Signs of the Times Article 07.08.2021 Despite their perceived abundance, the periodical cicadas that emerged across the eastern United States this summer point to a growing set of threats facing both the insects themselves and the ecosystems they help support.
What it Means to be Wild OpinionReview 07.08.2021 Against the backdrop of a world so thoroughly altered by humankind, Emma Marris’s latest book, Wild Souls, challenges our assumptions about nature and how we protect it.
Antarctica’s Upside Down World Article 05.12.2021 Clinging to the underside of ice hundreds of meters thick, strange communities of sea life eke out a living in perpetual darkness. Now, researchers are racing to find and study these creatures before they—and their ice sheets—disappear.
Life, Death, and Renewal in the Campo Rupestre Photo Essay 04.22.2021 In a little-known region of Brazil that calls to mind Tolkien’s Middle-earth, unique lifeforms have evolved to endure innumerable environmental challenges. Can they survive the country’s latest era of deregulation?
Extraordinary Animals and the People Who Love Them OpinionReview 03.29.2021 The new book Beloved Beasts hacks through the undergrowth of the conservation movement in search of a clear path forward.
Home on the Range Article 03.23.2021 Once thought to be extinct, tule elk have returned to roam across California’s Point Reyes National Seashore, but the park—which also supports beef and dairy cattle—is getting crowded.
Scales of Reference Article 03.11.2021 Collected at the tail end of British Columbia’s “silver fever,” hundred-year-old salmon scales are now helping conservation scientists reconstruct and better manage the populations of one of Canada’s most important fish.
Swamp Sentinels Article 02.18.2021 Buried in mud for millennia, some of New Zealand’s ancient kauri trees are revealing surprising clues about Earth’s climate—past, present, and future.
Saving Slovenia’s “Human Fish” Article 12.15.2020 Scientists in this Central European country are leading the charge to understand and protect a charismatic, cave-dwelling salamander—and the subterranean habitats that supply much of the region’s drinking water.
Mother Load Spotlight 12.11.2020 Multitasking bat moms carry their nursing pups underwing all while navigating a growing array of threats in the Australian forests they call home.
Billfish Bounty Spotlight 11.25.2020 A striped marlin slices through a shoal of baitfish, a beautiful reminder of the struggle between predator and prey—as well as the fragility and importance of healthy ecosystems.
Chennai Ran Out of Water — But That’s Only Half the Story Article 10.30.2020 To reduce flooding and bridge droughts, India’s southern coastal metropolis is using ancient knowledge, community action, and wetlands restoration to harness its monsoon rains.
A Novel Demise Spotlight 09.22.2020 Although we’ve marveled over carnivorous plants for centuries, the plants’ penchant for vertebrate flesh has been largely overlooked.
Records of Change Video 01.17.2020 Thanks to foresight and meticulous records collected nearly a century ago, scientists are reconstructing a picture of some of Mexico’s most important ecosystems before they were transformed.
A Great Escape Spotlight 12.03.2019 Invasive American mink, having escaped from British fur farms over the past century, are now wreaking havoc on native species—but this lucky gannet got away.
Refilling the Carbon Sink Photo Essay 11.12.2019 Long seen as wastelands, Scotland’s bogs are now the scene of an intense restoration effort in which millions of exotic trees are being felled to fight climate change.
Layers of Life Spotlight 11.12.2019 On a crowded coral reef, species often make their homes on top of one another (literally), living lives that are tightly intertwined both biologically and evolutionarily.
The Secret Garden Photo Essay 09.11.2019 The crystalline rivers of the Serra da Bodoquena offer a window into Brazil’s freshwater biodiversity. But with deforestation on the rise, that window is becoming cloudier.
A Precarious Perch Article 08.27.2019 Swallow-tailed kites have lost much of their habitat in the southeastern United States, but thanks to an unlikely ally, their numbers are beginning to climb.
Ghosts of the Everglades Immersive 07.11.2019 Clinging to survival in shrinking swamps, ghost orchids are so elusive that their pollinators have remained unknown—until now. One team’s findings may help to save both the flower and its threatened home.
