A pug dog leans out the window of a red car. It is very cute

Evolution of pugs and Persians converges on cuteness

Through intensive breeding, humans have pushed breeds such as pug dogs and Persian cats to evolve with very similar skulls and “smushed” faces, so they’re more similar to each other than they are to most other dogs or cats.

An aquaculturist feeds his fish in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil. Felipe Pacheco/Provided

Aquaculture in the Amazon: lessons for food security and sustainability

Expanding aquaculture in the Amazon could provide nutritional and economic benefits at a fraction of the environmental cost of cattle grazing, according to a recent paper in Nature Sustainability authored by a multi-national research team lead by EEB grad student Felipe Pacheco from the Flecker Lab.

Red buds on black branches in the foreground with a clock tower in the distance

Five early-career professors win NSF development awards

Researchers studying novel traits in organisms and the fundamental understanding of extreme weather are among the five Cornell assistant professors who've received National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Awards.

Fishermen cast their nets in the Amazon River by Alex Flecker.

Smaller fish offer better nutrition, lower environmental cost

Former EEB grad student and Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Sebastian Heilpern leads Cornell research team in the Amazon: Smaller fish species are more nutritious, lower in mercury and less susceptible to overfishing. The findings have implications for biodiversity conservation and public health across the globe.

Flycatcher with snake skin Barbara Taylor/Macaulay Library for EEB website 2025

Cavity-nesting birds decorate with snake skin to deter predators

EEB and CUMV researchers Rowher and Vitousek report: new and historical data show birds that nest in cavities are more likely to use shed snake skins in their construction than birds that build open-cup nests, and this practice helps deter predators from eating the eggs.

A portrait of Marisol Valverde Montellano in a canoe doing field research.

Understanding freshwater soundscapes in the Brazilian Amazon

EEB grad Marisol Valverde Montellano spent the summer focused on freshwater soundscapes and species community structure and dynamics with a focus on fishes, primarily through work at the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve in the Brazilian Amazon.

A portrait of Steph Tran.

EEB grad student in the spotlight: Stephanie Tran

Steph Tran is a second year doctoral student in our department. Steph earned a B.S. in general biology at the University of Texas at Arlington and now studies how organisms adapt to rapid environmental changes in the Gordon Lab. Steph is broadly interested in natural history and how organisms adapt to rapid environmental changes.

Five people cluster around an open log full of bees

EEB researchers receive Cornell Atkinson Academic Venture Funds

EEB's Flecker, McIntyre and Power research programs among six funded by Cornell Atkinson’s annual Academic Venture Fund. Seed funding will support research teams across five colleges and 11 departments, many with external partnerships that strengthen research and speed pathways from innovation to impact.

Goldenrod shown againsta a blue sky.

Are plants intelligent? It depends on the definition

EEB's chemical ecologist prof, Andre Kessler, makes an argument for plant intelligence in a recent paper in the journal Plant Signaling and Behavior. Goldenrod can perceive other plants nearby without ever touching them, by sensing far-red light ratios reflected off leaves. When goldenrod is eaten by herbivores, it adapts its response based on whether or not another plant is nearby.

Peter Loewen

Peter Loewen named dean of Arts and Sciences

Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.

Red fox by Christine Bogdanowicz.

Long snouts protect foxes when ‘mousing’ headfirst in snow

EEB prof and CUMV curator Bemis co-authors study with fellow Cornell researchers: Foxes’ sharp snouts penetrate snow during "mousing" with little resistance, minimizing potential tissue damage during headfirst dives. When mousing in snow, the fox’s long snout also allows it to reach its prey earlier, as mice are very sensitive to movements in their environment and can quickly escape.

Three species of Characiformes (piranhas, tetras and allies) from Africa showing variation in head anatomy.

Vertebrate 3D scan project opens collections to all

EEB's research and teaching resource, The Cornell Museum of Vertebrates (CUMV), one of 18 institutions taking part in the oVert (openVertebrate) Thematic Collection Network project: a venture to digitize vertebrate collections in museums and make them freely available online for anyone to access

Close-up of a Monarch butterfly perched upon an opaque background.

Seminar explores Nabokov as writer and ‘butterfly man’

EEB's Anurag Agrawal, the James A. Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies helps uncover the ways in which human affairs and natural environments are inevitably and inextricably entangled in Nabokov’s imagination. An avid butterfly collector, Nabokov developed theories, recently proven accurate, about the evolution of a group of butterflies known as the Polyommatus blues. But it was his groundbreaking work in the imperiled habitat of the Karner blue butterfly in upstate New York that has had a lasting impact on environmental legislation and action to this day.

Cornell Experimental Ponds dock by Christine Bogdanowicz 2024.

Ponds release more greenhouse gas than they store

Global climate models and predictions rely on accurate accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage, reports EEB assistant prof Meredith Holgerson. Holgerson and her research team are beginning to quantify the significant effects that both human-made and natural ponds have on the global greenhouse gas budget, measurements that aren’t well understood.

A researcher with a bag of rock dust.

Adding crushed rock to farmland pulls carbon out of the air

CALS Dean and EEB prof Ben Houlton part of UC Davis/Cornell research team: Adding crushed volcanic rock to cropland could play a key role in removing carbon from the air. The process, called rock weathering, can take millions of years — too slow to offset global warming. But by crushing the rock into a fine dust, rock weathering speeds up. The study was published in the journal Environmental Research Communications.

Round Goby fish by E. Engbretson, USFWS/Public domain

DNA breakthrough detects genetic diversity of invasive fish

EEB team from the Lodge Lab reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: the genetic material a species sheds into the environment (eDNA) can reveal not only the presence of the species but also a broad range of information about the genetics of whole populations. The use of eDNA sampling opens new possibilities for protecting endangered and vulnerable species and managing destructive invasive species.

Installing solar panels by Jason Koski, Cornell University Photography.

Floating an energy idea: Scientists study solar panel-topped ponds

Holgerson Lab joins multidisciplinary team from CALS at EEB's Experimental Ponds Facility to examine how floating solar panels on the research ponds affect the abiotic and biotic parts of water; and how microbes, macroinvertebrates, aquatic plants and fish fare. The three-year project is funded by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

EEB graduate student Sudan Kariuki in the field.

EEB grad Sudan Kariuki receives Fulbright-Hays Fulbright-Hays Award

Sudan Kariuki from the Sparks Lab among Cornell graduate student recipients of a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad award. The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies – the home of Cornell’s Fulbright program – advises and supports students throughout the application process.

Role of contact by the interaction topics. This balloon plot shows the frequency of students' communications by the professional and personal role of the contact. The balloons (circles) in the plot are sized by the number of reported interactions (x-axis) for a given topic (y-axis). The topics of students' communications were not mutually exclusive, students could list several topics for a single interaction. Interactions with “other” contacts (n = 12) were filtered out. RP stands for “research project.”

Smith Lab reports: Field course interactions relate to student identity

Undergraduate students in scientific field courses often talk about their research with mentors, peers, family and friends and those interactions are important in shaping student views of themselves as scientists, according to research by EEB doctoral student David Esparza from the Smith Lab.

Ag-tech in action; from inside a tractor cabin with digital displays looking out over an agricultural field.

Ag tech can cut billions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions

EEB prof and CALS Dean, Ben Houlton leads new study: state-of-the-art agricultural technology and management can not only reduce that growth, but eliminate it altogether by generating net negative emissions – reducing more greenhouse gas than food systems add. In fact, employing additional agricultural technology could result in more than 13 billion tons of net negative greenhouse gas emissions each year.

A collage of pond organisms.

Pond emission measurements improve climate predictions

Senior author and EEB assistant prof Meredith Holgerson reports: Pond emission measurements improve climate predictions. This new study measures methane and carbon dioxide emissions from 30 small lakes and ponds (one acre or less) in temperate areas of Europe and North America, revealing that the smallest and shallowest bodies of water exhibit the greatest variability over time.

A figure from the Moeller Lab paper about human-primate gut bacteria

Moeller Lab reports: Humans have lost half primate ancestors' gut bacteria

New study published by EEB's Moeller Lab finds that hundreds of bacterial groups have evolved in the guts of primate species over millions of years, but humans have lost close to half of these symbiotic bacteria. Strikingly, the results showed that these ancestral symbionts are being lost rapidly from the human lineage.

Ethan Duvall in a the field.

EEB grad student in the spotlight: Ethan Duvall

Ethan Duvall is a doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology from North Bend, Washington state. He attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, and now studies how wildlife populations respond to human impacts on ecosystems under the guidance of Alex Flecker at Cornell.

Zebra composite graphic by Laura Chichisan/College of Arts and Sciences

Prof Clark among A&S New Frontier Grant recipients

The Clark Lab project: "Developing an endangered equid as an integrative model for understanding species persistence and extinction," among projects awarded as part of the College of Arts and Sciences New Frontier Grant program. The projects span across the sciences, social sciences and humanities in this latest round, for novel investigations ranging from quantum computing to foreign policy development and from heritage forensics to effects of climate change.

Autum leaves shown on the ground.

EEB prof Goodale to serve as Nexus Scholars Program mentor this summer

This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program. For many of these students, this will be their first research opportunity and they’ll work on projects with faculty across the college – in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics.

A Bald Eagle shown feeding on a carcass in a grassy field by Christine Bogdanowicz.

Climate change creates ‘win-win’ between bald eagles and farmers

EEB graduate student Ethan Duvall lead author in new study: The mutually beneficial relationship is described in “A Win-Win Between Farmers and an Apex Predator: Investigating the Relationship Between Bald Eagles and Dairy Farms,” which published March 10 in the journal Ecosphere.

A portrait of Drew Harvell standing by a touch tank with marine organisms.

Drew Harvell among 12 faculty members elected AAAS fellows

EEB prof emerita Drew Harvell is among 12 Cornell faculty elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. Harvell was honored for distinguished contributions to the fields of ecology and oceanography, particularly for increasing our understanding of disease resistance in marine invertebrates and impacts of climate change, and communicating these findings in award-winning books, including 2019’s “Ocean Outbreak.”

A fruit fly.

Mating causes ‘jet lag’ in female fruit flies, changing behavior

EEB and MBG prof Andrew Clark's Lab and collaborators investigate the expression of genes related to the fruit fly circadian clock: The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help explain how this protein, called sex peptide, alters the female’s behavior.

A flock of shorebirds in flight over crashing waves by Christine Bogdanowicz

‘BirdFlow’ model could reveal mysteries of bird migration

Lovette Lab postdoc and co-author Benjamin Van Doren collaborates to develop new computer model: BirdFlow will predict migratory bird movement giving new insights into migration timing, stopover sites, response to climate change, and light pollution, as it learns the patterns and variations in movement for individual species.

Bob Howarth shown looking at a map in Corson Hall.

Howarth advises senators to shrink NY’s natural gas options

New York’s Climate Action Council member Prof Howarth advises state senators in drafting the Climate Action Council Final Scoping Plan which will serve as the blueprint to implement the groundbreaking New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) – the state’s key environmental law for mitigating climate change.

Drew Harvell shown with an octopus in an aquarium; photo by David O. Brown

Drew Harvell named US Science Envoy by State Department

Professor emerita, Drew Harvell one of seven U.S. researchers named 2023 U.S. Science Envoys by the Department of State, in partnership with the nonprofit Meridian International Center. The U.S. Science Envoys will engage internationally at the citizen and government levels to enhance relationships between other nations and the United States, develop partnerships and improve collaboration.

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