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Categories: Anthropology: General, Ecology: Endangered Species
Published Pollinator's death trap turns into nursery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In a group of plants that is famous for luring its pollinators into a death trap, one species offers its flowers as a nursery in exchange. The discovery blurs the line between mutualism and parasitism and sheds light on the evolution of complex plant-insect interactions.
Published Online digital data and AI for monitoring biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers propose a framework for integrating online digital data into biodiversity monitoring.
Published Asexual propagation of crop plants gets closer
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source When the female gametes in plants become fertilized, a signal from the sperm activates cell division, leading to the formation of new plant seeds. This activation can also be deliberately triggered without fertilization, as researchers have shown. Their findings open up new avenues for the asexual propagation of crop plants.
Published Root microbes may be the secret to a better tasting cup of tea
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source You'd think the complex flavor in a quality cup of tea would depend mainly on the tea varieties used to make it. But a new study shows that the making of a delicious cup of tea depends on another key ingredient: the collection of microbes found on tea roots. By altering that assemblage, the authors showed that they could make good-quality tea even better.
Published A lighthouse in the Gobi desert
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study explores the weight great fossil sites have on our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups and quantified the power these sites have on our understanding of evolutionary history. Surprisingly, the authors discovered that the wind-swept sand deposits of the Late Cretaceous Gobi Desert's extraordinarily diverse and well-preserved fossil lizard record shapes our understanding of their evolutionary history more than any other site on the planet.
Published Anthropologists' research unveils early stone plaza in the Andes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Located at the Callacpuma archaeological site in the Cajamarca Basin of northern Peru, the plaza is built with large, vertically placed megalithic stones -- a construction method previously unseen in the Andes.
Published Scientists are unravelling the secrets of red and grey squirrel competition
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified significant differences between the diversity of gut bacteria in grey squirrels compared to red squirrels which could hold the key to further understanding the ability of grey squirrels to outcompete red squirrels in the UK.
Published Vittrup Man crossed over from forager to farmer before being sacrificed in Denmark
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Vittrup Man was born along the Scandinavian coast before moving to Denmark, where he was later sacrificed, according to a new study.
Published Some Pre-Roman humans were buried with dogs, horses and other animals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Some people from an ancient community in what is now northern Italy were interred with animals and animal parts from species such as dogs, horses and pigs. The reasons remain mysterious, but might indicate an enduring companion relationship between these humans and animals, or religious sacrificial practices, according to a new study.
Published Did Eurasia's dominant East-West axis 'turn the fortunes of history'?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Jared Diamond proposed that Eurasia's unique geographic axis of orientation fueled a rapid spread of critical innovations among its societies, leading to a cultural and military dominance over other regions. A team of ecologists and cultural evolutionists from the USA, Germany and New Zealand harnessed extensive cultural, environmental and linguistic databases to test these claims. They found that environmental barriers have influenced cultural spread but do not consistently favour Eurasia.
Published Love songs lead scientists to new populations of skywalker gibbons in Myanmar
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The love songs of the Skywalker gibbon alerted scientists to a new population of the endangered primate in Myanmar.
Published Controlling root growth direction could help save crops and mitigate climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have determined how the well-known plant hormone ethylene is crucial in controlling the angle at which roots grow. The findings can be used to engineer plants and crops that withstand the environmental stresses of climate change and drought, and perhaps to create plants that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it deep underground to help mitigate climate change.
Published Great apes playfully tease each other
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Babies playfully tease others as young as eight months of age. Since language is not required for this behavior, similar kinds of playful teasing might be present in non-human animals. Now cognitive biologists and primatologists have documented playful teasing in four species of great apes. Like joking behavior in humans, ape teasing is provocative, persistent, and includes elements of surprise and play. Because all four great ape species used playful teasing, it is likely that the prerequisites for humor evolved in the human lineage at least 13 million years ago.
Published Australia's most at-risk bird species share some common traits
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Australian birds that live on islands are among the species most at risk of extinction, a first-of-its-kind study has shown. Australia has over 750 native bird species. But many of them are facing an uncertain future.
Published Researchers uncover a key link in legume plant-bacteria symbiosis
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have unveiled a groundbreaking discovery shedding light on the intricate play between legume plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Their study details the crucial role played by phosphorylation in driving the formation of symbiotic organs, known as nodules, on plant roots. The long-term goal is to enable symbiosis in root nodules in important crops such as barley, maize and rice to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers.
Published The hidden rule for flight feathers -- and how it could reveal which dinosaurs could fly
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists examined hundreds of birds in museum collections and discovered a suite of feather characteristics that all flying birds have in common. These 'rules' provide clues as to how the dinosaur ancestors of modern birds first evolved the ability to fly, and which dinosaurs were capable of flight.
Published Five dazzling new species of eyelash vipers discovered in Colombia and Ecuador
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have discovered five dazzling new species of eyelash vipers in the jungles and cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador.
Published Surprising behavior in one of the least studied mammals in the world
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Beaked whales are among the least studied mammals in the world. Now, a new study reveals surprising information about the Baird's beaked whale species.
Published Scandinavia's first farmers slaughtered the hunter-gatherer population, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Following the arrival of the first farmers in Scandinavia 5,900 years ago, the hunter-gatherer population was wiped out within a few generations, according to a new study. The results, which are contrary to prevailing opinion, are based on DNA analysis of skeletons and teeth found in what is now Denmark.
Published Innovation in stone tool technology involved multiple stages at the time of modern human dispersals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study illuminates the cultural evolution that took place approximately 50,000 to 40,000 years ago, coinciding with the dispersals of Homo sapiens across Eurasia. The insights gleaned from their examination of stone tool technology challenge the widely held notion of a rapid cultural and technological 'revolution' that enabled anatomically modern humans to surpass Neanderthals and other archaic humans. Instead, the research suggests a nuanced evolutionary process, unfolding gradually over an extended period, with changes occurring at various times. These findings challenge the conventional theory on the timing and nature of cultural transitions during this pivotal period in human history.