News and Opinion

Ants adapt tool use to avoid drowning

Researchers have observed black imported fire ants using sand to draw liquid food out of containers, when faced with the risk of drowning. This is the first time this sophisticated tool use has been reported in animals.

Pollinator monitoring more than pays for itself

Monitoring schemes to count bees and other pollinating insects provide excellent value for money, and could help save species and protect UK food security, researchers have found.

Caught on tape: UF wildlife researchers repurpose listening device to track poaching

Acoustic monitoring technologies can detect far more hunting in protected forests than cameras are able to, according to research by the University of Florida.

Oil palm replanting may decrease arthropod biodiversity

New study finds that oil palm replanting may decrease the biodiversity of arthropods, such as insects and spiders.

Provide shady spots to protect butterflies from climate change, say scientists

Butterfly species that mostly rely on finding shade to keep cool are at a greater risk of population decline due to climate change and habitat loss.

Logging tropical forests jeopardizes fisheries important for food and livelihood

Logging activity in Solomon Islands is associated with lower coral cover and structural complexity on adjacent reefs, new research has found.

Ecologists confirm Alan Turing’s theory for Australian fairy circles

International research team led by Göttingen University shows patterned vegetation regenerates by “ecosystem engineering” of the grasses.

Managing energy balance through lactation

Recently published research in Journal of Animal Ecology explores how grey seal mothers maximize their chances of successfully rearing pups during an ‘energetic fast’.

Development of a diagnostic tool for water bodies

If a river or stream is not doing well, there are many possible causes, but they are sometimes difficult to detect. Scientists from the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) have now developed a method that evaluates biological symptoms of rivers and calculates probable causes.

Indigenous knowledge still undervalued in environmental decisions

New research published today in People and Nature finds that Indigenous knowledge is regularly underutilised and misunderstood when making important environmental decisions.

The multiple benefits of conserving native forest

Research published in Journal of Applied Ecology shows how the presence of Chaco Serrano forest remnants in the vicinity of soybean fields has led to an increase in the diversity of insects that control pests

Younger generation fail to notice environmental decline due to generational amnesia risking conservation longevity

Tracking re-invasion of mice on offshore havens

Scientists highlight the importance of biosecurity as a study in Journal of Applied Ecology shows how easily pests can reinvade islands.

Bee neighbourly: sharing bees helps more farmers

The benefits of cost-sharing the conservation of wild bee habitats on agricultural lands, especially in nearby farming communities, can help overcome the tragedy of the commons.

The forgotten fauna: introduced seed predators are no surrogate for extinct seed-eating animals on islands

A new study led by Dr Jo Carpenter has shown that it’s not just the loss of mutually beneficial species like pollinators or seed disperses that have a severe impact on island ecology, the loss of “negative” interactions such as destroying seeds or parasitism is also important.