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 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 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 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 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 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 A new international study led by researchers at the University of Oulu, Finland, shows that wolves living in different parts of the world are not anatomically identical. Their skulls differ in shape and size according to climate, prey availability, evolutionary history and, increasingly, the influence of humans. The paper is published in the journal Diversity and Distributions. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wolves-world-evolved-skull-humans.html Plants & Animals Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:00:07 EDT news702638805 In Europe, trees are increasingly dying prematurely. A new study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) on French forests now shows that it is not only drought but also unusually warm or wet springs that increase the risk—even ideal growing conditions can prove fatal later on. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-europe-trees-dying.html Ecology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 10:40:06 EDT news702638796 New research finds that birds can use lactate, often thought of as a metabolic waste product, as a cellular fuel that aids in rapid recovery from a harmful state that impairs oxygen delivery. Hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen to our tissues, naturally converts to methemoglobin, which limits the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-birds-efficient-red-blood-cells.html Ecology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 08:30:01 EDT news702537980 The evolutionary paths that created snatching forelimbs in insects multiple times moved in a similar direction but didn't end at a single solution. Kobe University research is pioneering a study of how organs with similar functions evolve, providing a new analytical approach to identify evolutionary dynamics quantitatively. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-raptorial-insect-forelegs-evolved-converged.html Evolution Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:04 EDT news702538089 Hummingbirds make bromeliad plants split into new species twice as fast as other pollinators do, scientists at the University of Reading have found. The research team gathered records of which animals pollinate 403 types of bromeliad, which include pineapples and more than 3,700 species, and found three in four of these plants are visited by hummingbirds. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hummingbirds-pineapple-family-evolution.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Jul 2026 19:00:03 EDT news702539370 In the dense forests of the Ecuadorian Andes, the survival of a spider relies not only on its ability to prey on insects but also on its capacity to resist a threat coming from the skies. A new study revealed that the heavy rainfall that hits the region acts as an "ecological filter," bombarding spider webs and, in the process, determining which species and silk architectures are able to master each environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-storms-impact-architecture-webs-survival.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:40:01 EDT news702571236 The marine microalgae responsible for the most devastating effects of the South Australian harmful algal bloom (HAB) has now been shown to be the most toxic species of its kind ever studied. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-south-australian-algal-bloom-species.html Ecology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:20:05 EDT news702562917 Over generations, a small North American frog has learned how to survive in a world that's getting increasingly saltier. But new research from the University of Missouri suggests that adaptation comes with an unexpected trade-off. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-survival-price-frog-links-salt.html Ecology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702562792 A new analysis sheds light on the most likely route for the Carthaginian general's famous crossing of the Alps. The study, led by the University of Oxford and iDiv/Friedrich Schiller University Jena, reveals that the Col de la Traversette would have been the least energy-intensive route. The findings have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-elephant-energetics-hannibal-alpine-route.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:00:16 EDT news702537909 New research proving bumblebees exhibit emotion-like behaviors—previously thought to exist only in mammalian species—has implications for how scientists understand the consciousness of insects. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bees-reveal-emotion-reactions-lip.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:00:11 EDT news702537952 Scientists at Leiden University have discovered that plants are strongly influenced by their neighbors, not just above ground but also through hidden networks in the soil. Their findings challenge long-held ideas about how plants shape their environment and could help improve sustainable farming. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-neighbors-life-scientists.html Ecology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:40:03 EDT news702562701 A new genetic analysis of hundreds of cacao trees representing traditional Amazonian varieties grown on farms across Peru has revealed four previously unidentified, genetically distinct groups. Lambert Motilal, with colleagues from the Cocoa Research Center, The University of the West Indies, and Martha S. Calderon and Danilo E. Bustamante, with their colleagues from the Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, partnered to explore Peru's untapped cacao diversity. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-groups-indigenous-cacao-varieties-peru.html Ecology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:05 EDT news702287213 A new study published in the journal Alpine Entomology has found that alpine butterflies in the Swiss National Park are closely matching the pace of local warming in their range shift to higher elevations. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-alpine-butterflies-track-uphill-habitat.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news702552888 Past psychology studies have consistently highlighted the importance of social bonds for survival, showing that enduring relationships are linked with a longer life expectancy, a more resilient immune system, better cardiovascular health and a lower risk of psychiatric conditions. In addition, they showed that being raised by two parents plays an important role in development, as it is often associated with better emotional regulation, cognitive performance and social competence in adulthood. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-early-parenting-brain-socio-sexual.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:00:02 EDT news702543651 Contrary to common assumptions, pigeons do not lock their eyes in place during flight. Instead, they make slow, subtle eye movements that may help them gather more information about their surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-qa-camera-equipped-homing-pigeons.html Ecology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 11:00:08 EDT news702287200 Zoraptera, also known as angel insects or ground lice, are tiny termite-like insects generally found underneath bark or in decaying wood. The Zoraptera group includes a few dozen known insect species that closely resemble each other. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-phylogenomics-reveals-angel-insects-ancestry.html Evolution Mon, 06 Jul 2026 07:20:05 EDT news702209723