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Categories: Environmental: Biodiversity, Offbeat: Earth and Climate

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Female meadow brown butterflies have fewer spots if they develop in warmer weather -- so climate change could make them less spotty, new research shows.

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Southern Africa contains the vast majority of the world's remaining populations of both black and white rhinoceroses (80% and 92%, respectively). The region's climate is changing rapidly as a result global warming. Traditional conservation efforts aimed at protecting rhinos have focused on poaching, but until now, there has been no analysis of the impact that climate change may have on the animals. A research team has recently reported that, though the area will be affected by both higher temperatures and changing precipitation, the rhinos are more sensitive to rising temperatures, which will quickly increase above the animals' acceptable maximum threshold.

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Researchers found that wolf spiders can't signal others or perceive danger from predators as easily on rain-soaked leaves compared to dry ones. Even communicating with would-be mates is harder after it rains.

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Fake plants are moving into the 21st century! Researchers developed literal 'power plants' -- tiny, leaf-shaped generators that create electricity from a blowing breeze or falling raindrops. The team tested the energy harvesters by incorporating them into artificial plants.

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A 10-month mission demonstrated three elements of the plan to beam solar power from space to Earth.

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For individuals who experience chronic pain, weather can be a significant factor in their day-to-day plans. In a recent study, about 70 percent of respondents said they would alter their behavior based on weather-based pain forecasts.

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Research has determined key factors that impact biodiversity among spiders and insects in urban areas. The response of specific groups varied significantly, surprising the researchers. The study findings can help urban planners, landscapers, builders and homeowners make choices that increase biodiversity. Dozens of species previously unknown to science came to light through the study.

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Some invasive plants can form persistent banks of seeds that remain under the soil for years, and this makes their eradication practically impossible. Over time, this invisible population of large quantities of living, buried plants -- in seed form -- will reoccupy ecosystems and displace the typical flora of the natural environment.

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Beaches and dunes globally squeezed by roads and buildings. Beaches and dunes are becoming increasingly trapped between rising sea levels and infrastructure. Researchers found that today, when dropped on a random beach anywhere in the world, you only need to walk 390 meters (on average) to find the nearest road or building. And while that short walking distance may seem convenient if you want a day at the beach, it's bad news for our protection against rising sea levels, drinking water supplies and biodiversity.

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Research using thermal imaging of numbats in Western Australia has found that during hot weather the endangered animals are limited to as little as ten minutes of activity in the sun before they overheat to a body temperature of greater than 40 C.

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Astronomers have made the rare discovery of a small, cold exoplanet and its massive outer companion -- shedding light on the formation of planets like Earth.

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A new study shows how state-of-the-art methods and perspectives from archaeology, history, and palaeoecology are shedding new light on 5,500 years of urban life.

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Record heat across the world profoundly impacted the global water cycle in 2023, contributing to severe storms, floods, megadroughts and bushfires, new research shows.

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An international group of researchers finds that conserving about half of global land area could maintain nearly all of nature's contributions to people and still meet biodiversity targets for tens of thousands of species. But the same priority areas are at risk of conflict with human development with only 18% of that land area protected.

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Peatlands are affected more by drought than expected. This is concerning, as these ecosystems are an important ally in the fight against climate change. Following long periods of drought, peat is able to absorb little to no extra carbon (CO2). Increasing biodiversity also does little to make peat more drought-resilient.

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Researchers have found almost identical patterns of tree diversity across the world's tropical forests. The study of over one million trees across 1,568 locations found that just 2.2% of tree species make up 50% of the total number of trees in tropical forests across Africa, the Amazon, and Southeast Asia. Each continent consists of the same proportion of a few common species and many rare species.

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The red-swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii is a highly invasive species native to American freshwaters but has also invaded many freshwater ecosystems around the world. Now, researchers conducted a comparative analysis to compare reproductive characteristics of American crayfish with Japanese crayfish. They identified morphological characteristics which can aid in distinguishing the invasive properties of crayfish at the peak of their reproductive form, ultimately assisting in their effective population control.

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With DNA recovered from animal tracks, scientists revealed information about the ancestry and microbial community of bobcats without having to sample the animal directly.

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A new study describes nine new species of carnivorous land snails, all of which are so small they could fit together on a U.S. nickel. They present a rare opportunity to study a group that in many other places is disappearing fast. Worldwide, mollusks account for more than 50% of all recorded extinctions since the year 1500, and many of these were land snails from Pacific islands.

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An international team of scientists has used a novel 500-year dataset to frame a 'restorative' pathway through which humanity can avoid the worst ecological and social outcomes of climate change.