articles

As climate change is expected to lead to more frequent periods of drought, researchers are increasingly working to make discoveries that can help plants adapt to prolonged water stress.

The idea that climate change and geological events can shape evolution isn’t a new one: anyone who’s heard of dinosaurs knows that a big change in the environment (like, say, a meteor hitting the Earth 66 million years ago and causing a chain reaction of storms, earthquakes, cold, and darkness) can dictate how animals live, die, and evolve. 

Ecosystem ecology studies often focus on what’s happening to plants above ground, for instance exploring photosynthesis or water loss in leaves. 

Dormant strains of bacteria that have previously adapted to cope with certain temperatures are switched back on during climatic change, according to a report published today in eLife.

Global warming and ocean acidification are threatening marine organisms, such as corals, bryozoans, molluscs, sea urchins or crustaceans, that build their skeletons and shells with calcium carbonate (chalk) according to a new study published this week in the journal Ecography.