Invasive Species News

July 26, 2024

Top Headlines

Climate Is Most Important Factor in Where Mammals Choose to Live, Study Finds

July 26, 2024 — Using data from 6,645 camera traps across the United States, researchers mapped populations of 25 mammal species. They determined that climate, not human activity, was the primary factor in mammals ...

New Zealand's Flightless Birds Are Retreating to Moa Refuges

July 25, 2024 — Researchers have found New Zealand's endangered flightless birds are seeking refuge in the locations where six species of moa last lived before going ...

Tropical Plant Species Are as Threatened by Climate Change as Widely Feared, Study Confirms

July 22, 2024 — Biologists who set out to better understand the effects of climate change on plant species in tropical mountain regions found that even small variations in temperature and moisture can have massive ...

Human-Infecting Parasite Produces Sterile Soldiers Like Ants and Termites

July 23, 2024 — New research finds a tiny freshwater parasite known to cause health problems in humans defends its colonies with a class of soldiers that cannot reproduce. The discovery vaults this species of parasitic flatworm into the ranks of complex animal ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:40pm EDT

Heat-Sensitive Trees Move Uphill Seeking Climate Change Respite

July 23, 2024 — Trees in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest are migrating in search of more favourable temperatures with species in mountain forests moving uphill to escape rising heat caused by climate ...

Genome Study Informs Restoration of American Chestnut Tree

July 22, 2024 — Researchers use genomes to help restore the American chestnut population and adjust species breeding to the changing ...

Discovery of a Hybrid Lineage Offers Clues to How Trees Adapt to Climate Change

July 17, 2024 — The discovery of a hybrid population of poplar trees in western Wyoming has provided insight into how natural hybridization informs the evolution of ...

Forests Endure as Carbon Sink Despite Regional Pressures

July 17, 2024 — Despite facing regional threats like deforestation and wildfires, the world's forests continue to be a powerful weapon in the fight against climate change. A new study reveals these vital ecosystems ...

Logged Forests Can Still Have Ecological Value -- If Not Pushed Too Far

July 17, 2024 — Researchers have analysed data from 127 studies to reveal 'thresholds' for when logged rainforests lose the ability to sustain themselves. The results could widen the scope of which forests are ...

Study Examines Urban Forests Across the United States

July 12, 2024 — Tree-planting campaigns have been underway in the United States, especially in cities, as part of climate mitigation efforts given the many environmental benefits of urban forests. But a new study ...

Scientists Use Machine Learning to Predict Diversity of Tree Species in Forests

July 16, 2024 — Researchers used machine learning to generate highly detailed maps of over 100 million individual trees from 24 sites across the U.S. These maps ...

Loss of Oxygen in Lakes and Oceans a Major Threat to Ecosystems, Society, and Planet

July 15, 2024 — Oxygen is a fundamental requirement of life, and the loss of oxygen in water, referred to as aquatic deoxygenation, is a threat to life at all ...

Wild Plants and Crops Don't Make Great Neighbors, Research Finds

July 11, 2024 — Native plants and non-native crops do not fare well in proximity to one another, attracting pests that spread diseases in both directions, according to two new ...

Study Examines Tree Adaptability to Climate Change

July 9, 2024 — Many trees could expand their ranges by more than 25 percent based on their potential temperature ...

First Local Extinction in the US Due to Sea Level Rise, Study Suggests

July 9, 2024 — The United States has lost its only stand of the massive Key Largo tree cactus in what researchers believe is the first local extinction of a species caused by sea level rise in the ...

Climate Change Drives Tree Species Towards Colder, Wetter Regions

July 3, 2024 — Climate change is likely to drive tree species towards colder and wetter ...

Near Chromosome-Level Genome of the Mojave Poppy Bee

July 2, 2024 — Scientists have developed a near chromosome-level genome for the Mojave poppy bee, a specialist pollinator of conservation ...

Sixty-Million-Year-Old Grape Seeds Reveal How the Death of the Dinosaurs May Have Paved the Way for Grapes to Spread

July 1, 2024 — Scientists discovered the oldest fossil grapes in the Western Hemisphere, which help show how after the death of the dinosaurs, grapes spread across the ...

Projected Loss of Brown Macroalgae and Seagrasses With Global Environmental Change

June 27, 2024 — Researchers predict that climate change will drive a substantial redistribution of brown seaweeds and seagrasses at the global scale. The projected changes are alarming due to the fundamental role ...

Invasive Ants Spread by Hitchhiking on Everyday Vehicles

June 27, 2024 — Ants might spread to new locations by stowing away on everyday vehicles. Previously, this was thought to occur mostly on agricultural ...

Frog 'Saunas' a Lifeline for Endangered Frog Populations

June 26, 2024 — New biologist-designed shelters will help endangered frogs survive the devastating impacts of a deadly fungal disease by regulating their body temperature to fight off ...

Fuel Treatments Reduce Future Wildfire Severity

June 24, 2024 — There is a common belief that prescribed burning, thinning trees, and clearing underbrush reduce risks of the severity of future fires. But is that true? A new project analyzing 40 studies where ...

Wild Chimpanzees Seek out Medicinal Plants to Treat Illness and Injuries

June 20, 2024 — Chimpanzees appear to consume plants with medicinal properties to treat their ailments, according to a new ...

Non-Native Plants and Animals Expanding Ranges 100 Times Faster Than Native Species

June 19, 2024 — An international team of scientists has recently found that non-native species are expanding their ranges many orders of magnitude faster than native ones, in large part due to inadvertent human ...

Restored Rat-Free Islands Could Support Hundreds of Thousands More Breeding Seabirds

June 18, 2024 — Archipelago case-study shows that removing invasive rats and restoring native vegetation could help bring back hundreds of thousands of breeding pairs of seabirds lost to tropical islands. ...

Nile Perch Invasion Triggered Genetic Bottlenecks in Lake Victoria's Endemic Cichlids

June 17, 2024 — Newfound evidence reveals that the upsurge of the exotic Nile perch in Lake Victoria had long-lasting effects on the genetic diversity of various local cichlid species, report scientists. Through ...

Lazy Predator: A New Species of Mountain Pitviper from China

June 13, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new species of medium-sized venomous snake in Yunnan, China. Ovophis jenkinsi is dark brownish-grey in color with trapezoidal patches on its back. It is endemic to ...

Novel Genetic Clock Discovers Oldest Known Marine Plant

June 10, 2024 — An international research team has discovered the oldest known marine plant using a novel genetic clock. This 1400-year-old seagrass clone from the Baltic Sea dates back to the Migration Period. The ...

Combining Pest Treatments May Be Key to Helping Honey Bees Survive the Winter

June 4, 2024 — Winters can be tough on managed honey bee colonies, with beekeepers in the United States reporting that one-third of their colonies die each winter. A new study has found that using not one but ...

Frequent Mowing Puts Poisonous Weed Into Survival Mode

June 3, 2024 — A study has found that frequent mowing of Solanum elaeagnifolium, also known as silverleaf nightshade, may help create a 'superweed.' A professor of entomology and plant pathology has been ...

Urgent Need for Action Now for Increasing Threat from Invasive Alien Species

June 3, 2024 — Urgent action now is needed to tackle the major and growing global issue of invasive alien species, says a team of 88 experts from 47 countries. The paper follows the (IPBES) thematic assessment ...

Captivating Blue-Colored Ant Discovered in India's Remote Siang Valley

June 3, 2024 — A new species of blue ant was discovered in Yingku village in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeastern India. It was named Paraparatrechina neela, after the word 'neela' which means blue in various ...

Mussels Downstream of Wastewater Treatment Plant Contain Radium, Study Reports

May 31, 2024 — Burrowed into streambeds and rarely moving for their decades-long lifespans, freshwater mussels are biomonitors, meaning they indicate how clean their environment is, according to researchers. As the ...

The Missing Puzzle Piece: A Striking New Snake Species from the Arabian Peninsula

May 30, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new distinctive and secretive snake species in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. The new species is widely distributed and fills much of the existing distribution gap ...