Ecosystems
By testing how seeds respond to drought and smoke together, scientists uncover how plants in Brazil’s Cerrado survive the harsh mix of fire, dry spells and unpredictable rain.
Ecosystems
Tent-roosting bats are the unsung "nocturnal gardeners" of the Lacandon Rainforest. New research reveals they disperse up to 79.8 million large seeds annually, carrying fruits weighing up to 250% of their own body mass to help regenerate mature forests.
Ecosystems
Newly revealed peatlands in the Cerrado hold millennia of carbon, but shifting water and climate regimes could turn them from allies into threats.
Ecosystems
A garden plant called Kalanchoe × houghtonii is spreading along Mediterranean coasts and may be pushing out native plants that normally grow there.
Ecosystems
Fourteen botanical gardens across the Alps collectively grow a third of the region's flora, including species found in no seed bank anywhere.
Ecosystems
Century-old photographs reveal that a Spanish national park's most treacherous terrain is doing more for rare plants than a hundred years of protection.
Ecosystems
Thousands of megalithic jars in Laos were carved for burial rites. Two millennia later, they're miniature ecosystems, and ecologists have started taking notes.
Ecosystems
Trails may seem small and harmless amid the vastness of national parks, but new evidence suggests that their ecological impact may be far greater than it appears.
Ecosystems
A new study reveals that most UK wildflower seeds can handle rising temperatures, but a few key species may struggle to germinate in the Britain of tomorrow.
Ecosystems
When it comes to flower scents, it’s not always roses and rainbows. It can be anything from sweaty feet to the chemical cries of suffering bugs, as recently shown by science.
Ecosystems
New experiments in the Australian Alps reveal how warming, drought and fire quietly undermine plant survival.
Ecosystems
A study from South Africa reveals that plants that flower after fires are not taking a gamble but are relying on an unexpectedly resilient alliance with sunbirds.