ecology – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:18:44 -0500 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-life-happen-when-theres-barely-any-light-20250129/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-life-happen-when-theres-barely-any-light-20250129/#respond Wed, 29 Jan 2025 15:03:45 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146074 The post How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Most of life’s engines run on sunlight. Photons filter down through the atmosphere and are eagerly absorbed by light-powered organisms such as plants and algae. Through photosynthesis, the particles of light power a cellular reaction that manufactures chemical energy (in the form of sugars), which is then passed around the food web in a complex dance of herbivores, predators, scavengers…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-life-happen-when-theres-barely-any-light-20250129/feed/ 0 The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-world-of-electrostatic-ecology-20240930/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-world-of-electrostatic-ecology-20240930/#respond Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:30:49 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=141862 The post The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a honeybee. In many ways, your world is small. Your four delicate wings, each less than a centimeter long, transport your half-gram body through looming landscapes full of giant animals and plants. In other ways, your world is expansive, even grand. Your five eyes see colors and patterns that humans can’t, and your multisensory antennae detect odors from distant…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-world-of-electrostatic-ecology-20240930/feed/ 0 Simple Equation Predicts the Shapes of Carbon-Capturing Wetlands https://www.quantamagazine.org/simple-equation-predicts-the-shapes-of-carbon-capturing-wetlands-20240528/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/simple-equation-predicts-the-shapes-of-carbon-capturing-wetlands-20240528/#respond Tue, 28 May 2024 14:09:01 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138158 The post Simple Equation Predicts the Shapes of Carbon-Capturing Wetlands first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> A visit to a peat bog will make you rethink everything you know about the surface of our planet. A bog is land, sort of, but not in the solid-ground sense you’re used to. If you try walking across one’s surface, you may feel the soft organic muck known as peat undulate beneath you — or you may sink into it yourself. From the surface, it’s hard to know whether the waterlogged peat extends 3 feet…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/simple-equation-predicts-the-shapes-of-carbon-capturing-wetlands-20240528/feed/ 0 Ecologists Struggle to Get a Grip on ‘Keystone Species’ https://www.quantamagazine.org/ecologists-struggle-to-get-a-grip-on-keystone-species-20240424/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/ecologists-struggle-to-get-a-grip-on-keystone-species-20240424/#respond Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:27:09 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=137485 The post Ecologists Struggle to Get a Grip on ‘Keystone Species’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Anne Salomon’s first week as a graduate student in 2001 was not what she had anticipated. While other new students headed to introductory lectures, Salomon was whisked away by van and then motorboat to Tatoosh Island, which sits just offshore of the northwestern tip of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Among the tide pools of this isolated island, Salomon peered at the web of life on the rocks…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/ecologists-struggle-to-get-a-grip-on-keystone-species-20240424/feed/ 0 The Quest for Simple Rules to Build a Microbial Community https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-quest-for-simple-rules-to-build-a-microbial-community-20240117/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-quest-for-simple-rules-to-build-a-microbial-community-20240117/#respond Wed, 17 Jan 2024 15:26:05 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=134092 The post The Quest for Simple Rules to Build a Microbial Community first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Bacteria don’t throw dinner parties or tell jokes, but they are social in their own way. When the presence of food gives them an opportunity to grow, reproduce and evolve, they will rapidly, even eagerly, form communities. Like a port city springing up along a waterway, a diverse community of bacteria and other microbes will recognize a good situation for growth and build itself up.

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