Biodiversity
Site news
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An analysis of shark tooth shapes, a proxy for body size and diet, reveals species with specialized traits are most at risk of extinction. The findings are the latest example of the biodiversity crisis affecting the tree of life’s most distinctive branches. Unless threats like overfishing are addressed, “you end up with a more boring world.”
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New analysis of isotopes preserved in ancient seafloor sediments suggests oxygen levels in Earth’s deep ocean stabilized at modern-day levels long after the rapid burst of evolution that gave us most major animal groups.
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Projects in Armenia, the People’s Republic of China, the Cook Islands, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka have integrated nature’s benefits to people in policy, lending, and operational decisions.
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Climate change has already contributed substantially to the global burden of dengue fever, a new study finds. Over 260 million people live in places where dengue incidence is expected to more than double due to climate change by mid-century. The findings could help with public health planning and developing ways to mitigate such risks.
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Stanford researchers discovered that a nearly forgotten variety of black peas from the northwest Himalayas in India is genetically distinct from other peas and outperforms them.
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Erin Mordecai, a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, studies mosquitos to understand how climate change is affecting the spread of infectious diseases and uses mathematical modeling to predict future outbreaks.
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Scientists have long known that biodiversity has increased over geological time, but corresponding trends for the sheer abundance of living things have never been calculated, until now. The findings add to data suggesting that conserving biodiversity is essential for the health of humans and our planet.
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A new water market model for the Colorado River basin could improve water security and restore ecosystems amid intensifying shortages.
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Stanford research shows that large, efficient scavengers are disappearing globally, allowing carrion to persist longer and creating opportunities for disease-carrying species like rodents to proliferate.
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Stanford-led study finds small-scale tree cover in Costa Rica boosts biodiversity while limiting dangerous mosquito species
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As a recipient of a TomKat Graduate Fellowship for Translational Research, PhD student Lauren Gillespie develops tools for estimating biodiversity in ecosystems.
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Supported by the Stanford School of Medicine, the School of Engineering and the Doerr School of Sustainability, a symposium on May 7 focused on ways synthetic biology can promote a sustainable world.
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Bioengineering professor Michael C. Jewett shares how Stanford researchers are working with the building blocks of biology to produce greener chemicals, more climate-resilient agriculture, and new ways to repurpose food waste.
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New research shows that when predator species like California sheephead thrive, they keep hungry sea urchins and other grazers from devouring kelp forests struggling to recover from marine heat waves. Scientists estimate kelp forests’ annual exposure to once-rare heat will more than quintuple by 2100.
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Factors affecting the survival of the California native trees are more complex than previously understood, with deer and seedling-supporting “nurse plants” playing unexpected roles.
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For millions of years after the end-Permian mass extinction, the same few marine survivor species show up as fossils all over the planet. A new study reveals what drove this global biological uniformity.
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The newly renovated space offers Stanford researchers the rare opportunity to study the cellular and molecular structures of marine organisms that hold clues to the evolution of life, right on the shores of the ocean where it all started.
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Between 1997 and 2024, endangered North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles shifted their foraging northward at a rate six times faster than the average for most marine species. The turtles face risks as they adapt to ocean warming caused by climate change.
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Expanding Indigenous stewardship of public lands and understanding how one of the American West’s most drought-resilient forests will respond to climate change are among the goals of a collaborative project involving university researchers, tribal nations, and government agencies.
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Stanford scientists have discovered multiple forms of a ubiquitous enzyme in microbes that thrive in low-oxygen zones off the coasts of Central and South America. The results may open new possibilities for growing crops with fewer resources and understanding ocean carbon storage.
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A new study shows that while Colombia is protecting biodiversity and cultural diversity, both remain mostly inaccessible to tourists.
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Natural Capital Project scientists share thoughts on the growing global coalition aiming to sustain nature and a livable planet, and its intersections with climate change.
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Kabir Peay wants to leverage the relationship between plants and the beneficial fungi that colonize their roots to help ecosystems weather climate change.
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A Stanford fraternity is restoring native California coastal habitats and redefining what it means to be part of Greek life, one plant at a time.
