How can there be boom in new species discoveries while others are dying out at unprecedented rates?
In contrast to common perceptions, Antarctic seafloor communities are highly diverse. This image shows a deep East Antarctic reef with plenty of corals, sponges and brittlestars. Can you spot the octopus?
Australian Antarctic Division
Life on the Antarctic seafloor is surprisingly diverse – and half of the species live nowhere else on Earth. Now scientists can accurately map this unique biodiversity.
What drives the emergence and disappearance of species? By modeling the fundamental processes of evolution and ecology on geographical scales, new research spotlights topography and climatic shifts.
Maasai women on a conservation project in Kenya.
Joan de la Malla
A new map shows that more than 25% of all land outside Antarctica is held and managed by Indigenous peoples. This makes these communities vital allies in the global conservation effort.
A whale shark basking in the Maldivian shallows.
Melody Sky
Why do whale sharks come together at just 20 locations around the globe?
The Canada 150 Sequencing Initiative will sequence the genomes of 150 organisms important to Canadians, publishing the results in public databases.
(Shutterstock)
London should be one giant pigeon cemetery, but you rarely see the bodies.
A life reconstruction of Brindabellaspis stensioi, an unusual placoderm fish from the 400-million-year old Burrinjuck reef in New South Wales, Australia.
Jason Art, Shenzhen
Brindabellaspis had eyes on the top of the head, facing upwards, and a skull stretched into a long and broad snout. Although around 400 million years old, it was clearly a specialised fish.
Copepod with eggs (blue). Copepods are typically just a few millimeters long, but are important food sources for small fish.
NOAA
DNA sequencing is making it possible for scientists to identify thousands of species of zooplankton – drifting animals that are key links in ocean food webs.
Mala, also known as rufous hare-wallabies, will be protected behind an enormous cat-proof fence.
Donald Hobern/Flickr
Several giant terrestrial Plathelminth species have invaded France and its overseas territories, threatening biodiversity. Thanks to participatory science, the invasion is finally recognized.
Nature offers many benefits to people.
(Shutterstock)
Edmond Dounias, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
The bearded boar is rarely honoured, yet its role in the forest of this island in the Malay archipelago is as crucial as it is emblematic.
Several studies have shown that spending time in nature is good for health. Now new research has looked specifically at asthma and found that living in green neighbourhoods protects children from developing the condition.
from www.shutterstock.com
New research shows that children who live in greener neighbourhoods are less likely to develop asthma, and that the more diverse the plant life is, the more they are protected.
Young southern brown bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus obesulus), an endangered marsupial species living in outer Melbourne.
Sarah Maclagan
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University