Experiencing nature has been linked to many mental health benefits, and now we know it can even lighten the mood on Twitter. Researchers have found that visits to urban greenspaces result in happier, less negative, and less self-absorbed tweets.
Read MoreThere’s more to these leaves than their soft and fuzzy side–the fine hairs trap drifting pollen grains, which the plant can use to bait arthropods to stop by for a snack of pollen and stick around to munch on pests that harm the plant.
Read MoreEarthworms are welcome guests in the garden, but it’s a different story in the forest. By consuming and removing leaf litter too fast they set in motion complex cascades of ecological changes, with long-term negative effects on soil fertility and biodiversity.
Read MoreThe white truffle is a prized (and notoriously expensive) delicacy, and its range may be expanding to higher latitudes. Is climate change opening new territory to this rare and sought-after species? What would be the cultural and economic consequences of a range shift for the world’s most valuable food?
Read MoreScent pollution from exhaust fumes could disrupt the relationship between honey bees and the flowers they feed from and pollinate. The smell of flowers invites pollinators to come and feast on their nectar. But exhaust masks those smells, making it harder for bees to learn and remember the floral scents that cue them in to flowers.
Read MoreAs drought causes lake levels to drop, fish lose rare lakeshore habitat that shelters their eggs and offspring.
Read MoreDiscarded plastics aren’t only disrupting the ocean, they accumulate in freshwaters too. And the impacts may not end there. Aquatic insects eat microplastics and, when they become adults, carry the polluting particles from water onto land and potentially into the stomachs of their predators.
Read MoreInvasive Burmese pythons have many negative effects on native Florida wildlife, and researchers have now discovered the potential for more: pythons share their parasites with native snakes.
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