Ecology And Evolutionary Biology

New CU Boulder-led research finds the traits that make vertebrates distinct from invertebrates were made possible by the emergence of a new set of genes 500 million years ago.

They are secretive and cryptic, but you can see them if you know what to look for What causes those conical divots in the soft, dry soil beneath large conifers in the mountains and at the bases of cliffs on the Colorado Plateau? They presented a mystery when I first...

The colors and patterns of black swallowtails reveal the diversity of evolutionary dynamics acting on the sexes and the various life-history stages

What’s the big idea? Current industrialized food systems were optimized for a single goal – growing the maximum amount of food for the least amount of money. But when room and supplies are limited – like during space travel – you need to optimize for a different set of goals...

Move over, murder hornets. There’s a new bee killer in town. CU Boulder researchers have found there is growing evidence that another “pandemic,” as they call it, has been infecting bees around the world for the past two decades and is spreading: a fungal pathogen known as Nosema.

Researchers at CU Boulder think local parasites are influencing why barn swallows in Europe, the Middle East and Colorado are choosing their mates differently.

‘I fell in love with space that day. I didn’t even know I liked space,’ student Maureen McNamara notes

A CU Boulder researcher has received a $1.75 million NSF grant to study chickadee hybrids

Two CU Boulder projects are this year’s winners of the Signals in the Soil grants.

From the caliche soils of southeastern Colorado to crevices in bare sandstone on the Colorado Plateau, stemless four-nerved daisies show remarkable variation in growth form