Invasive Species News

June 13, 2025

Top Headlines

How Madagascar’s Lizards Became the Island’s Last Hope for Reforestation

June 10, 2025 — After millions of years of evolutionary isolation, Madagascar developed an unparalleled array of wildlife, and recent research has uncovered an unsung ecological hero: the lizard. Though often ...

Extreme Weather Is Wiping out amphibians—Here’s Where It’s Worst

June 6, 2025 — Frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians are not just battling habitat loss and pollution they're now also contending with increasingly brutal heat waves and droughts. A sweeping 40-year study shows a direct link between the rise in extreme weather ...

Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk

May 28, 2025 — A study finds small-scale tree cover in Costa Rica boosts biodiversity while limiting dangerous mosquito ...

When the Forest Is No Longer a Home -- Forest Bats Seek Refuge in Settlements

May 28, 2025 — Many bat species native to Germany, such as the Leisler's bat, are forest specialists. However, as it is becoming increasingly hard for them to find tree hollows in forest plantations, so they are ...

Nordic Studies Show the Significance of Old-Growth Forests for Biodiversity

May 27, 2025 — Researchers conducted a systematic review of 99 scientific publications that compared the flora or fauna of old-growth forests, managed forests and clearcut sites in boreal Europe. The reviewed studies showed large differences in the species ...

Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests

May 22, 2025 — Planting flower strips in a field with at least two species can increase the number of natural enemies of pests by 70 percent. The more flower species, the better the effect, according to a new ...

Climate Change Poses Severe Threat to Bowhead Whale Habitat

May 22, 2025 — New research examining 11,700 years of bowhead whale persistence throughout the Arctic projects that sea ice loss due to climate change will cause their habitat to severely contract by up to 75 per ...

Forest Management Can Influence Health Benefits

May 20, 2025 — Forests play a crucial role in promoting health and wellbeing, but not all forests provide the same benefits. A large-scale study demonstrates how specific forest characteristics -- such as canopy density and tree species diversity -- can affect ...

Native Turtles Return to Yosemite After Removal of Invasive Bullfrogs

May 20, 2025 — After invasive American bullfrogs 'croak,' native turtles return to Yosemite, finds a new ...

Thousands of Animal Species Threatened by Climate Change

May 20, 2025 — A novel analysis suggests more than 3,500 animal species are threatened by climate change and also sheds light on huge gaps in fully understanding the risk to the animal ...

Scientists Describe 71 New Australian Bee Species

May 19, 2025 — A team of researchers has discovered 71 new native bee species belonging to the resin pot bees, or Megachile (Austrochile), which are unique to Australia and present in every state and territory except ...

Fitness Fight: Native Bees Struggle Against Invasive Honey Bee

May 19, 2025 — New research has revealed that high densities of European honey bees could be harming Australian native bees' 'fitness' by reducing their reproductive success and altering key traits linked to ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:06pm EDT

Dual Associations With Two Fungi Improve Tree Fitness

May 15, 2025 — When trees and soil fungi form close associations with each other, both partners benefit. Many tree species have further enhanced this cooperation by forming a concurrent symbiosis with two different ...

Europe's Forest Plants Thrive Best in Light-Rich, Semi-Open Woodlands -- Kept Open by Large Herbivores

May 14, 2025 — Before Homo sapiens arrived, Europe's forests were not dense and dark but shaped by open and light-rich woodland landscapes. Researchers have ...

Should We Protect Non-Native Species? A New Study Says Maybe

May 14, 2025 — A new study found that over a quarter of the world's naturalized plant species are threatened in parts of their native range -- raising questions about the role non-native populations may play in ...

Growth Before Photosynthesis: How Trees Regulate Their Water Balance

May 13, 2025 — In order for trees to grow, they need to control their water balance meticulously. A study shows how trees react to drought -- and revises previous ...

Invasive Salmon, Clams and Seaweed Are Next Threats to Biodiversity in Britain

May 12, 2025 — Pink salmon, Purple Asian clams, marine invertebrates that form spaghetti-like colonies and a nematode worm that causes extensive deaths of trees are ...

The Kids Are Hungry: Juvenile European Green Crabs Just as Damaging as Adults

May 12, 2025 — Scientists have found that juvenile European green crabs can do as much damage as adults to shellfish and native sea plants, calling into question ...

First Fossil Evidence of Endangered Tropical Tree Discovered

May 9, 2025 — Scientists have discovered fossil evidence of an endangered, living tropical tree species. The unprecedented find was made in Brunei, a country on the large island of Borneo, and reveals a critical ...

Red Alert for Our Closest Relatives

May 8, 2025 — New report shows drastic decline in endangered primates and calls for conservation ...

New Pests and Diseases Will Cut UK Tree Growth

Apr. 28, 2025 — The arrival of new plant pests and diseases is likely to severely damage UK trees and woodlands in the coming decades, new research ...

Invasive Rats and Rainforest Mammals Are Sharing Gut Microbes as Urban Areas Grow

May 1, 2025 — As urban development continues to creep further into Earth's oldest and most diverse rainforests, a study reveals native and invasive small mammals ...

When Sea Stars Fall, Sea Otters Rise: Sea Otters Benefit from Prey Boom Triggered by Loss of Ochre Sea Stars

Apr. 30, 2025 — In 2013, a sea star wasting syndrome decimated populations of Pisaster along the west coast of North America and along the Monterey Peninsula in California, where this study was conducted. The orange ...

Elephant Instead of Wild Boar? What Could Have Been in Europe

Apr. 28, 2025 — Even under today's climatic conditions, the long-extinct straight-tusked elephant could still live in Europe. This is the conclusion of a recent study. For this finding, the research group ...

Want to Understand Grasslands? Look at the Bigger Picture

Apr. 28, 2025 — New research asks how local and regional factors determine the makeup of plant species in grasslands. Researchers from a restoration ecology lab are attempting to solve a longstanding question in ...

Invasive Weed Threatens Southern California's Deserts

Apr. 24, 2025 — Once thought resistant to invasion, California's deserts are losing native plants to aggressive weedy species like Saharan mustard. New research shows its spread is disrupting biodiversity and ...

More Ticks Carry Lyme Disease Bacteria in Pheasant-Release Areas

Apr. 21, 2025 — Ticks are more likely to carry the bacteria that can cause Lyme disease in areas where pheasants are released, new research ...

Introduced Trees Are Becoming More Common in the Eastern United States, While Native Diversity Declines

Apr. 21, 2025 — In a new study, researchers used more than 5 million measurements from individual trees across much of eastern North America and showed the rate at which introduced species are spreading has ...

Experiment in Floodplain Forest: Using Tree Mortality to Support Oak Regeneration

Apr. 16, 2025 — The pedunculate oaks typical of Leipzig's floodplain forest and other German oak forests are struggling to regenerate in the understorey due to a lack of light. One reason for this is the ...

Declining Insect Biodiversity in the Tropics

Apr. 8, 2025 — Ecologists are investigating the decline of insect populations in the world's tropical forests. Insects, the most abundant and diverse group of animals on Earth, are experiencing alarming ...

Termite Stowaways: Study Reveals Boats as Perfect Vessels for Global Termite Spread

Apr. 7, 2025 — A study reveals that termites are not simply spreading through natural processes, suggesting humans may be helping them 'conquer the world' by unknowingly transporting them aboard private ...

How This Tiny Snake Could Change Our View of Genetics

Apr. 2, 2025 — By analyzing the flowerpot snake's unique genome, scientists are uncovering how the tiny reptile repairs its DNA and prevents harmful mutations. The findings provides valuable insights into ...

A Borrowed Bacterial Gene Allowed Some Marine Diatoms to Live on a Seaweed Diet

Apr. 1, 2025 — A group of diatom species belonging to the Nitzschia genus, gave up on photosynthesis and now get their carbon straight from their environment, thanks to a bacterial gene picked up by an ancestor, ...

The Food and Fuel That Farms Itself

Apr. 1, 2025 — Scientists have released new and more accurate genome sequences for five species of duckweed. Their research reveals the specific genes responsible for some of the plant's most useful traits, ...

If Native Plants Are Going to Survive Climate Change, They Need Our Help to Move -- Here's How to Do It Safely

Mar. 26, 2025 — Many native plants in the U.S. cannot possibly move themselves fast enough to avoid climate-change driven extinction. If these native plants are going to have any chance of surviving into the future, ...

Getting Hit by Lightning Is Good for Some Tropical Trees

Mar. 26, 2025 — Getting zapped with millions of volts of electricity may not sound like a healthy activity, but for some trees, it is. A new study reports that some tropical tree species are not only able to ...

The Devastating Human Impact on Biodiversity

Mar. 26, 2025 — Humans are having a highly detrimental impact on biodiversity worldwide. Not only is the number of species declining, but the composition of species communities is also changing. This is one of the ...

Ecologists Document Utah's Bee Species and Say Beehive State Is Rich in Bee Diversity

Mar. 25, 2025 — Understanding bee distributions is essential to protecting these vital pollinators. Since conservation efforts and policies are often made at the state level, maintaining state-specific bee species ...

How Extreme Weather Threatens Nature's Essential Services

Mar. 24, 2025 — A new model suggests that timber production in Minnesota could decrease by half as windstorms intensify with climate ...

Introduced Pacific Oysters Provide Biodiversity Benefits in Port River

Mar. 24, 2025 — The introduction of exotic species can pose significant challenges in the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems, yet researchers have found that Pacific oysters introduced to the Port River in ...

New 'Shy' Fungus Found in Old-Growth Forest

Mar. 18, 2025 — Although fungi of the genus Piloderma are common, scientists have now discovered five previously unknown species. One of these is one of the most widely distributed species in Northern Europe, while ...

Natural Insect Predators May Serve as Allies in Spotted Lanternfly Battle

Mar. 18, 2025 — Insect predators found in the United States could help keep spotted lanternfly populations in check while potentially reducing reliance on chemical control methods, according to a new ...