Stock photo of hands in the dirt

What lives in your dirt?

Jan. 24, 2018

Compiling the first global atlas of soil bacteria, researchers have identified a group of around 500 key species that are both common and abundant worldwide.

Kaia

Standing up to madness, for decades

Nov. 30, 2017

For more than three decades, a mentally ill man has single-mindedly harassed, threatened and terrorized Kaia Anderson and her family. Her case helped strengthen Colorado's stalking law. Now she's telling her full story.

milkweed

Antelope horns milkweeds grow in intermittent streambeds on the Colorado Plateau

Nov. 20, 2017

Last May, I went to the Maze District in Canyonlands National Park to enjoy its unique scenery unusual natural history. On two epic hikes, we encountered a somewhat rare species of milkweed that has turned out to be unusual.

Weevil

Biocontrol weevil appears out of control

Nov. 6, 2017

Biological control of pest species evokes both high hopes and deep fears. On the one hand, one might achieve a simple, efficient and economic solution to a problem. On the other hand, the control agent may switch from its intended host to one or several unintended native species.

Painted lady image

A prolonged migration of painted ladies

Oct. 20, 2017

We have been immersed in a large and prolonged migration of painted lady butterflies. On a small scale, it does not appear to be a migration, for the flight of individual butterflies appears undisciplined and erratic, unlikely to be a purposeful movement to a common destination.

Pink Flowers on Ridge

Researchers to create digital archive of Rocky Mountain plants

Sept. 13, 2017

CU Boulder researchers have been awarded $2.9 million from the NSF to create a comprehensive digital archive of native plants in the southern Rocky Mountain region.

fir

Third epidemic in a decade: fir engravers killing white fir

Sept. 8, 2017

Ouray’s amphitheater is formed by walls of rich red sandstone draped with the deep green of several species of conifers, but now, the magnificent amphitheater is sullied with the red of dying white fir, Abies concolor. Another bark beetle epidemic has begun.

fir

Coincidence of large cone crops and winds results in conifer blowdown

Sept. 5, 2017

I had chosen a dispersed camping site on the Uncompahgre Plateau for its proximity to a small reservoir and a large meadow. But when I drove into the site, I found it was littered, not with refuse, but with tops of subalpine firs.

Nambian Fairy Circle

Solving the ecological mystery of Africa’s fairy circles

Aug. 22, 2017

A team of CU Boulder scientists is working to unlock a longstanding ecological mystery: barren patches of ground in Africa's grasslands known as fairy circles.

Caterpillar

No microbes? No problem for caterpillars

Aug. 22, 2017

Caterpillars have far less bacteria and fungi inhabiting their guts than other organisms, making them an evolutionary oddity in the animal kingdom.

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