Jenny Staletovich

Choking plastics and deafening noise in the world’s oceans may be harming wildlife in more ways than scientists previously thought.

In two new studies published Monday, researchers found stinky plastics may be luring sea turtles while ship noise may be damaging crabs’ ability to protect themselves from prey. Both studies, from the University of Florida and University of Exeter in England, were published in the journal Current Biology.

Among scientists, conveying uncertainty in predictions over sea rise, increasing temperatures and other impacts linked to climate change — without suggesting doubt — remains a nagging challenge.

Scientists investigating a devastating new coral disease infecting reefs from Florida to and throughout the Caribbean may be zeroing in on a culprit behind the unpredictable spread: ballast water from big ships.

Investigators are now poring over shipping records housed at the Smithsonian to confirm the connection and better contain it.

When Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys in 2017, it sent a four- to six-foot storm surge to Biscayne Bay more than 100 miles away, flooding busy Brickell Avenue.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now has a tentative plan to fix that: massive flood gates and walls that could include a two-mile stretch in the heart of downtown Miami.

Florida remains the shark attack capital of the world, even if the capital is getting a little less crowded.

Everglades National Park will delay a planned hike in entrance fees while the park continues whittling away at a massive backlog of maintenance repairs.

To end its losing battle to block oil exploration in Everglades wetlands, Florida plans to purchase 20,000 acres in Broward County.

On a stretch of the Lower Keys, near an old borrow pit quarried during the construction of Big Pine, sea water and mud cover much of the rocky ground.

Florida’s woeful water conditions may be driving manatees into new, more hazardous territory.

In 2019, the number of manatees killed by boats reached a new high. Of the 574 deaths recorded as of Dec. 20, 130 were caused by collisions with boats, marking the third year in a row that fatal boat strikes increased.

Just after he entered the White House, President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate accord. It was only the most obvious rebuke of efforts to address climate change, that has since included ending a NASA carbon monitoring program and loosening regulations on air pollution.

Anglers have long theorized that the mighty tarpon, a brawny fish that draws anglers from around the world as part of a $6 billion U.S. sportfishing industry, migrated vast distances in search of warm water and food.

Now, a new study drawing on two decades worth of tracking data shows just how far: across the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan.

A $1.4 trillion spending package signed by President Donald Trump includes a holiday gift for the Everglades: $200 million.

As cranes continue to crowd South Florida’s skyline, birds of different feather are becoming increasingly hard to find.

On Saturday, birders and counters working with Tropical Audubon headed out for the first round of the annual Christmas Bird Count. The Audubon tradition launched in 1900 to turn the tide against hunting birds and tap into the burgeoning conservation movement. What participants found this year were fewer birds and a decline in good bird habitat.

Florida has an underappreciated secret weapon to help heal its ailing reefs: prickly sea urchins.

The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season officially wraps up Saturday, ending another above-average season that packed lethal power.

A lethal Gulf Coast red tide that littered beaches with dead wildlife in 2018 is back and this time around, it's claiming one of North America's rarest bird species.

In his new book, "The Geography of Risk: Epic Storms, Rising Seas, and the Cost of America's Coast," Pulitzer-prize winning author Gilbert Gaul takes a look at the U.S. history of coastal development since World War II - and finds a recipe for disaster.

Floridians have until Friday to weigh in on whether the state should set limits for toxic algae in water.

Florida is required to conduct reviews of water quality standards every three years under the federal Clean Water Act. This year, the state’s blue green algae task force and environmentalists have been lobbying for standards to address regular toxic outbreaks in the St. Lucie, Caloosahatchee and other Florida waterways.

On a steamy August day, Frank Ridgely stands inside a chilly surgical suite at Zoo Miami, preparing to slice into a seven-and-a-half foot-long Burmese python.

The snake was captured at the Big Cypress National Preserve, one of an estimated thousands roaming South Florida, devouring small mammals and helping wreck the balance of the ecosystem.

Some of the most dramatic sea rise around South Florida has occurred in the last two decades: at least five inches near Virginia Key since 1992.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to propose sweeping legislation meant to address Florida's water woes in a press conference Wednesday outside a Jupiter sewage plant.

The proposals largely follow the recommendations of a panel of scientists DeSantis appointed in April - a sharp departure from his predecessor Rick Scott, who refused to meet with scientists. DeSantis said the broad measures will be aimed at the state’s biggest sources of pollution: farms, aging wastewater treatment plants, stormwater and treated human waste used as fertilizer.

If the past is any indication, worsening threats from climate change, like rising seas in South Florida, could take a larger toll on the poor as people are forced to abandon their homes.

A state task force examining ways to fix Florida’s dirty water narrowed its recommendations on Monday by suggesting tighter rules for septic tanks and aging stormwater systems.

Scientists on Florida’s blue green algae task force began the daunting task this week of trying to craft recommendations for how to fix the state’s complex water problems.

A new United Nations climate report released in Monaco this week paints another grim picture for the planet and Florida.

Seas are not only rising, but accelerating and worsening flood threats.

Miami-Dade County’s morgue sits on a gritty corner opposite the Ryder Trauma Center, in the shadow of a boxy parking garage.

It’s not an unsurprising setting for cataloguing the worst of South Florida. What’s unexpected is inside: a skylight bathes the lobby in sunshine and makes the green carpet look like a forest floor. Loveseats and chairs are arranged for hushed conversations and hugs. A painting of a heron perched in a cypress swamp hangs on a wall outside the records room.

Four thousand years ago, rising seas decimated huge swaths of mangroves in Florida Bay.

Today, seas rising at a far greater rate, combined with increasing storms and drought, could lead to another catastrophic loss of mangroves that help keep the state from sliding into the sea, according to a new study published by the U.S. Geological Survey in the journal Nature Communications.

Randall Dasher is a fourth-generation Florida farmer and until last year, he never had a crop of iron-clay cowpeas fail.

"Something has changed and somewhere, someway, that has affected our yields," he said Monday during a panel at the University of Florida, where farmers met with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, scientists and agriculture officials.

As the planet heats up, polar ice melts, seas rise and Biblical-size rains become more frequent, hurricanes are expected to get wetter and more intense.

But less certain is how much climate change is making these fierce storms, which target Florida more than any other U.S. state, more punishing now.

The Florida Everglades can be a contentious place. Politicians, conservationists and farmers never seem to agree on much.

Debate among scientists tends to be collegial. But a new study on coral and the Florida Keys that gained national headlines last week has reignited a decades-old dispute over pollution and the Everglades.