Mighty American chestnut poised for return to America’s forests
Scores of American chestnut seedlings growing in upstate New York are the vanguard in the restoration of what was once the most dominant tree...
Revealing Aspergillus diversity for industrial applications
In the world of fungi, Aspergillus is an industrial superstar. Aspergillus niger, for example, has been used for decades to produce citric acid --...
Study sheds new light on how species extinction affects complex ecosystems
Research has found that methods used to predict the effect of species extinction on ecosystems could be producing inaccurate results. This is because current...
Take precautions against pesky plants, insects
While poison ivy is probably the most well-known hazardous plant, there are a multitude of other plants, as well as many insects, that can...
Ancient peoples shaped the Amazon rainforest
We often think of the Amazon rainforest as a vast expanse of nature untouched by humans. But a new study suggests that's not true...
Mid-Mesozoic beetle in amber stirs questions on rise of flowering plants and pollinators
Named for Charles Darwin, the only known specimen of a newly discovered beetle, Darwinylus marcosi, died in a sticky gob of tree sap some...
Want more crop variety? Researchers propose using CRISPR to accelerate plant domestication
Out of the more than 300,000 plant species in existence, only three species -- rice, wheat, and maize -- account for most of the...
Insects love windthrows
Storm-ravaged woodland is approximately twice as rich in insect species as undamaged forest, new research concludes. This is because many endangered forest insects benefit...
Magic cover crop carpet?
Organic farmers have to make hard choices between protecting soil from erosion and controlling weeds. For example, large-scale organic farming relies heavily on tillage....
With most of the same genes, how do lizard siblings end up so different?
An evolutionary biologist suggests that hormones, such as testosterone, play a key role in shaping gene expression in ways that are unique to each...