How much are the seas ultimately going to rise is a question scientists are still struggling to answer. To understand the polar ice sheets' sensitivity to current global warming, we draw on evidence from periods in the geologic record when Earth's climate was warmer than... click to read more

Nature is a vital service provider for agriculture in many ways. Fruit trees and other pollinator-dependent crops are pollinated by wild insects like bumblebees, solitary bees, or flies. Other insects like predatory ladybugs or ground beetles eat pests that would otherwise damage or even destroy... click to read more

Polar ice sheets are sensitive indicators of Earth's changing climate. They have evolved and changed over the last 50 million years in response to a long-term cooling trend that resulted from decreasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, ultimately producing the ice sheets we see today.... click to read more

Recent studies have demonstrated that insect populations are in decline. These declines represent serious concern because of the valuable ecosystem services provided by beneficial insects, such as pollination, biological control, nutrient cycling, and providing food sources to higher trophic levels in the food web. One... click to read more

The mud that accumulates at the bottom of lakes contains a rich archive of past environments, in part because it preserves much of what is buried with it. It preserves pollen grains that tell us what plants were growing in the watershed. It also preserves... click to read more