Discoveries

It is spring again, and that means that bees are buzzing about. Recently, two studies of bees have attempted to answer two basic questions – how honeybees fly and how bumblebees learn.…

Scientists have found that Christmas trees have more to offer people than just a dose of holiday cheer. In fact, one tree in particular, Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), has bark that…

Our regenerating forests may not be the panacea for mitigating global climate change that some experts once expected, say researchers in the journal Science. By sponging up vast amounts of the…

We’ve all heard that crows and jays are among the smartest of the avian crew. And we have all year to watch them excel, since they don’t fly south for the winter. But chickadees and…

If you have your window open right at this moment, you may hear it: a chickadee chick-ing and dee-ing away. Bird enthusiasts and even the rest of us think of the call primarily as a…

There is yet another invasive pest to beware of, says Cornell Extension Associate Dr. E. R. Hoebeke. Last September, he happened across the woodwasp Sirex noctilio (Fabricius) while searching…

Too often, innovations that have existed in the plant world for millennia are attributed to the human mind. A study of the bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), found in woodlands throughout New…

Humans have a long time to choose if, when, and how many times to reproduce. But many animals have short lives and must spend most of their time surviving and ensuring the perpetuation of…

You might have a hard time finding wild ginseng in the future woods, thanks to one of our most abundant herbivores: the white-tailed deer. Though deer populations are temporarily low in some…

Scientists have recently found that, when it comes to making offspring, American redstarts have good years and bad years. More specifically, a good year will likely be followed by a bad year,…

Two of the most important components of biodiversity are species diversity (how many species are out there) and genetic diversity (how wide a variety of genes are present in one species).…

Fragmentation of forests is one of the biggest threats facing animal populations in the Northeast. Some forest animals, especially amphibians, are considered to be especially vulnerable to…

The importance of forest cover along streams and rivers is not a new idea – we’ve likely all read that trees stabilize streambanks and prevent erosion, filter out runoff from…

Who knew that cowbirds could make good siblings? Well, decent ones, anyhow. Cowbird mothers are famous for laying their single eggs in the nests of other bird species, sometimes removing the…