Throughout the history of the West, human actions have often rushed the desert—and their actions backfired. In the 1920s, the Colorado River Compact notoriously overallocated water still used today by several western states ...
Ecology
May 3, 2021
0
50
Forget diamonds—plastic is forever. It takes decades, or even centuries, for plastic to break down, and nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists in some form today. We've known for a while that big pieces of ...
Ecology
Apr 29, 2021
0
231
Poaching threatens wildlife conservation around the world, and it's a top concern in protected conservation areas and parks, where rangers patrol the wilderness in an effort to deter and document this kind of illegal activity.
Plants & Animals
Apr 7, 2021
0
16
Emily Ury remembers the first time she saw them. She was heading east from Columbia, North Carolina, on the flat, low-lying stretch of U.S. Highway 64 toward the Outer Banks. Sticking out of the marsh on one side of the road ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 6, 2021
2
55
As gatherings to observe whooping cranes join the ranks of online-only events this year, a new study offers insight into how the endangered bird is faring on a landscape increasingly dotted with wind turbines. The paper, ...
Ecology
Mar 11, 2021
2
12
Early exposure to tough conditions—particularly warmer waters and nightly swings of low oxygen—could leave lasting scars on oysters' ability to grow meaty tissue. A team of biologists at the Smithsonian Environmental ...
Ecology
Mar 2, 2021
1
19
About 70% of the world's main crops depend on insect pollination. Climate change is already affecting the abundance and distribution of insects, which could cause geographical mismatches between crops and their pollinators. ...
Ecology
Feb 22, 2021
2
11
Global circulating winds can carry bacteria, fungal spores, viruses and pollen over long distances and across national borders, but the United States is ill-prepared to confront future disease outbreaks or food-supply threats ...
Ecology
Jan 28, 2021
1
9
California's drought of 2012-2016 killed millions of trees in the Sierra Nevada—mostly by way of a bark beetle epidemic—leaving a forest canopy full of dry needles. A study published from the University of California, ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 14, 2021
1
25
A lurking threat that has stymied US corn growers for decades is now returning to the forefront: western corn rootworm. Sometimes referred to as the "billion-dollar bug," the species' tiny larvae chew through the roots of ...
Ecology
Jan 12, 2021
0
10
