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Categories: Anthropology: General, Ecology: Animals

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Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Researchers identify the oldest pieces of Baltic amber found on the Iberian Peninsula: imports began over 5,000 years ago      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Baltic amber is a luxury material used in jewellery and handicrafts all over the world. Researchers have shown that Baltic amber arrived on the Iberian Peninsula at least in the 4th millennium BC, more than a millennium earlier than previously thought.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life
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Pinpointing the emergence of muddy flavors in your fish      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many people have experienced a muddy off-flavor in farmed fish. While the aquaculture industry has known about the problem for 20 years, it continues to impact the consumption of otherwise healthy and potentially sustainable fish. Now, researchers have been able to pinpoint exactly when the off-flavors emerge. And this can make it easier to deal with the compounds that turn people away from farmed fish.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Biodegradable plastics still damaging to fish      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Biodegradable plastics may not be the solution to plastic pollution many hoped for, with a new study showing they are still harmful to fish.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
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The encounter between Neanderthals and Sapiens as told by their genomes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

About 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals, who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years in the western part of the Eurasian continent, gave way to Homo sapiens, who had arrived from Africa. This replacement was not sudden, and the two species coexisted for a few millennia, resulting in the integration of Neanderthal DNA into the genome of Sapiens. Researchers have analyzed the distribution of the portion of DNA inherited from Neanderthals in the genomes of humans (Homo sapiens) over the last 40,000 years. These statistical analyses revealed subtle variations in time and geographical space.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature
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Critical step made for managing brushtail possums      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers say mapping the genetic code of the brushtail possum will benefit those working to both conserve and control the animal.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature
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Genomic analysis in snakes shows link between neutral, functional genetic diversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the world of threatened and endangered species conservation, the genomic revolution has raised some complicated questions: How can scientists justify assessing species genetic diversity without consulting entire genomes now that they can be sequenced? But then again, how can scientists justify the time and expense of genome sequencing when age-old measures of neutral genetic diversity are much cheaper and easier to obtain? A new study suggests making a transition from 'old school' genetics to 'new school' genomics for species conservation purposes probably isn't necessary in all cases.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Nature Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Extinct ape gets a facelift, 12 million years later      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study has reconstructed the well-preserved but damaged skull of a great ape species that lived about 12 million years ago. The species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, may be crucial to understanding great ape and human evolution.

Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Flagship individual animals can boost conservation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

'Flagship' individual animals like Cecil the lion or Freya the walrus can boost conservation, new research suggests.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Killer whales' diet more important than location for pollutant exposure      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Both elegant and fierce, killer whales are some of the oceans' top predators, but even they can be exposed to environmental pollution. Now, in the largest study to date on North Atlantic killer whales, researchers report the levels of legacy and emerging pollutants in 162 individuals' blubber. The animals' diet, rather than location, greatly impacted contaminant levels and potential health risks -- information that's helpful to conservation efforts.

Anthropology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Geography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Evolutionary secrets of 'Old Tom' and the killer whales of Eden revealed by genetic study      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Evolutionary biologists have for the first time decoded the genetic lineage of a famous killer whale and a pod that once worked alongside whale hunters off the coast of Australia. In the Australian tradition of claiming New Zealand's celebrities as its own, Old Tom, the leader of a pod of killer whales that famously helped whalers hunt baleen whales in the 20th century, has ancestral links to modern-day killer whales in New Zealand, according to new DNA research. Old Tom also shared a common ancestor with killer whales from Australasia, the North Pacific, and North Atlantic Oceans, but is most similar to modern New Zealand killer whales. However, most of Tom's DNA code is not found in other killer whales globally suggesting that the killer whales of Eden may have become extinct locally.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature
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Death is only the beginning: Birds disperse eaten insects' eggs      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Relationship patterns among flightless stick insects suggest that birds disperse the eggs after eating gravid females. Lab experiments previously suggested the possibility, but a new genetic analysis of natural populations in Japan now supports the idea.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
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Neanderthal gene variants associated with greater pain sensitivity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

People who carry three gene variants that have been inherited from Neanderthals are more sensitive to some types of pain, according to a new study.

Biology: Biochemistry Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature
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Wild pig populations in U.S. can be managed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Recent conservation efforts have proven effective at controlling wild pig populations in the Southeastern United States, according to new research. Within 24 months of the start of control efforts in the study area located around the Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina, researchers found a reduction of about 70% in relative abundance of pigs and a corresponding decline in environmental rooting damage of about 99%.

Anthropology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Microbiology
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Evidence from the remains of 1918 flu pandemic victims contradicts long-held belief that healthy young adults were particularly vulnerable      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New analysis of the remains of victims of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, contradicts the widespread belief the flu disproportionately impacted healthy young adults. 

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature
Published

Long-term lizard study challenges the rules of evolutionary biology      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers measured natural selection in four Anolis lizard species in the wild for five consecutive time periods over three years. This long-term study in a community of lizards reveals how evolution unfolds in the wild across multiple species.