ecologists

Ecologist Olivia Sanderfoot at Cornell is developing a new research field she calls smoke ecology, studying how wildfire smoke affects birds hundreds of kilometers away from the flames. Birds breathe roughly twice as much air as humans per breath, and their rigid lungs and air sacs may make them especially vulnerable to smoke exposure far from fires.

Scientists say autumn foliage across the United States is shifting, with peak colors arriving later or appearing less vivid in many regions. Experts attribute the changes to warming temperatures, altered rainfall patterns and longer growing seasons, which stress trees and disrupt the usual timing of leaf color change, raising concern among ecologists and leaf-peeping communities.

Researchers are using collar-mounted sensors on wild animals to track how wildfires change their movements, habitat use and survival. The approach, described in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, offers detailed data on animal behaviour before, during and after burns, as scientists seek to understand the growing impact of fires on ecosystems.

Ecologist Ted Schuur, walking the edge of Smith Lake in Alaska, watched bubbles of methane surface from the muck — gas produced by decomposing plants and animals once locked in frigid permafrost. The scene illustrates how thawing permafrost is releasing a potent heat-trapping gas, a feedback loop scientists warn could accelerate global warming as Arctic temperatures climb.

Oyster Heaven is recruiting a Senior Ecologist focused on ecosystem services, with the opening listed on the Ocean Career jobs board. The role points to the company's work restoring oyster reefs and the growing demand for specialists who can quantify benefits such as water filtration, biodiversity gains and coastal protection. It is being circulated among marine and coastal conservation professionals looking for career opportunities in ecosystem restoration.

The journal Biological Diversity has announced a call for papers for a new special issue focused on decoding biodiversity through evolutionary mechanisms. The issue invites researchers to submit work exploring how evolutionary processes shape species diversity, patterns of distribution, and ecosystem variation. The announcement is circulating among biologists, ecologists, and evolutionary scientists looking for publication opportunities on the topic.

Scientists are examining why numerous animal species appear to be shifting their ranges toward hotter regions rather than cooler ones, a pattern that runs counter to expectations that wildlife would flee warming temperatures. Researchers are exploring possible explanations, including habitat loss, competition and the way climate change reshapes ecosystems, and the counterintuitive trend is drawing attention among ecologists studying how species adapt to a rapidly changing planet.