Some plants—invasive or not—secrete biochemicals that inhibit the growth and development of neighboring plant species, giving them an advantage over the competition.

It is, most unusually, a deciduous conifer, the only one native to North America, apart from the bald cypress.

Lichens are not only a distinctive pleasure to see, but also a marvel to contemplate and understand–a single living thing, but also many in one, clothing the earth.

Woodpeckers are common enough – they are found almost everywhere in the world – that it is easy to forget that they are marvels of natural engineering.

Connected habitats are critical for the daily and seasonal movements of wildlife amid the ever-growing encroachment of humanity.

A rich, peculiar, and dynamic life history is unfolding out of our view.

If the oak was revered because it was the giant of the European old-growth forest, then the elder may have been deified for precisely the opposite reason.

The efficient savagery of the peregrine is in curious tension with its poetic name.

The bewildering systematics and semantics of Black Ratsnakes

A species full of peculiar and wonderful adaptations

North America has more than 4,000 species of wild native bees—more than twice the number of bird and mammal species combined.

There’s at least one ancient monster that is known to live in Cayuga Lake: the lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens).

What does it all mean? Why do birds sing? How? And how can we figure out who exactly is singing what?

Sometimes, the only warm-colored brushstrokes in this austere landscape are the maroon berry clusters of the staghorn sumac.

Unseen and deadly, ambush bugs are waiting. And they are everywhere.

They’re even more spectacular shapeshifters than our other local amphibians.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is much more than a charming little curiosity or a spark of glittering color.

Our local otter species is the North American river otter (Lontra canadensis).

The lowliest of critters play an indispensable role in sustaining nature.

We don’t know if trees share news about happy events, but they regularly warn each other about the imminent dangers of pests, herbivores, and drought.