species

Extinction is a natural part of life on Earth. But occasionally, extinction rates have surged far beyond usual levels, driving mass extinction events that have reshaped the trajectory of life.

A new study of tree biodiversity estimates that Earth boasts 14 percent more tree species than previous efforts have identified.

The discovery that what was long believed to be one fly species is actually two deepens researchers’ understanding of plant-pollinator relationships in a unique habitat in southern Africa.

More than two-thirds of mammals in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula went extinct during the Eocene-Oligocene transition some 30 million years ago, a study finds.

The newly characterized “elegant jellyfish,” roughly the size of a human hand, had been on display in two aquariums in Japan for more than a decade.

The genome sequences of 51 giraffes from all over Africa contribute to the latest attempt in an ongoing pursuit to pin down a species number.

A tidy-up of a New Zealand storage room led to the sale of naming rights for three new-to-science Galápagos Islands species.

The offspring of crosses between related species can sometimes fill a new environmental niche, and such hybridizations may even lead to speciation.

With modern technologies unearthing novel bacterial and archaeal species by the dozens, hundreds, or even thousands, manually naming them all is no longer practical, scientists say.

The Field Museum researcher and biology instructor, who died of complications associated with COVID-19, used DNA sequencing to identify new species of plants and birds.

See a world of undersea splendor through the lens of Richard Smith.

Enforcement of the Endangered Species Act will be altered, easing protections for the most critically threatened plants and animals.

Gulf killifish have made a stunning comeback in Houston with the help of genetic mutations imported from interspecies mating with Atlantic killifish.

A survey reveals the disease has decimated populations in Central and South America and tropical Australia and contributed to the extinction of 90 species.

After the reported birth of CRISPRed babies in China, experts want to take time to consider the scientific, social, ethical, and philosophical consequences of editing heritable human DNA.

These Type D killer whales have blunter heads and a different color pattern than other orcas. A new species designation hinges on the results of genetic testing.

Chelonoidis phantasticus, or the Fernandina giant tortoise, was feared extinct until an expedition found a lone female in a remote area on the island of Fernandina.

Four decades after it was thought to have disappeared in the wild, scientists have found a single female Wallace’s giant bee in Indonesia.

China’s ongoing Belt and Road Initiative passes through areas that are already at risk of swapping organisms.