Biodiversity, Conservation & Ecosystems

With an unparalleled network of environmental monitoring stations, research field sites and cyber infrastructure, UArizona pioneers fundamental and use-inspired ecosystem science to help save species and conserve the lands, forests and wildlife of the western U.S. and beyond.

Our research

Does Border Security Mean Loss of Biodiversity?

What's Up With All the Crane Flies?

A mass emergence of crane flies has many Tucsonans wondering what the creatures are, why there are so many of them and why they seemed to show up all at once. A University of Arizona insect expert has answers.

Out of Antarctica, churnings of climate change

The interplay of carbon dioxide, winds and Southern Ocean waters could be reaching an environmental tipping point

A Forest of Fungi: Detangling the Plant Mycobiome

In the race against global climate change, researchers at the University of Arizona are working to preserve, catalog, and map the potential of thousands of species of imperiled fungi found in the world’s boreal forests.

DNA from ancient packrat nests helps unpack Earth's past

New work shows how using next-generation DNA sequencing on ancient packrat middens could provide ecological snapshots of Earth's past.

Researchers study impacts of large fire on A Mountain

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, University of Arizona and Tumamoc Hill Desert Laboratory are conducting a research study on the desert’s recovery after the fire and specifically looking at saguaro cacti.

One-third of all plant and animal species could be extinct in 50 years, study warns

UN report says 1 million species are in danger of extinction.

Spring has arrived weeks early in the South. Flowers are blooming, and that could be a problem.

Thanks to an abnormally warm winter, green leaves are sprouting and flower buds are bursting weeks early across the Southeast this year. Spring has sprung prematurely, and depending on the weather during the next two months, this could have detrimental effects on this vegetation.

Study: One-Third of Plant and Animal Species Could be Gone in 50 Years

University of Arizona researchers studied recent extinctions from climate change to estimate the loss of plant and animal species by 2070. Their results suggest that as many as one in three species could face extinction unless warming is reduced.