A Spring Peeper rests casually on a garden flower.

Are Peepers Starting to Peep Earlier?

The call of the common frog species Pseudacris crucifer is a reliable marker of spring. Will climate change affect that?
Cork oak (Quercus suber) pasture near Arcos de la Frontera, Cádiz, Spain.

Plant of the Month: Cork

Why is cork so strongly associated with bottle stoppers? The answer goes back centuries.
Copepod

The Little Plankton That Could

Arguably the world's most abundant animal, calanoid copepods can leap like whoa Nelly. And check out their enigmatic embryos!
Bobolink

Restoring Native Grasslands to Help Birds

Grassland birds, such as the prairie chicken, plover, and bobolink, need a complex environment of varying structure, area, and grass types.
Olive groves, vineyards and farms on rolling hills of Abruzzo. Italy

Soil Health Can Positively Affect Farm Revenue

In a case study from Italy, researchers found that biodiverse soil had good economic results for farms.
The Western Fence Lizard

There’s Something About Lizard Blood

The blood of western fence lizards has the ability to neutralize Lyme disease in ticks—so why aren’t scientists bottling it to sell at the grocery store?
Performance of Color-Based Versus Semantic Segmentation

Botanists Use Machine Learning to Accelerate Research

A new artificial intelligence program called ARADEEPOPSIS will help botanists rapidly classify plant phenotypes.
Ship sunset cruise on the Antarctic peninsula

Antarctica Is Warming. Are Invasive Species on the Way?

Algae, crustaceans, and other types of organisms can hitchhike into new ecosystems under the hulls of ships.
A road sign at a wildlife refuge that warns the drivers of turtles crossing the road.

Road Density Threatens Turtle Populations

Roadkill may be inevitable, but turtles are especially vulnerable—particularly females, putting species survival at risk.
tree bark

Tree Bark and Fire

A tree's hard outer bark helps it survive. Studying why it's thicker on some trees than others could help scientists understand how to protect them.