calls. In the colder, early weeks of spring, their songs start off sluggishly. In warmer weather, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 12, 2026
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19
Climate change is accelerating the arrival of warmer spring temperatures, and this phenomenon is affecting the conservation of many species. Now, a study published in the journal Global Change Biology reveals how a 2°C increase ...
Ecology
Feb 7, 2026
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24
No natural phenomenon provides a rarer chance to study the secrets of the animal world than a total solar eclipse. This was recently demonstrated by researchers investigating how a total solar eclipse might affect the soundscape ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 4, 2026
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17
Whether you call him groundhog, woodchuck, whistle-pig or use the full genus and species name, Marmota monax, the nation's premier animal weather forecaster has been making headlines as Punxsutawney Phil for decades.
Plants & Animals
Jan 27, 2026
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17
Artificial light at night extends pollen season and increases allergen exposure in Northeastern United States cities. Lin Meng and colleagues analyzed 12 years of pollen data from 12 monitoring stations across the Northeastern ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 20, 2026
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16
A decade-long study led by Penguin Watch, at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, has uncovered a record shift in the breeding season of Antarctic penguins, likely in response to climate change.
Plants & Animals
Jan 20, 2026
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896
Climate change has a wide range of effects on wildlife. It affects seasonal migration, reproduction times, body size and mass, and disrupts ecological processes, thereby posing challenges for the populations of some species. ...
Evolution
Jan 19, 2026
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638
Scientists have developed a powerful new microscope that reveals, for the first time, how plants store a 'memory' of winter deep inside their cells.
Plants & Animals
Jan 19, 2026
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