Monarch butterflies have always been remarkably resilient. Every fall, these delicate orange-and-black travelers set out on a journey so improbable it borders on myth, flying some three thousand kilometers from Canadian fields all the way to Mexico’s mountain forests, their overwintering grounds. They’ve been weathering habitat loss, extreme weather and pesticides, but new research from the University of Ottawa suggests a new snag in their epic trek. The culprit? Nectar. Turns out, their main food source isn’t what it used to be.

Shifting ocean conditions mean that animals have to adjust to the loss of some food sources and changes in their habitats. Now, researchers have used almost 30 years of data to document how the trophic niches and diets of fin, minke, and humpback whales have shifted in the context of environmental changes in the North Atlantic Ocean. They found that these whales are eating more fish and less krill than they used to. Whales also divvied up resources more clearly and kept more to their own niches, which could indicate reduced prey availability in recent years.

Climate change and armed conflict rank among the strongest drivers of migration across Africa. A new study by researchers at Chungnam National University analyzes 20 years of data (1995–2015) from African nations, finding that climate adaptation—particularly improvements in agricultural productivity—significantly weakens migration pressures linked to drought and armed conflict. Higher adaptive capacity, including better water access, health systems, and infrastructure, moderates these effects most during overlapping crises.

Researchers investigating the effectiveness of outdoor ads promoting climate change awareness and action found that a general message of climate emergency awareness received more QR code scans compared to a more-specific campaign focusing on sustainable fashion, according to a study published January 21, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Maxwell Boykoff from the University of Colorado Boulder, USA, and colleagues.