News: Research

UT News

Invasive Grass in Texas Uses Chemical Warfare to Crowd Out Native Species

An invasive grass causing havoc in Texas and contributing to wildfires packs a one-two wallop against native plants. Guinea grass uses a combination of crowding that blocks out light from growing seedlings and what amounts to a chemical warfare in soil that is toxic to native plants, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

Researchers in the field examine Guinea grass

Research

Urban Gardens Are Good for Ecosystems and Humans

Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem.

urban garden featuring plants and raised beds

Research

Loss of Reptiles Poses Threat for Small Islands Where Humans May Have Caused Extinctions

A new study has startling conclusions about how, on smaller islands in the Caribbean where human impact was greatest, extinctions have led to the loss of up to two-thirds of the supports for the ecosystem that native reptile species once provided there.

Stylized image showing a lesser antillian iguana vs. an invasive mongoose

UT News

Holy Bat Memory! Frog-Eating Bats Remember Ringtones Years Later

Frog-eating bats trained to associate a phone ringtone with a tasty treat remembered what they learned for up to four years in the wild.

A bat rests on a cloth

UT News

Legacy of Colonialism Influences Science in the Caribbean

An international collaboration of researchers shows how the legacy of colonialism remains deeply entrenched within scientific practice across the Caribbean.

Map of the Caribbean

UT News

How Electric Fish Were Able to Evolve Electric Organs

How small genetic changes enabled electric fish to evolve electric organs.

A glowing electric fish against a pitch dark background

UT News

Invading Hordes of Crazy Ants May Have Finally Met Their Kryptonite

UT Austin scientists have demonstrated how to use a naturally occurring fungus to crush local populations of invasive tawny crazy ants.

Ants swarm on a larger, dead insect

Research

Some Trees May Play an Outsized Role in the Fight on Global Warming

A new study shows that nitrogen-fixing trees could help forests remove more heat-trapping COS from the atmosphere than previously thought.

Sunlight peeks through the trees

Research

Unraveling How One of the Most Important Cell Types Form

Stomata are critical to plant biology and scientists have found a key to how they get there.

Microscopic images of plant stomata

Research

Switchgrass Genes Offer Advantages as Climate Change Tool

This native grass can capture atmospheric carbon in its substantial root system.

Large bundles of swtichgrass in a field.