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Categories: Ecology: General, Offbeat: Earth and Climate

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An international team of scientists has recently found that non-native species are expanding their ranges many orders of magnitude faster than native ones, in large part due to inadvertent human help. Even seemingly sedentary non-native plants are moving at three times the speed of their native counterparts in a race where, because of the rapid pace of climate change and its effect on habitat, speed matters. To survive, plants and animals need to be shifting their ranges by 3.25 kilometers per year just to keep up with the increasing temperatures and associated climactic shifts -- a speed that native species cannot manage without human help.

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Some areas of the Amazon rainforest are more resilient to drought than others, new research shows. But if not managed carefully, we could 'threaten the integrity of the whole system,' researchers say.

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Natural hazards can speed up the extinction process of land animals that have limited distribution and/or small populations. But there is hope to turn the negative development around, says researchers behind new study.

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Formation of the body axes is a critical part of embryonic development. They guarantee that all body parts end up where they belong and that no ears grow on our backs. The head-tail axis, for example, determines the orientation of the two ends of the body. It was previously assumed that this axis is largely determined by the interplay between the Nodal and BMP signals. However, there appears to be another player in this system, as researchers have now discovered by using an embryo-like model system they developed. In the absence of BMP, the signalling molecule beta-catenin takes on the role of the Nodal antagonist. This new mechanism could be a flexible solution for axis formation in embryos with different shapes.

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Researchers hope their DIY machine will help designers around the world experiment with making their own, sustainable fashion and other textiles from a range of natural ingredients -- maybe even the chitin in crab shells or agar-agar from algae.

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Climate change is making it more difficult to raise cattle -- growth and reproduction are affected by heat -- so it's critical to breed cattle better adapted to a hotter and longer summer. A new study shows it's possible to identify the genes within breeds of cattle that would lead to the sweatiest, heat-tolerant offspring.

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The new study provides unambiguous evidence that the inner core began to decrease its speed around 2010, moving slower than the Earth's surface.

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Climate change has many widespread and complicated effects on the well-being of people and the planet, and a new study has now added a surprising one to the list. After analyzing the language used in seven million parliamentary speeches around the world, it shows that high temperatures lead to a significant and immediate reduction in politicians' language complexity.

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The increase in the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves in recent decades is one of the effects of global climate change. A study shows that the extreme heatwave of 2022 caused an 'unprecedented' increase in mortality of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata, affecting 70% of the colonies located in the Montgr Natural Park, the Medes Islands and the Baix Ter. According to the researchers, these results are 'alarming and threaten the viability' of this species of great value for the biodiversity of benthic ecosystems, since it is considered to be an inhabitant-forming species.

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Gray whales that spend their summers feeding in the shallow waters off the Pacific Northwest coast have undergone a significant decline in body length since around the year 2000, a new study found.

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Scientists have for the first time observed how atoms in magnesium oxide morph and melt under ultra-harsh conditions, providing new insights into this key mineral within Earth's mantle that is known to influence planet formation.

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Deposits of deep-pink sand washing up on South Australian shores shed new light on when the Australian tectonic plate began to subduct beneath the Pacific plate, as well as the presence of previously unknown ancient Antarctic mountains.

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Studies working to map conservation historically have left humans out of the equation. This study proposes ways to build in the outsized footprint created by people in wild places.

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Goldenrod can perceive other plants nearby without ever touching them, by sensing far-red light ratios reflected off leaves. When goldenrod is eaten by herbivores, it adapts its response based on whether or not another plant is nearby. Is this kind of flexible, real-time, adaptive response a sign of intelligence in plants?

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Over 17 million insects migrate each year through a single mountain pass on the border between France and Spain, new research shows.

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An international scientific team has redefined our understanding of archaea, a microbial ancestor to humans from two billion years ago, by showing how they use hydrogen gas. The findings explain how these tiny lifeforms make energy by consuming and producing hydrogen. This simple but dependable strategy has allowed them to thrive in some of Earth's most hostile environments for billions of years.

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Astrophysicists calculate the likelihood that Earth was exposed to cold, harsh interstellar clouds, a phenomenon not previously considered in geologic climate models.

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A breakthrough study changes the way we understand cyanobacteria, which are essential for the sustenance of life. The study shows that these organisms do not operate in isolation, but rather physically interact through membrane-nanotubes, which function as exchange bridges between cells.

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They bedeviled ancient Greek navies, helped shipwreck Christopher Columbus, aided in the sinking of the Spanish Armada and caused the wharves in San Francisco Bay to collapse into the sea, but until now, scientists have been unable to pinpoint exactly how shipworms -- a family of mollusks -- are able to cause such damage. A team of researchers has discovered that a population of symbiotic microbes, living in an overlooked sub-organ of the gut called the 'typhlosole,' have the ability to secrete the enzymes needed to digest lignin -- the toughest part of wood.

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Bronze cauldrons were used by the inhabitants of the Mongolian steppe around 2,700 years ago to process animal blood and milk. This is shown by a protein analysis of archaeological finds from this period.