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Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Closeup of a handful of river herring underwater swimming toward the viewer, with silver bodies, yellow faces and beady black eyes.

American Icons: Reviving the River Herring

Hog Island Oak Tree 5_Credit John Parker_med-res.jpg

American Icons: A Toast to The White Oak

A lionfish with elongated spines and red and white stripes swims through a reef.

Eight of the Worst Marine Invaders, According to Scientists

Yellow fish swim in front of coral reef

Too Many Coral Restorations Fail. Treating Them Like Experiments Could Help Them Succeed.

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Tech Titans NC Helps Excavate Archaeologists From Mountains of Paperwork

Andre Rovai measures mangrove growth in forest

Meet the Scientist Uncovering How Mangroves Can Help the U.S. Military

Over a dozen blue crabs with red pincers piled in a wooden basket

Cannibalism Takes Major Bite Out of Young Blue Crabs, but the Shallows Offer a Refuge

Close-up of a bright green patch of seagrass under bright blue water

Eight Weird Facts About Seagrass (and Why It’s Essential)

Left: Black and white image of a young man sitting at a desk, examining bird bones and holding a bird skull. Right: A young woman in an orange safety vest bends over a stream, collecting a water sample in a bottle.

Six Ways the Smithsonian Shaped Environmental Science in 60 Years

A young man and woman crouch on a wooden plank in a forest, with irrigation pipes across the ground. The man is pointing to a clear pipette in his hand.

Scientists Flooded a Forest to Catch a Ghost Forest in the Making. Here’s What They Found

A woman wearing a straw sun hat stands on a dock with a forest behind her, holding out a plastic water bottle and smiling.

How Volunteers Helped Train Satellites to Health-Check the Chesapeake

A brown river otter walks beside a white tree, with autumn leaves covering the ground.

River Otters Unfazed by Parasites, Poop While Eating

A woman in a red shirt stands on a wooden blue canoe beside a mangrove shoreline, unwinding a fishing net.

Local Women’s Voices Often Missing in Marine Protection

Gray smoke billows from fires on a mountainside, as seen from above.

Firefighting Planes Are Dumping Ocean Water on the Los Angeles Fires—Why Using Saltwater Is Typically a Last Resort

A clear blue river winds through a reedy wetland, reflecting the clouds overhead. A wooden boardwalk with rails overlooks the river on the right.

Hot, Fresh & Flooded: These Wetlands Spew Out the Most Methane

Head and shoulders photo of Denise Breitburg, a woman with glasses and shoulder-length gray hair, with forested mountains in the background.

Wait, the Ocean Is Losing Oxygen? Q&A With Denise Breitburg

Uzay Sezen, wearing a red hard hat, kneels in a forest with a crossbow on his left and a sample of green leaves in front of him

How Crossbows Can Tell Us Which Genes Trees Are Turning On…and Off

A swarm of yellow fish and silver fish with yellow tailfins swim around a coral reef

Adult Fish Aren't Truly 'Protected' in Many Marine Protected Areas

Pools of water flood a green marsh, under a misty sky

How Much Can Wetlands Fight Climate Change? A New Carbon Atlas Has The Answers.

Black monkey perches in a tree staring directly at camera

Eight Weird and Wondrous Discoveries From 2023

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