Department of Biology

UW biologist Samuel Wasser's pioneering work is helping stop illegal ivory trade that's decimating the African elephant population.

Biologists estimate the business kills roughly one out of every ten African elephants each year.

Most illegally poached African elephant ivory can be traced back to just two areas of Africa, research shows.

The key to saving elephants from poachers could be locked up in the animals' DNA, according to the results of a new study.

Most illegal ivory comes from animals killed in two areas in Africa: Tanzania and a protected area that spans Gabon, Republic of Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

Investigators who collected DNA from the tusks of slain elephants have identified two large areas where the slaughter has been occurring

Biology Professor Keiko Torii and her team have identified a mechanism that some plant cells use to receive complex and contradictory messages from their neighbors.

Research from UW Biology Professor Tom Daniel and colleagues shows Hawkmoths see at dusk by slowing down visual processing in the brain.

The boreal forest is one of the world’s largest storehouses of carbon and home to an abundance of animals and birds.

Biology graduate David Olsen fulfills a childhood dream in biology and medicine thanks to great supporters and educators along his journey.

Elephants are being killed at an alarming rate for their tusks and the illegal ivory trade can fuel terrorism. But Sam Wasser, a UW biology professor, has a solution that can track ivory back to it's source and help law enforcement catch criminals. 

Using high-speed infrared cameras and 3-D-printed robotic flowers, scientists have now learned how this insect juggles these complex sensing and control challenges.

It is well known that climate change will warm ocean waters, but dissolved oxygen levels also decrease as water warms. A new paper by UW researchers in Science magazine reveals likely consequences.

Over the past decade, illegal poaching of wildlife has quickly caught up to habitat destruction as a leading cause of wildlife loss in many countries.

A new paper from UW researchers suggests as global warming continues marine animals will need more oxygen even as their supply diminishes in warmer waters.