Acaena exigua NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.

ITIS Reports -- ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.

FWS Digital Media Library -- The U.S.<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-surface-slicks-create-superhighway-for-fish/"> Fish</a> and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video. Acaena exigua is an extinct species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common name liliwai. It was endemic to Hawaii, where it was known from Kauaʻi and west Maui. It had not been seen or collected since 1957 and was feared extinct until 1997, when one plant was discovered in a remote montane bog on <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=maui&amp;cvid=11f593b142284a109c4b71b63cd85874&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Maui</a>. The plant died in 2000, and the species is now considered extinct.Acaena exigua A. Gray var. subtusstrigulosa Bitter: Classification. Click on a scientific name below to expand it in the PLANTS Classification Report. Rank Scientific Name and Common Name; Kingdom: Plantae – Plants Subkingdom: Tracheobionta

Acaena exigua

Acaena exigua NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation...

Zanthoxylum hawaiiense NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/the-fall-rhapsody-in-ottawa/">Canada.</a> NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.Competition from alien plants; habitat destruction by cattle, goats, and sheep; limited numbers. Zanthoxylum hawaiiense (a'e) is a thornless tree usually 10-26 ft (3-7.9 m) tall with a trunk up to 10 in (25.4 cm) in diameter.

ITIS Reports -- ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=north+america&amp;cvid=e0fcbab5d0f1438ba258565e3a86d394&amp;aqs=edge.0.69i59j69i57j0l5.1719j0j9&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">North America</a> and the world.

FWS Digital Media Library -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video.Zanthoxylum hawaiiense, commonly known aʻe or Hawaiʻi pricklyash, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. It can be found at elevations of 550–1,740 m in dry forests, where it grows on lava flows, and mixed mesic forests on the Island of Hawaiʻi, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Zanthoxylum hawaiiense

Zanthoxylum hawaiiense NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is...

Zanthoxylum oahuense NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/mistastin-lake-in-labrador-canada/">Canada</a>. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.

ITIS Reports -- ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=north+america&amp;cvid=84f1e8e9658b4caea7e69e7c7dff2555&amp;aqs=edge.0.69i59j69i57j69i59j0j69i60l3.1774j0j9&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">North America</a> and the world. North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be described as the northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Because it is on the North American Tectonic Plate, Greenland is included as part of North America geographically. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), about 16.5% of the Earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population

FWS Digital Media Library -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video.

Zanthoxylum oahuense

Zanthoxylum oahuense NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is...

NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.ITIS Reports -- ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.FWS Digital Media Library -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video.

Zanthoxylum thomasianum

NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source...

Zizania texana NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/lake-st-clair-of-the-u-s-and-canada/">Canada.</a> NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.

ITIS Reports -- ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.

FWS Digital Media Library -- The U.S. <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=fish&amp;cvid=91f938cbd77c449aa5aeecec4dfa9db9&amp;aqs=edge.0.69i59j0l6.773j0j1&amp;pglt=43&amp;FORM=ANNTA1&amp;PC=HCTS">Fish</a> and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video. Zizania texana is a rare species of grass known by the common name Texas wild rice.

It is endemic to Texas, where it is found only on the upper San Marcos River in Hays County. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States. Texas wildrice Subordinate Taxa. This plant has no children Legal Status. Threatened and Endangered Information: This plant is listed by the U.S. federal government or a state. Common names are from state and federal lists. Click on a place name to get a complete protected plant list for that location.a rare and endangered species of aquatic grass, exists in the spring-fed headwaters of the San Marcos River within the city limits of San Marcos, Hays County, Texas. This unique plant is endemic to Texas and occurs, in the United States, naturally only in this location.

Zizania texana

Zizania texana NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is...

Sargassum seaweed is piling up on Florida’s beaches, and it’s making a dangerous journey for sea turtle hatchlings even riskier.



Every summer, the sand becomes a highway as thousands of tiny turtles burst from their nests and scramble toward the ocean. For most of them, this short sprint is the difference between life and death.



They’ve already beaten the odds just by hatching. Now, they must avoid predators, stay cool under the rising sun, and find the water before their strength runs out.



But this growing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sargassum-seaweed-a-growing-problem-could-become-a-sustainable-solution/">seaweed problem</a> is more than just beach clutter - it’s a new threat that’s slowing them down at a time when every second counts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-than-just-smelly-beach-junk">More than just smelly beach junk</h2>



Sargassum seaweed often washes up along Florida’s coast. It’s that brown, leafy stuff that starts to smell after a while. Out in the Atlantic, it floats in huge mats that provide habitat for marine life.



But when too much piles up on shore, sargassum seaweed creates a thick, tangled mess that’s hard for anything small to get through - including baby sea turtles.



Over the past few years, sargassum levels have exploded. Summer beachgoers aren’t the only ones frustrated. 



Sea turtle <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rainfall-impacts-the-size-of-sea-turtle-hatchlings/">hatchlings</a> are now struggling to cross these growing piles to reach the ocean. It’s not just an inconvenience. It’s a survival threat.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-how-turtles-navigate-the-sargassum">Testing how turtles navigate the sargassum</h2>



Until recently, no one had looked closely at how sargassum affects sea turtle hatchlings. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University (<a href="https://www.fau.edu/science/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FAU</a>) set out to investigate.



The team tested three species common in Florida: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/leatherback-sea-turtles-where-the-worlds-largest-turtles-go-to-eat/">leatherbacks</a>, loggerheads, and green turtles. These are the same turtles that nest on beaches from Boca Raton to Juno Beach.



The researchers built 50-foot (15 meter) crawlways in the sand and placed mats of loose sargassum up to 7.5 inches (19 centimeters) high - roughly the height of a large shoebox on end - at the finish line.



A dim light at the far end mimicked the natural glow over the ocean that hatchlings instinctively head towards. Then the team observed how the turtles responded.



The team measured how long it took for the turtles to reach the water, tracked whether they got flipped over while crawling through the seaweed, and even checked their blood sugar levels to see how much energy they were burning.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sargassum-slows-turtles-down">Sargassum slows turtles down </h2>



The results were clear. All three species took much longer to reach the ocean when sargassum was in the way. Leatherbacks were slowed by 54% with lighter sargassum, and 158% with heavier coverage.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/loggerhead-turtles-migrate-using-a-secret-thermal-corridor/">Loggerheads</a> saw a 91% delay in light coverage and 175% in heavy seaweed. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reintroduction-of-green-turtles-has-been-a-success-in-the-cayman-islands/">Green turtles</a> slowed by 75% and 159%, respectively.



Some turtles couldn’t even finish the crawl in time. The biggest delay came when hatchlings had to climb over the thick seaweed, which slowed them down to a crawl - literally.



“The longer a hatchling stays on the beach, the more at risk it becomes - not just from predators like birds and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-did-billions-of-crabs-vanish-from-the-bering-sea/">crabs</a>, but also from overheating and dehydration, especially after sunrise,” said Dr. Sarah Milton of the FAU Department of Biological Sciences.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7xqe2C6RR6I?feature=share"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/leatherback-hatchling_sargassum-seaweed-obstacles_FAU_1s.webp" alt="A leatherback hatchling navigates over sargassum on Juno Beach in July 2021. Credit: Abbey M. Appelt, Florida Atlantic University" class="wp-image-1986078"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A leatherback hatchling navigates over sargassum on Juno Beach in July 2021. Click image for video. Credit: Abbey M. Appelt, Florida Atlantic University</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-getting-stuck-and-flipped">Getting stuck and flipped</h2>



The sargassum didn’t just slow the turtles down. It threw them off balance. Hatchlings kept flipping over while trying to climb the mats. In some cases, it happened over and over.



One unlucky turtle flipped more than 20 times in a single trial. Every time that happened, it wasted time and energy, and made hatchlings easy targets for predators.



These juveniles only have a small window to make it to the water before heat and dehydration kick in.



“When sargassum piles are higher - some can be over a meter high on South Florida beaches in the summer and extend for hundreds of meters down the beach - we can expect more failed attempts, particularly when hatchlings have to cross multiple bands of <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/sargassum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seaweed</a> just to reach the ocean,” said Milton.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-sign-of-burnout-yet">No sign of burnout - yet</h2>



Even with all that effort, the turtles didn’t show signs of physical exhaustion - at least not in their blood sugar levels. Glucose remained in normal ranges for all three species, no matter how much seaweed they faced. 



Only leatherbacks in the no-crawl control group had noticeably higher glucose, which researchers say shows that crawling itself is demanding - but the sargassum didn’t drain them any faster, at least in the short term.



Still, that doesn’t mean it’s harmless.



“For sea turtle hatchlings, reaching the ocean is already a race against time – and survival. Now, increasingly large mats of sargassum are adding new challenges to this critical journey,” said Milton.



“As these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/robot-discovers-surprising-food-source-sargassum-for-deep-ocean-creatures/">seaweed accumulations</a> grow taller and more widespread, they risk blocking hatchlings entirely, draining their limited energy or leaving them stranded. Beyond impeding movement, sargassum may also reduce nesting space and alter incubation conditions.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sargassum-management-and-turtles">Sargassum management and turtles</h2>



Sargassum isn’t going away anytime soon. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-warming-broke-records-for-450-straight-days/">Warmer oceans</a> and nutrient runoff are fueling massive blooms across the Atlantic, and more of it is expected to hit Florida’s shores every year.



This growing issue isn’t just about beach aesthetics. It's quietly making a tough journey even tougher for baby turtles trying to survive their first few minutes of life.



Without changes in how beaches are maintained, these seaweed mats could keep getting in the way - and turtle populations may suffer down the line.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-24-00092.1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Coastal Research</a>.



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Sargassum seaweed is a deadly obstacle course for baby sea turtles

Sargassum seaweed is piling up on Florida’s beaches, and it’s...

Summer heat waves are becoming harsher across urban areas. Concrete, asphalt, and dense buildings trap heat, creating what scientists call the urban-heat-island effect.



For city dwellers, this translates into hotter days and nights, increased discomfort, and higher health risks. As global temperatures climb, researchers and planners are looking closely at natural ways to cool cities.



Urban trees are often viewed as allies against sweltering heat. Their shade can offer instant relief, while their leaves help cool air through evaporation. But new research shows that trees alone are not guaranteed to ease urban heat.



A study led by environmental engineers at <a href="https://ethz.ch/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH Zurich</a> and <a href="https://www.eawag.ch/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eawag</a> highlights that the key factor lies beneath the surface: soil moisture.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-water-drives-cooling-power">Water drives cooling power</h2>



The research investigated several neighborhoods in Zurich to measure cooling potential. Findings revealed that trees noticeably lower surrounding air temperatures only when the soil around them is moist. 



Dry soil limits their cooling power. The researchers also found that evaporation from the ground itself plays a vital role, working much like a damp sponge slowly drying out.



The study also compared city layouts. In Zurich’s less dense areas, where green space is more available, watered trees created zones with little heat stress. 



In compact neighborhoods, though, even extensive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heat-is-making-crop-harvests-wildly-unpredictable/">greening</a> had limits, especially during extreme heat. Cooling potential depends not only on vegetation but also on water supply and available space.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shade-evaporation-and-water">Shade, evaporation, and water</h2>



Cooling in cities comes mainly from two mechanisms: shade and evaporation. Shade reduces radiant heat from buildings and streets, while evaporation removes heat by transforming water into vapor. 



The ETH study found that shade was often the stronger cooling force, but irrigated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/warming-soils-release-more-carbon-than-plants-can-replace/">soils</a> added significant benefits through evaporation. Soil moisture kept leaves functioning, yet once temperatures climbed beyond certain thresholds, leaves closed their pores, reducing evaporative cooling. 



To maintain this cooling effect, steady irrigation was essential. For Zurich’s soil, bringing one cubic meter (about 35 cubic feet) from dry to optimal moisture required nearly 100 liters of water (about 26 gallons).



Daily upkeep ranged from 2 to 4 liters (0.5 to 1 gallon) per square meter during summer. Larger tree patches helped conserve water by shading the soil, while automated irrigation systems guided by weather forecasts offered a more efficient way to keep moisture levels stable.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-trees-heat-and-water">Balancing trees, heat, and water</h2>



The study also noted that water management must strike a balance. Heavy irrigation improves cooling but can increase flood risk if soils remain oversaturated.



Frequent, light watering combined with good drainage works better than heavy irrigation.



Another trade-off involves <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mixed-cover-crops-may-be-the-future-of-sustainable-farming/">mulching</a>. While mulch conserves water and benefits plants, it suppresses soil evaporation, which plays a key role in cooling at pedestrian level. The researchers suggest using tree grates as a compromise, allowing evaporation while still protecting roots.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cities-share-heat-lessons">Cities share heat lessons</h2>



Zurich’s case is not unique. Cities like Singapore and Melbourne have pioneered integrated blue-green infrastructure, combining water features with greenery to create cooler urban pockets. These efforts show that irrigation and vegetation design must work hand in hand. 



In desert cities such as Phoenix, irrigation of urban trees has already been shown to reduce local air temperatures by several degrees. Yet the challenge remains to balance cooling benefits with sustainable water use, especially in water-scarce regions.



"On heat-wave days in Zurich, it will not be possible to create heat shelters that fully solve heat by only using trees and water," said Lucas Gobatti, first author and doctoral student at ETH Zurich and Eawag.



During extreme events, even fully irrigated large tree patches could not eliminate heat stress.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preparing-for-extreme-heat">Preparing for extreme heat</h2>



The study stresses that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planting-trees-in-the-wrong-place-can-make-cities-hotter/">planting trees</a> without considering water supply and soil conditions will fall short. Intelligent water management, such as irrigation systems that adapt to rainfall and heat forecasts, is vital. 



But other measures must complement greenery, such as cooling centers, shaded public spaces, and indoor shelters.



"The city should also consider improving heat adaptation plans, following examples such as Barcelona, where citizens are given access to public buildings to cool down, rehydrate, and reduce heat exhaustion during heat waves," said Gobatti.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-green-meets-blue">Green meets blue</h2>



The findings reinforce that urban cooling requires combined strategies. Trees provide shade and comfort, but water management, species choice, and urban design play equally important roles. 



Future research is exploring how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/common-weed-may-lead-to-drought-resistant-crops/">drought-resistant</a> trees or varying planting patterns might influence cooling. 



What remains clear is that climate resilience in cities will depend on integrated approaches - green infrastructure paired with thoughtful water use and inclusive public-health planning.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-025-00220-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">npj Urban Sustainability</a>.



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Urban trees can cool cities, but only if they get enough water

Summer heat waves are becoming harsher across urban areas. Concrete,...

The Mojave Desert’s Joshua trees look timeless, but their future isn’t guaranteed. Despite being built for heat and drought, these long-lived yuccas are already showing signs of stress as temperatures rise and dry spells lengthen. Fewer young trees are making it past their first years, and the species’ range appears to be shrinking.&nbsp;



A new study led by a multi-institution team that includes <a href="https://uconn.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Connecticut</a> ecologist Karolina Heyduk asks a simple, crucial question: how much wiggle room do Joshua trees have to adapt? The answer points to a surprising ally - how they breathe at night.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-joshua-trees-in-a-warming-climate">Joshua trees in a warming climate </h2>



Most plants throw open microscopic pores on their leaves during the day to take in carbon dioxide for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/key-to-life-on-earth-photosynthesis-begins-on-the-quantum-level-with-a-single-photon/">photosynthesis</a>, but that comes with a cost: precious water escapes while the sun is blazing.&nbsp;



Some desert specialists dodge that trade-off by using a different playbook, called crassulacean acid metabolism, or CAM. CAM plants take in CO₂ at night when it’s cooler and stash it away until daylight returns to power sugar production.



“We sort of stumbled upon this idea that Joshua trees might use CAM photosynthesis,” Heyduk said. “Finding evidence of CAM in Joshua trees is great news - it may help the plants tolerate the warming climate across their range.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-common-gardens-uncommon-insights">Common gardens, uncommon insights</h2>



To see whether all Joshua trees play by the same rules - or whether some populations are naturally better tuned to today’s harsher conditions - the team established common garden test plots. 



The researchers grew seedlings from populations across the species’ ranges, including both recognized species, Yucca brevifolia and Yucca jaegeriana, side by side under the same conditions. That setup strips away local weather and soil differences, letting genetic and physiological differences rise to the surface.



As the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rainforests-replanted-seedlings-after-logging-do-not-recover-well/">seedlings</a> grew, the researchers tracked growth, water use, leaf gas exchange, and the chemical signatures that reveal when and how carbon is taken up.&nbsp;



The patterns were clear: many seedlings showed nighttime CO₂ uptake consistent with CAM, and the intensity of that CAM-like behavior varied among populations.&nbsp;



In other words, Joshua trees appear to have some built-in flexibility in how they photosynthesize, and some lineages lean into the night-shift strategy more than others.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genes-back-up-the-physiology">Genes back up the physiology</h2>



The team didn’t stop at leaf measurements. They looked under the hood - profiling gene activity and the metabolites plants stockpile when they run CAM.&nbsp;



“We’re bridging a lot of fields in biology,” Heyduk said. “We measured a lot of physiological traits, but we also looked at the gene expression of these plants in the gardens, and the accumulation of metabolites.”&nbsp;



The timing of gene activity matched expectations for CAM, bolstering the case that Joshua trees can switch - or at least blend - between daytime and nighttime <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-absorb-31-more-co2-than-previously-estimated/">carbon uptake</a>.&nbsp;



The two species also differed in how they process carbon and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nitrogen-was-plentiful-for-early-life-on-earth/">nitrogen</a>, hinting at deeper physiological distinctions that may help explain why both persist as separate lineages despite overlapping ranges and occasional hybrids.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-this-matters-for-conservation">Why this matters for conservation</h2>



If CAM capacity is real and variable, it could be a lifeline. Nighttime carbon uptake reduces water loss, a critical edge as the Mojave gets hotter and, importantly, as nights warm too.&nbsp;



But flexibility is only half the story - longevity complicates the rest. A mature Joshua tree can live for centuries; some living trees have experienced the entire arc of industrial-era climate change. The seedlings trying to establish today face a very different climate than the one their elders grew up in.



“We’re not focusing on desert species quite as much as other ecosystems,” Heyduk said. “I think partially that’s because we think they’re already adapted to the super-hot environment and they’ll be fine." 



"However, the deserts are getting hotter, and in particular the nighttime temperatures are getting hotter.” If nights stop offering relief, even CAM users may struggle.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heat-and-joshua-tree-survival">Heat and Joshua tree survival</h2>



One red flag is the lack of young trees. Fewer seedlings are making it to sapling stage, suggesting a new bottleneck right where populations renew themselves.&nbsp;



To test how temperature - especially warmer nights - affects survival, the team is now growing seedlings under tightly controlled conditions, dialing nighttime temperatures up and down to see how water use, growth, and CAM behavior respond. 



The goal is to pinpoint whether hotter nights are tipping the balance, and which populations cope best.



“What today’s seedlings are experiencing is going to be very different from what they might experience in 100 years when they’re mature plants,” Heyduk said. “We need to understand how they will respond to that change.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-collaborative-blueprint-for-action">A collaborative blueprint for action</h2>



This project is as much about method as it is about the Mojave. University researchers, federal scientists, and teams from primarily undergraduate institutions pooled fieldwork, greenhouse trials, physiology, genomics, and metabolomics. 



That breadth matters because it lets scientists connect genotype to phenotype - tying genetic differences to real-world traits that influence survival.



The immediate conservation takeaway is practical: not all Joshua tree populations are the same. Some may harbor greater CAM capacity or other physiological tweaks that make them better bets in a warming desert. Identifying and prioritizing those lineages - while protecting the habitats they occupy - could buy the species time.



Joshua trees won’t outpace <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-defy-climate-change-through-acclimation/">climate change</a> by migrating quickly; they don’t disperse far, and they don’t grow fast. But if they can lean on a night-shift photosynthesis strategy - and if we focus protection on the populations best at it - they may have a fighting chance to hold their ground as the Mojave’s thermostat keeps climbing.



The research is published in the journal the <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.70437" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New Phytologist</a>.



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Joshua trees have a hidden trick to survive climate change

The Mojave Desert’s Joshua trees look timeless, but their future...

A tiny desert flower with horn-like tips has been hiding in plain sight in West Texas. Scientists have confirmed Ovicula biradiata is both a new species and a new genus, a rare one two in botany.



The plant, informally called the woolly devil, sits within the <a href="https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/family/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Asteraceae</a> family, the same group as sunflowers and daisies. It turned up inside Big Bend National Park and surprised experts who know this rugged country well.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-finding-ovicula-biradiata">Finding Ovicula biradiata</h2>



Lead researcher <a href="https://rockdaisy.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Isaac H. Lichter Marck</a> works at the California Academy of Sciences (<a href="https://www.calacademy.org/scientists/botany" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CAS</a>) and coordinated the formal description.



Researchers compared its DNA and examined specimens in an herbarium, the scientific library of preserved plants, to check what it was not. 



They then built a phylogenetic tree, a diagram that maps evolutionary relationships, to test where it belongs.



The detailed paper reports that the plant is a member of the sunflower group yet differs enough from its nearest relatives to require a new genus, which is a taxonomic rank above species. 



“While many assume that the plants and animals within our country’s national parks have probably been documented by now, scientists still make surprising new discoveries in these iconic protected landscapes,” said Lichter Marck.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-makes-ovicula-biradiata-unique">What makes Ovicula biradiata unique</h2>



The species is named Ovicula biradiata, nicknamed the woolly devil for its fuzzy leaves and small red and white flowers. It is tiny, usually about 1 to 3 inches across, and it grows low among pale limestone gravel.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/first-photograph-ovicula-biradiata-taken.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1985272"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">First photograph of Ovicula biradiata taken by Deb Manley on 2 March 2024.</figcaption></figure>



Each head carries two ray florets, the narrow outer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/corpse-flowers-amorphophallus-titanum-smell-like-death-but-thousands-rush-to-see-them-bloom/">flowers</a> that look like small petals in the daisy family. Seeds develop with a five scaled pappus, the set of small scales or bristles at the top of a seed that help it detach.



The leaves are covered with dense trichomes, which are tiny hairs that trap air and reduce water loss. That woolly coat likely helps the plant endure short bursts of sun and wind at ground level.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-it-lives-and-why-that-matters">Where it lives and why that matters</h2>



Ovicula biradiata grows in the northern corner of Big Bend on coarse limestone alluvium within a very narrow range. The plant is ephemeral, which means it lives fast and blooms only after rain.



The Chihuahuan Desert is a hot, dry region spanning West Texas and northern Mexico, and Big Bend offers many microhabitats within that larger desert. 



The park <a href="https://www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/news/new-plant-species-discovered-in-big-bend.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> the discovery and noted that the plant appears after spring rainfall in harsh, rocky terrain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ovicula-biradiata-extinction-risk">Ovicula biradiata extinction risk</h2>



“We have only observed this plant in three narrow locations across the northernmost corner of the park, and it’s possible that we’ve documented a species that is already on its way out,” said Lichter Marck. 



The study team withheld exact coordinates because of the small populations and sensitive habitat.



Based on known range and short life cycle, the authors note the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stressed-plants-make-sounds-and-moths-can-hear-them/">plant</a> would preliminarily qualify as vulnerable under IUCN criteria, the global standard for conservation status. 



That call signals the need for careful monitoring, not panic, while scientists gather more data.



Big Bend has been surveyed for decades, yet a volunteer still found something new by looking closely at the ground. Community science tools like iNaturalist make it easier to flag unusual finds so specialists can respond quickly.



The woolly devil is also the first new plant genus described from a U.S. national park in nearly 50 years. The last time a similar step was taken was with July gold, a shrub described from Death Valley in 1976.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-scientists-figured-out-its-family-ties">How scientists figured out its family ties</h2>



The team sequenced nuclear DNA and compared the results with related sunflowers stored in museum collections. The analysis shows Ovicula is sister to Psilostrophe, a western group sometimes called paper <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/both-bees-and-humans-like-these-flower-mixes-the-best/">flowers</a>.



That placement explains some of the look, such as very small flower heads and dense hair on leaves and stems. It also confirms that the unusual two ray florets are not a quirk of a known species but a trait of a line all its own.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-scientists-want-to-learn-next">What scientists want to learn next</h2>



The plant’s glands could be chemically interesting because related sunflowers produce compounds linked to anti inflammatory and anti cancer activity. 



The press team reports that researchers saw specific glands under the microscope and plan to test for these compounds in future work.



Climate trends raise concern because hotter, drier conditions can squeeze short lived desert annuals. Long term <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17412920/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modeling</a> projects a more arid Southwest as temperatures rise, which could make rainy windows less frequent and shorter.



The obvious next steps include tracking when the plant appears, how many individuals emerge after different rain years, and what insects visit the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tonights-flower-moon-completes-2025s-micromoon-trilogy/">flowers</a>. Those answers will guide any long term protection plan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-helping-ovicula-biradiata-thrive">Helping Ovicula biradiata thrive</h2>



Small plants can be easy to overlook, yet they often hold the clearest signals about how a desert is changing. 



Finding a new genus inside a well studied park is a reminder that careful field work still moves science forward.



It also shows why preserving habitat matters even when a species is tiny. If the habitat is intact, the species has a fighting chance to persist through hard years and rebound when conditions improve.



If you visit Big Bend during a wet spring, stay on durable surfaces and avoid fragile gravel flats where small annuals grow. 



Report unusual wildflowers with clear photos and location details using community science apps, and let experts do the collecting.



That approach protects sensitive sites and gives researchers good data over time. It also makes every careful observer part of the discovery pipeline.



The study is published in <a href="https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/137624/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PhytoKeys</a>.



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New plant species has flowers with tiny 'horns' and a devilish appearance

A tiny desert flower with horn-like tips has been hiding...

The Falkland Islands are known today for cool winds, broad grasslands, and very few trees. That modern picture is accurate, but it is not the whole story. Pollen found beneath the capital shows these islands once supported a cool-temperate forest - wet, shaded, and biologically rich.



The clue came from a dark, woody layer uncovered during construction in Stanley. It was not random debris. 



It was a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossilized-frozen-forest-reveals-climate-impacts-on-ancient-alpine-ecosystems/">buried forest</a> bed - plant-heavy sediment preserved in place - holding microscopic grains and real pieces of ancient wood.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forest-pollen-and-wood-fragments">Forest pollen and wood fragments</h2>



Scientists collected three kinds of evidence: pollen grains, spores, and chunks of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/north-americas-oldest-known-pterosaur-eotephradactylus-mcintireae-discovered-arizona/">fossilized wood</a>. 



Pollen and spores keep their species-specific shapes for millions of years when they get trapped in wet sediment and then buried. 



Wood fragments preserve internal features that point to the type of tree and the conditions in which it grew.



This layer is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/lignite" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lignitic</a> - formed as plant material piled up in waterlogged, low-oxygen settings where leaves and twigs do not fully rot. 



Over time, that mush compressed into a dense, carbon-rich stratum, likely in a shallow, protected basin near the coast.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-collecting-and-identifying-samples">Collecting and identifying samples</h2>



After the discovery, Dr. Zoë Thomas of the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Southampton</a> hurried to the site with colleagues to salvage fresh samples before they dried and cracked. 



“The tree remains were so pristinely preserved they looked like driftwood,” recalled Dr. Thomas.



In the lab, the team separated tiny grains from the sediment and examined them under high magnification. 



The mix showed southern beech (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/nothofagus" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nothofagus</a>) and podocarps - Southern Hemisphere conifers - alongside moisture-loving plants that thrive in soggy ground. 



“The fossil pollen, spores, and wood paint a much different picture of the ancient environment, providing direct evidence of cool, wet forests,” noted Michael Donovan, collections manager at <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chicago’s Field Museum</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reading-the-forest-s-pollen-and-wood">Reading the forest's pollen and wood</h2>



Pollen alone can be misleading because wind can carry it far. That is why the wood matters. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giant-trees-never-seen-before-up-to-3000-years-old-tessmannia-princeps-tasmania/">Wood anatomy</a> - cell sizes, pits, and rays - helps confirm whether pieces came from conifers or broadleaf trees and whether the community matches the pollen record. 



Here, it does. The agreement points to a local forest, not distant pollen that drifted in.



Modern relatives of Nothofagus and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podocarpus" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">podocarps</a> form cool, mossy forests in parts of southern Chile and Patagonia. 



Their presence in the Falklands’ fossil record supports the idea that the islands once held a wet, shaded habitat.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dating-the-forest-fossils">Dating the forest fossils</h2>



Radiocarbon dating tops out around 50,000 years, so the team turned to regional comparison. They lined up the Falklands’ pollen 'cast' with well-dated South American records. 



When the same key pollen types appear and fade in the same order across sites, timelines can be matched.



Those comparisons point to the mid-to-late Cenozoic - tens of millions of years ago - when warmer intervals let rainforests extend to higher latitudes and outlying islands.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ancient-forest_treeless-island_falklands_pollen-discovered_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ancient-forest_treeless-island_falklands_pollen-discovered_1s.webp" alt="Selected photomicrographs of fossil pollen produced in an ancient forest by gymnosperm and angiosperm living relatives in the rainforest of southern South America. Credit: Antarctic Science" class="wp-image-1985897"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Selected photomicrographs of fossil pollen produced in an ancient forest by gymnosperm and angiosperm living relatives in the rainforest of southern South America. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Antarctic Science</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pollen-explains-the-disappearing-forest">Pollen explains the disappearing forest</h2>



Islands get new species in bursts. Seeds and spores ride wind, float on ocean debris, and travel with birds. During milder, wetter stretches, the odds of survival jump. 



Once early trees took root in a sheltered, waterlogged basin, they could trap moisture, calm ground-level winds, and gradually build a stable community.



That is a familiar pattern in island biology. Given time and the right conditions, a few arrivals can turn into a functioning forest.



The climate shifted. Cooling trends and glacial cycles brought colder, windier conditions. 



The Falklands lack high mountains to block strong westerlies or snag extra rainfall, and many soils are thin and peaty. Those factors make it hard for trees to outcompete grasses today.



Ecosystems do not just follow latitude. Local wind, rainfall, and topography set the rules. Under the current rules, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mountain-greening-threatens-genetic-diversity-of-iconic-plants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">open grassland</a> wins across most of the islands.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-does-any-of-this-matter">Why does any of this matter?</h2>



Fossil evidence gives climate scientists real targets for testing models. 



If a model run with mid-to-late <a href="https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/cenozoic/cenozoic.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cenozoic</a> conditions places a cool-temperate rainforest on the Falklands, that is a sign it is on track. If it does not, something is missing. 



These checks turn evidence from a single site into valuable test data.



There is also a wider lesson. Ecosystems can move, shrink, expand, or appear in places that seem unusual by today’s standards. 



The Falklands’ buried forest shows how temperature, rainfall, and wind can reshuffle living communities over long spans of time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-the-case">Building the case</h2>



Fieldwork documented and sampled the lignitic layer in place. Lab work isolated pollen and spores, then identified them under microscopes. 



Wood pieces were sectioned to reveal diagnostic features. Together, those signals established both habitat and local origin.



For age, researchers matched the Falklands’ pollen sequence to dated South American profiles, tracking the same marker taxa as they rose and fell. 



That approach pinned the layer to a deep time window without relying on radiocarbon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-have-we-learned">What have we learned?</h2>



To sum it all up, hidden beneath Stanley on the Falkland Islands lies a pollen record of a cool, wet forest dominated by southern beech and podocarp relatives, growing in a sheltered, waterlogged basin. 



The age falls in the mid-to-late Cenozoic, when warmer intervals allowed trees to push farther poleward and onto islands. 



This clear snapshot - written in pollen, spores, and wood - adds a useful data point to Earth’s climate history and helps scientists check the tools we use to understand past, present, and future change.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/evidence-for-a-floristically-diverse-rainforest-on-the-falkland-archipelago-in-the-remote-south-atlantic-during-the-mid-to-late-cenozoic/B4CFF913DD8F1BB43B570E4086C7CF7B" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Antarctic Science</a>.



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Ancient tropical rainforest accidentally discovered on a treeless island

The Falkland Islands are known today for cool winds, broad...

The benefits of psilocybin-assisted therapy for major depression reportedly endures for years, if not forever. 



In a new analysis of people who took part in a 2020 psilocybin clinical trial, 67 percent were still in full remission from depression an average of five years later - up from 58 percent at the one-year mark.



Study lead author Alan Davis is an associate professor and director of the <a href="https://www.cpdre.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education</a> at The Ohio State University.



“Across the board - <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gut-microbes-have-an-unexpected-link-to-anxiety/">anxiety</a>, depression, global functioning, self-reported depression - we kept seeing the same signal of continued improvement," said Davis.



The follow-up results offer a rare long view of outcomes after psychedelic-assisted therapy, an area where long-term data are still sparse.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-psilocybin-the-basics">Understanding psilocybin - the basics</h2>



Psilocybin is a natural compound found in certain mushrooms, often called “magic mushrooms.” When you ingest psilocybin, your body quickly converts it into psilocin, the active form that interacts with your brain. 



Psilocin closely resembles <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-dopamine-and-serotonin-shape-behavior/">serotonin</a>, a key neurotransmitter, so it binds to serotonin receptors - especially the 5-HT2A receptor. 



This binding alters the way nerve cells communicate, which leads to changes in perception, mood, and thought patterns. 



From a scientific standpoint, psilocybin disrupts the brain’s usual patterns of activity and connectivity. 



Brain imaging studies show that it quiets the “default mode network,” a system linked to self-reflection and the inner voice we all carry. 



At the same time, it boosts communication between brain regions that don’t normally interact.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-curing-depression-with-psilocybin">Curing depression with psilocybin</h2>



The peer-reviewed study, published in 2021, enrolled adults with major depressive disorder and compared two groups: one received psilocybin treatment immediately, and the other started after a wait-list period.



All the participants ultimately completed a standardized protocol: two dosing sessions with psilocybin paired with about 13 hours of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/psychotherapy-is-key-to-the-success-of-psychedelic-treatment/">psychotherapy</a> (including preparation, support during sessions, and integration).



The initial results showed large reductions in depression severity, with half of participants in remission up to one year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-patients-over-time">Tracking patients over time</h2>



Of the 24 people in the original trial, 18 took part in the five-year check-in. Online questionnaires were used to assess depression, anxiety, and functional impairment. 



The researchers also applied a clinician-rated depression scale and conducted qualitative interviews to capture changes the numbers might miss.



The team made a conservative assumption to avoid overstating success. They counted the six who did not return as having fully relapsed to pre-treatment levels.



Even under that assumption, depression scores remained “very large and significantly” reduced at five years, Davis noted, and the share of participants in complete remission nudged upward.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-than-psilocybin">More than psilocybin</h2>



The lasting gains cannot be chalked up solely to the two psilocybin sessions. Only three people reported no additional depression-related treatment in the years since. 



Others used antidepressant medications, tried <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ketamine-treatment-may-now-last-months-instead-of-weeks/">ketamine</a> or other psychedelics, or engaged in psychotherapy.



Interviews helped explain that context. Many participants described life with depression as profoundly constricted before the trial - too little energy, too little hope to engage. 



Afterward, several said their depression felt more situational and manageable. They reported a greater capacity for positive emotion and motivation, and a different relationship to low moods when they returned.



A few who experimented with psychedelics on their own found the experiences less helpful without a clinical framework. This underscores a theme from other work by Davis and colleagues: the therapeutic container matters.



A strong alliance with trained therapists, structured preparation, and integration support may play as big a role as the drug itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-psilocybin-safety-over-time">Psilocybin safety over time</h2>



At the five-year mark, 11 of 18 participants reported no adverse effects since the trial. Looking back, three remembered feeling unprepared for the heightened emotional sensitivity that followed their dosing sessions. 



Two said tapering off <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cure-for-alcohol-addiction-was-discovered-by-accident/">medications</a> and waiting during the original trial was especially difficult, and two wished they’d had more formal integration therapy afterward.



The study is small, non-randomized at follow-up, and based on a motivated sample - limitations the authors emphasize.



With just 18 people contributing long-term data, it’s impossible to generalize broadly or disentangle psilocybin’s contribution from other treatments and life changes.



Larger, placebo-controlled trials with systematic follow-up will be needed to test durability, dosing strategies, and who benefits most.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-psilocybin-depression-and-healthcare">Psilocybin, depression, and healthcare</h2>



Even with the study's limitations, the pattern is encouraging. Many participants maintained remission or continued to function better. 



Several described a shift that outlasted symptom scores - more engagement with family, work, and meaningful activities, and fewer episodes of withdrawal and isolation, which are among depression’s most disabling features.



“Five years later, most people continued to view this treatment as safe, meaningful, and important - something that catalyzed an ongoing betterment of their life,” Davis said.



“Despite some symptoms coming back, they weren’t experiencing the same levels of impairment - suggesting this approach might, for some, kick-start lasting positive change.”



The bottom line: psilocybin-assisted therapy remains experimental, and it’s not a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-gut-bacteria-morganella-morganii-could-cause-depression-not-a-brain-disorder/">depression</a> cure-all. But in this small cohort, the combination of guided psychedelic sessions and psychotherapy was associated with durable relief - and in many cases, a different relationship to depression - years down the road.



The study is published in the <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2054/aop/article-10.1556-2054.2025.00461/article-10.1556-2054.2025.00461.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Psychedelic Studies</a>.



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Patients report no signs of depression five years after psilocybin treatment

The benefits of psilocybin-assisted therapy for major depression reportedly endures...

A small river in upstate New York bounced back fast after a long standing barrier came out. A new study followed the water before and after the dam removal and tracked how the habitat, water quality, and small aquatic life changed.



The results show a clear pattern. When a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dams-built-by-humans-have-shifted-earths-poles/">dam</a> stops slowing water and trapping sediment, the channel rebuilds itself, oxygen levels rise, and the community of living things resets.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-before-and-after-dam-removal">Before and after dam removal</h2>



“The research demonstrates the resilience of nature to recover from imperiled states,” said lead author <a href="https://cals.cornell.edu/water-resources-institute/about/people/jeremy-dietrich" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeremy Dietrich</a>, principal aquatic ecologist at the New York State Water Resources Institute at <a href="https://cals.cornell.edu/">Corn</a><a href="https://cals.cornell.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">e</a><a href="https://cals.cornell.edu/">ll University</a>. 



He and colleagues monitored the site from the summer before removal through the third year after.



The barrier was a 12 foot structure installed in the 1960s to hold a small reservoir. 



After the dam removal, the slow pool upstream shifted toward a stony channel with steady current, and the differences between upstream and downstream sections faded.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-recovery-after-dam-removal">Recovery after dam removal</h2>



The team relied on macroinvertebrates, the insects, worms, and other small animals without backbones that live on stream bottoms. 



These organisms respond quickly to changes in flow and substrate, so they are reliable indicators of stream health.



New York uses the Biological Assessment Profile (<a href="https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/water_pdf/bapnarrative18.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BAP</a>) to score water quality based on that community. Scores range from 0 to 10, with higher values signaling healthier conditions.



Before removal, the impounded reach had soft sand and silt, which favors burrowers and low oxygen tolerant species. 



After removal, gravel and cobble expanded, and clinging insects that need cleaner, faster water moved in.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-silty-and-still-to-rocky-and-flowing">From silty and still to rocky and flowing</h2>



Scientists often describe still water as lentic and flowing water as lotic. The upstream reach shifted from lentic conditions to lotic conditions once the channel reformed and the fine sediments moved out.



Those physical changes matched biological ones from the first year onward. 



Taxa richness and the number of sensitive <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5584830/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EPT groups</a>, the mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies, rose in the former reservoir reach while tolerant taxa declined as habitat improved.



The study documented a jump in upstream BAP score from the “moderately impacted” range to the “slightly impacted” range by year three. 



That change signals that the site moved out of biological impairment and into a condition that can support a diverse community.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fish-on-the-move-again">Fish on the move again</h2>



Dams do more than trap sediment. They block movement for species that need to travel between salt water and fresh water during their life cycles, a pattern biologists call diadromous.



American eels are <a href="https://www.fws.gov/species/american-eel-anguilla-rostrata" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">catadromous</a>, which means they grow in rivers and estuaries and return to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. The new channel opened upstream access to rearing habitat that had been off limits.



Juvenile eels can now reach cooler, oxygen rich stretches that support growth. Restoring that passage is one of the most direct ecological wins when a small barrier comes out.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-numbers-that-tell-the-story">Numbers that tell the story</h2>



By year three, upstream habitat composition in the former impoundment was dominated by gravel and cobble instead of sand and silt. 



The macroinvertebrate community shifted toward clingers and grazers that feed on algae growing on rock surfaces.



The BAP score in the upstream reach rose into the “slightly impacted” band. Sensitive EPT taxa increased several fold, and overall taxa richness roughly doubled, showing a stable and diverse community had taken hold.



This case fits a bigger national pattern. In <a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/DamList2024_Summary_03032025_Revised.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2024</a>, there were 108 removals across 27 states that reconnected more than 2,528 miles of upstream habitat.



Removing the right barriers can improve water quality, increase habitat variety, and make rivers safer for communities. It can also reduce maintenance risks tied to aging infrastructure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cost-and-common-sense">Cost and common sense</h2>



Many older dams are expensive to repair and keep up to code. Rehabilitating non-federal dams carries an <a href="https://damsafety-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/files/2025%20ASDSO%20Costs%20of%20Dam%20Rehab%20Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimated</a> nationwide price-tag of about 165.2 billion dollars.



Communities weigh those bills against the benefits of free flowing streams, improved fish passage, and fewer liability concerns. In many cases, taking out a small, obsolete barrier is the practical option.



Two ingredients stood out. First, the stream had healthy downstream habitat that could seed the new channel with sensitive taxa once conditions improved.



Second, the restored channel developed coarse substrate quickly, which boosted oxygen exchange and created surfaces for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bioplastic-bubbles-made-with-algae-could-sustain-life-on-mars/">algae and microbes</a> that fuel the food web. 



Those changes support clinging and grazing insects that form the base of a productive stream.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dam-removals-and-conservation">Dam removals and conservation</h2>



Not every site will respond on the same timeline. Recovery speed depends on gradient, how much fine sediment is stored, watershed land use, and how intact nearby source populations are.



This project shows how a simple monitoring plan can track progress clearly. 



A short list of indicators, substrate size, macroinvertebrate groups, and BAP score, gave managers a transparent way to judge when a site has met its target.



One removal is good, and many removals in the right places can be even better. 



Repeating small, strategic projects across a watershed can stitch together longer corridors for fish and re-build natural transport of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-rivers-split-a-century-old-mystery-has-finally-been-solved/">sediment and nutrients</a>.



That kind of connectivity helps streams handle floods, heat waves, and shifting seasons. It also makes local wins add up to regional gains.



Healthy flow and connected habitat set the stage for life to return. When small, aging barriers come out, streams can heal faster than many people expect.



The study is published in <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.70323" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ecosphere</a>.



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River ecosystem is reborn and life is thriving just three years after a dam is demolished

A small river in upstate New York bounced back fast...

Tomatoes do not just grow faster on a whim. They speed up when a tiny spelling mistake in their DNA gets corrected with precise tools.



A Swiss team did exactly that in a domesticated tomato line, altering SSP2, and the plants shifted into fruiting earlier while staying compact. 



In a new study, the researchers show that fixing a single harmful mutation can tune the plant’s growth schedule in a predictable way.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-making-genetic-alterations">Making genetic alterations</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-italian-secret-to-sweeter-tomato-plants-and-greater-economic-efficiency/">The tomato</a> carried a small <a href="https://www.yeastgenome.org/locus/S000005768">change in a gene</a> called SSP2, which helps switch growing tips from making leaves to making flowers. 



That switch sets the pace for fruiting, so repairing the harmful version of SSP2 nudged plants to set fruit sooner without ballooning in size.



This work comes from assistant professor <a href="https://www.unil.ch/dbmv/en/home/menuinst/research/recherche/prof-sebastian-soyk.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sebastian Soyk</a> at the University of Lausanne (<a href="https://www.unil.ch/unil/fr/home.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UNIL</a>), whose group focuses on the genetics of flowering and plant architecture.&nbsp;



“Our work shows how deleterious variants have sensitized modern genotypes for phenotypic tuning and illustrates how repairing deleterious mutations with genome editing may allow predictable crop improvement,” wrote Soyk in the report.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-the-tomato-s-ssp2-gene">Changing the tomato's SSP2 gene</h2>



During domestication, people selected traits like bigger fruit and determinate growth. That selection also dragged along unwanted DNA changes, a pattern called the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28992310/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cost of domestication</a>. 



A 2018 review explains how such mutations accumulate and can subtly reduce performance.



The Swiss group identified a single letter change in SSP2 that weakened the protein’s grip on DNA. 



They also showed that SSP2 normally backs up a related paralog called SSP, and that redundancy eroded in domesticated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ripening-tomatoes-may-hold-clues-to-delay-human-aging/">tomatoes</a> over time.



Flowering in-tomato is powered by florigen, a mobile signal encoded by the gene SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS (<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14504922/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SFT</a>). 



Classic work showed how SFT shapes yield by balancing vegetative growth and flower production, including heterosis effects in hybrids, in a landmark <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.550" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>.



SSP and SSP2 are transcription factor partners that help florigen trigger the flower program. When SSP2 is compromised, the switch gets sluggish, shoots elongate more before flowering, and early fruit set slips.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-data-shows">What the data shows</h2>



Once the harmful letter in SSP2 was corrected, plants produced an earlier tranche of ripe fruit under controlled conditions. 



The repaired line showed compact growth and fewer flowers per truss, which channeled development toward earlier maturity.



At harvest, the repaired plants had an 8 percent higher share of fully red fruit compared with siblings carrying the uncorrected allele, and they showed an 11 percent lower sugar content by Brix. 



The team scaled up measurements to make that conclusion, then reported the full trait set in the study already cited.



Domestication often narrows genetic diversity and can fix slightly harmful variants that hitchhike with useful ones. Over centuries of selection and inbreeding, those background changes can linger and affect traits in small ways.



With precise editing, breeders can now remove a specific deleterious variant without undoing the useful alleles it sits near. 



That approach complements classical breeding and reduces guesswork that usually follows random <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/understanding-crop-pest-evolution-to-develop-biocontrol-strategies/">mutagenesis</a> or long cycles of recombination, as noted by the broader literature on domestication’s genetic footprints in the same 2018 review linked above.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ssp2-tomatoes-and-health-concerns">SSP2 tomatoes and health concerns</h2>



Switzerland has maintained a moratorium on growing genetically modified crops since 2005, and lawmakers voted in June 2025 to extend it. 



Swiss <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/parliament-wants-to-extend-genetic-engineering-moratorium-by-five-years/89467765" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lawmakers</a> backed a continuation through 2030, while also debating tailored rules for new gene editing methods.



That policy context matters because base edited plants, including those created by precise letter swaps, may fall under different legal definitions depending on jurisdiction. 



The debate centers on whether an edit that could occur naturally should be regulated like older transgenic approaches that insert foreign DNA.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-could-mean-next-season">What this could mean next season</h2>



Earlier yield can be valuable for growers in short seasons, high latitude regions, or indoor systems where turn time is money. 



Compact plants with predictable flowering can be spaced and pruned more efficiently, which helps planning.



There is a tradeoff to watch, since lower Brix means less sweetness. Breeders can mitigate that by stacking the SSP2 repair with sugar related alleles or by targeting edits to environments where early red fruit is worth more than peak sweetness.



The SFT pathway is a central timing circuit in tomato, and tuning it has a long track record in yield optimization. 



<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20348958/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heterozygosity</a> at SFT can boost yield markedly in hybrids, showing how small shifts in flowering control ripple into fruit set and harvest timing, as shown in the 2010 paper cited above.



The SSP and SSP2 pair acts just upstream of these outcomes, guiding meristems to switch from leafy growth to flower clusters on schedule. 



Repairing SSP2 did not raise total fruit number in this experiment, but it pulled ripening forward and tightened the plant’s form, which is a clear lever for scheduling.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-024-02026-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Genetics</a>.



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This Swiss trick makes tomatoes bear fruit much faster

Tomatoes do not just grow faster on a whim. They...

Once upon a time, you went to a florist for a bouquet. Now you can grab one next to the spinach, at the pharmacy counter, even by the chips at a gas station. As fresh flowers have spilled out of specialty shops and into everyday retail, their place in our lives - and who’s buying them - has changed fast.



Researchers at the <a href="https://www.caes.uga.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Georgia</a> College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences wanted to know what, exactly, is going on. 



They teamed up across horticulture and agricultural economics to look not just at what people buy, but why they buy it, how often, and what those habits reveal about the modern consumer.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flowers-move-beyond-florists">Flowers move beyond florists</h2>



Drawing on a nationally representative survey of more than 8,500 people, the team found remarkable variety rather than a single archetype. Using marketing-style cluster analysis, they identified 13 distinct kinds of flower buyers.



Some are the classic date-night crowd: heavy on roses, big on Valentine’s Day. Others show up once a year for anniversaries and otherwise keep their wallets shut. 



A growing slice is buying flowers solely for themselves - home-use-only shoppers who treat stems like candles or throw pillows, a mood boost for the living room. 



And then there’s the “everything” group: people who purchase for all kinds of occasions and tend to spend the most overall.



Ask people what flowers mean and the responses span the spectrum. Word clouds from open-ended answers lit up with “beauty” and “smell,” but also “expensive” and “waste.”



Even so, buyers describe tangible upsides. Those who’d purchased flowers in the past year were more likely to report feeling better at home and at work - <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/simple-and-self-guided-nature-program-quickly-improves-mood-and-reduces-stress/">improved mood</a>, less stress, higher morale. The effect was strongest among recent purchasers.



As agricultural economist Ben Campbell put it, “there’s a perceived benefit of buying flowers - whether it’s real or not. People feel they’re getting something valuable from the experience.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-covid-changed-how-we-buy-flowers">Covid changed how we buy flowers</h2>



Behind the scenes, the cut-flower supply chain is both global and intricate. Imports - especially roses from Colombia - still dominate U.S. shelves. But the domestic picture has shifted in surprising ways.



When <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-lockdowns-weakened-our-immune-systems/">COVID-19</a> hit, weddings and funerals vanished overnight. Growers plowed under fields. Florists closed their doors. 



And then, stuck at home, people started buying flowers anyway - to brighten kitchen tables and Zoom backgrounds, to mark time when weeks blurred together. Grocery stores and even convenience stores leaned into the demand.



“It became almost like therapy,” said Julie Campbell, the study’s lead author and a horticulture professor. “The habit stuck around.”



That collective turn inward sparked new growth outdoors. From 2017 to 2022, open-field flower acreage in the U.S. more than doubled. 



Much of that expansion came from small and mid-sized farms growing stems that don’t ship well - zinnias, dahlias, snapdragons - varieties that explode with color but wilt on long-haul flights.



Rather than compete with mass-produced roses from the Andes, these growers staked out a complementary niche: seasonal, local, and often more diverse.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-local-farms-find-their-niche">Local farms find their niche</h2>



Today’s bouquets are often a collage of origins. One sleeve might hold Ecuadorian roses, California ranunculus, and Georgia-grown <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urban-wildflowers-may-be-harming-bees/">wildflowers</a>, all in the same mix.



Consumers seem comfortable with that blend, and many are learning to read seasonality the way they do with produce: peonies in late spring, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sunflower-family-tree-explains-evolution-of-flower-symmetry/">sunflowers</a> in midsummer, chrysanthemums in fall.



For domestic growers, that seasonality is an advantage. It allows them to sell what travels poorly and tell a fresher story - field to vase instead of farm to table. For retailers, it’s an opportunity to meet shoppers where they already are.



The UGA study suggests that people inclined to toss a bouquet in the cart also value other small home upgrades. In other words, flowers are converging with the broader “home as haven” mindset that accelerated during the pandemic and never really retreated.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flowers-are-no-longer-just-gifts">Flowers are no longer just gifts</h2>



If there’s one throughline in the data, it’s diversity of intent. Flowers are still gifts, of course, but self-purchase is no longer niche. 



The “everything” buyers - those who grab stems for birthdays, apologies, Tuesdays, and everything in between - anchor the market, yet the once-a-year romantics and the treat-yourself crowd matter too.



That mix is why bouquets now show up in so many retail formats. A pharmacy endcap might catch the anniversary buyer; a grocery display might tempt the self-care shopper who wants tulips with their tomatoes.



It also helps explain the emotional payoffs respondents described. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flower-quality-is-a-critical-driver-of-bee-abundance/">Fresh flowers</a> are a fast, visible change in a room and an affordable luxury compared to furniture or renovations. 



That hit of beauty, scent, and novelty can feel outsize relative to the spend, which reinforces repeat purchases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-the-industry-goes-next"><a></a>Where the industry goes next</h2>



Policy and logistics will continue to shape the landscape - trade agreements, air freight costs, and climate impacts all ripple into what appears in the bucket by the checkout. But the UGA team’s work points to a few practical implications now.



Retailers can segment more intelligently, tailoring assortments and messaging to different buyer types rather than assuming a single use case. 



Growers can lean into their strengths - distinctive, local, and seasonal - without trying to displace imports that excel at year-round volume. 



And marketers can speak to well-being without overpromising: flowers won’t solve life’s problems, but they routinely make spaces feel better, and people notice.



Perhaps the biggest takeaway is the simplest: Americans are still buying flowers - and not just to hand to someone else.



Whether it’s a dozen <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-do-delicate-roses-have-such-harsh-prickles/">roses</a> flown in from Colombia or a handful of dahlias clipped from a nearby farm, fresh stems have become an everyday indulgence. 



They sit by the sink, brighten a desk, bookend the produce aisle, and remind us, in small ways, why bringing a bit of the outside in still resonates.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.ashs.org/view/journals/horttech/35/3/article-p286.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HortTechnology</a>.



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Why more people are buying flowers for everyday therapy

Once upon a time, you went to a florist for...

Eight or more alcoholic drinks per week were linked to signs of injury in the brain in a large autopsy <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40203226/">study</a>. The finding points to changes in small blood vessels that help feed and clean brain tissue, which is hard to detect during life.



Those lesions are called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/hyaline-arteriolosclerosis">hyaline arteriolosclerosis</a>, a thickening of tiny arteries that narrows the passage for blood and stresses nearby cells. 



This process sits within vascular cognitive impairment as described in an American Heart Association <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/str.0b013e3182299496">statement</a>, which outlines how damaged vessels relate to thinking problems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alcohol-and-brain-health">Alcohol and brain health</h2>



<a href="https://bv.fapesp.br/en/pesquisador/679852/alberto-fernando-oliveira-justo/">Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo, PhD</a>, at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Brazil (<a href="https://www.fm.usp.br/fmusp/portal/">FMUSP</a>) led the work. His team used human brains rather than only scans, which lets them count lesions directly and measure brain weight.



"Heavy alcohol consumption is a major <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drunk-decisions-alcohol-affects-men-and-women-differently/">global health concern</a> linked to increased health problems and death," said Alberto. 



This project analyzed older adults who agreed to donate their organs for research, creating a window into aging and alcohol exposure.



In the United States, one <a href="https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/what-standard-drink">standard drink</a> contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol. That is roughly 12 ounces of beer at 5 percent alcohol, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, which are the serving sizes researchers use to keep totals comparable across people.



The researchers classified participants as never, moderate, heavy, or former heavy drinkers based on interviews with family members. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-alcohol-helped-ancient-people-build-better-societies/">Heavy drinking</a> in this work meant eight or more drinks per week, a level that adds up faster than many people realize when pours are generous at home or at restaurants.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-study-was-done">How the study was done</h2>



This cross-sectional autopsy analysis included 1,781 people with a mean age near 75 at death. All underwent standardized postmortem exams that recorded brain weight and neuropathology using standard stains to label lesions under the microscope.



Researchers looked for signs of brain damage such as tangled proteins, small strokes, buildup in blood vessels, and thickening of tiny arteries. 



They also calculated a brain mass ratio by dividing brain weight by height and rated cognition using the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (<a href="https://www.understandingalzheimersdisease.com/-/media/Files/uAD/Clinical-Assessment/CDR-Brochure.pdf">CDR-SB</a>) to summarize abilities close to death.



Alcohol exposure was reconstructed from detailed interviews with relatives who knew the person well. This approach is common in autopsy cohorts but it depends on memory and records kept during life.



The team used logistic and linear regression to estimate odds of lesions and differences in continuous measures.



Finally, the team tested whether vascular injury mediated any links between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/even-small-amounts-of-alcohol-increase-cancer-risk/">drinking and cognition</a>, asking if vessel damage could explain the path from alcohol to poor scores.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-vessel-damage-from-alcohol">Brain vessel damage from alcohol</h2>



Compared with people who never drank, the odds of hyaline arteriolosclerosis were higher in moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers, and former heavy drinkers. 



Reported odds ratios were 1.60, 2.33, and 1.89 respectively with confidence intervals that excluded 1.00, which signals an association in this dataset.



For tau pathology, only heavy and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/weight-loss-drugs-unexpectedly-help-people-drink-less-alcohol/">former heavy drinkers</a> showed higher odds of neurofibrillary tangles. Odds ratios were 1.41 for heavy and 1.31 for former heavy drinkers, indicating a specific link to tangles in this cohort.



Former heavy drinking tracked with a lower brain mass ratio and worse cognitive performance at the end of life. 



The beta estimates were negative for mass and positive for impairment, and only former heavy status met the threshold for these outcomes after adjustment for other factors.



The association between alcohol, brain vessels, and cognitive abilities was fully mediated by hyaline arteriolosclerosis in the statistical models. 



In plain terms, the vascular injury appeared to sit between reported drinking and measured cognition within this dataset.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-might-mean">What this might mean</h2>



When small vessels stiffen, they limit blood flow to fragile <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-reveals-the-secret-to-keeping-your-brain-young/">brain circuits</a> that handle attention, speed, and memory. 



Over time, injuries add up as white matter changes and microinfarcts that often go unnoticed in daily life, yet they can slow everyday tasks.



Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. 



Public health <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/facts-stats/index.html">estimates</a> attribute about 178,000 deaths per year to heavy and binge patterns across the country, placing alcohol alongside tobacco and obesity among top sources of avoidable harm.



This autopsy analysis cannot prove the cause, and the authors say so. It shows a statistical signal that aligns with what pathologists and stroke specialists see in vascular cognitive impairment.



Adding alcohol to vascular risks like smoking, hypertension, or diabetes can stack the deck. Reducing intake and treating existing vascular risks could limit future <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alcohols-hidden-toll-on-the-brain-revealed/">small vessel injury</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-health-alcohol-future-study">Brain health, alcohol, future study</h2>



The dataset does not track how long people drank or how their habits changed across adulthood. Without a timeline, it is hard to test dose response or recovery during abstinence.



"We found heavy drinking is directly linked to signs of injury in the brain, and this can cause long-term effects on brain health, which may impact memory and thinking abilities," said Alberto. 



Alcohol reports came from informants, so misclassification can occur when records are thin or memories fade. 



These donors came from one urban region with limited formal schooling on average, which can shape both drinking patterns and health access. Future cohort studies can test whether cutting back reverses vascular stress or slows tangle buildup.



Mediation analysis isolates a pathway, but it relies on modeling assumptions. 



Trials and prospective cohorts that measure alcohol objectively and track imaging and cognition could answer questions about reversibility and thresholds.



The study is published in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40203226/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neurology</a>.



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Having just one alcoholic drink every day is linked to brain damage in a new study

Eight or more alcoholic drinks per week were linked to...

Cannabis carries two faces in today’s world. On one side, it’s medicine. On the other, it’s a drug with unknown costs. Many women turn to it for nausea, stress, or pain relief. Yet scientists are raising alarms about what it might be doing to eggs inside the ovary.



A new study shows <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-use-in-any-form-directly-linked-to-significant-risk-of-heart-damage/">THC</a>, the compound that makes people feel high, can seep into the follicular fluid where eggs grow. 



Once there, it doesn’t just sit quietly. It changes how eggs mature and may set the stage for genetic mistakes. That raises hard questions about fertility, miscarriages, and the health of future children.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-thc-found-in-ovaries">THC found in ovaries</h2>



The research team collected more than a thousand samples of follicular fluid from women in fertility clinics. About six percent contained THC, even though most of these patients hadn’t reported cannabis use. That means eggs were exposed to cannabis whether the women realized it or not.



Eggs from THC-positive patients matured faster. At first glance, that sounds like a good thing. But the study showed a twist. Those same patients produced fewer embryos with the right number of chromosomes. Faster wasn’t better - it was riskier.



“The findings of this study are concerning and highlight the importance of a cautious approach in using cannabis when planning to conceive,” said Dr. Jamie Lo, an obstetrician at <a href="https://www.ohsu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oregon Health &amp; Science University</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-cannabis-may-affect-fertility">How cannabis may affect fertility</h2>



Ovarian follicles are tiny sacs that prepare eggs for fertilization. The timing of this process matters. Rushing it can leave the egg unprepared. 



THC appears to trigger early changes by interacting with cannabinoid receptors. This likely lowers levels of cyclic AMP, a molecule that normally prevents eggs from maturing too soon.



When eggs race ahead, chromosomes don’t always line up properly. Under the microscope, THC-exposed eggs showed spindles that were broken, misplaced, or multipolar. 



These are the very structures that should guide chromosomes during division. When they fail, the result is aneuploidy - embryos with missing or extra chromosomes.



“This is a hypothesis, and the worst thing I would want is for the public to read this and become fearful. More studies are needed to verify our findings and determine how or even if the changes we observed affect reproduction,” noted study lead author Cyntia Duval.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shifts-in-gene-activity">Shifts in gene activity</h2>



The team also examined which genes switched on or off inside eggs exposed to THC. They found hundreds of changes. Many genes tied to inflammation, cell structure, and embryo survival showed altered activity.



One important example is MMP9, a gene critical for breaking down tissue so embryos can implant. THC exposure reduced its expression. 



Other signals, like interleukin-33 and interferon-gamma, also dropped. These molecules help prepare the uterus for implantation. Without them, the odds of miscarriage climb.



Eggs rely on precise gene activity to build reserves of RNA and proteins before fertilization. If THC scrambles that preparation, embryos may falter in the first days of life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cannabis-and-fertility-treatments">Cannabis and fertility treatments </h2>



In real fertility treatments, the impact was clear. Women with THC in their ovarian fluid had fewer healthy embryos to transfer. 



For those trying naturally, this might mean longer waits to conceive, more miscarriages, or fewer chances of success.



“The finding that exposure to higher levels of THC could be associated with worsened fertility and increased reproductive complications may help patients that cannot abstain from cannabis with a harm-reduction strategy,” Lo said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cannabis-potency-problem">The cannabis potency problem</h2>



Potency has changed the landscape. Decades ago, marijuana contained about three percent THC. Today, dispensaries sell strains that easily top 30 percent. Extracts and concentrates climb past 40 percent.



“However, certain types of cannabis are typically more potent than others - cannabis extracts are typically more potent than cannabis flower,” said Tom Freeman, a professor of psychology at the <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bath</a>.



People often try to adjust by smoking less or inhaling lightly. But as Freeman pointed out, these efforts rarely balance the equation. “Higher potency products still deliver a larger dose of THC to consumers than lower potency products,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-it-matters-now">Why it matters now</h2>



Eggs are not renewable. Women are born with all they will ever have. Damage to these cells carries lasting consequences. 



Unlike sperm, which regenerate daily, eggs cannot be replaced. If THC harms them, the effects echo across fertility and pregnancy outcomes.



“Because it’s hard to know the specific level of THC in various cannabis products on the shelves, I advise my patients to consider safer alternatives to treat the symptoms they’re using cannabis for or at least try to reduce the frequency of their use," said Lo.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-on-cannabis-and-fertility">Future research on cannabis and fertility</h2>



This study doesn’t close the book. It opens it. The findings highlight real risks, but more work is needed to prove direct cause and effect. 



Scientists need larger samples, longer follow-ups, and data from natural conceptions, not just fertility clinics.



Still, the warning is clear. THC speeds egg maturation, disturbs chromosomes, and alters gene activity. It may not stop conception entirely, but it may lower the odds of healthy embryos. For women planning pregnancies, this information could make all the difference.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63011-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Cannabis may cause unexpected fertility issues in women

Cannabis carries two faces in today’s world. On one side,...

Endangered plants

News coming your way