Ecology News

USU ecologist Moria Robinson, assistant professor in the Department of Biology and Ecology Center, is lead author of a Nov. 10 paper in Science exploring how and why patterns in plant-herbivore interactions vary across the globe.

Utah's variable topography produces a tremendous range of wildfire behavior, according to new research from WILD and Ecology Center faculty member Jim Lutz and others.

The Biden-Harris Administration released the Fifth National Climate Assessment this week, which was authored by researchers across the United States, including the Ecology Center and QCNR's own Mark Brunson and Peter Howe.

A team from the Department of Watershed Sciences in the Quinney College of Natural Resources and the Ecology Center identified several factors to help answer the fundamental ecological question of what factors drive animal diversity.

Peter Adler will be succeeding Nancy Huntly as director of the Ecology Center at Utah State University.

Utah State University scientists Brennan Bean and Wei Zhang are among researchers investigating how to determine precautions needed in a changing climate related to heavy snowfall in a project titled "Understanding the Evolving Threat of Snow Loads and Ra...

Research by Eric Thacker and Kari Veblen is finding that transplanting mature, local sagebrush, though more expensive, may have better chances at survival than seeds or seedlings.

New research by WILD and the Ecology Center's Yong Zhou and his team from Yale University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Cape Town, Texas A&M, Kruger National Park, Harvard University, and University of Oregon shows that in addition...

The UPR Science Reporter and Ecology PhD Candidate Erin Lewis reports on research showing how rising temperatures contribute to declining air quality in Utah and across the country.

An article in the Herald Journal highlights research by ENVS and Ecology Center faculty Peter Howe and other contributing researchers on how Utahn's perceptions and opinions of climate change and whether exhibited changes are human-induced.

USU Ecology PhD candidate Savannah Adkins says soils remove some 25 percent of annual carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel burning from Earth’s atmosphere and could potentially remove as much as 35 percent of total greenhouse gases. Eliminating that muc...

USU ecologist Jessica Murray studies soil canopies in tropical montane forests of Costa Rica. The doctoral candidate published findings in the journal 'Geoderma' and presents at the 2023 ESA meeting.

A new publication by Jack Schmidt, chair of the Center for Colorado River Studies in the Quinney College of Natural Resources, Charles Yackulic of the USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, and Eric Kuhn, retired general manager of the Colorado...

UPR receives 14 Society of Professional Journalism awards, four of which were awarded to the Ecology Center's own Aimee Van Tatenhove and Ellis Juhlin

In some places rain is changing — it is falling less often, but with more intensity. New research is deciphering which plants will might thrive and survive under these new conditions, and it often depends on their roots.

Jennifer Reeve, associate professor of organic and sustainable agriculture, and Matt Yost, associate professor, Ecology Center faculty associate, and agroclimate Extension specialist, hope to find out how much carbon is pulled from the atmosphere by carbo...

Ecology PhD student Valerie Martin (BIOL) is featured in this Herald Journal article about protecting pollinating species in Cache Valley.

USU doctoral student Emily Calhoun, left, with faculty mentor Norah Saarman, examines a mosquito under a microscope. The pair received a CDC-supported grant to study the insect's resistance to common pest prevention efforts.

USU researchers return to Alaska this summer to evaluate long-term vegetative changes in the wake of a 70-year storm.

To capture a better picture of human impacts on a wickedly interconnected ecological system, researchers are looking at a footprint measurement that starts at the sun.

The Great Salt Lake Collaborative has created an interactive website to help Utahns understand the critical role Great Salt Lake and its wetlands play in the ecosystem that is crucial to 10 million birds.

Researchers don’t yet know much about how SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) moves through animal populations. Kezia Manlove from the Quinney College of Natural Resources and Ecology Center is working to change that.

USU experts and Ecology/CAS faculty Bethany Neilson and Sarah Null discuss how water shepherding could work to translate conservation efforts into real benefits for Utah’s landscape.

Utah State University Blanding and Utah State University Moab will host the art exhibit Sentinels, presented by the Last Glacial Collective. The exhibit is a collaboration of artists that worked to present their concern for the global future through artis...

The Western U.S. is a hotspot for studying climate change impacts on the hydrological or water cycle. Despite lower-than-average total precipitation in 2021, the contrasting dryness and wetness in the Western U.S. has been widely described as a “precipita...

Authors of a new report on the Great Salt Lake do not mince words — without major intervention, they say, the Great Salt Lake could disappear within five years.

Chris Luecke, Ecology faculty and previous dean of the S. J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, announced his retirement from USU beginning January 2023.

Jeanette Norton has received the Soil Science Society of America's highest honor

In newly published research, Joshua Carrell, Edd Hammill and Thomas Edwards from the Quinney College of Natural Resources are mapping out strategies so that an emerging demand for proposed energy development projects and the survival of Colorado Plateau’s...

Given the West’s increased focus on water conservation, experts on the front lines of our water worries say we’ve left out an important part of the discussion: huge swaths of data about water supply and demand are missing as indicated by research from Dr....

Dr. Peter Adler (WILD) and Ph.D. candidate Michael Stemkovski investigate how a changing climate is transforming vegetation across landscapes in the West.

Sasha Reed, USGS Ecologist and friend of the USU Ecology Center and CAS program, is highlighted in the Salt Lake Tribune regarding her research on biocrust outside of Castle Valley

How did the world’s largest sand island, K’gari, the indigenous name for eastern Australia’s Fraser Island, along with the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, come to be? Little is known about the formation of these UNESCO World Heritage-l...

New research by our own Dan Macnulty and others shows that wolf coat color may signal resistance to canine distemper virus, enabling the animals to identify partners that can offer a chance at disease-resistant offspring.

tah State University professor Ricardo Ramirez is an Aggie through and through. “I should note Ricardo began his undergraduate studies as a New Mexico State University Aggie and, later, as a postdoc, was a Texas A&M University Aggie,” said USU Science De...

Evolution can repeat itself, says Utah State University alum Samridhi Chaturvedi PhD’19, resulting in parallel adaptations in independent lineages occupying similar environments. Consider the plant-eating stick insect Timema: Multiple species of the genus...

USU evolutionary ecologist Joseph Wilson and colleagues "think like predators" to study mimicry among North American bumble bees. They report findings in the open access journal "Scientific Reports."

Researchers at Utah State University are creating a new hydrologic information system that will generate important new insight about the nation’s water resources.

The Moab Sun News published an article highlighting the sustainable ranching research work of USU faculty and two USU PhD students: CAS trainee and ENVS student Will Munger and Ecology student Maria Stahl.

In August, the Great Salt Lake State Park’s marina was closed due to low water levels. In late September, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Saltair Lake Elevation Gage could “no longer measure accurate water levels” for that same reason. These are both symptom...

The cause-effect sequence or “feedback” between plants and their soil microbial communities plays an important role in structuring plant communities. To predict this synergistic coexistence, researchers conduct short-term, pairwise experiments — measuring...

Starved for freshwater, the Great Salt Lake is getting saltier. The lake is losing sources of freshwater input to agriculture, urban growth and drought, and the drawdown is causing salt concentrations to spike beyond even the tolerance of brine shrimp and...

With record high temperatures scorching Utah into September this year and crushing previous years’ records, the effect of excess carbon in Earth’s atmosphere is impossible to ignore. Carbon sequestration — or locking carbon into soils — is the main driver...

A well-designed fence can help to prevent conflicts with carnivores, but with so many options for material, placement and logistics, researchers can struggle to identify what strategies have the best chance for success. They turned to ranchers for help.

It’s ancient, it’s massive, and it is faltering. The gargantuan aspen stand dubbed “Pando,” located in south-central Utah, is more than 100 acres of quivering, genetically identical plant life, thought to be the largest living organism on earth (based on ...

Karin Kettenring, WATS and Ecology Center faculty, and her lab members discuss their work which is replacing the invasive phragmites with native plants in the wetlands around the Great Salt Lake.

USU welcomes Dr. Carl Rothfels as Director of the Intermountain Herbarium

Ask any landowner their opinion of beaver working in streams and rivers on a property, and you’ll likely get a mixed reaction. Beaver are, after all, powerhouse workers that could potentially have major — and sometimes problematic — impacts on a landscape...

Dust from the drying lakebeds threatens the health of millions of people nearby. The remaining water is saltier and less hospitable to life — potentially killing off once robust Artemia (brine shrimp) populations. Fewer birds and visitors flock to its sho...

For more than two decades trends for above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall have ruled the West. Official maps are painted in wide swaths with angry red and dark-red stripes — category markers for extreme and exceptional water shortages. Wate...

A recent article in The Atlantic highlights research done by our own Paul Rogers

Michelle Baker, professor in the Department of Biology and the USU Ecology Center, has been selected to serve as dean of Utah State University’s College of Science.

Research tracking the flight habits of American white pelicans could make it safer for aircraft to take to the skies. Research by Ecology student Aimee Van Tatenhove focuses on this issue.

Utah State University physiological ecologist Susannah French is studying the effects of human-induced changes on varied lizards, including iguanas of the world’s tropics and, closer to home, the American Southwest’s side-blotched lizard.

The Raramuri Criollo cattle are easy to identify, once spotted in the pastures at the Canyonlands Research Center: they’re smaller than the typical Red Angus cattle, and have tall, curved horns. They’re descendants of the cattle that were introduced to th...

Sublette County cattle and sheep are part of across-the-West depredation reduction demonstration project attempting to ward off predators using motion-triggered LED lights fitted to livestock ear tags. Features research by our own Julie Young

New research from WILD faculty Erica Stuber et al. examines the accuracy of information produced by citizen science apps for monitoring bird populations and found that it could actually offer a lot of utility for researchers. (Tim Lumley photo)

There’s something utterly bewitching about the sound of steak dropping onto a hot, oiled skillet. Or maybe it’s the umami scent of a bacon-topped burger sizzling on the grill, wrapped in smoke and flame. Or perhaps your preference is a perfectly peppered ...

It is projected that 12 percent of all plastic waste ends up in aquatic environments. There is growing recognition that tiny microplastics are moving directly from the atmosphere into the world's oceans and back again in a two-way exchange.

The Pando aspen clone and the associated research of our own Paul Rogers is highlighted in a special feature in National Geographic.

Sixteen Aggies, including Ecology majors Courtney Check (Fellow), Emily Burgess (Honorable Mention), and Maria Stahl (Honorable Mention) are named 2022 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows or receive honorable mention from competitive STE...

Listen to a UPR UnDisciplined piece featuring our own Patrick Belmont and Jordan Smith as they discuss the future of ski resorts in the face of decreasing snowpack due to climate change

Trees have a complex relationship with snow and energy as the season warms up, but new research shows that big trees can protect melting snowpacks in water-stressed environments.

In 1990-1991, USU Moab professor Wayne Freimund participated in a research project at Arches National Park dealing with visitor management; and now he will be reexamining that research to see how their thinking and findings from the past compare to the re...

In the Western U.S. where skiing, hiking, biking, hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation are core to many people’s lives, and where local economies rely on income generated by these activities, the impacts of a changing climate are already difficul...

Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep make a tough choice every winter — to remain cold, hungry, and relatively safe from predators at high elevations, or to drop down to more temperate and more risky low-elevation ranges. New research explores the strategies they ...

Full Size USU Ecology doctoral student Jessica Murray, at a field site in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve, is a 2022 recipient of the Ecological Society of America’s Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award.

Researchers at Utah State University are looking at ways to improve the air quality by focusing on methane gas that cows release into the air. We've all had to pass gas and so do cows but for them, it's on a pretty regular basis.

USU's Julie Young is featured in an article on how to stay safe during a mountain lion encounter.

Pando is formed of 47,000 genetically identical aspen stems that emerged from a single seed, likely back when the last ice sheets had receded. USU's Paul Rogers, director of the Western Aspen Alliance, describes it as ‘a forest of one tree. We can think o...

USU becomes one of just 137 total members having the Carnegie R1 classification in the nation and was one of nine to obtain this status in 2021. This designation shows that Utah State is a national leader in research and graduate education.

Although some scientists long questioned the direct effect of wolf reintroduction to aspen regrowth in Yellowstone, a recently published study by USU's Dan MacNulty and Lainie Brice shows aspen regrowth was not as robust as originally advertised.

When you think about big trees, likely what comes to mind are some of the Earth’s biggest trees, like giant sequoias or redwoods, which can grow to roughly 25 stories tall. But big trees are actually an essential part of every forest ecosystem.

A new institute at Utah State University that focuses on sharing evidence-based research with state decisionmakers released its 2021 Report to the Governor on Utah's Land, Water, and Air on Dec. 14.

Full Size The award-winning book "Yellowstone Wolves" was written by the people who prepared and performed reintroduction and spent 25 years researching and managing wolves

Full Size A new grant will allow researchers to determine how water markets can be used to make water management systems more resilient. The interdisciplinary team include (left to right) Matt Yost, Niel Allen, Sarah Null, David Rosenberg, and Alfonso T

Chris Luecke, dean of Utah State University’s S. J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources (QCNR), announced he will step down from his leadership post, effective July 2022. The transition marks the end of a decade of thoughtful leadership and...

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers at USU creating tools to better understand the global impact of climate change and other disasters as part of a national initiative.

New research from Stefani Crabtree shows that modern subsistence diets, and the diets of ancient people, were much broader than what most people eat today. Crabtree learned how to hunt goanna lizards and other aspects of subsistence eating from Nyalanka T...

Most people are oblivious to the vast, interconnected network that underlies a forest floor, but it’s a system that plants literally depend on for survival — especially big trees. They are able to fend off attackers better when they are connected to this ...

Professor Sarah Null of Utah State University will be working with a diverse team of experts to study how to better manage water stored for the environment, to better protect vulnerable ecosystems during a time of biodiversity loss and accelerating climat...

Getting beaver populations to thrive in Utah's desert landscape has been a challenging task for Emma Doden, a masters student in translocated beaver ecology at Utah State University. Doden and several other researchers set out to reintroduce beavers to th...

Recently, researchers from South Korea, Japan and the United States found that by projecting the fire weather conditions under two mildly varying warming levels.

How resilient mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) are to changing temperatures.

UNESCO today released the first global scientific assessment of its World Heritage marine sites’ blue carbon ecosystems, highlighting the critical environmental value of these habitats.

In addition to annoying bites and buzzing, some mosquitoes carry harmful diseases.

Online film screening window: Friday - Sunday, March 5-7 2021 Panel Discussion via Zoom Monday, March 8, 2021 Noon MST Click for more information

USU entomologists, faculty member Joe Wilson, left, and alumna Olivia Carril, search for bees in an area under development near Utah's GSENM. The longtime collaborators are featured in a new documentary premiering Sept. 24. Tony Di Zinno.

In 1863 the U.S. Army attacked the Shoshone Tribe instigating the largest mass murder of Native Americans in US History.

Although the dangers of human and wildlife close encounters are well documented, humans seem unable to resist the temptation to try to get close to, or even touch, wildlife.

Leaders across the west are grappling with how to continue to share a diminishing supply of water from the Colorado River.

The beaver relocation project, a partnership between Utah State University, the U.S. Forest Service and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, is part habitat restoration and part population growth for the species.

Dr. John M. Neuhold, professor emeritus of Utah State University’s Quinney College of Natural Resources and first director of the Ecology Center, passed away on June 29, 2020, at the age of 92.

Research on the drying of Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest lake and the center of the world's most productive fishery, conducted by USU researchers Sara Null and Sapana Lohani is being featured in National Geographic.

A recent study found wind and rain are scattering tiny pieces of plastic throughout national parks and wilderness areas in the West — including one unique landscape in Idaho.

A new study by USU Assistant Professor, Trisha Atwood, suggests modern-day megaherbivores could suffer the same fate with unknown consequences for Earth.

Michelle Baker, associate dean in Utah State University’s College of Science and professor in the Department of Biology and the USU Ecology Center, will serve as the college’s interim dean, beginning January 1, 2021.

In a paper published July 23, 2020 in Science, USU Ecologist Zach Gompert and colleagues describe a supermutation in insects that can help explain large gaps in evolutionary trees.

Support fellow Aggie researchers by registering for the 2020 ESA Meeting by Thursday, July 23 and participate in live or recorded presentations. Use the hashtag #ESAWatchParty2020 to advertise a talk or to post something on Facebook and Twitter.

Protected areas, like Yellowstone, are invaluable, but are they actually effective at preserving endangered species? And if not, how can future protected areas do better?

Creosote bushes produce tufts of fluffy, white fruits. Living nearby are similarly white and fluffy wasps known as thistle-down velvet ants.

Ecology Graduate Student, Emma Doden, is working to understand the dynamics of beavers translocated to desert rivers for restoration purposes and how they compare to the naturally-occurring resident beavers who are already established.

Extreme heat is a growing hazard to public health, causing greater mortality than other hazards like floods, tornadoes and hurricanes in the United States.

The Native American Summer Mentorship Program was created with the express purpose of bringing scholars together to experience hands-on research with USU faculty, one-on-one.

“There’s no nook or cranny on the surface of the earth that won’t have microplastics,” said USU Ecologist Janice Brahney in a New York Times article highlighting her important research on plastic pollution in the air.

Spring is in full swing. Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and birds are singing. But a recent study in PNAS found that those birds in your backyard may be changing right along with the climate.

Pando looks like any other apsen forest, but the approximately 47K stems that form its body share a single genome. For the past 10 years, USU ecologist Paul Rogers has studied Pando, and in 2018 he co-authored a study that found it might be dying.

Wildfires were once an important driver of ecosystem health in western U.S forests, but decades of fire suppression, natural and human-caused disturbances and environmental change have combined to create conditions that favor wildfires.

“Western tanagers pass through Utah’s Cache Valley every spring but sometimes they linger in large numbers before heading to their mountain destinations,” says Utah State University ornithologist Kim Sullivan.

The Navajo Nation has been hit hard by the pandemic with more than 4,400 cases and nearly 150 deaths. Among the volunteers who have joined the relief effort are USU Biology and Ecology doctoral students Elizabeth Simpson, Megan Kepas, and Hannah Wilson.

Trisha Atwood, Bonnie Waring, and Karen Beard received a significant National Science Foundation grant to study the impact of migrating, plant-eating birds on the carbon cycle.

USU biologist Joseph Wilson displays the new children's book, 'Bees are the Best,’ he recently published with illustrator Jonny VanOrman. Geared to preschoolers through fourth graders, the book introduces youngsters to bee diversity.

Two longtime members of Utah State University’s Department of Environment and Society were honored recently by the Society for Range Management (SRM) for their career achievements in rangeland science and management.

The Great Salt Lake is facing multiple threats that put ecosystems, economies and species at risk, said Wayne Wurtsbaugh, Utah State University professor during a “Canyon Conversations” lecture Saturday morning.

Why are there so many species of plants? Why do some plants thrive, while others don’t?

Humans are a complex species. Convincing them to do something … like protect themselves from a grizzly attack might seem like a straightforward task.

Researcher Courtney Flint, a natural resources sociologist, will address how understanding the relationship between Utah's lands and personal well being.

For tens of millions of people, migration is a tough reality. What causes people to migrate away from their home countries, and what happens when they do?

Wolves are charismatic, conspicuous and easy to single out as the top predator affecting populations of elk, deer and other prey animals say Utah State University researchers Michael Kohl and Dan MacNulty.

Ecology Center and Department of Watershed Sciences faculty, Sarah Null, spoke recently with the National Geographic about her research on drought and dams on the Mekong River.

Utah State University ecologist Bonnie Waring heads one of seven projects chosen nationally by competitive peer review for a U.S. Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecological Sciences grant.

Utah State University researchers Jennifer Weathered and Edd Hammill report that the impacts of agricultural pesticides on assemblages of aquatic insects varied resulting in distinct ecological winners and losers within aquatic communities.

This week UPR Science Reporter and Ecology graduate student, Ashely Rohde, took home not one but two first place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists - Utah Chapter.

American biologist E.O. Wilson supports the biophilia hypothesis – “BET” for short – suggesting humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life.

Jim Lutz and graduate student Sara Germain of the Department of Wildland Resources in the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources were featured in a BBC video on the life history of trees.

Utah is experiencing an explosion in population and a changing economy. These conditions are transforming the way the state uses water, particularly in the case of urbanization.

Jacqueline J. Peña, a recent Ecology master’s alumna, from the Department of Wildland Resources in the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, was awarded the 2018 Ecological Society of America (ESA) E. Lucy Braun award for her poster.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world and, in the struggle for existence, organisms interact with each other and their environment in a myriad of ways. Along that journey, they adapt, or perish, as they’re exposed to peril at every turn.

Knowledge of the past is crucial for adaptation in the future, and research from an ecologist at Utah State University may help promote better understanding of winter weather anomalies by investigating evidence of historic climate and weather.

For wildfire firefighters, knowing exactly how long it takes for them to reach safety is critical, and new research provides more precise information about the time to cross different terrains and different slopes.

Up in the mountains near Preston, Idaho and the Oneida Narrows of the Bear River, Professor Joe Wheaton of Utah State University and his students are working to restore a small stream called Station Creek.

Utah State University’s Office of Research announced Charles “Chuck” Hawkins as the 2019 recipient of the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award.

Researchers at the University of Utah recently published a paper describing new technology that will make the development of biofuels from plants more economically feasible.

A controlled detonation Sunday night in Juab County lit up the sky with a massive fireball.

Listen as UPR's Niall Clancy visits a unique stream restoration project in southern Idaho. Features Professor Joe Wheaton from the Utah State University Restoration Consortium.

The warm temperatures of spring are heading our way and the intense heat of the summer is just around the corner. Now, there is new research investigating how we perceive extreme heat and how it can affect us.

Elk roam the winter range that straddles the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park with little regard for wolves.

Born in Sweden in 1814, Anders Ångström was a physicist, solar astronomer and a pioneer in the field of spectroscopy. He was among the first scientists to identify hydrogen in the Sun’s atmosphere and to examine the spectrum of the Aurora Borealis.

When millions of geese descend from the warm winds carrying them north along the Pacific coast to Alaska, they are arriving a bit earlier every year. Shifts in global climate patterns are changing the way migratory birds move around the globe each spring....

Logan Mayor Holly Daines held a second public hearing at Logan City Hall last night to discuss allowing dogs into Logan City parks for a 12-month trial period.

Heat waves are more dangerous than tornadoes, statistically. They kill more people than sharks, and put more human lives at risk than blizzards, floods or lightning storms.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in the American West. This week, UPR's Niall Clancy explores the perceptions and realities of the ESA with the help of the University of Utah's Dr. Bob Keiter.

Microevolution, or traits varying due to natural selection, is pretty settled in evolutionary science. But macroevolution – the evolution of new species – hasn’t been observed.

While most individuals are unaware of how food gets from farm to table, Dr. Kynda Curtis, a professor and extension specialist in applied economics at Utah State University, is all too familiar with the process.

Bear Lake is also home to several species of fish found nowhere else in the world.

This episode of Science Utah features stories from UPR's Riana Gayle and Niall Clancy. Tune in to hear about northern Utah's Bear Lake, its fishes, and what's being done to conserve them.

USU AggieAir At Forefront Of DroneDrones may be the future of convenience and delivery, but there are still many challenges when it comes to using them in urban environments.

New research suggests that social and economic impacts of wildfire are becoming more complex. Liana Prudencio is a PhD student in Watershed Sciences and the Climate Adaption Science program at Utah State University.

In six well-regarded hydrology and water resources journals published in 2017, the estimated percentage of studies whose results could be fully reproduced was only between 0.06 and 6.8 percent.

Coal is big in Utah. It's our state rock and according to the US Energy Information Administration, it represents one-third of our state's total energy production.

For Science Utah's inaugural podcast episode, reporters Ashley Rhode and Rachel Hager join producer Niall Clancy for a discussion about Utah's state insect.

Join UPR for a new podcast - Science Utah! Each episode features stories and commentary by UPR's science reporters on subjects like bees, air quality, or even dog poop.

Scientists get a bad rap for being poor communicators, says Utah State University physics alum and faculty member Rob Davies (Physics, MS’96, PhD ’99).

The second USU Research Landscapes event will be held on June 18, and will feature research about Utah's water usage by Department of Biology Professor Michelle Baker.

A new scientific book, commissioned by the British Ecological Society and published by Cambridge University Press, provides the first comprehensive and rigorous review of the rewilding concept.

Before humans knew they existed, tiny microbes were hard at work in helpful and sometimes not-so-helpful ways. “Microscopic organisms have influenced major historical events,” says Utah State University biologist Bonnie Waring.

Declines in native bee populations are widely reported, but can existing data really analyze these trends?

You would think that scientists would know how many species occur in an area, especially one as well-populated as Cache County.

What does your favorite wild animal, a wildebeest, a wolf, and a sea otter have in common? Among many similarities, these and other wild animals affect the carbon cycle.

How do you tackle a wicked problem like climate change? The truth is there are no easy answers.

A weave of Utah State University international relationships has led to worldwide forest ecology research, the establishment of a consortium, and hopefully a better understanding of one of the world’s oldest and largest single organisms.

Roaming with bison in Custer, South Dakota or gawking at drop-dead vistas from Dead Horse Point, Utah … state parks in the United States offer spectacular scenery and seemingly endless acres of recreation opportunities.

The New York Times published a summary of research by Peter Howe, assistant professor in the Environment and Society Department at Utah State University, and his colleagues in the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Utah State University ecologists celebrated past and current achievements during the USU Ecology Center’s 50th Anniversary Luncheon and Symposium held Oct. 24, 2018.

Utah State University researchers Paul Rogers and Darren McAvoy have conducted the first complete assessment of the Pando aspen clone and the results show continuing deterioration of this 'forest of one tree.'

Joanna Endter-Wada and Karin Kettenring contributed a guest editorial to the October edition of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment on the value of wetlands to mitigate weather catastrophes.

Scientists get a bad rap for being poor communicators, says USU Physics alum and faculty member Rob Davies (Physics, MS’96, PhD ’99).

he cause-effect sequence or “feedback” between plants and their soil microbial communities plays an important role in structuring plant communities. To predict this synergistic coexistence, researchers conduct short-term, pairwise experiments — measuring ...