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Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Yellow fish swim in front of coral reef

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

Andre Rovai measures mangrove growth in forest

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

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

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

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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