Earth
Stores and malls buy into ponds and rain gardens for flood control
An extra bonus: These rainy-day ponds clean up that dirty water running off parking lots.
MS-LS2-5
Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
More Stories in MS-LS2-5
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EarthOnly 3 percent of Earth’s land is unchanged by people
A sweeping survey of land-based ecosystems finds that very few still support all the animals they used to. Reintroducing lost species could help.
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EcosystemsUrchin takeover underlies California’s vanishing kelp forests
Some 95 percent of kelp forests along its northern coast are gone. Meanwhile, sea otters are helping slow the loss of surviving kelp farther south.
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AnimalsChanging people’s behavior can make bear life better
Black bears don’t always live life on the wild side. More and more, they live near people. Here’s how people and bears can get along.
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PlantsUrban gardens create a buffet for bees
City gardens provide a huge amount of nectar and pollen for pollinators, making them an essential conservation tool.
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AgricultureHealthy soils are life-giving black gold
Scientists explain why everyone needs to value the soils beneath our feet — and why we should not view them as dirt.
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EnvironmentWhat you can do to improve soils
Soils are the life-sustaining structures under our feet. Here are some tips for keeping soils healthy. First rule of thumb: Give more than you take.
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EcosystemsCan people protect as much space as nature needs?
To save biodiversity, nations are drafting a plan to protect 30 percent of Earth by 2030. Up for debate is how best to do that.
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AnimalsAround the world, birds are in crisis
Human activities around the world are threatening bird species. Numbers of even some of the most common species are starting to fall.
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AnimalsAnalyze This: Ropes restore a gibbon highway through a rainforest
When endangered Hainan gibbons started making risky leaps across an area mowed down by a landslide, researchers provided them a rope bridge.