Winter-kill events are more common in lakes much smaller than Mendota, says Vander Zanden, where the volume of water makes those events unlikely.

“The fish are there in the fall and they are there again in the spring,” Vander Zanden says. “The whole food web is alive and kicking in the winter.”

A return to firewood is bad for forests and the climate. So reports William Schlesinger, President Emeritus of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in an Insights article published today in the journal Science.

People worldwide usually associate Cherry blossoms with spring in Japan, but China's blooms are so magical, they might just become their national symbol as well

Hummingbirds’ specialization and vulnerability are often predicted based on their physical traits. Scientists now found that this is not the case for hummingbirds on the Caribbean islands. Instead, the bird’s environment is the determining factor. The new study was led by scientists from Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, and published today in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

We have only known about the existence of the unusual yeti crabs (Kiwaidae)—a family of crab-like animals whose hairy claws and bodies are reminiscent of the abominable snowman—since 2005, but already their future survival could be at risk.

New Oxford University research suggests that past environmental changes may have profoundly impacted the geographic range and species diversity of this family. The findings indicate that such animals may be more vulnerable to the effects of human resource exploitation and climate change than initially thought.

Published in PLoS ONE, the researchers report a comprehensive genetic analysis of the yeti crabs, featuring all known species for the first time and revealing insights about their evolution. All but one of the yeti crab species are found on one of the most extreme habitats on earth, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, which release boiling-hot water into the freezing waters above above them.

The research was conducted by ecologists from Oxford's Department of Zoology, Ewha Woman's University in Seoul, South Korea and additional Chinese collaborators.

The results reveal that today's yeti crabs are likely descended from a common ancestor that inhabited deep sea hydrothermal vents on mid-ocean ridges in the SE Pacific, some time around 30-40 million years ago.

By comparing the location of current yeti crab species with their history of diversification, the authors suggest that the crustaceans likely existed in large regions of mid-ocean ridge in the Eastern Pacific, but have since gone extinct in those areas.

A study published Wednesday in Nature Communications signals bad news for the Greenland ice sheet. A research team led by the University of Cambridge found that the lakes of meltwater that form on the ice sheet in the summer drain in a chain reaction that increases the flow of the ice sheet, destabilizing it and increasing sea leve

Some of the best images from the 2017 International Landscape Photographer of the Year contest.

Nishinoshima grows and grows, and all we can do is watch.

University of Adelaide researchers have discovered how grapes "breathe," and report that shortage of oxygen leads to cell death in the grape.

The discovery raises many questions about the potentially significant impacts on grape and wine quality and flavour and vine management, and may lead to new ways of selecting varieties for warming climates.

"In 2008 we discovered the phenomenon of cell death in grapes, which can be implicated where there are problems with ripening. We've since been trying to establish what causes cell death," says Professor Steve Tyerman, Chair of Viticulture at the University of Adelaide's Waite campus.

"Although there were hints that oxygen was involved, until now we've not known of the role of oxygen and how it enters the berry."

For every 10 degrees north from the equator you move, spring arrives about four days earlier than it did a decade ago, according to a study led by UC Davis. This is three times greater than what previous studies indicated. The authors connect such differences to more rapid warming at higher latitudes.

A little-studied, underground layer of rock may provide a vital reservoir for trees, especially in times of drought, report scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and affiliated with The University of Texas (UT) at Austin and the University of California, Berkeley.
Find related stories on NSF's Critical Zone Observatorieswebpage.

Years of practice have made Paul Marcellini one of the state's best landscape photographers.

After scientists revealed Mount Etna is slowly sliding into the Mediterranean Sea, research by Professor Iain Stewart from the University of Plymouth suggests the sea may have played a major role in the development of its iconic shape

NASA has released a batch of new images in its Hubble Messier Catalogue, giving us fresh looks at galaxies, nebulae, and more. Almost 250 years ago,

Shark Bay seagrass carbon storage hotspot suffer alarming losses after a devastating marine heat wave, according to a study involving KAUST researchers.

You've probably heard that the safety of neonicotinoid pesticides to bees is a matter of considerable controversy. However, neonicotinoids show varying toxicity to bees. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on March 22 have new evidence in honeybees and bumble bees that helps to explain why bees differ in their sensitivity to different neonicotinoids.

Diving down below the range of scuba in the Curasub, Smithsonian deep reef explorers discovered a new world where roughly half of the fish had no names. They are calling it the rariphotic.

Climate had a major role in the rise and fall of Roman civilization

Thismia neptunis is back, and its alien looks were worth the wait.

Humans make huge use of marine vertebrates, but manta rays may pass the self-awareness test and other fish potentially could too. Ethically, where does that leave us?

Want to adopt an Arctic pine tree from Finnish Lapland?

Humans shape nature, not only since the onset of industrialization. Such influences are well documented in the Amazonian rainforest. The influence of humans was debated in Central Africa where major interventions seem to have occurred 2,600 years ago. Yannick Garcin and his team examined lake sediments in Cameroon to solve the riddle of the