As a summer heat wave pummels the US, an expert warns about the dangers of humidity – particularly for toddlers, young athletes and older adults

Because of climate change, summers are getting hotter and more humid – much more humid. SciLine interviewed Dr. W. Larry Kenney, professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State University,…

Weather forecast accuracy is crucial in a heat wave – 1 degree can mean the difference between life and death

Weather forecasts have gotten quite good over the years, but their temperatures aren’t always spot on – and the result when they underplay extremes can be lethal. Even a 1-degree…

Lessons from the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave

The heat dome that descended upon the Pacific Northwest in late June 2021 met a population radically unprepared for it. Almost two-thirds of households earning US$50,000 or less and 70%…

Solutions for a world on fire

As the eastern U.S. and Canada reeled from days of thick wildfire smoke in early June 2023, millions of people faced the reality of climate change for the first time.…

Plant functional traits lend predictability to idiosyncratic range shifts – Functional Ecologists

In this new post, Tesa Madsen-Hepp—PhD candidate at the University of California Riverside, USA—presents her latest research ‘Plant functional traits predict heterogeneous distributional shifts in response to climate change’. She…

Aging in the Arctic—Insights from a study on woody shrubs – Functional Ecologists

In this new post, Jackson Drew—a PhD candidate in Alaska—presents his work ‘Age Matters: older Alnus viridis ssp. fruticosa are more sensitive to summer temperatures in the Alaskan Arctic‘. Here…

Ground squirrels hibernate to avoid predation, but not at the expense of reproductive opportunities – Functional Ecologists

Austin Allison—a PhD student at Colorado State University and recent MS graduate from the University of Idaho—discusses his recently accepted paper: “Why hibernate? Tests of four hypotheses to explain intraspecific…

Closely tropical herbs have similar tolerance to high temperatures – Functional Ecologists

In our newest post Georgia Hernández Corrales—PhD candidate at University of Connecticut, USA—presents her work ‘Evolutionary history constrains heat tolerance of native and exotic tropical Zingiberales’. She discusses the importance…

Biofilms, an underrated yet important way of life – Functional Ecologists

In this new post, Hugo Sentenac, a PhD student at Labaoratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (LEFE), Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France, discusses his review paper: The significance of biofilms…