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Ecology

Latest Articles

When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color?

June 27, 2025

Scientists reconstructed 500 million years of evolutionary history to reveal which came first: colorful signals or the color vision needed to see them.

The Ecosystem Dynamics That Can Make or Break an Invasion

June 16, 2025

By speedrunning ecosystems with microbes, researchers revealed intrinsic properties that may make a community susceptible to invasion.

‘Turbocharged’ Mitochondria Power Birds’ Epic Migratory Journeys

May 19, 2025

Slight changes in the number, shape, efficiency and interconnectedness of organelles in the cells of flight muscles provide extra energy for birds’ continent-spanning feats.

A New, Chemical View of Ecosystems

March 5, 2025

Rare and powerful compounds, known as keystone molecules, can build a web of invisible interactions among species.

The ‘Elegant’ Math Model That Could Help Rescue Coral Reefs

February 26, 2025

Physicists and marine biologists built a quantitative framework that predicts how coral polyps collectively construct a variety of coral shapes.

How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light?

January 29, 2025

Under the sea ice during the Arctic’s pitch-black polar night, cells power photosynthesis on the lowest light levels ever observed in nature.

The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology

September 30, 2024

Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.

Simple Equation Predicts the Shapes of Carbon-Capturing Wetlands

May 28, 2024

To calculate the amount of carbon stored inside peatlands, researchers developed a unified theory of “bog physics” applicable around the world.

Ecologists Struggle to Get a Grip on ‘Keystone Species’

April 24, 2024

More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems. Has the powerful metaphor lost its mathematical meaning?

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