With the advent of genomic sequencing and genetic analysis in the 1990s, our understanding of the relationships between different microorganisms fundamentally changed. In light of this new knowledge, ...

It wouldn’t make much sense to prohibit people from shooting a threatened woodpecker while allowing its forest to be cut down, or to bar killing endangered salmon while allowing a dam to dry out their ...

Now, critical habitat can include areas where a protected species doesn’t live but could find hospitable. The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries today rescinded a Trump-era definition of ...

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. The Trump administration is proposing to change the definition of “harm” under the regulation of the Endangered Species Act. For decades ...

The question of what defines a species has vexed scientists across the ages, particularly in conservation, where decisions require a firm understanding of biodiversity. When you purchase through links ...

A koala bear isn’t actually a bear, it’s a marsupial. Whales aren’t fish, they’re mammals. Tomatoes aren’t vegetables, they’re fruit. Almost nothing is actually a nut. Peanuts, brazil nuts, cashews, ...

In “Defining ‘species’ is a fuzzy art” (SN: 11/11/17, p. 22), Susan Milius asked scientists to define “species.” Schoolbooks may define the concept as a group of organisms that create fertile ...

Conservation decisions based on population counts may fail to protect large, slow-breeding animals from irrevocable decline, according to new research. Conservation decisions based on population ...

Interspecific competition is an important driver of community assembly in plants and animals, but phylogenetic evidence for interspecific competition in bacterial communities has been elusive. This ...