News: Biodiversity and Sustainability

Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin

Features

What Will Extreme Weather Events Mean for Texas’s Favorite Bugs?

The answer matters for people, too, given how insects affect whole ecosystems.

A photo of a monarch butterfly on a yellow flower

Research

Targeted Grazing May Help Beat Invasive Buffelgrass

Researchers head to Kenya to unlock the weaknesses of invasive buffelgrass to combat it here in Texas.

Image of buffelgrass and cattle

Features

Texas Field Station Network Catalyzes Collaborations Across Field Sites

The recently announced largest-ever gift to the college is helping to bring new research synergies.

Natural landscape with orange brown grasses in the foreground, trees in the middle distance and a mountai top with telescope domes in the distance

Research

Otters, Especially Females, Use Tools To Survive a Changing World

A new study has found that individual sea otters that use tools — most of whom are female — are able to eat larger prey...

A sea otter feeds on a marine animal

Research

Red Flags: I’m Not the Bug for You!

The matador bug’s vibrant red hind-leg flags are neither a mating display nor a distraction tactic, they’re part of an elaborate defense strategy.

A black and yellow bug with red flaps on its hind legs sits on a green leaf

Wildflower Center

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Launches Live Owl Nest Cam

A much-loved great horned owl named ‘Athena’ is viewable at The University of Texas at Austin center and field station.

A great horned owl perches on a tree branch.

Research

Why the Powerhouses of Cells Evolve Differently in Plants

New research solves a mystery as to why mitochondria in some plants evolve faster than others.

A pink flower with green stem against a tan background

Research

Climate Change and Habitat Loss Are Big Factors in Frog Pandemic

The worldwide decline in frog populations is due to a fast-spreading infection, but people also play a role.

A small frog perches on a large rock

Research

First Brainwide Map Shows How Sex and Intimacy Rewire the Brain

Steven Phelps and his team found 68 brain regions in prairie voles associated with mating and bonding.

A pair of small furry rodents snuggle

Features

UT Entomologists Collaborate on Insect-Inspired Album

An award-winning composer came to class and had scientists lend an ear, resulting in music that’s all the buzz.

A young treehopper photographed at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory polllinator garden is one of the insects that inspired a scientist-musician collaboraiton. Credit: Alex Wild