Phragmites australis, the common reed, has been a component of North American marshes for thousands of years. However, a novel genetic lineage, Phragmites australis australis, found its way to North America sometime in the 1800s,...
Soon after a dirt road through the forests of Lambir Hills National Park in Borneo was improved in 1987, local markets selling the meat of wild animals expanded dramatically. By 1994 biologists observed that a...
Maintaining natural movement of animals that live in the tropical rain canopy in South America is important for the health of the ecosystem. As development and resource extraction encroach on remote areas of the...
South American rainforests thrived during three extreme global warming events in the past, say paleontologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in a new report published in the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science....
They’ve got no roots or veins and grow in hanging pendants or tightly packed mats attached to stones, soil and wood. Called by some “the secret plants that surround us,” the bryophytes (mosses and liverworts)...
The impact of industrial fishing on coastal ecosystems has been studied for many years. But how it affects food webs in the open ocean―a vast region that covers almost half of the Earth’s surface―has not...
What can you do to bring some of the Smithsonian’s 137 million objects to life? Put them in 3-D! This is a full-time job for two of the Smithsonian’s very own “laser cowboys,” Vince Rossi...
Covered in venomous spines the exotic and strikingly banded Indo-Pacific lionfish would be a painful mouthful to any creature that may try to catch and eat it. Brought into the United States by aquarium hobbyists...
Science Spotlight
