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Emily Leclerc

Emily Leclerc is an intern in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs. Her writing has appeared in Boston University News Service, Wahpeton Daily News and Dana-Farber’s Insight Blog, among others. Emily recently graduated from Boston University with an MS in journalism. She also holds a BA in biology from Roanoke College in Virginia. You can find her at https://emilyleclercportfolio.weebly.com/.

Stories from this author

Climate change is causing oceans to warm, which in turn affects fish and fishers. Now, scientists are turning towards management strategies to protect species and the industry. (Claudio Contreras-Koob/International League of Conservation Photographers)

Why Fishes are the Catch of the Day for Climate Research

Fishery management systems can teach scientists how fish can be raised sustainably in wild fisheries.

Coral reef health is an important indicator of the ocean’s well-being. Scientists can study corals to learn more about how climate change is affecting the oceans. (Wise Hok Wai Lum, CC-BY-SA-4.0)

DNA Makes Waves in the Fight to Save Coral Reefs

Environmental DNA could help scientists understand and anticipate the threats coral reefs face.

Through research on living and preserved fungus-farming ants, entomologists are learning more about the insects’ deep connection to their environment and how that relationship might evolve in response to a changing climate. (Smithsonian)

How Fungus-Farming Ants Fertilize Climate Research

Research on deeply connected insect species is illuminating how interspecies relationships might evolve in response to climate change

Fossil plants reveal information about the temperature and precipitation of past climates. Scientists use what they learn from fossil plants to inform their research on modern climate change (USNM PAL 606436, Smithsonian)

What Fossil Plants Reveal About Climate Change

Paleobiologists use fossil plants to reconstruct Earth’s past climate and inform climate change research today.

Landscapes have been managed by humans for thousands of years – some sustainably, others less so. The Martu people of Australia burn the grasses in continent’s Western Desert. The practice yields food, but also increases biodiversity in the area. (Rebecca Bliege Bird)

New Study Pushes Origins of Human-Driven Global Change Back Thousands of Years

Understanding people’s past land use strategies could help us better conserve global biodiversity now.

The National Museum of Natural History’s 146 million objects and specimens are studied by researchers worldwide who are looking to understand all aspects of the natural world. (Chip Clark, Smithsonian)

How Museum Collections Advance Knowledge of Human Health

The National Museum of Natural History's collections are important sources of information for scientific research on health and medicine.

All modern dogs are descended from a wolf species that when extinct around 15,000 years ago. Grey wolves, pictured here fighting for food with now extinct dire wolves (red), are dogs’ closest living relative. (Art by Mauricio Antón)

Meet the Scientist Studying How Dogs Evolved From Predator to Pet

Learn about how humans of the past helped build the bond between us and our favorite furry friends.

Sylvester Musembi Musyoka, a Kenyan colleague and field crew leader, recording a large mammal fossil bone during a virtual field project to collect fossils in Kenyan excavation sites that were in danger of being damaged by severe weather. (Nzioki Mativo/Smithsonian)

How the Pandemic Changed Scientific Exploration

How seven Smithsonian scientists continued to discover the secrets of the natural world safely during the pandemic

The cyanobacteria species that produces gatorbulin-1, tentatively identified as Lyngbya confervoides, forms these reddish-green, hair-like structures which are a collection of connected single cells rather than a true multicellular organism. (Raphael Ritson-Williams)

Scientists Find Blue-Green Algae Chemical with Cancer Fighting Potential

The discovery shows how studying marine biodiversity can enhance biomedical research.

Scientists described a new species of Bryde’s-like whale using the skeleton of a whale that washed ashore in the Florida Everglades in 2019 and is now part of the Smithsonian’s marine mammals collection. (NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC Permit No. 779-1633-0)

Scientists Describe New Species of Rare Bryde’s Whale

The study shows that the oceans still harbor many secrets that we might not realize we’re losing.

The broad-tailed hummingbird uses its fiery throat feathers, called a gorget, to attract a mate. (Kati Fleming, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Eight of Nature’s Wildest Mating Rituals

From aerial acrobatics to sexual deception and physical battles, some species have developed more unusual rituals to show off their prowess as a potential mate.

Leconte’s flatsedge (Cyperus lecontei) has distinctive spikelet scales and fruit which are used by scientists to identify it. (Carol Kelloff)

Get to Know the Scientist Behind the Smithsonian’s 140,000 Grass-Like Sedges

Learn more about these grassy plants and what they can tell us about sustainable life on Earth.