Environment

At the the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Seattle, researchers discussed the increased use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for learning about things like spiders, bats, bees, elephants and other creatures. Jeff Riffell, a professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Alejandro Rico-Guevara, assistant professor of biology at the UW and curator of ornithology at the UW Burke Museum, has dedicated his life to looking at hummingbirds in ways other people can’t. What he’s learned changed the world’s understanding of hummingbirds and, at times, has been of great use to humans.

Lisa Dabek (PhD, Psychology, 1994), senior conservation scientist at the Woodland Park Zoo, studies and protects tree kangaroos in the cloud forests of Papua New Guinea. 

"If a policy imposes costs locally to create benefits across the border, it is likely to run into local opposition. This is the story of Delhi’s air pollution as well as the global slowdown in addressing climate issues," write the UW's Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science.

Six University of Washington subjects ranked in the top 10, and atmospheric sciences maintained its position as No. 1 in the world on the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects list for 2023. The ranking, released at the end of October, was conducted by researchers at the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, a fully independent organization dedicated to research on higher education intelligence and consultation.

Hunting later at night may force the big cats to surrender their prey to larger carnivores, such as lions and leopards. Kasim Rafiq, a UW postdoctoral researcher in biology, is quoted.

Even the fastest animal in the world can't outrun the effects of climate change, according to experts. Cheetah populations are especially vulnerable to rising temperatures because hotter days are forcing them to behave more nocturnally, putting them in greater competition with other predators such as lions and African wild dogs, according to a study published in the journal Biological Sciences on Wednesday. Kasim Rafiq, postdoctoral scholar of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Cheetahs are usually daytime hunters, but the speedy big cats will shift their activity toward dawn and dusk hours during warmer weather, a new study finds. The UW's Briana Abrahms, assistant professor of biology, and Kasim Rafiq, postdoctoral scholar of biology, are quoted.

Over the course of some 44,000 years, humans occupying the island of Timor-Leste, just north of Australia, changed their methods of making stone tools in lockstep with climate change, according to a recent study in Quaternary Science Reviews. Ben Marwick, professor of anthropology at the UW, is quoted.

Some are stubborn optimists. Others struggle with despair. Their faces show the weight they carry as they witness the impact of climate change. Kristin Laidre, associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences at the UW and principal scientist at the Applied Physics Laboratory, and P. Dee Boersma, professor of biology at the UW, are featured.

The diverse dental features found among bats might help fill gaps in our understanding of how mammal teeth evolved. Scientists from the UW, publishing in Nature Communications, analysed and compared the jaws and teeth of more than 100 noctilionoid bats, revealing the developmental rules that explain the diverse range of dental features. Pictures from Sharlene Santana, professor of biology at the UW, are featured.

A recent study reveals the fascinating evolutionary journey of bat teeth and jaws. With over 200 species mostly found in the American tropics, noctilionoid bats possess a wide variety of jaw structures that have adapted to different diets. Sharlene Santana, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

There are more than 200 species of noctilionoid bats, mostly in the American tropics. And despite being close relatives, their jaws evolved in wildly divergent shapes and sizes to exploit different food sources. A paper published Aug. 22 in Nature Communications shows those adaptations include dramatic, but also consistent, modifications to tooth number, size, shape and position. For example, bats with short snouts lack certain teeth, presumably due to a lack of space. Species with longer jaws have room for more teeth — and, like humans, their total tooth complement is closer to what the ancestor of placental mammals had.

"The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reported that 2023 is already the most expensive year on record for weather and climate disasters in the U.S., with 23 separate disasters that have caused at least $1 billion each in estimated damages," writes Adrienne Russell, professor of communication and co-director of the UW Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy.

Centuries ago, writers depicted the natural world as terrifying and dangerous, no place for humans. But that fear, in the decades to come, gradually turned to appreciation, awe and joy, for poets and artists, sightseers and backpackers. This episode features Louisa Mackenzie, associate professor of Comparative History of Ideas.