News by Subject Biology

Drivers of freshwater salt pollution such as de-icers on roads and parking lots, water softeners, and wastewater and industrial discharges further threaten freshwater ecosystem health and human water security.

The Endangered dryas monkey is one of Africa's most mysterious primates. They are difficult to find because they live in dense vegetation in secondary forest thickets. Using non-invasive research and no-flash camera traps from 2014 to 2019, scientists have confirmed the occurrence of the dryas monkey at seven locations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spanning a total area of 3,453 square kilometers, based on opportunistic reports provided by local village residents and park patrols.

Scientists have sequenced ancient DNA from soil for the first time and the advance will transform what is known about everything from evolution to climate change. The findings have been described as the 'moon landings' of genomics because researchers will no longer have to rely on finding and testing fossils to determine genetic ancestry, links and discoveries - and it is thanks to Stone Age black bears who defecated in a remote cave in Mexico 16,000 years ago.

Atlantic bluefin tuna have returned to UK waters and can once again be seen during the summer and autumn months.

"Generalist" plants and pollinators play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and may also serve as buffers against some impacts of climate change, finds new University of Colorado Boulder research. The findings, published this month in Ecology, provide valuable insights for prioritizing the conservation of species that contribute to the strength of ecological communities.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology retrieved Neandertal nuclear DNA from cave deposits in northern Spain and southern Siberia, yielding new clues to the population history of Neandertals. With the advent of nuclear DNA analyses of sediments, similar studies at other sites can provide new insights into the deep human past that do not rely on the discovery of bones and teeth.