Many gardeners know the key role milkweed (Asclepias) plays in bringing back declining numbers of monarch butterflies. But other species of Lepidoptera, other butterflies and moths need help, too.

Ecologists have long understood that the diversity of an ecosystem is at the heart of its stability. A groundbreaking discovery in the 1960s took it a step further and changed the way scientists ...

Ecologists have long understood food chains. The animal at the top, the prime predator in an ecosystem, was believed to be the most significant. That predator helped keep their prey in check. That ...

More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems. Has the powerful metaphor lost its mathematical meaning? Anne ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems Lesley Evans Ogden, Quanta Magazine In the late 1960s, Bob Paine ...