Light pollution is disrupting the seasonal rhythms of plants and trees, lengthening pollen season in US cities

Artificial light is upending trees’ ability to use the natural day-night cycle as a signal of seasonal change.

Yuyu Zhou, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, Iowa State University • conversation
July 12, 2022 ~5 min

January warm spells, March freezes: How plants manage the shift from winter to spring

Trees and shrubs in cold-weather climates rely on certain signals, such as temperature and light, to know when to leaf out and bloom. Climate change is scrambling those signals.

Richard B. Primack, Professor of Biology, Boston University • conversation
March 4, 2021 ~9 min


Citizen scientists are filling research gaps created by the pandemic

COVID-19 kept many scientists from doing field research in 2020, which means that important records will have data gaps. But volunteers are helping to plug some of those holes.

Kathleen Prudic, Assistant Professor of Citizen and Data Science, University of Arizona • conversation
Feb. 3, 2021 ~10 min

How animals are coping with the global 'weirding' of the Earth's seasons

New research on marmots in the US reveals how the topsy-turvy seasons are causing havoc among wildlife.

Line Cordes, Lecturer in Marine Population Ecology, Bangor University • conversation
July 8, 2020 ~6 min

COVID-19 is eroding scientific field work – and our knowledge of how the world is changing

The COVID-19 pandemic is interrupting scientific field work across North America, leaving blank spots in important data sets and making it harder to track ecological change.

Casey Setash, PhD student in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University • conversation
May 19, 2020 ~9 min

Spring is arriving earlier across the US, and that's not always good news

Climate change has advanced the arrival of spring by as much as several weeks in some parts of the US. This can mean major crop losses and disconnects between species that need each other to thrive.

Theresa Crimmins, Director, USA National Phenology Network, University of Arizona • conversation
March 4, 2020 ~7 min

/

2