To help insects, here"s how to make them welcome in your garden
As winter phases into spring across the U.S., gardeners are laying in supplies and making plans. Meanwhile, as the weather warms, common garden insects such as bees, beetles and butterflies will emerge from underground burrows or nests within or on p.....»»
New research reveals what can make a home garden program successful
Increasingly, home gardens—small, cultivated plots in backyards or nearby households—are gaining recognition as one of the most promising strategies to reduce malnutrition. However, not all attempts to establish home gardens are successful or abl.....»»
Low stream diatom biodiversity potentially decreases stream oxygen production in remote islands
Benthic diatoms are the most important and biodiverse primary producers in streams and comprise the basis for the food webs, fueling animals such as insects and stream fishes including trout......»»
Ants learned to farm fungi during a mass extinction
Ants learned to work with fungi back in a world where only fungi could thrive. We tend to think of agriculture as a human innovation. But insects beat us to it by millions of year.....»»
Plants have a backup plan to pass down accurate chromosome copies
Tending a garden is hard work. Imagine it from the plants' perspective. Each relies on fine-tuned genetic processes to pass down accurate copies of chromosomes to future generations. These processes sometimes involve billions of moving parts. Even th.....»»
Citizen scientists create buzz with new insect discovery
More than 60% of Australia's known insects are unnamed and a mystery to science. Of an estimated 500,000 Australian species, roughly half are insects, but many aren't categorized......»»
Fungi to the rescue: South African scientists use innovative approach to protect apple trees
Gardeners the world over dread the appearance of aphids on their plants. There are around 4,000 species of these sap-sucking insects and about 250 are pests that can wreak havoc on crops in a garden or orchard......»»
Earth"s greatest mass extinction 250 million years ago shows what happens when El Niño gets out of control
Around 252 million years ago, the world suddenly heated up. Over a geologically brief period of tens of thousands of years, 90% of species were wiped out. Even insects, which are rarely touched by such events, suffered catastrophic losses. The Permia.....»»
Edible insects show promise as sustainable nutritional source
As the global population grows and traditional livestock production increasingly strains environmental resources, there is a rising interest in alternative protein sources. Edible insects, particularly grasshoppers, are abundant in regions like Camer.....»»
"Art for insects" could help save pollinators
Gardens can become "living artworks" to help prevent the disastrous decline of pollinating insects, according to researchers working on a new project......»»
How viruses move through insects for transmission of diseases
Viruses are master parasites that have adapted to infect many host species. Some viruses even use multiple hosts to spread their infections—such as arboviruses that use insects to move their infections to mammalian hosts like humans. Understanding.....»»
Opinion: Planning smart and sustainable cities should not result in exclusive garden utopias for the rich
One of the big ideas of the 21st century, "smart cities" promised a new world of connected, data-driven and sustainable urbanism. Pervasive digital infrastructures would monitor flows from sewage to traffic to criminal activities, providing informati.....»»
The Mosquito-Borne Disease ‘Triple E’ Is Spreading in the US as Temperatures Rise
Eastern equine encephalitis, which has a high mortality rate, is becoming more common in North America as climate changes expands the habitats of insects......»»
Plant thermogenesis has played key role in attracting pollinating insects for at least 200 million years, study suggests
Thermogenesis is a process by which organisms generate internal heat. Although it is usually associated with animals, some plants have also developed this ability. This metabolic process allows certain parts of the plant, such as flowers and inflores.....»»
Bat population collapse linked to increased pesticide use and more than 1,000 infant deaths
Bats are considered a natural pesticide, widely relied on by farmers as an alternative to chemical pesticides to protect their crops from insects. But since 2006, many bat populations have collapsed in counties in North America due to an invasive fun.....»»
Miniature treadmills accelerate studies of insects walking
Fruit flies walking on miniature treadmills are helping scientists learn how the nervous system enables animals to move in an unpredictable and complex world......»»
Soil pollution surpasses climate change as top threat to underground biodiversity, study finds
Earthworms, insects and mites are all at risk from soil pollution, and scientists are worried that we know very little about the damage it's causing......»»
Providing blooms all season long may be key to attracting pollinators, no matter what landscape is near your garden
A diverse and abundant flower planting that provides flowers in bloom all season may be more important to bees and other pollinators than whatever is surrounding the flower garden, according to a study published September 4, 2024 in PLoS ONE by Devon.....»»
Are Earth"s missing millions of undescribed insect species extinction-prone?
In new research, Griffith ecologists have highlighted the millions of insects that remain undiscovered and unnamed by scientists were likely to be more vulnerable to extinction than named species......»»
Novel technique allows malicious apps to escape iOS and Android guardrails
Web-based apps escape iOS "Walled Garden" and Android side-loading protections. Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Phishers are using a novel technique to trick iOS and Android users into installing malicious apps that bypas.....»»
Comparing methods for extracting edible protein from mealworms
Edible insects are emerging as an alternative protein source that has various benefits compared with conventional animal sources. New research published in the Journal of Food Science compared four different methods for extracting protein from mealwo.....»»