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Researchers: Pesticides and adjuvants disrupt honey bee’s sense of smell

Grad School Student working on research
It has long been known that exposure to pesticide sprays is harmful to honey bees. In a new study, researchers have uncovered the effect of such sprays on the sense of smell in bees, which could disrupt their social signals.Honey bees live in dynamic communities and constantly communicate with each...

New study indicates C4 crops less sensitive to ozone pollution than C3 crops

An aerial view of the SoyFACE research facility
Ozone (O3) in the troposphere negatively impacts crop growth and development, causing significant decreases in crop yield worldwide. This airborne pollutant does not come directly from smokestacks or vehicles, but instead is formed when other pollutants, mainly nitrogen oxides and volatile organic...

Single model predicts trends in employment, microbiomes, forests

an infographic line graph across a cityscape, a forest, and microbes under a magnifying glass
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report that a single, simplified model can predict population fluctuations in three unrelated realms: urban employment, human gut microbiomes and tropical forests. The model will help economists, ecologists, public health authorities and others predict and respond to...

Researchers find new carbon-capture potential

Basalt is applied to fields at the University of Illinois Energy Farm. (Photo courtesy of iSEE)
A five-year study at the University of Illinois Energy Farm found applying ground-up silicate rock to Midwestern farm fields can capture significant amounts of carbon dioxide and prevent it from accumulating in the atmosphere.Working with Eion Corp., researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana...

The Key to Species Diversity May Be in Their Similarities

graphic of plants in cog wheels
More than four decades ago, field ecologists set out to quantify the diversity of trees on a forested plot on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, one of the most intensively studied tracts of forest on the planet. They began counting every tree with a trunk wider than a centimeter.They identified the...

In Florida study, nonnative leaf-litter ants are replacing native ants

leaf-litter ants
A new look at decades of data from museum collections and surveys of leaf-litter ants in Florida reveals a steady decline in native ants and simultaneous increase in nonnative ants – even in protected natural areas of the state, researchers report.The study tracked leaf-litter ant abundance from...

Following in the footsteps of early 20th century naturalist Elizabeth Kerr

Juliana Soto, with a sooty ant tanager, Habia gutturalis
 I am walking in a forest and listening to a concert of birdsong at dawn. I pick one song out of the chorus – a fast chatter full of melodious whistles – the sound of the sooty ant tanager.“Today, we will probably get to know this bird up close,” I think. My colleagues and I set up and...