Many insects are attracted to wildfires and lay their eggs in the tissues of fire-killed trees.
(Aaron Bell)
If the spring fire season in Canada is any indication, fire-loving pyrophilic insects will continue to thrive well into summer.
Walkley Bank Allotments, Sheffield, UK.
Richard Bradley / Alamy Stock Photo
Maintaining a diversity of insects may be key for crop pollination in cities.
Female glow-worms attract males with a chemical reaction in their abdomen.
Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock
Artificial light is making it harder for male glow-worms to find bioluminescent females.
Ruby E Stephens
New research suggests insects have pollinated flowers since the pollen-bearing blooms first evolved more than 140 million years ago.
vasekk/Shutterstock
Some of the most important discoveries made in health and genetic science are thanks to the humble fruit fly.
Farmland birds like the corn bunting have seen their numbers plummet since 1980.
Aurélien Audevard
Insect-eating birds such as swifts and yellow wagtails are particularly vulnerable.
Getty Images
There’s a lot of enthusiasm for wildflower fields and bug hotels. But before introducing these insect-saving measures, we need to better understand when they help – and when they don’t.
Théotime Colin
Australia is the last continent to be invaded by the dangerous honey bee parasite, and has an opportunity to be the first to eradicate it.
The Sooty blue butterfly (Zizeeria knysna ), a common yet easily missed resident species in grassland habitats.
Charl Deacon
Butterflies are sentinel species – their interactions with landscapes help scientists understand other insects better.
Kirill Demchenko/Shutterstock
We all know bees are vital pollinators. But they’re also art critics, social learners, dancers and so much more.
A bumblebee lands on the flowers of a white sloe bush.
Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images
Scientists are learning amazing things about bees’ sensory perception and mental capabilities.
Elvira Tursynbayeva/Shutterstock
Before you reach for the weed killer, spare a thought for struggling pollinators.
Spiders can be effective pest control agents.
(Shutterstock)
Spiders liquefy their prey in order to consume it, and this makes it challenging to determine what spiders eat. A new approach that uses DNA barcoding is helping researchers figure out spider diets.
Eventually weather, pests and disease will take their toll, but the story doesn’t end there.
Emanuel David / 500px via Getty Images
Even in death, a tree helps others live.
One distinction between a snail and a slug: The snail has a shell.
maxphotography/Moment via Getty Images
These members of the mollusk family may be slow, small and slimy, but they are an indispensable part of the ecosystem.
The yellowjacket wasp has a reputation as a British picnic invader.
Denis Vesely/Shutterstock
Think your social life is complicated? Consider the wasp.
Tomatito/Shutterstock
This new study could help researchers understand conditions such as autism and help fight climate change by reducing the carbon footprint of AI.
Are you ready to eat insects?
Lightspring/Shutterstock
To limit our impact on the planet, one solution could be to replace meat with insects. Children could set an example.
Ants from different colonies will fight based on smell alone.
Joseph Howell, Vanderbilt University
Researchers explore what happens when ants can’t properly use smell to detect friend from foe.
Justus Menke/Unsplash
Bees and other pollinators are key to food production, but they’re hard to keep an eye on. Now, AI software is helping track these essential farm workers.