When ecological genomicist Christian Voolstra started work on corals in Saudi Arabia in 2009, one of the biggest bonuses to his job was scuba diving on the gorgeous reefs.

In a study published in PLOS ONE, the researchers show for the first time that artificial transgenes from a variety of genetically modified animals like fruit flies, mice, and tetra fish can be detected and sequenced from the DNA left behind in soil, water, and in the form of feces, urine, or saliva.

You can’t see it happening. But what goes on below ground in a forest is very important in determining its fate.

Corals are the foundation species of tropical reefs worldwide, but stresses ranging from overfishing to pollution to warming oceans are killing corals and degrading the critical ecosystem services they provide.

A study by an international group of researchers shows that interaction between communities of plankton – microorganisms that live at the bottom of the food chain in the oceans and supply most of the planet’s oxygen – will be affected by climate change in different ways depending on location.

About 175 000 plant species – half of all flowering plants – mostly or completely rely on animal pollinators to make seeds and so to reproduce.

The recent discovery of a sleeper fish in Akita Prefecture, Japan, by researchers from the University of Tsukuba is a first for this area and the northernmost record for this species.

This discovery opens up cost-effective routes to monitoring, reporting, and verifying land management incentive schemes, such as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ new Environmental Land Management scheme.

China has broken ground on a massive 100-gigawatt renewable energy project, larger than all solar and wind installations in India combined, President Xi Jinping announced Tuesday, by video link, at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China.

Researchers from the Harry Butler Institute have warned of a loss of stream fauna in Southwestern Australia as permanent streams dry out each year.