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After five years of exceptional drought, desert landscapes across southern California exploded with “superblooms” of wildflowers this March following ample winter precipitation. According to local news reports, it’s the most spectacular display some locations have seen in more than tw

Collecting dust isn’t usually considered a good thing. But dust from as close as California’s Central Valley and as far away as Asia’s Gobi Desert provides nutrients, especially phosphorus, to vegetation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a team of scientists has found.

Forests play a complex role in keeping the planet cool, one that goes far beyond the absorption of carbon dioxide, new research has found. Trees also impact climate by regulating the exchange of water and energy between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere, an important influence th

“Resilience” is a buzzword often used in scientific literature to describe how animals, plants and landscapes can persist under climate change. It’s typically considered a good quality, suggesting that those with resilience can withstand or adapt as the climate continues t

U.S. Geological Survey scientists teamed up with government, nonprofit, and university partners in South Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve to hold a scientific scavenger hunt for nonnative and invasive freshwater fish species. Thirteen nonnative fish species were collected

William Blake may have seen a world in a grain of sand, but for scientists at MIT the smallest of all photosynthetic bacteria holds clues to the evolution of entire ecosystems, and perhaps even the whole biosphere. The key is a tiny bacterium called Prochlorococcus, which is the most

In the South China Sea, a 2°C rise in the sea surface temperature in June 2015 was amplified to produce a 6°C rise on Dongsha Atoll, a shallow coral reef ecosystem, killing approximately 40 percent of the resident coral community within weeks, according to a study published in Scienti

Tests conducted this week of a novel technology that can greatly accelerate the combustion of crude oil floating on water demonstrated its potential to become an effective tool for minimizing the environmental impact of future oil spills. Called the Flame Refluxer, the technology, dev

Where is marine litter concentrated, and which species and ecosystems does it affect? Researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute have for the first time compiled all scientific data published on marine litter in a single, comprehensive database, now accessible from the online portal

Among ecologists, carbon gets all the glory. Scientists examine its critical role in plant growth and decay, they chart its contributions to greenhouse gases, and they measure its sequestration in earth, sea, and sky. Often overlooked in all this research is the humble element silicon