https://phys.org/biology-news/ecology/ en-us The latest science and research news on ecology A new scientific review outlines how satellites and other remote sensing technologies are increasingly shaping how biodiversity and ecosystem health can be monitored at scale—offering new opportunities for countries reporting under international nature targets, while also underscoring important limitations. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-satellites-biodiversity-global-nature-major.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 18:40:01 EDT news702721820 The daily movements of brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba) in the forest are determined by an interplay of environmental, behavioral and social factors. This is one of the conclusions of a study conducted in Brazil and published in the International Journal of Primatology. The study may guide conservation efforts for the species. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-brown-howler-monkeys-rest-hot.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 18:00:05 EDT news702746032 Europe risks a severe crisis if the decline of wild pollinators continues. This is the key message of a new white paper prepared by 135 researchers from eight research consortia, including the projects BUTTERFLY, RestPoll, ProPollSoil and PolinERA, all involving researchers from Aarhus University. Among the authors are Claus Rasmussen, Martin Hvarregaard Thorsøe, James Williams, Johan Axelman and Chris Topping from the Department of Agroecology. The work is published in Zenodo. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-europe-pollinator-crisis.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:20:05 EDT news702741487 Originally from southeastern Africa, the turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) lives in seasonal bodies of water that form during the rainy season and disappear again during the dry season. The fish is highly adapted to this seasonal cycle: It completes its entire life cycle—from hatching through reproduction to natural death—within a few months. Its short lifespan makes it a valuable model organism for aging research, as processes that often take years in other vertebrates can be studied in killifish within a few weeks. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dynamic-population-turquoise-killifish-husbandry.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:00:05 EDT news702738232 Scientists observed spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) playing in the wild and found that their precise, sophisticated communication is on par with that of many primate species. Hyenas play and romp with one another at all stages of life. Although juveniles play more frequently than adults, the joy of play can also be observed in adults. Interestingly, adult hyenas appear to particularly enjoy playing in water. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-language-play-hyenas-facial-vocalizations.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:20:03 EDT news702729459 Maize (corn) is a major dietary staple in Maya communities past and present because of its reliability, potential for surplus, and suitability as both food and fodder. It became so important to ancient Mesoamerican communities that it even became central to many of their religious beliefs, and arguably, they built their societies on it. Yet maize has a major nutritional limitation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-maize-fed-animals-maya-farmers.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:10:01 EDT news702741654 A new study reveals that exposing dwarf spiders to a brief period of warm temperatures can disrupt a phenomenon in which internal bacteria normally force genetic males to develop as females. Surprisingly, this reproductive disruption skips the directly heated spiders and hits their children and grandchildren instead, leading to a sudden comeback of male offspring. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-temperatures-disrupt-spider-sex-bacteria.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:20:06 EDT news702724473 Two new studies examining gray wolves in California paint a complex picture of life on the state's ranching landscapes: Wolves eat cattle more than anything else, and the presence of the predators causes significant stress among livestock. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-california-wolves-heavily-cattle-presence.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:00:23 EDT news702700961 Beavers are widespread in estuaries and tidal wetlands in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, demonstrating that they are not restricted to rivers and streams, Gregory Hood at the Skagit River System Cooperative, U.S., reports July 8, 2026, in the journal PLOS One. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-beavers-river-estuaries-north-america.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:00:20 EDT news702728106 Nature has invented countless types of pointy appendages, and scientists have long sought to explain what makes these structures so effective at puncturing other things. A new study models the key physical characteristics of puncturing tools to reflect their diversity in nature, finding that the shape of a biological tool is driven in part by trade-offs between its puncture efficiency and its ability to resist bending or buckling. The findings are described in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nature-tools-reveal-offs-piercing.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:00:13 EDT news702700982 Coral reefs are disappearing at an unprecedented rate as climate change, marine heat waves, pollution and coastal development threaten one of Earth's richest ecosystems. While scientific research has greatly advanced understanding of the crisis and ways to restore damaged reefs, a new international paper argues that science alone will not be enough to protect them. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-international-team-science-wont-coral.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news702704480 Scientists thought dead plant material was primarily powering the Everglades. Algae says not so fast. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-powers-everglades-tracks-algae-fuel.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 13:10:01 EDT news702729714 Long before the dawn of modern parenting, animals laid eggs and moved on, leaving their progeny to fend for themselves. Now, a study published in Nature uncovers one of the elegant ways evolution transformed neglect into nurture. Working with clonal raider ants, a surprisingly parental insect, researchers found that rather than evolving entirely new brain circuits for caregiving, evolution repurposed ancient neural systems for regulating hunger into triggers for social behaviors. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tiny-neuron-ant-brains-reveal.html Evolution Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:10:01 EDT news702729697 New research suggests that heat stress increases the occurrence of same-sex sexual interactions between male burying beetles—but also that a surprising number of male–male encounters occur under control conditions. This ongoing project is investigating whether a possible trade-off between heat protection and social-communication cuticular hydrocarbons may be involved in possible sex-recognition errors, and whether these behaviors may result in any costs to reproductive success. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hotter-climate-sex-mounting-corpse.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:00:13 EDT news702728117 New research finds that the "silent" mutant male crickets of Hawaii, first observed more than 20 years ago, have now become well established across the Hawaiian islands, and that the reproductive challenges caused by a lack of courtship song may be offset by much earlier maturation into adulthood, providing a wider window for breeding opportunities. This research also reveals the existence of multiple different sound-reducing morphs, all with their own unique mutations that disrupt the cricket's ability to create songs. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tune-exploring-rapid-evolution-hawaii.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:00:11 EDT news702728096 An ongoing research project exploring the effects of rising levels of oceanic CO2 on squid neurology reveals that exposure to future levels of ocean acidification could shrink their brain volume by around 50%. This severe brain shrinkage appears to be most pronounced in the areas that interpret visual information, correlating with significant reductions in normal feeding behaviors and suggesting serious consequences for the future of squid and other cephalopods. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ocean-acidification-brains-world-intelligent.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:00:05 EDT news702630449 New research is redefining the morphological and functional existence of anatomical "neck" regions to better include previously exempted vertebrates such as fishes and amphibians, changing the status quo of what it means to have a neck. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fishes-amphibians-dont-necks.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news702638666 The British swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon britannicus) is the U.K.'s only native swallowtail and its largest native butterfly. It's instantly recognizable by its striking light yellow-and-black wings, with twin tail-like markings splashed in bold blue and red. Habitat for this endangered species has largely been limited to the damp bogs and marshes of eastern England, especially the iconic Norfolk Broads, where its life cycle is closely tied to a single host plant, milk-parsley. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rare-british-butterfly-familiar-genome.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:20:16 EDT news702721312 A comprehensive study of more than 1,100 springs in the American West warns that critical biodiversity hot spots are facing a mounting extinction crisis. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-biodiversity-hotspots-american-west-extinction.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:20:01 EDT news702722041 Australia is racing to contain the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which is now believed to have infected seven seabirds. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scavenger-animals-link-australia-bird.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:20:12 EDT news702721862 Fish hatcheries are a critical part of the effort to restore salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest. But hatchery fish are less likely than wild ones to return from the ocean to spawn—and one reason may be hatchery noise. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quiet-hatchery-salmon-noise-spawn.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news702721381 Research by Oregon State University biologists suggests that toxic air stemming from wildfires won't necessarily prompt animals to flee in search of better breathing conditions. The study of American robins led by OSU's Jamie Cornelius is one of the few to examine how wildfire smoke, an increasingly common phenomenon as annual fire seasons become longer and more intense, affects animal behavior. OSU research associate Alex Jahn and graduate students Dorothy Zahor and Ken Glynn also worked on the study. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-robin-isnt-necessarily-wildlife-response.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 08:20:03 EDT news702716521 Pan Sok still remembers his relative screaming as a tiger dragged him away one night, deep inside the Cambodian rainforest where they were tapping trees for resin. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cambodia-tigers.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:40:01 EDT news702702357 A study published in Ecography has assessed how climate change may be destabilizing interactions between predators and prey in the wild—specifically, how owl–prey interactions have responded to environmental variability and resource availability over 24 years in the semi-arid ecosystem of Bosque Fray Jorge National Park in Chile. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-climate-affects-interactions-owls-prey.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 03:00:03 EDT news702571207 Forests are shaped by light competition. The trees that grow the tallest have access to the most sunlight, blocking the rays and rendering the shaded space around them inhospitable to shorter trees below. In this stem exclusion phase of forest succession, the shorter trees often die. Yet scientists have observed that in old-growth forests, trees of vastly different sizes successfully coexist, proving that reaching the top of the canopy is not the sole winning strategy for survival in a forest environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tall-short-trees-coexist-growth.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:01 EDT news702571183 Space and rockets have been big news of late, from the successful Artemis 2 mission in April to the recent listing of SpaceX on the Nasdaq stock exchange. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rocket-threaten-australia-coastal-wildlife.html Plants & Animals Tue, 07 Jul 2026 22:00:01 EDT news702639260 A new study published in the Journal of Helminthology by researchers from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, together with collaborators from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, has revealed surprisingly limited dispersal of Diplostomum parasites across North Atlantic islands. The findings challenge the common assumption that migratory birds readily transport parasites over large geographic distances. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-migratory-birds-parasites-islands-dna.html Plants & Animals Tue, 07 Jul 2026 21:40:07 EDT news702646962 Visitors to the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, located about 340 miles (545 kilometers) off the coast of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, soon notice a small lizard. Seemingly ubiquitous, it roams among rocks, trails and urbanized areas, approaching people and stealing food in plain sight when it can, and rarely flees. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-island-life-brazil-noronha-skink.html Plants & Animals Tue, 07 Jul 2026 20:40:04 EDT news702654422 The DNA in a single cup of water can track wildlife, monitor pollution and survey pathogens in waterways and their surroundings, all at the same time. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fishing-dna-cup-river-reveal.html Ecology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:00:05 EDT news702650101 Freshwater ecosystems are under growing pressure worldwide, but conservation resources are limited. A framework developed by IIASA researchers and partners can help identify where conservation could prevent biodiversity loss and where restoration efforts are likely to have the greatest ecological impact across the United States and Europe. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rivers-collapse-tool-dollars-good.html Ecology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:00:01 EDT news702647009