land-use-and-ecosystem-services

Hibernation is a specialized adaptive energy-saving survival strategy evolved by animals to withstand winter cold stress and food scarcity. Its core feature lies in profound metabolic suppression, characterized by a drastic reduction in metabolic rate during hibernation, accompanied by the coordinated downregulation of multiple physiological functions such as body temperature, heart rate, and res…

From the Reef to the Laboratory: Uncovering Hidden Contaminants in India's Coastal Fisheries

Scientists have documented a whale graveyard in the Indian Ocean with some carcasses dating back 5.3 million years, and it's supporting a thriving community of marine life.

One of the most celebrated claims about Yellowstone’s wolves is facing a major challenge. Scientists say the study behind the famous trophic cascade story relied on flawed methods that overstated the ecological impact of wolf recovery. Their reanalysis found no evidence for a dramatic, park-wide surge in willow growth. Instead, the effects appear smaller and vary from place to place.

An international research team has found that topsoils around the world contain some 110 quadrillion km of fungal hyphae, equal to nearly a billion trips from the earth to the sun

Two fires in 12 years wiped out all but a handful of the mature native pines in Victoria’s Wyperfeld national park, a key breeding ground for endangered pink cockatoos Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast At the entrance to Wyperfeld national park, in north-west Victoria, more than a dozen pink cockatoos are sprinkled across a hedge row of pine trees like Christmas decorat…

Hertfordshire Zoo has achieved a remarkable second consecutive breeding success with its rare black and rufous sengi, commonly known as elephant shrews. The twin pups arrived on April 22 to parents Nuru and Mala, just months after the pair produced the first-ever UK-born litter of this unusual African species in March. Weighing merely 30 grams at birth — equivalent to a standard first-class lette…

Researchers have quantified the length and mass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks globally.

Wolsingham, Weardale: These stunning butterflies are here in incredible numbers this year, yet what’s most remarkable is their multigenerational migration There’s a painted lady basking on the footpath. Her orange, black-tipped, white-spotted wings, a little worn after her long journey, blend with shadows and sun-flecks on heatwave-baked mud, so she’s almost under our feet before she takes flight…

Woody plants hold great potential for phytoremediation, but their effectiveness is often constrained by site conditions. Our global meta-analysis identifies initial metal concentration, metal identity, and soil acidity as key factors limiting remediation outcomes.

This article analyzes the landscape transformation processes of Syrdarya region over the past three decades (1990–2024) using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). The study draws on Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, ERA5 reanalysis and meteorological station records, and soil monitoring data. The results show that, alongside the steady expansion of irrigated cropland, …

You might think birds skimming over the ocean wouldn’t seek wind unless it was pushing them in the right direction, but NASA-funded researchers have learned that storm petrels find stiff crosswinds worth the slowdown, in return for the clues and cues the gusts carry. In a paper published by the Royal Society’s Biology Letters May 13, researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) an…