Yellowstone wolf

Wyoming’s War on Wolves

Gray wolves in Wyoming recently lost their protected status. What will become of a species burdened by myths about its "fierce and furious" nature?
Epiphytes in Costa Rica

How Ants Make Gardens in the Sky

You probably haven’t heard of ant gardens, but JSTOR has. High above neotropical rain forests, ants create elaborate nests, sharing them with epiphytes.
Several overlapping Purple Starfish

The “Keystone Species” Concept That Transformed Ecology

Dr. Robert Paine's "keystone species" concept was a profound discovery that changed the field of ecology forever.
Elk in Yellowstone National Park

National Parks Are Like Islands for Wildlife

There’s no doubt that national parks are good at getting people in touch with the natural world. But how good are they at conserving wildlife?
A young Carcinus maenas showing the common green colour

Invasive Species: Pro And Con

Are invasive species always bad? Maybe they aren’t, according to an increasingly common point of view among ecologists.
Uraba lugens Walker, 1863, larva on juvenile Eucalyptus melliodora foliage, Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT, 8 February 2010 Note head capsules from previous instars stacked on head.

The Gothic World of Insect Defense

From an Australian caterpillar that carries around its old heads to exploding ants, insect defense isn't all that different from Game of Thrones.
Ecoacoustics

Ecoacoustics: The Deafening Silence of Endangered Wildlife

The emerging field of ecoacoustics is the studies how species use sound to coexist and interact across vast areas of land.
Rings of a tree

What Tree Rings Tell Us About the Climate

Tree rings provide scientists with helpful clues regarding the planet's climate patterns, past and present.
Broken windows in Prypiat, Chernobyl

Chernobyl: Can Wildlife Return After the Blast?

For 30 years we have assumed that no life would return to Chernobyl after the nuclear disaster there. We may be wrong.
A dead fish in sand

We’re Down to Half the Fish in the Sea

Since the 1970s, half of the world's fish population has disappeared. We trace the history of this ecological disaster.