Scientists from Princeton University and Uppsala University in Sweden have identified a specific gene that within a year helped spur a permanent physical change in a finch species in response to a drought-induced food shortage. The findings provide a genetic basis for natural selection that, when combined with observational data, could serve as…

We think of chitchat and small talk as the things people say to pass the time or kill an awkward silence. New research suggests, however, that these idle conversations could be a social-bonding tool passed down from primates.

Christina Riehl, a Princeton University assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was, as a Princeton graduate student, the first to study and document the extraordinary breeding and nesting behavior of the greater ani bird species. This fall, Riehl returned to Princeton to explore the reproductive costs and benefits of group…

It’s easy to think of plants as passive features of their environments, doing as the land prescribes, serving as a backdrop to the bustling animal kingdom.

But what if the ecosystems of the world take their various forms because plant “decisions” make them that way? A new theory…

Africa’s abundant and iconic wildlife provides seemingly endless wonderment. For ecologists, that has extended to the persistent riddle of how the African savanna’s diverse population of herbivores — from elephants and zebras to impalas and buffalo — survive on what appears to be limited food sources: mostly grasses or mostly trees.

…

While African wildlife often run afoul of ranchers and pastoralists securing food and water resources for their animals, the interests of fauna and farmer might finally be unified by the “Sodom apple,” a toxic invasive plant that has overrun vast swaths of East African savanna and pastureland.

Students in Robert Pringle's undergraduate Ecology and Evolutionary Biology course had a chance to try conveying science to a broad audience in a way that is understandable, accurate and entertaining -- by creating animated short videos that focused on a wide variety of ecological challenges.

The Art of Science 2013 exhibit in the Friend Center on the Princeton University campus consists of 43 images of artistic merit created during the course of scientific research. The works, part of a recurring show now in its sixth iteration, were chosen from 170…

Tropical rain forests have been called the "jewels of the earth" due to the rich diversity found in their flora and fauna. La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica is a preserve where scientists conduct research on the rain forest's role in world ecology. Ants of many species enjoy nectar produced by Inga thibaudiana, a relatively small tree…

Leaves carry out photosynthesis in clusters of cells locally serviced by end-units of pipes that deliver water and take away sugar. The cells must be within diffusion distance of pores to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen. Diffusion may set an upper limit on the size of an efficient cluster, and quasi-fractal branching of pipelines may set a…