Water is essential in biochemical processes needed for the survival of living organisms. Humans can survive without water for about 2-7 days. However, there exists an animal so resilient that it can withstand water scarcity for decades! Tardigrades, also called water bears, are small aquatic animals that are about 1.2 mm long with a head and four pairs of clawed legs, looking like cute little gummy bears.

Standing a metre tall and weighing up to a whopping 18 kilograms, the Great Indian bustards (GIB) are one of the heaviest flying birds on Earth. Yet, they are unable to ‘throw their weight around’ in this world dominated by us. Their numbers have drastically declined by nearly 90% in the last 50 years, and the future of these charismatic birds look very bleak. They are now in a tight race against time for their survival, and if things don’t change fast, they could be the first species to go extinct in independent India.

Researchers at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, University of Leeds, UK, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, traced some of the misinformed decisions that were made in the past about trying to grow forests in the shola-grassland landscapes of the Nilgiris.

Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, explore how insectivorous plants attract insects.

Researchers from the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, report that the diversity of earthworms enriches the carbon content of the soil.

Researchers from Switzerland, Germany, Austria and India have calculated the distribution of ice thickness or the volume of ice in the glaciers present across the globe.

Researchers from M.E.S. Abasaheb Garware College, Pune, explore how density of plants affects the presence and abundance of herbivores.

How do scientists proclaim an ecosystem like the Western Ghats as an ‘biodiversity hotspot’ and push for its conservation? They do so by ‘ecological sampling’, a technique used to find diversity and abundance of animals and plants in a habitat. They collect samples of plants and animals from different locations within an area and extrapolate the possible biodiversity that exists in the area.

The forests of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot of India, have been revealing several new species of amphibians and reptiles in the recent years. This time, however, amphibian researchers from the University of Delhi have discovered a new frog species which was hiding in plain sight in a roadside puddle in Southern India.

One of the greatest threats to biodiversity is the fragmentation or breaking apart of habitats. Climate change, volcanic eruptions and other geological processes can gradually modify the area in which a species finds food, shelter, and mates. By natural selection and adaptation, speciation occurs, adding to the richness of life. Conversely, human activities of deforestation, agriculture and urbanisation have accelerated habitat loss to such a degree that species are unable to adapt to the changes, leading to ecosystem decay and, ultimately, extinction.