Ecology

The flutter of a single butterfly’s wings may or may not be capable of causing tsunamis, but the loss of millions of butterflies is definitely being felt here in North America.

To learn the secret behind aging gracefully, you may want to check out the bowhead whale, the majestic denizen of the Arctic waters that boasts a lifespan topping 200 years.

Populations of big carnivores such as brown bears, Eurasian lynx, grey wolves and wolverines are stable or increasing in a substantial part of Europe. Cynthia Graber reports

 

Researchers announced the discovery of 98 beetle species previously unknown to science. David Biello reports

 

Additives to road salt designed to make it more environmentally friendly might still have tradeoffs

A leak on a major Russian oil pipeline caused a spill in the Black Sea near the port of Tuapse on Wednesday where officials said stormy weather was hampering efforts to respond

Electricity suppliers have been shedding jobs over the past three years, with a net loss of 5,800 jobs across the United States. While non-hydro renewable power plants have seen significant growth, these job additions were not enough to offset losses at nuclear, fossil fuel, and hydroelectric power plants.

Many species don’t have anything to be thankful for this holiday season. Here’s one that may have already been lost. Species name: The Christmas Island shrew (Crocidura trichura) Where found: This miniscule mammal only exists—if it still exists at all—on Australia’s Christmas Island, a tiny dot in the Indian Ocean that is also home to [...]

The Sundarbans, part of the world's largest mangrove forest and stretching across India and Bangladesh, have been tarnished by a 350,000-liter oil spill. David Biello reports

 

Editor’s Note: “Along the Tiger’s Trail” is a  series about the efforts to monitor tigers and their prey in the Malenad landscape in southwestern India that harbors one of the world's largest population of wild tigers.

The urine of a vast army of tiny fish, jellies and shrimpy things may play an important role in the ocean's nitrogen cycle. Christopher Intagliata reports

Two years ago, after an intense 13-year quest, scientists concluded that the Formosan clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa brachyura) had gone extinct in Taiwan.