News by Subject Biology

Smithsonian scientists use sonar to estimate Antillean Manatee populations in the murky waters of Panama's internationally protected San San Pond Sak wetlands.

For the first time ever, scientists successfully performed health assessments, including collecting blood and biological samples, taking measurements and attaching satellite tracking tags, to a population of wild whale sharks -- the world's largest fish, classified as 'endangered' since 2016. The research advancement, which occurred in Indonesia's remote Cendrawasih Bay, has significant implications for unlocking the mysteries surrounding the overall health of whale sharks -- including the potential impacts of tourism on their health.

With water quality in the Chesapeake Bay suffering from excess nutrients and fish populations in rivers such as the Susquehanna experiencing gender skewing and other reproductive abnormalities, understanding how to minimize runoff of both nutrients and endocrine-disrupting compounds from farm fields after manure applications is a critical objective for agriculture.

Invasive mussels and less nutrients from tributaries have altered the Lake Michigan ecosystem, making it more conducive to the stocking of lake trout and steelhead than Chinook salmon, according to a recent US Geological Survey and Michigan State University study.

As corals face threats from ocean warming, a new study uses the latest genetic-sequencing tools to help unravel the relationships between three similar-looking corals.

New technologies for analyzing DNA may transform how imperiled species are considered and managed for conservation protection, according to a study published today in the journal Science Advances and led by the University of California, Davis. These technologies can be applied to a wide range of species around the world -- from mushrooms to walruses -- but the study focuses on two iconic species of Pacific salmon: steelhead and chinook.

Oyster stocks in a Cornish fishery are sustained thanks to 'inefficient' traditional fishing methods, new research suggests.