From dark dragonflies becoming paler to plants flowering earlier, some species are slowly evolving with the climate. Evolutionary biologists explain why few will evolve fast enough.
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Articles on Species
Displaying 1 - 20 of 82 articles
Only after a species is identified and listed by taxonomists can it be protected. Yet we still don’t have one globally agreed-upon list of every species. A new 74-nation survey points to the solution.
New research looks at how different species have managed to cross geographic barriers throughout history and whether their individual traits played a crucial role in these journeys.
Invasive ants are a major threat to biodiversity, according to a study.
Crowd-sourcing images of caterpillars from nature apps allowed researchers to study the emergence of a new species of caterpillar.
Their drawings did not reflect the make up of the natural world.
A new ‘rule book’ for naming genomically sequenced bacteria is a boon for science.
Species will endure intolerable conditions long after the global average temperature stabilises.
Roughly 90% of species on Earth are believed to be undiscovered. Whether researchers will be able to identify them before they go extinct is unclear.
If scientific research is to take decolonization seriously, names for species should reflect this approach and consider the political, social and emotional implications.
The 15th UN biodiversity conference recently wrapped up the online portion of negotiations.
After more than 300 years of effort, scientists have documented fewer than one-third of Australia’s species. The remaining 70% are unknown, and essentially invisible, to science.
To get a grip on the biodiversity crisis, we’ll need to understand how wildlife is threatened in our own backyard.
How scientists discovered the ‘Popa langur’ was a separate species of just 200 monkeys.
We studied a rocky shore to see how global changes are playing out within habitats.
A public debate recently erupted among global taxonomists. Strongly-worded ripostes were exchanged. A comparison to Stalin was floated. But eventually, they worked it out.
The extraordinary story of a stingray, its discovery and its uncertain fate in the Yemen war.
All animals plays a role in nature, and in times of biodiversity loss and climate change, hunting “common” species such as foxes and badgers is irresponsible .
What criteria should be used to determine whether a food is natural? What if gene-editing techniques produce changes indistinguishable from those that evolve naturally? Is the food still natural?
Should scientists keep both species genetically-separate and ‘pure’, even if that risks extinction?
Top contributors
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Adjunct Assoc. Professor, The University of Western Australia
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Director of Food Innovation, University of Adelaide
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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Director of the Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO
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Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town
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Professor, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University
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PhD Candidate in Entomology, Cardiff University
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PhD candidate, Swansea University
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Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Georgia Institute of Technology
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Associate professor, University of Sydney
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of Tasmania
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Postdoctoral fellow, Decision Science, The University of Queensland
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Mark Elgar is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Melbourne
