Ecosystems | Science News for Students

Ecosystems

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A bloom of harmful algae can be seen just offshore in this summer 2018 image of a Florida shoreline.

  Robin Hamman/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Oceans
 
Sep 19, 2018
New tools aim to better predict blooms of toxic algae
Rim fire

The 2013 Rim Fire, the largest Sierra Nevada fire to date, burned 1,040 square kilometers (400 square miles). Smaller, more frequent fires might have limited this damage and preserved water for surviving trees.

G. Dickman/NSF

Ecosystems
 
Jun 22, 2018
Surprise! Fire can help some forests keep more of their water
ocean octopuses

Sixteen out of these 17 deep-sea octopuses are brooding young. However, young and old, all are fated to die.

Phill Torres, Geoff Wheat

Animals
 
Jun 18, 2018
Deep-sea expedition led researchers to doomed octopus nursery
young orang

This young orangutan has lived its whole life in the jungle. Others raised in captivity no longer know what it means to be wild. Before they can join this one, they must go to boot camp for basic survival skills.  

Lillian Tveit/iStockphoto

Sustainability
 
May 31, 2018
‘Boot camp’ teaches rare animals how to go wild
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A single swimming brine shrimp moves the water near its body. The green lines trace the movement over time of particles in the water as the shrimp swims. Large numbers of the animals moving together could create currents strong enough to stir oceans.

Isabel Houghton

Oceans
 
May 30, 2018
Small swimmers may play huge role in churning the seas
Cuban corals
A colorful coral reef in Cuba provides housing for numerous creatures, as well as refuge for young fish, such as the silvery ones schooling in the background.
Courtesy of Noel López Fernández
Ecosystems
 
Mar 15, 2018
Exploring the mysteries of Cuba’s coral reefs
crab march
Invasion! A highway along the Bay of Pigs is covered with skittering land crabs on their way to lay eggs in the sea.
Allan Hopkins
Ecosystems
 
Mar 15, 2018
Migrating crabs take their eggs to the sea
kiwi bird

This kiwi is among the native species in New Zealand preyed upon by invasive rodents. Scientists think a new twist on “gene drive” technology could control the pests and save the birds.

chameleonseye/iStockphoto.

Genetics
 
Mar 6, 2018
Can DNA editing save endangered species?
cacao flowers
The seeds that give the world chocolate come from coy, fussy flowers that make pollination very difficult.
Tatters/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Plants
 
Feb 8, 2018
Blooms on ‘chocolate’ tree are crazy-hard to pollinate
caribou on the tundra
The far North isn’t a dead, ice-covered wasteland. It’s a beautiful, complex ecosystem teeming with life, from tiny plants to animals like caribou.
jamcgraw/istockphoto
Ecosystems
 
Jan 4, 2018
Here’s why scientists have been fertilizing the Arctic