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Categories: Ecology: Research, Paleontology: Fossils

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Ecology: General Ecology: Research Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Researcher discovers threshold that triggers drought response in forests      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Missouri is home to an array of natural resources, with forests among the state's most valuable ecosystems. As warmer temperatures fueled by climate change affect ecosystems globally, forests are under stress to adapt to these changes and ensure their survival in a warmer world. Researchers now introduce the 'ecosystem wilting point' concept, which explains how whole forests respond to drought.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Detecting the impact of drought on plants with user-friendly and inexpensive techniques      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Climate change is aggravating the impact of droughts -- one of the factors that only affect plant physiology -- on all plant ecosystems worldwide. Although new tools have been developed to detect and assess drought stress in plants -- transcriptomic or metabolomic technologies, etc. -- they are still difficult to apply in natural ecosystems, especially in remote areas and developing countries.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Research Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Geckos know their own odor      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Geckos can use their tongue to differentiate their own odor from that of other members of their species, as researchers have shown in a new experimental study. The findings show that geckos are able to communicate socially, meaning that they are more intelligent than was previously assumed.

Ecology: General Ecology: Research Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Moisture the key to soils' ability to sequester carbon, research shows      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Soil is the Earth's second-biggest carbon storage locker after the ocean, and a research collaboration has shown that it's moisture, not temperature or mineral content, that's the key to how well the soil carbon warehouse works.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Coral reefs in the Eastern Pacific could survive into the 2060s      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists found that some reefs in the tropical Pacific Ocean could maintain high coral cover into the second half of this century by shuffling the symbiotic algae they host. The findings offer a ray of hope in an often-dire picture of the future of coral reefs worldwide.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity
Published

Urban gardens are good for ecosystems and humans      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem. A new study defies this assumption, showing that community gardens and urban farms positively affect biodiversity, local ecosystems and the well-being of humans that work in them.

Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Researchers solve a 150-year-old mystery: Aetosaur find involves juveniles      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Aetosaurs had a small head and a crocodile-like body. The land dwellers were up to six meters long and widely distributed geographically. They died out about 204 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic. In Germany, an assemblage of 24 Aetosaurus ferratus individuals, only between 20 and 82 centimeters long, was discovered in 1877. Since then, scientists have been puzzling over whether they were juveniles or small adults. A team has now solved the mystery: Bone examination of two specimens shows that they are juveniles.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Fossil discovery reveals complex ecosystems existed on Earth much earlier than previously thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: General Ecology: Research
Published

How giants became dwarfs      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In certain Lake Tanganyika cichlids breeding in empty snail shells, there are two extreme sizes of males: giants and dwarfs. Researchers have analyzed the genomes of these fish and found out how the peculiar sizes of males and females evolved in conjunction with the genetic sex determination mechanism.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Endangered Bahamas bird may be lost from island following hurricane      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The endangered Bahama Warbler may be surviving on just one island following Hurricane Dorian's devastation in 2019, according to researchers. A new study shows the bird's distribution and ecology on Grand Bahama before the hurricane struck. But the team says that the warbler may now only survive on neighboring Abaco island, after hurricane Dorian destroyed the bird's forest habitat on Grand Bahama. The research comes from the same team that found what is thought to have been the last living Bahama Nuthatch, previously thought to have been extinct.

Biology: Marine Ecology: General Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Marine reserves unlikely to restore marine ecosystems      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Protected marine areas are one of the essential tools for the conservation of natural resources affected by human impact -- mainly fishing --, but, are they enough to recover the functioning of these systems? A study now highlights the limitations of marine reserves in restoring food webs to their pristine state prior to the impact of intensive fishing.

Environmental: Biodiversity Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

A fossil fruit from California shows ancestors of coffee and potatoes survived cataclysm that killed the dinosaurs      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The discovery of an 80-million-year-old fossil plant pushes back the known origins of lamiids to the Cretaceous, extending the record of nearly 40,000 species of flowering plants including modern-day staple crops like coffee, tomatoes, potatoes and mint.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Long-term restoration of a biodiversity hotspot hinges on getting seeds to the right place at the right time      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research shows that degraded savanna ecosystems can reap lasting benefits from a single seeding of native understory plants. Once a diverse understory of savanna plants became established, its long-term persistence was relatively unaffected by environmental factors -- with one exception. Higher temperatures during the height of the growing season were associated with poorer long-term survival among some species, indicating one threat posed by a warming climate.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research
Published

Loss of reptiles poses threat for small islands where humans may have caused extinctions      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new examination of ancient and current species of reptiles conducted by paleobiologists reveals the serious impact of the disappearance of even a few species of reptiles in some island areas. The study has startling conclusions about how, on smaller islands in the Caribbean where human impact was greatest, extinctions have led to the loss of up to two-thirds of the supports for the ecosystem that native reptile species once provided there.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Voiceless frog discovered in Tanzania      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers discovered a new species of frog in Africa that has an unusual trait: it's completely silent. The Ukaguru spiny-throated reed frog does not croak, sing or ribbit. Found in Tanzania's Ukaguru Mountains for which it is named, Hyperolius ukaguruensis is among the few frogs around the world that do not vocalize to other frogs.

Environmental: Ecosystems Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Mistaken fossil rewrites history of Indian subcontinent for second time      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists discovered the first-ever Dickinsonia fossil in India two years ago, changing our understanding of how the continent came to be. Now, new research shows the 'fossil' was just a beehive all along, changing our understanding for a second time, and the original scientists now support the new findings.

Biology: Evolutionary Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

319-million-year-old fish preserves the earliest fossilized brain of a backboned animal      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The CT-scanned skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish, pulled from a coal mine in England more than a century ago, has revealed the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain.

Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Deer browsing is just one of many factors shaping North American forests      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In a new study, a research team discovered evidence that browsing by white-tailed deer had relatively little long-term impact on two tree species in a northern forest.