By 2050, almost 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban environments, according to the United Nations. But as cities spread, wild animals will also have to adapt. In Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) report that male tungara frogs in Panama City put on sexier mating displays than frogs living in nearby tropical forests.

In collaboration with the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, a research group from the UPV/EHU’s Plentzia Marine Station has studied the bivalves in the mangroves on both coasts of Nicaragua in order to analyse how they are affected by the pollution brought down by the rivers. That way, it will be possible to use them as sentinels or indicators of environmental changes. The research has been published by the journal Science of the Total Environment.

An international study led by University of Miami tropical biologists reveals that tropical trees are migrating upslope to escape climate change, but not fast enough.

The historically over-exploited Giant South American Turtle is making a significant comeback on river beaches in the Brazilian Amazon thanks to local protection efforts, say researchers at the University of East Anglia.

Baby birds learn to fly. Baby mammals switch from milk to solid food. Baby bats, as winged mammals, do both at the same time during their transition from infants to flying juveniles. According to a new report from researchers STRI who studied Peters’ tent-making bats ('Uroderma bilobatum'), mothers prod their young with their forearms, perhaps encouraging them to fledge and wean.

Crops such as wheat and maize have undergone a breeding process lasting thousands of years, in the course of which mankind has gradually modified the properties of the wild plants in order to adapt them to his needs. One motive was, and still is, higher yields. One "side effect" of this breeding has been a reduction in genetic diversity and the loss of useful properties. This is shown, among others, by an increased susceptibility to diseases, a lack of taste or a reduced vitamin and nutrient content in modern varieties. Now, for the first time, researchers from Brazil, the USA and Germany have created a new crop from a wild plant within a single generation using CRISPR-Cas9, a modern genome editing process. Starting with a "wild tomato" they have, at the same time, introduced a variety of crop features without losing the valuable genetic properties of the wild plant. The results have been published in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology.