Ecosystems
The Amazon is in trouble. Here’s why — and why it matters
Challenges from human-caused climate change, deforestation and degradation leave the fate of this vast forest uncertain.
By Nikk Ogasa
Ecosystems
Articles on ecosystems
More Stories in Ecosystems
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FossilsOcean life may have bounced back after the ‘Great Dying’
Marine ecosystems may have been back in action just a million years after the most severe extinction event known.
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EcosystemsLet’s learn about how wildfires keep ecosystems healthy
Wildfires are so important for many ecosystems that sometimes professionals set them on purpose.
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AnimalsStudy finds big drop in animal populations since 1970
But the same thing is not happening throughout the kingdom. For instance, more than half of vertebrate populations are stable or increasing.
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AnimalsIf mosquitoes vanished, would we miss them? Vampire spiders might
Vampire spiders get their meals from blood-filled Anopheles mosquitoes. But if those insects disappear, the spiders will likely adapt.
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AnimalsSome spikes in malaria cases may be tied to amphibian die-offs
Amphibian deaths from a fungal disease may have led to more mosquitoes — and an increase in malaria cases in Costa Rica and Panama.
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AnimalsLet’s learn about parasites that create zombies
Some parasites turn their victims into mindless puppets that do the parasites’ bidding, even at the cost of their own lives.
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AnimalsSeveral mammals use a South American tree as their pharmacy
Researchers in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest stumbled onto something very strange. They watched as animals “doctored” themselves with products from a tree.
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AnimalsSome ecologists value parasites — and now want a plan to save them
Parasites get a bad rap as disease-causing, unwelcome guests on other organisms. But parasites are also imperiled, and scientists don’t want to lose them.
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AnimalsWhen bees are away, moths come out to pollinate
Camera footage reveals that moths make roughly a third of the visits to red clover, working under the cover of night.