Ecology
Elevation differences help plants cope with salinity
Bare hollows in a Dutch coastal grassland capture salt, allowing plants on vegetated mounds to grow better and remain green for longer.
Bird communities in a Polish primeval forest recover within 35 years of storm damage
Storm-created gaps in Białowieża initially harboured a different bird community from closed forest. Three and a half decades later, those differences have all but disappeared.
In an undisturbed primeval forest,...
Who eats whom? Citizen science maps the web of life
A new global database is using photographs submitted by citizen scientists to map who eats whom in nature. The project, called Who Eats Whom, brings together feeding relationships from iNaturalist.
How bad are wildfires, really?
Wildfires dominated the news over the summer. How bad is it, really, when forests, heathland and raised bogs go up in flames?
Mountain summits are gaining plants – but losing their specialists
The flora on European mountain summits is becoming both richer and poorer at the same time: new species are advancing upslope, whilst characteristic high-mountain plants are disappearing locally with increasing frequency.
Rodent plague? Plant a hedge
Hedgerows and rows of trees can help prevent rodent plagues in agricultural areas.
Recovering grasslands remain altered for centuries
Recovering grasslands remain strikingly different from ancient grasslands for a remarkably long time – right down to the characteristics of their plants.
Hannibal’s most efficient Alpine route ran via the Col de la Traversette
The most energy-efficient route for Hannibal to cross the Alps with his army was via the Col de la Traversette. That is the conclusion...
More nature, fewer species than before
Dutch grasslands and woodlands yield fewer plant species for comparable sampling efforts than they did in the past. This also puts pressure on the idea that designating additional nature reserves will automatically safeguard sufficient biodiversity.
Freshwater nature’s recovery is falling behind
After years of recovery, freshwater nature is once again in decline, writes the World Wide Fund for Nature in its latest Living Planet Report. Water managers recognise the picture. What can they do, and what obstacles do they face?