Doing battle with the world's deadliest animal: WCU researchers join the fight against mosquito-borne diseases

Sure, mosquitos are an important link in the food chain for amphibians, birds and other insects, but they’re annoying, they’re persistent and they can actually kill you. Two researchers at Western Carolina University are working on a faster, cheaper, more reliable method to identify which ones will. 

Invasive apple snails found in N.C.

A new invasive species has been found in North Carolina.

Zebra mussels found in N.C.

The zebra mussel, a harmful invasive aquatic species, has been confirmed in the wild for the first time in North Carolina.

Inventory of life: Twenty-year effort to count Smokies species adds 1,000 to science

By late November, the trees at 5,000 feet are mostly bare, once-green leaves covering the forest floor like a brown blanket, obscuring the ground that had hosted all manner of wildflowers and shrubs and berries during the warmer months. 

Some people might describe the forest as dead or lifeless, but not those who know where to look. Paul Super, science coordinator for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is one of those people. Stationed up at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob, Super’s office is just a stone’s throw away from the Cataloochee Divide Trail and the upland forest surrounding it. 

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