Biosphere Journal

Articles, explainers and field notes about the natural world.

  • What Is New in BioQuest? — BioQuest is Biosphere’s species game: follow a six-step guided journey, solve the daily mystery species, play four quiz games, add species from your own photos to your field journal (+10 XP for each new species) and level up.
  • The Biodiversity Catalog Is Live — The Biosphere Catalog now holds 27 species records — 17 animals and 10 plants — each with a field record number, conservation status and a direct path to discovery.
  • Blue Whales: The Giants That Shape Our Oceans — Blue whales are among the largest organisms ever to exist. But their importance extends far beyond their extraordinary size: by feeding deep and resurfacing, they help recycle nutrients that ocean life depends on.
  • Five Species Fighting Their Way Back From the Brink — From the gray wolves of Yellowstone to the humpback whales of every ocean, these species show what decades of conservation work can achieve.
  • Why Coral Reefs Are Essential to Ocean Life — Coral reefs occupy less than one percent of the ocean floor, yet they support around a quarter of known marine species. Here is what makes them so important — and so vulnerable.
  • The Secret Communication of Elephants — Much of what elephants say to each other is too low for us to hear. Research is revealing a communication system built on infrasound, touch, memory and possibly even individual names.
  • How Migratory Birds Navigate Across Continents — Some birds fly from pole to pole every year, others cross an ocean without stopping. Scientists are still uncovering how they find their way.
  • The Hidden World Beneath the Forest Floor — Under every forest walk there is a second forest of fungal threads. A field note on mycorrhizal fungi — and on what science does and does not yet know about the “wood wide web”.
  • Plants That Thrive Where Almost Nothing Else Can — Deserts look empty, but they are full of plants with extraordinary ways to collect, store and save water.
  • The Axolotl, the Salamander That Regrows — Axolotls can regrow limbs, parts of their spinal cord and even heart tissue. In the wild, they survive only in the canals of Xochimilco.
  • Polar Bears and the Shrinking Sea Ice — Polar bears hunt seals from the sea ice. As the ice-free season grows longer, many bears must go longer without food.
  • Jaguars, the Cats That Love Water — Unlike most cats, jaguars are at home in rivers and wetlands — and some of their favourite prey live there too.
  • Two Flowers Called “Corpse Flower” — Both smell of rotting meat and both are record holders. But one is a leafless parasite and the other grows a single giant leaf.
  • Why the Komodo Dragon Was Moved to Endangered — In 2021 the IUCN moved the Komodo dragon from Vulnerable to Endangered. The reason: rising seas are projected to shrink its tiny island habitat.
  • How to Read the IUCN Red List — Every species in the Biosphere Catalog shows a conservation status. This guide explains the categories of the IUCN Red List and how species are assessed.