No one expects to see trees that look like jewels in the high desert of Arizona. But that’s exactly what visitors find in the Petrified Forest National Park – ancient logs preserved for millennia by a process that transfigured them into rare and beautiful stones.

The mighty saguaro cactus is both a cultural and ecological icon.

If you find a bird feather – how can you tell which species it belongs to? An ornithologist in the Forensic Laboratory at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pondered this question.

The American pika is a small mammal that inhabits the highest elevations in the western mountains. Members of the rabbit family, pikas are approximately 7 inches long, characterized by outsized ears, short legs and a chunky, furry body.

CO₂ levels topped a record high of 430 ppm in May. It’s bad news for ecosystems, but could mean wetter summers for some regions.

Rain comes when water molecules in the atmosphere clump together to form ice crystals or water droplets that are heavy enough to fall to the ground. But what causes that clumping to happen?

Monsoon season is underway. Meteorologists have identified a pattern that brings hope to those longing for a lush summer this year.

The Las Vegas bearpoppy is incredibly rare and found in scattered locations in northwestern Arizona and near Las Vegas.

Wet meadows are small but crucial landscape elements among the pines above the Mogollon Rim. They benefit plant diversity, wildlife and watershed health.

Across the vast landscapes of the Colorado Plateau, one resilient plant has profoundly shaped people and land for many centuries: Indian ricegrass.