News by Subject Biology

An unprecedented survey has revealed the loss of about 85 percent of historical tidal wetlands in California, Oregon, and Washington. The report, published today in PLOS ONE, also highlights forgotten estuary acreage that might now be targeted for restoration.

Flashlight fish use their bioluminescent organs to school at night - and only a few need actively flash to maintain the group, according to a study published Aug. 14, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by David Gruber from the City University of New York, USA, and colleagues.

Scientists from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and international colleagues have now quantified the global decline of big freshwater animals: from 1970 to 2012, global populations of freshwater megafauna declined by 88% -- twice the loss of vertebrate populations on land or in the ocean. Large fish species are particularly affected.

Scientists are increasingly warning that prescription drugs can affect wildlife and ecosystems when they find their way into the environment. In a new Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry study, investigators found that the anxiety and depression drug Escitalopram -- at concentrations similar to those measured in the environment -- can inhibit fish foraging and eating behavior.

After years of federally mandated protection, scientists see signs that this once ecologically fertile area known as the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain is making a comeback.

Researchers developed a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive model that simulates how environmental factors, including increasing sea temperatures and overfishing, impact levels of methylmercury in fish. The researchers found that while the regulation of mercury emissions have successfully reduced methylmercury levels in fish, spiking temperatures are driving those levels back up and will play a major role in the methylmercury levels of marine life in the future.