News Animals

Better bird nesting also good for giant manta rays

Disrupting tree canopies on a Pacific atoll has ecological consequences

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

By following a pinball cascade of ecological consequences, researchers have traced the far-flung influences of preserving bird-friendly native forests versus replacing those forests with coconut palms on the Pacific atoll of Palmyra.

SURF AND TURF The nesting preferences of birds such as black noddies (left) have implications for the feeding habits of giant manta rays (right) on the Pacific atoll of Palmyra, a new study finds.