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Mutants are showing up in bacterial populations in response to massive use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that more than 15 bacteria that cause serious diseases are now showing resistance to antibiotics. Common sense would suggest that antibiotic use should be curtailed and restricted to situations critical to human health, to minimize the conditions in which resistant bacteria arise.

A new paper analyzes trends in carbon storage across the American West from 2005 to 2019, finding that throughout most of the region, climate change and fires may be causing forests to store less carbon, not more. 

Dr. Gisele Biem Mori is collaborating with Dr. Evan Gora and Dr. Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert to study the dynamics of giant trees under the Gigante project.

Across the US, city governments are planting trees in an effort to clean up air pollution, beat the heat, and combat climate change. But when it comes to taking soot out of urban airways, the species of tree and where it is planted can have a big impact on how well it can do the job. These are some of the conclusions of a long-term collaboration between Cary Institute ecosystem scientist Kathleen Weathers and Alexandra Ponette-González, professor at the University of Utah and curator of urban ecology at the Natural History Museum of Utah. 

Lyda Hill Philanthropies has donated $290,000 to Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies for the Western Fire & Forest Resilience Collaborative. The two-year grant will help to engage a research team within the Collaborative that is focused on wildfire-related challenges and solutions in Colorado, where Lyda Hill has deep family ties.

Amy Zanne is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist. Her research focuses on interactions among plants, microbes and insects, and how they affect carbon cycling under current and future projected climates.

Writer Verlyn Klinkenborg talks about his new book, a collection of pieces from his New York Times column The Rural Life.

Gigante, is exploring the causes of mortality in the biggest trees of the world’s tropical forests. It could help answer a consequential question of climate change science: Will intact tropical forest continue soaking up far more carbon dioxide than it releases?

Dr. Glines is collaborating with Dr. Kathleen Weathers at Cary Institute and Dr. Paul Hanson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study interactions between land cover/land use, climate, and lake surface area at the global scale.

Half of all people live in cities, and by 2050, this number will climb to more than two-thirds. Making sure urban areas support equitable, sustainable, and vibrant communities is therefore crucial. In June 2021, Cary Institute hosted a conference that brought together more than 30 researchers and policy makers to discuss how the field of urban ecology can better support these goals. The workshop led to four articles featured in a special issue of Ambio in April. 

The Cary-led Western Fire & Forest Resilience Collaborative is pioneering adaptive fire management frameworks. By integrating cutting-edge scientific research, traditional ecological knowledge, and stakeholder input, we can guide more informed and effective decision-making.

Director of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Steward Pickett discusses how urban ecology can make our cities greener, cleaner, and healthier for all.

In a Q&A, Cary scientist Steve Hamilton explains why extreme swings between record-breaking floods and record-breaking droughts may become the Amazon’s new ‘normal’, and why it matters for people and the rest of the planet. 

Author, educator, environmentalist, and 350.org founder Bill McKibben has been instrumental in raising awareness about global climate change.

How can we prepare for infectious diseases we've never encountered, emerging in unexpected places and carried by animals we barely understand?

A tree may be more alive when it's dead. From microbes to forest managers, ecosystems depend on rotting wood. Cary Institute scientist Dr. Amy Zanne examines the fate of carbon stored in plants, including dead wood, and how factors such as temperature, moisture, fungi, termites, and differences in construction influence carbon emissions as plants decompose.

In one of the world's largest and longest-running experiments, researchers working in tropical forests in Panama discovered that by adding nitrogen to the soil, they could speed up tree growth to pull more carbon out of the atmosphere, more quickly. 

Nitrogen-fixing species respond by adding nitrogen to soil. Over time, nitrogen availability rises, growth accelerates, and nitrogen fixation slows again. That cycle explains why nitrogen limits early growth but not later stages.

Cary Institute urban ecologist Steward Pickett discusses his role in urban ecology, emphasizing its interdisciplinary nature and the importance of understanding human interactions within urban environments.