https://phys.org/biology-news/ecology/ en-us The latest science and research news on ecology Reptiles are captivating creatures—so captivating that people keep them as pets, or wear clothes and carry handbags fashioned from their patterned skins. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-pet-skin-pose-threat-reptile.html Plants & Animals Tue, 10 Nov 2026 18:20:12 EST news713540162 Swordfish spend much of their time hunting prey about 600 meters (1,970 feet) below the surface in the ocean twilight zone, but occasionally, they reach depths of more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Now, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are investigating what may be behind these extreme dives. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-swordfish-deep-ocean.html Plants & Animals Tue, 10 Nov 2026 17:40:06 EST news713546885 To encourage new investments in more effective reef restoration activities, Australian scientists are recommending a new way of measuring biodiversity on coral reefs. A team of Australian environmental scientists led by James Cook University's distinguished professor Morgan Pratchett proposes the more rigorous and transparent framework in a paper published in the journal One Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-reef-biodiversity-accounting-scale.html Ecology Tue, 10 Nov 2026 14:40:02 EST news713536696 Following a surge of interest in deer hunting beginning in the '80s and '90s, strategies to manage deer populations evolved to increase the proportion of mature male deer. While the increase in male abundance has perhaps made for better hunting conditions, the overall mule deer population in western North America has continued to decline. New BYU research appears to have figured out at least one potential reason why. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-current-strategy-mule-deer-populations.html Ecology Tue, 10 Nov 2026 11:25:25 EST news713532288 The white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) was once a rare species in Europe due to persecution and pollution. Thanks to legal protection and cleaner environments, many populations have been increasing. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-finland-white-tailed-eagle-success.html Plants & Animals Tue, 10 Nov 2026 11:20:05 EST news713527340 An interdisciplinary team of students from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is taking part in iGEM, the international synthetic biology competition in Paris (Nov. 13–16), this fall. Using a clever combination of artificial intelligence, a mechanical trap and protein nanofibers, they are presenting a targeted method to efficiently control populations of the Asian hornet. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-student-team-trojan-horse-asian.html Plants & Animals Tue, 10 Nov 2026 07:40:11 EST news713516934 Marine mammals living along the Pacific Coast of North America encounter more than the fish, crustaceans, cephalopods and other marine mammals that live around them. Because contaminants such as mercury can move through marine food webs and biomagnify—becoming more concentrated as they move from prey to predator—fish-eating marine mammals can be exposed to higher levels of these pollutants. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-pups-reveal-effects-mercury-exposure.html Plants & Animals Tue, 10 Nov 2026 07:20:14 EST news713516478 Colorado wheat—the foundation for flour used in bread, noodles and pastries—has been besieged by the wheat stem sawfly, a native insect that recently developed a preference for wheat over native grasses. This destructive agricultural pest has spread across the state's Eastern Plains, devastating fields where it takes hold and causing $70 million in direct and indirect losses a year to one of Colorado's top agricultural commodities. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-assault-sawflies-wheat-crops.html Ecology Tue, 10 Nov 2026 07:00:01 EST news713516121 For more than six decades, local scientists have collected sugar maple leaves from Gatineau Park to measure their radiocarbon levels, creating the longest continuous record of its kind. Now, a study of those leaves led by the André E. Lalonde National Facility for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AEL-AMS) located at the University of Ottawa shows that the effects of Cold War–era nuclear weapons testing have only recently disappeared from the local biosphere. The study, titled "Stored carbohydrates buffer Bomb and Suess radiocarbon effects in maple leaves across a 65-year Ottawa region record," was published in Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-gatineau-foliage-reveals-local-cold.html Ecology Mon, 09 Nov 2026 19:40:08 EST news713462257 Every autumn, from city centers to wetlands, starling murmurations attract crowds of spectators. Thousands of birds fill the sky, twisting and turning in extraordinary waves as the sun sets. An entire flock moves as one, creating shapes that shift and dissolve as quickly as they appear. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-starling-declining-spectacular-murmuration-displays.html Ecology Mon, 09 Nov 2026 19:20:02 EST news713453836 A hopeful story for the world's largest, critically endangered sea turtle may be playing out along the sandy beaches of Ecuador. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-endangered-leatherbacks-beaches-ecuador-pacific.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Nov 2026 18:40:01 EST news713453499 Scientists have used new machine learning techniques to investigate a topic no one has ever found a way to study: the evolution of fish moving together in schools across thousands of species. The new paper, published Nov. 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is among the largest studies of the evolution of any behavior ever conducted in any group of species, according to the authors. The research shows that behaviors, which have previously been difficult to quantify, can be studied at a large evolutionary scale. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-machine-reveals-fish-schooling-evolved.html Evolution Mon, 09 Nov 2026 18:30:05 EST news713465581 Tropical farmers are often expected to choose between high crop yields and protecting wildlife. However, an international team of researchers led by the University of Vienna, in collaboration with the universities of Göttingen and Würzburg in Germany and Bioversity International in Peru, shows that biodiversity conservation reinforces cacao production in agroforests via associated ecosystem services, such as natural pest control. The new study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, provides important evidence for sustainable farm and landscape management in one of the world's most biodiverse regions. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-tree-rich-landscapes-birds-cacao.html Ecology Mon, 09 Nov 2026 18:10:02 EST news713465221 Chimpanzees may learn how to use some of their calls from the adults around them, in a surprising parallel with how human children learn words, finds a study from the CNRS Institute of Cognitive Sciences, University of Warwick and Taï Chimpanzee Project. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-chimpanzees-raspberries-evidence-vocal-conventions.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Nov 2026 15:00:10 EST news713176382 Organic pollutants such as pesticides and industrial chemicals commonly pose risks to aquatic ecosystems, even in protected rivers and streams, according to a new study by RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, based on the analysis of more than 180 million water measurements from the French long-term monitoring program "Naïades." The research shows that pollutants are detectable in nearly all of the water bodies examined and that groups of substances often overlooked in earlier studies contribute significantly to environmental risks. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-pollutants-threaten-rivers-streams-areas.html Ecology Mon, 09 Nov 2026 14:00:29 EST news713446847 A research team led by professor Zhang Yuanming from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed that the outcomes of desert plant-herbivore interactions are strongly context-dependent. The paper is published in the journal Plant, Cell & Environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-reveals-overcompensation-weevil-interactions.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Nov 2026 13:20:13 EST news713446640 Cultivating crops—such as wheat, barley and rye—alongside rows of trees is a system of agroforestry that is known as "alley-cropping." It serves many functions: in addition to enhancing ecosystems and biodiversity, it can also counteract the negative effects of growing crops in treeless open land. The advantages of alley-cropping come from the interaction between trees and crops, resulting in improved soil quality, reduced wind erosion, enhanced nutrient cycling, and climate change mitigation through increased carbon capture. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-smart-trees-crops-yield.html Ecology Mon, 09 Nov 2026 12:00:06 EST news713445503 Family traditions, misconceptions about where it comes from, and a belief that remedies sold in shops are government-approved help explain continued demand for saiga antelope horn in Singapore, according to a University of Oxford–led study published in People and Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-demand-persists-horn-extinct-antelope.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Nov 2026 11:20:10 EST news713444123 A huge coral colony stretching more than 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) along the outer reef of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands has been identified by researchers, making it one of the largest known coral colonies ever recorded. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-buses-scientists-world-largest-coral.html Ecology Sun, 08 Nov 2026 12:00:01 EST news713180951 A Florida chimpanzee sanctuary had to deliver food to one of its 200 apes by drone this week because the property was swamped by heavy rain. But the animals stayed safe, and the water finally was receding significantly on Saturday, the organization said. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-chimp-sanctuary-ape-food-drone.html Ecology Sun, 08 Nov 2026 06:44:40 EST news713342649 Tropical ecosystems are famous for their teeming, exuberant diversity. In fact, the dramatic increase in biodiversity from the poles to the tropics—known as the latitudinal diversity gradient—is pervasive across branches of the tree of life, and fossil evidence suggests it has existed for millennia. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-tropics-birds-cities.html Plants & Animals Sat, 07 Nov 2026 20:30:01 EST news712944872 Armed with dozens of motion-sensing cameras, William Grooms spent this past summer documenting wildlife across Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. It was his first field season collecting photos for a two-year study to understand how forest structure influences biodiversity in the Southern Rocky Mountains. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-student-proof-rare-wild-cat.html Plants & Animals Sat, 07 Nov 2026 17:00:05 EST news713022203 There are at least 14 million insect species on Earth, and they play highly diverse roles in sustaining the natural world. Insects provide many well-known benefits—what scientists often call "ecosystem services." For example, you can thank a bee or a hoverfly for pollinating wildflowers and agricultural crops, or credit dung beetles for decomposing manure and other waste materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-hidden-ways-insects-animal-life.html Plants & Animals Sat, 07 Nov 2026 16:00:01 EST news713195139 The Mediterranean Sea still holds species unknown to science. One of them is Copula lucentia, a tiny jellyfish measuring just a few millimeters. Discovered off El Campello, in Alicante, it was formally described in 2024 by a research team at the University of Alicante (UA) Marine Laboratory in Dénia, which forms part of the university's Ramón Margalef Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Research. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-scientists-jellyfish-species-alicante-spain.html Plants & Animals Sat, 07 Nov 2026 11:00:01 EST news713111364 It would seem difficult to miss a 15,000-pound (6,804-kilogram) baby, but for months scientists who study rare whales did just that, and now they couldn't be happier. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-scientists-unknown-baby-whale-canada.html Plants & Animals Sat, 07 Nov 2026 06:04:43 EST news713253854 Spring is the season of blooming flowers and buzzing bees. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-baby-bird-ground-dont-birdnap.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Nov 2026 18:00:02 EST news713190531 Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have identified a specialized lipid barrier in the fruit fly pupa that protects against dehydration in dry and hot environments. Their findings also expose the lipid barrier's limit, suggesting that insects in some regions of the world may struggle to adapt to climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-fruit-fly-clues-insect-survival.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Nov 2026 14:00:02 EST news713124121 We live in a noisy world. Whether it is the roar of traffic, the rumble of ships or the hum of heavy industry, there is often no escaping noise unless you are a hermit on a desert island. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-noise-pollution-biology-behavior-animal.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Nov 2026 13:20:04 EST news713190869 During four days on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, I saw an Olympic marmot, a species found nowhere else on Earth; four bumblebee species working the same lavender plant; three western hermit crab species new to me; and five orcas slicing through the dark water off Ediz Hook. Any one of them could have been the trip's highlight. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-heard-barnacle-paying-attention-nature.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Nov 2026 13:00:01 EST news713183120 The broad-headed snake (Hoplocephalus bungaroides), one of Australia's most endangered snakes, has been given a lifeline, with at least four of six captive-bred juveniles surviving the critical first few months after their release into the wild. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-world-successful-wild-endangered-broad.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Nov 2026 11:00:01 EST news713180843