The rusty patched bumblebee became the first-ever bumblebee species to be protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act this week, and the first wild bee of any kind in the…
The world’s largest reforestation scheme may offer only marginal benefits for — or diminish — biodiversity, a study released earlier this month in Nature Communications revealed. A team of international…
mong the myriad impacts climate change is having on the world, one in particular may come as a surprise: heightened atmospheric CO2 levels might be adversely affecting the nutritional quality…
An in-depth look at our pollinators raises major concerns about world food supply [NPR] A report sponsored by the U.N., pulled from approximately 3,000 scientific papers and revealed that 40…
Commercial farms can benefit from creating exclusive spaces for wildlife on field edges, a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found. “It is possible…
According to a comprehensive new study published in the journal Science, bumblebees are particularly vulnerable to climate change disruptions. Historical bumblebee ranges have shrunk on their extreme southern edge, while…
A bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) covered in pollen. Photo by: P7r7/Creative Commons 3.0 Saving the world's pollinators may be a public health issue, according to recent research from Harvard and the…
Monarch butterfly population is second lowest on record The shrinking of the migrating monarch butterfly population. Image by: WWF. The world's migrating monarch butterfly population has bounced back slightly from…
First female Dakota skipper reared at the Minnesota Zoo. Photo by: Erik Runquist/Minnesota Zoo. This fall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added two little-known prairie butterflies to the Endangered…
While unpleasant car exhaust makes us wrinkle our noses, such human-made fumes may pose serious problems to insects searching for nectar. Researchers recently revealed that background odors make finding flowers…
In recent years the evidence has piled up that neonicotinoids—a hugely popular group of pesticide—may be at least partly responsible for ongoing bee and pollinator collapse. But new research in…
Scientists have discovered that blueberry plants visited by more diverse bee species increased their seed number, berry size and fruit set, and quickened their ripening time. They hope their findings…
Also see our Top 10 Environmental Stories of 2013. The discovery of a new tapir species is number seven in our first ever Top 10 List of Happy Environmental Stories.…
In a large room that used to house aquatic mammals at the Minnesota Zoo, Erik Runquist holds up a vial and says, "Here are its eggs." I peer inside and…
Conservationist’s faced a crushing blow last month as two butterfly species native to Florida were declared extinct. "Occasionally, these types of butterflies disappear for long periods of time but are…
Europe's grassland butterfly population has plummeted in the past two decades, new research published on Tuesday shows, with a near halving in the numbers of key species since 1990. The…
A shocking new study finds that losing just one pollinator species could lead to major declines in plant productivity, a finding that has broad implications for biodiversity conservation. Looking at…
A widely used insect nerve agent has been labelled a "high acute risk" to honeybees by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A similar assessment by the EFSA on three…
Nearly a third of managed honeybee colonies in America died out or disappeared over the winter, an annual survey found on Wednesday. The decline—which was far worse than the winter…
The EU has banned three neonicotinoid pesticides (imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam) linked to the decline of bees for two years. The ban will apply to all flowering crops, such as…
Sprinkled with pollen, buzzing bees fly from one blossom to another, collecting sweet nectar from brilliantly colored flowers. Bees tend to symbolize the pollination process, but there are many wild…
Honey bee (Apis mellifera) collecting pollen. Photo by: Jon Sullivan. Exposure to commonly used pesticides directly disrupts brain functioning in bees, according to new research in Nature. While the study…
Honey bee (Apis mellifera) collecting pollen. Photo by: Jon Sullivan. Following a flood of damning research on the longterm impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee colonies, the EU is proposing…
Honeybees in an apiary in Germany. Photo by: Björn Appel. The evidence that common pesticides may be partly to blame for a decline in bees keeps piling up. Several recent…
Following research linking neonicotinoid pesticides to the decline in bee populations, France has announced it plans to ban Cruiser OSR, an insecticide produced by Sygenta. Recent studies, including one in…
Corn growing in Colombia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. In general, industrial agriculture beats organic farming in yields, according to a comprehensive new study in Nature. The study adds new…
Honeybees in an apiary in Germany. Photo by: Björn Appel. Scientists with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have re-created the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder in several honeybee hives…
A honeybee tagged with an RFID microchip for tracking its movements. Photo © Science/AAAS. Commonly used pesticides may be a primary driver of the collapsing bee populations, finds two new…
Rainforest leaves in Uganda. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. To read last year's Earth Day article: World failing on every environmental issue: an op-ed for Earth Day. There is no…
Honeybees in an apiary in Germany. Photo by: Björn Appel. May Berenbaum knows a thing or two about insects: in recognition of her lifelong work on the interactions between insects…
