In a new study, researchers used more than 5 million measurements from individual trees across much of eastern North America and showed the rate at which introduced species are spreading has increased over the last two decades. Additionally, native tree diversity is on the decline in areas where exotic species originally introduced by humans have encroached.

Across the United States, 58% of counties have no active air-quality monitoring sites, according to a new study. Rural counties, especially those in the Midwest and South, are less likely to have air-quality monitoring sites, which could impede pollution estimations and impact public health, the team said.

As farmers debate whether fields should be used for agriculture or solar panels, new research says the answer could be both. Scientists analyzed remote sensing and aerial imagery to study how fields have been used in California for the last 25 years. Using databases to estimate revenues and costs, they found that farmers who used a small percentage of their land for solar arrays were more financially secure per acre than those who didn't.

Scientists report adaptive divergence in cryptic color pattern is underlain by two distinct, complex chromosomal rearrangements, where millions of bases of DNA were flipped backwards and moved from one part of a chromosome to another, independently in populations of stick insects on different mountains.

Sediment cores drawn from four lakes in Guatemala record the distinct direction that ground shaking traveled during a 1976 magnitude 7.5 earthquake that devastated the country, according to researchers.

Researchers posed a seemingly simple question: how wide are faults?

Food scientists evaluated 11 commercially available yeast strains to identify their strengths based on chemical analysis and sensory panel opinions. Most of the yeasts that were tested are strains that have been developed or screened to not ferment maltose, the primary sugar created from malted barley in the beer-making process.

A new study suggests that early-life exposure to two widespread environmental pollutants -- small particle air pollution and outdoor artificial light at night -- could increase the risk of pediatric thyroid cancer. The study found a 'significant association' between exposure to ambient fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) and outdoor artificial light at night (O-ALAN) and increased risk of papillary thyroid cancer in children and young adults up to 19 years old. The exposures occurred during the perinatal stage of life, typically defined as the time from when pregnancy occurs up to a year after birth.

A team led by researchers say public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI) could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a larger-scale public health crisis.

A new study opens new avenues for combating soybean cyst nematodes, the most damaging pest for U.S. soybean crops.

Researchers have demonstrated that intensified environmental variability (EV) can promote the evolution of cooperation through simulation based on evolutionary game theory. This result offers a new perspective for the reinterpretation of the variability selection hypothesis (VSH), which attributes improvement in human cognitive abilities to severe EV in Africa during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), as further relevant to the explanation of the evolution of sociality.

The consequences of wildfires in or near urban areas go beyond the damage to buildings and ecosystems, to the threat of contamination of drinking water according to water quality and treatment experts.

Lake ecosystems can receive high inputs of terrestrial organic matter (t-OM) that microbes make available to higher trophic level consumers. A research group examined terrestrial reliance of 19 consumer groups from 35 boreal lakes using stable isotopes of hydrogen. According to the study, benthic macroinvertebrates and the benthivorous fish reliance to terrestrial energy (allochthony) was higher compared to pelagic plankton and planktivorous fish. Consumer allochthony decreased along the environmental gradient from forested to agricultural catchments, likely due to alteration in the origin of lake organic matter.

From the Japanese cypress to the ponderosa pine, wood has been used in construction for millennia. Though materials like steel and concrete have largely taken over large building construction, wood is making a comeback, increasingly being used in public and multi-story buildings for its environmental benefits. Of course, wood has often been passed over in favor of other materials because it is easily damaged by sunlight and moisture when used outdoors. Wood coatings have been designed to protect wood surfaces for this reason, but coating damage often starts before it becomes visible. Once the deterioration can be seen with the naked eye, it is already too late. To solve this problem, a team of researchers is working to create a simple but effective method of diagnosing this nearly invisible deterioration before the damage becomes irreparable.

Three consecutive years of drought contributed to the 'Barbarian Conspiracy', a pivotal moment in the history of Roman Britain, a new study reveals. Researchers argue that Picts, Scotti and Saxons took advantage of famine and societal breakdown caused by an extreme period of drought to inflict crushing blows on weakened Roman defenses in 367 CE. While Rome eventually restored order, some historians argue that the province never fully recovered.

A research team has decoded the genome of historic potato cultivars and used this resource to develop an efficient method for analysis of hundreds of additional potato genomes.

A new butterfly species, Satyrium curiosolus, was discovered in a recent study at Blakiston Fan in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. It has unique evolutionary history, having likely remained in isolation for up to 40,000 years, leading to flatlined genetic diversity and exceptionally high levels of inbreeding. Due to its specific ecological associations and low genetic diversity, this butterfly may soon face challenges with climate change adaptation and will require special conservation strategies.

A professor's casual hike in the High Sierra turned into a new elevation record for California's highest tree, the Jeffrey pine, which wasn't formerly known to grow at extreme elevations.

In plants, the space between cells is a key battleground during infection. To avoid recognition in this space, a strain of the bacterial tomato disease Pseudomonas syringae manipulates plants by producing a substance called glycosyrin. This substance suppresses the immune response and allows the bacteria to remain unnoticed. A new study has revealed that glycosyrin does this by mimicking galactose, a simple sugar found in many living things -- acting like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A new study has investigated how the relationship between mean annual precipitation (MAP) and grassland biomass changes when one or more nutrients are added. The authors show that precipitation and nutrient availability are the key drivers of plant biomass, while the effects of plant diversity are minimal.