Syndication

In one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, new supply chains for exotic products are using flavor to change the way Colombians understand their country's biological endowment: rain forests, Amazonian rivers, and two oceans.

With their long eyelashes, banana-shaped ears, upturned mouths and stocky bodies covered with curly wool, llamas look like creatures that walked out of a Dr. Seuss story. Llamas are having a moment in the US, but they’ve been icons in South America for millennia.

For three years scientists with Raising Coral Costa Rica have been snapping off coral pieces from existing reefs to grow them in an underwater nursery. The team is using tested techniques and experimental ideas to grow coral and revive ancient reefs in Golfo Dulce, southwestern Costa Rica.

Colombia is the world’s most biodiverse country by area, but its rich forested ecosystems are facing existential threats.

Species must either migrate, adapt or die in response to climate change. By monitoring the geographic edges of where a species lives – like the southernmost tree – scientists can get a handle on the migration ability of various species.

The Caribbean is the only region of the Americas where people settled an archipelago with some islands not visible from surrounding areas. Despite more than a century of research, there are still many questions about when they migrated and what routes they took.

Human activities have an outsized impact on monarchs’ ability to migrate. Development, agriculture and logging have reduced monarch habitat. Climate change, drought and pesticide use also reduce the number of butterflies that complete the journey.