Movement ecology is a developing academic pursuit, combining expertise in a variety of fields, including biology, ecology, botany, environmental science, physics, mathematics, virology and others. It involves the study of how microorganisms, plants and animals travel from one place to another, sometimes for great distances and in highly surprising ways.

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Males that produce sperm packages that can penetrate deep into the skin. Females with bellies full of stored sperm. Males that seriously injure the females during mating. This is just a selection of the bizarre reproductive techniques that marine biologist Henk-Jan Hoving has discovered with different species of deep-ocean squid.

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Dr. Rusty Feagin was managing several ecosystem research projects on Galveston Island when the 2008 hurricane season began. Then he got an unexpected visit from a research assistant named Ike. “Ike reconfirmed the basic idea I’ve had for several years,” said Feagin, ecosystem scientist with Texas AgriLife Research. “The plants on sand dunes and in marshes build an island’s elevation, so we shouldn’t compromise that.”

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At the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, there are five strange looking “patches” cleared out of the surrounding forest. No, they’re not crop circles carved by aliens. They’re actually budding longleaf pine forest ecosystems. Biologists have created these ecological patches with the help of the United States Forest Service-Savannah River to understand whether “corridors” help plants and animals survive habitat fragmentation.

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Scientists analyzed fisheries data to determine the effect of the “keep the large ones” policy that is typical of fisheries. What they found is that the effect of this policy is an unsustainable fishery.

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