Sunday, June 7, 2026

Welcome to Envirobites

We want to make cutting edge research in the environmental sciences accessible to all by highlighting recent studies and explaining how these advances shape the understanding of our world.

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Case StudiesEcosystemsEnvironmental Science
Mary Grace Lemon

Salty about coastal walls

Artificial barriers are one of humans favorite thing to build. We build them to keep ‘other’ people in or out. We build them to keep animals in or out. And of course we build them to keep the natural environment out or our AC in. Usually walls are just temporary solutions to a much deeper problem which is definitely true in the case of sea level rise. Coastal communities need walls to protect against flooding. But what happens when to the impounded ecosystem when mother nature crashes through the wall anyway?

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EcosystemsEnvironmental Science
Anita Masse

If you let a beaver build, mammals will come

If you build it, they will come. It worked for Kevin Costner in the 1989 film Field of Dreams and it holds true for beavers too! The dams and lodges these resilient rodents build for homes create wetlands that attract a variety of animals including mammals; casual observations have now become scientifically proven to be true.

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Environmental Science
Andrew Barton

Old is Better than Young: The Carbon Sequestration Potential of Letting Forests Mature

“Globally, terrestrial ecosystems currently remove an amount of atmospheric carbon equal to one-third of what humans emit from burning fossil fuels…. Forests are responsible for the largest share of the removal.” (Moomaw et al. 2019). What if we could increase the amount of CO2 forests extract from the air? We can!

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Environmental Science
Laine Farber

Brow Wow Wow Yippe Yo Yippe Yay: Dogs Use Specialized Eye Muscles to Communicate with Humans

A new study explains why humans connect with domesticated dogs more than their wild wolf ancestors. The explanation is simple: a wolf’s brow game is weak.

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Environmental Science
Mary Davis

Shining a Light on Water Disinfection: LEDs aren’t just a Television Upgrade

LED TVs are all the rage, but LEDs can do so much more! Learn how these light emitting diodes (LEDs) can improve energy efficiency in water disinfection, and in your home. Researchers at Arizona State University are designing a system that will enable little LEDs to shine light on a much larger area, improving the ability to disinfect water in a more cost-effective and energy-efficient way, without the use of harsh chemicals.

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ClimateEcosystemsEnvironmental Science
Jeannie Wilkening

Hot tree summer: Measuring the effects of the 2017 heat wave on Europe’s forests

Plants are always just trying to live their best life, but sometimes high temperatures and a lack of water get in the way of that. In this study, scientists studied a heat wave that occurred in southern Europe in summer 2017 to see how different plants fared across the region.

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EcosystemsEnvironmental Science
Kara Cromwell

Friend or foe? Invasive earthworms can benefit agriculture but harm forests

Earthworms 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.

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Environmental Science
Riley Lovejoy

Is our environment affecting our weight?

When most of us think about gaining or losing weight, we see it as a straightforward equation of calories in vs. calories burned. If it’s really that simple, though, why do so many struggle with weight-loss even while following targeted diet and exercise plans? Recently, scientists have begun to identify “obesogens” – chemicals that boost obesity risk – in our environment. Understanding the role of these chemicals in obesity (in addition to diet, activity, genetics, and other known risk factors) may help us understand why some people have an especially difficult time losing weight.

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Case StudiesClimateEnvironmental Science
Kevin Aviles Rodriguez

Hang on to that tree! Lizards that survived hurricane Maria showed increases in grip strength

The 2019 hurricane season started off with a bang. It’s clear that climate change has affected the frequency and severity of hurricanes. To understand whether species will be able to cope with more frequent severe storms we need more research to see how hurricanes can affect populations of plants and animals. Read on to find out how hurricane Maria in 2017 affected lizards in Dominica.

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