Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Genetic study reveals that a captive-bred population could save endangered crocodile from extinction      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Performing a genetic evaluation on the largest captive-bred population of the critically endangered Orinoco crocodile, researchers have revealed that the population preserves much of its founder diversity and no inbreeding, making it suitable for implementing wild releases. Since this species is almost extinct in the wild, the news brings hope for the recovery of populations.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Arctic terns may navigate climate dangers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Arctic terns -- which fly on the longest migrations of any animal on Earth -- may be able to navigate the dangers posed by climate change, new research suggests.

Biology: Developmental Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Discovery of key genetic sequence essential for plant reproduction      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have identified a genetic sequence that is essential for plant reproduction. As this region is found in all plant species, it is expected to contribute to future crossbreeding initiatives and help solve the important problem of seed formation defects.

Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Soil microbes help plants cope with drought, but not how scientists thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a multi-generation experiment, researchers found microbes helped plants cope with drought, but not in response to plants' cries for help. Instead, the environment itself selected for drought-tolerant microbes. And while those hardy microbes were doing their thing, they just happened to make plants more drought-tolerant, too.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction
Published

Forgotten tropical plants rediscovered after 100-plus years with the help of community science      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Deep in the tropical Andes, a genus called Nasa harbored elusive and forgotten plant species. Through the collaborative efforts of botanists and citizen scientists on iNaturalist, these plants have been rediscovered after decades, some even after more than a century.

Ecology: Endangered Species Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Spurge purge: Plant fossils reveal ancient South America-to-Asia 'escape route'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Newly identified plant fossils found in Argentina suggest that a group of spurges long thought to have Asian origins may have first appeared in Gondwanan South America.

Computer Science: Encryption Computer Science: General
Published

Why computer security advice is more confusing than it should be      (via sciencedaily.com) 

If you find the computer security guidelines you get at work confusing and not very useful, you're not alone. A new study highlights a key problem with how these guidelines are created, and outlines simple steps that would improve them -- and probably make your computer safer.

Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Study improves understanding of how bacteria benefit plant growth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have found that competition between strains of beneficial bacteria in the soil degrades the service that the bacteria provide to their hosts.

Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Engineering plants for a changing climate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Climate change is affecting the types of plant varieties we can cultivate, as well as how and where we can do so. A new collection of articles in the open access journal PLOS Biology explores the twin challenges of engineering plants for resilience to climate change and enhancing their carbon-capture potential.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Shark shock: Scientists discover filter-feeding basking sharks are warm-bodied like great whites      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Approximately 99.9% of fish and shark species are 'cold-blooded', meaning their body tissues generally match the temperature of the water they swim in -- but researchers have just discovered the mighty basking shark is a one-in-a-thousand exception. Instead, these sharks keep the core regions of their bodies warmer than the water like the most athletic swimmers in the sea such as great white sharks, mako sharks and tuna.

Archaeology: General Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Picky green sea turtle has travelled to the same place to eat for generations      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For approximately 3,000 years, generations of green sea turtles have returned to the same seagrass meadows to eat. The fact that this stretches over many generations highlights the importance of protecting seagrass meadows along the coasts of North Africa.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Geology
Published

In Florida, endangered coral finds a way to blossom      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a new study, researchers have found that the restoration efforts of the critically endangered species elkhorn coral depend largely on the animal's location, microbiome, and the right conditions to provide an abundance of food.

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

Form and function of island and mainland plants      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Oceanic islands provide useful models for ecology, biogeography and evolutionary research. Many ground-breaking findings -- including Darwin's theory of evolution -- have emerged from the study of species on islands and their interplay with their living and non-living environment. Now, an international research team has investigated the flora of the Canary Island of Tenerife. The results were surprising: the island's plant-life exhibits a remarkable diversity of forms. But the plants differ little from mainland plants in functional terms. However, unlike the flora of the mainland, the flora of Tenerife is dominated by slow-growing, woody shrubs with a 'low-risk' life strategy.

Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Colonization influences worldwide distribution of plant specimens      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Plant diversity in nature is generally highest in tropical regions around the equator, with decreasing diversity closer to the poles. Researchers now show that the plant specimens housed in herbaria in Europe and North America are more comprehensive and diverse than the collections housed in the countries with more natural plant diversity.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Multiple uses of tropical mosaic landscapes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many landscapes in the tropics consist of a mosaic of different types of land use. How people make use of these different ecosystems, with their particular plant communities, was unclear until now. Researchers, many of them from Madagascar, have now investigated this. When considering biodiversity, forests often get the most attention. But this research shows that rural households use a wide range of plant species and services provided by many nearby ecosystem types.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Using AI to save species from extinction cascades      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Algorithms can predict what movies or songs you might like, but they can also predict which species a predator would most likely eat. Researchers have been using machine learning to identify species interactions, and can predict which species are most likely to go extinct, so that intervention can be planned before this happens.

Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Newly identified protein regulates the creation of cellulose in plant cells      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team has identified a protein that modifies the cellular machinery responsible for producing cellulose, which could inform the design of more stable, cellulose-enriched materials for biofuels and other functions.

Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Global cooling caused diversity of species in orchids, confirms study      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research shows global cooling of the climate 10 million years ago led to an explosion of diversity in terrestrial orchids.

Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

The key to why plants flower early in a warming world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have unveiled a new mechanism that plants use to sense temperature. This finding could lead to solutions to counteract some of the deleterious changes in plant growth, flowering and seed production due to climate change.

Ecology: Endangered Species
Published

Developer dollars not enough to save species      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Financial payments made by land developers to offset their impacts on threatened species may fall short, according to new research.