Ecology

Streams near large pig farms have high levels of harmful bacteria from animal feces

A reexamination of museum mastodon specimens provides evidence that that last ones were gone from what's called the Beringia region well before any humans showed up. Emily Schwing reports     

 

Life thrives even deep inside Earth and scientists are beginning to suspect extensive connections among those underground environments. David Biello reports

The number of imperiled wolves found only in the American Southwest climbed to 109 in 2014, marking the fourth consecutive year that the population of Mexican gray wolves has risen by at least 10 percent

The Arctic is changing fast

The world's oceans are clogged with the equivalent of five grocery bags full of plastic trash on every 30 centimeters of every nation's coastline around the globe

For thousands of years a thin bridge of sand and rock connected mainland India with the island of Sri Lanka. The 30-kilometer stretch known as Rama's (or Adam's) Bridge disappeared centuries ago—probably after a cyclone in the year A.D.

One of the most recently discovered lemur species of Madagascar could also be one of the first to disappear. The striking blue-eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons), which was only identified as a species in 2008, faces extinction in as little as 11 years due to rapid deforestation in its only habitat, according to research published [...]

Work has already begun on a canal three times the length of Panama’s, which will cut through forests, wetlands, native reserves and a lake

Ice Age evidence suggests rising temperatures could boost areas of ocean water with little oxygen for life

When did the Anthropocene begin?

Michigan's bald eagles may be getting flame retardants from old couches and other discards