Ecosystem engineers News

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Beavers act as ecosystem engineers, building dams that can transform small rivers into more complex wetlands that can support higher levels of biodiversity.

Beavers brought a volcanic wasteland back to life. Now it’s under threat

Isabel Gil 10 Jul 2026
A leafy sea dragon among seagrass in South Australia. Image by Jayne Jenkins / Ocean Image Bank

Australia’s seagrass meadows under pressure as climate change turns up the heat

Sean Mowbray 3 Jul 2026
The composition of Queensland’s rainforests would change without cassowaries dispersing seeds, and some plants may become greatly restricted or even threatened with extinction. Image by the Gondwana Rainforest Trust.

Amid efforts to save Australia’s southern cassowaries, their numbers remain unknown

Cooper Williams 26 May 2026
A fan mussel (Pinna nobilis) in a Neptune grass meadow. Image by Arnaud Abadie via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

A French city cut its marine pollution — and its seagrass bounced back

Edward Carver 7 Apr 2026
A forest elephant near Ngounié, Gabon. Image by marcusgmeiner via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Poaching down but threats remain for forest elephants, recent population assessment finds

Spoorthy Raman 5 Jan 2026
A beaver explores its new home at Tásmam Koyóm in 2023.

California learns from its beaver reintroductions

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Oct 2025
A beaver explores its new home at Tásmam Koyóm in 2023.

When does beaver reintroduction make sense?

John Cannon 23 Sep 2025
A beaver swimming in a pond just after its release at Tásmam Koyóm in northern California.

Beavers restored to tribal lands in California benefit ecosystems

John Cannon 15 Sep 2025
Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).

Canada’s Pacific Coast hit hard by trawling, with limited transparency: Report

Edward Carver 14 Jul 2025
Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) in California.

The world’s kelp needs help — less than 2% is highly protected

Alexandra Talty 7 Feb 2025
Chemical lures designed to mimic the scent of ripe fruit have helped attract fruit-eating bats from the genus Carollia, such as Seba's short-tailed bat (C. perspicillata).

Lures that attract seed-dispersing bats could aid tropical reforestation

Sean Mowbray 30 Jan 2025
A red ghost crab in Teknaf.

The disappearing red ghost crabs of Cox’s Bazar, a conservation crisis in Bangladesh

Mahadi Al Hasnat 16 Oct 2024

Rhino poop draws all the deer (and boars and more) to the yard, study finds

Abhaya Raj Joshi 26 Jul 2024
One of the roughly 1,300 sacred Nara deer seen close up.

Messengers of the gods: Nara’s ‘sacred’ deer at a conservation crossroads

Annelise Giseburt 22 May 2024
Sea otters eating clams in California.

Where sea otters play, salt marshes stay, new study shows

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 7 Feb 2024
A black bear fishes for salmon.

Salmon and other migratory fish play crucial role in delivering nutrients

Ruth Kamnitzer 3 Jan 2024
A ranger planting a tree.

Wild by nature: Ecological restoration brings humanity and biodiversity together

Mike DiGirolamo, Rachel Donald 12 Dec 2023
Young beaver grooming itself. Image courtesy of Cheryl Reynolds via Wikimedia Commons.

NASA satellites reveal restoration power of beavers

Jeremy Hance 11 Sep 2023
A Luzon tarictic hornbill.

Online trade in Philippine hornbills threatens birds and forests

Jhesset O. Enano 29 Aug 2023
A red fox.

In the chain of species extinctions, AI can predict the next link to break

Abhishyant Kidangoor 22 Aug 2023
A group of elephants standing in mud and shallow water, pausing from digging for salt-rich mud in the Dzanga baï in the Sangha Rainforest in the Central African Republic. Image courtesy Jan Teede.

Congo Basin’s elephants boost carbon capture, but need salt-licks to survive

Leonie Joubert 15 Aug 2023
An Old English Longhorn at Knepp. Disturbance from large herbivores has restored this landscape by reactivating natural processes that foster healthy ecology.

From debt to diversity: A journey of rewilding, carbon capture and hope

Elizabeth Fitt 9 Aug 2023
Asian elephant in Krau Wildlife Reserve, Malaysia

Asian elephants’ picky diet helps shape their forest home, study shows

Carolyn Cowan 9 Aug 2023
Greville's bolete, which has a mycorrhizal relationship with larch trees.

Machine learning helps researchers identify underground fungal networks

Abhishyant Kidangoor 4 Aug 2023
Logging operation in the Amazon.

Timber harvests to meet global wood demand will bring soaring emissions: Study

Justin Catanoso 10 Jul 2023
A Baird's tapir walking at night through her natural habitat.

Rewilding animals could be key for climate: Report

Liz Kimbrough 30 Mar 2023
A white-lipped peccary.

Deforestation could pose disease threat to Amazon’s white-lipped peccaries

Sean Mowbray 22 Feb 2023
A man planting a tree.

Dollars and chainsaws: Can timber production help fund global reforestation?

Gianluca Cerullo 5 Jan 2023
Gumwood trees.

Meet the Millennium Forest: A unique tropical island reforestation project

Jeremy Hance 2 Nov 2022

Who decides on ‘priorities’ for ecosystem restoration?

John Cannon 2 Nov 2022
Musk oxen.

‘Nature has priority’: Rewilding map showcases nature-led restoration

John Cannon 11 Apr 2022

Loss of Sumatran rhinos leaves several plant species without a seed disperser

Anna Nordseth 2 Mar 2022

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