What is a species?
How do we determine whether two animals are of the same species? It is not enough to judge based on similar appearance: Chihuahuas and Dalmatians look vastly different but we consider these to be the...
View ArticleNew animal species now official when published online
The International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), the body that regulates animal species names, took a big step earlier this week when it announced that electronic publication of a new...
View ArticleDarwin’s Tangled Bank in Verse
Editor’s note: PLOS Biology is delighted to post this ode to nature on behalf of PLOS cofounder Mike Eisen. My daughter has to memorize a poem for a school performance, and asked me if I knew a good...
View ArticleHow species are like pornography: Species concepts and the fossil record
Recently I helped name a new species, an animal we think is the oldest dinosaur found to date—if not, it’s the closest cousin to dinosaurs we know of (Nesbitt et al. 2013). It was the first time I’ve …
View ArticleThe Poop Will Tell Us: Do Elephants and Rhinos Compete for Food?
A recent study of the two animals in Addo Elephant National Park, called “Shift in Black Rhinoceros Diet in the Presence of Elephant: Evidence for Competition?” suggests the answer is yes. Scientists...
View Article#Halloween Flashback: Understanding biological diversity using ghosts and...
0000-0002-8715-2896 We’re marking Halloween 2017 with a replay of memorably spooky posts from our seven-year archive. This one is by our Ecology Community Editor Jeff Atkins, who, we notice, knows how...
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