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Categories: Ecology: Endangered Species, Paleontology: General
Published When mammoths roamed Vancouver Island
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mammoths, the massive pre-historic ice age cousins of the modern-day elephant, have always been understood to have inhabited parts of British Columbia, but the question of when has always been a bit woolly. Now, a new study has given scientists the clearest picture yet when the giant mammals roamed Vancouver Island.
Published Discovering how plants make life-and-death decisions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered two proteins that work in tandem to control an important response to cell stress.
Published Lemurs use long-term memory, smell, and social cues to find food
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source How do foraging animals find their food? A new study shows that lemurs use smell, social cues, and long-term memory to locate hidden fruit -- a combination of factors that may have deep evolutionary roots.
Published Plants offer fruit to insects to disperse dust-like seeds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fruit exist to invite animals to disperse the swallowed seeds. A research team found that plants targeting insects rather than birds or mammals for this service are more common than previously thought. These plants produce dust-like seeds and fruit suitable for the minute, ground-dwelling animals.
Published The race to discover biodiversity: 11 new marine species and a new platform for rapid species description
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new paper describes a ground-breaking experiment that united 25 independent taxonomists from 10 countries. The initiative boasts the discovery of 11 new marine species from all over the globe, occurring at depths from 5.2 to 7081 meters. It also represents a significant step forward in accelerating the pace at which new marine species are described and published.
Published Smallest arm bone in human fossil record sheds light on the dawn of Homo floresiensis
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study reports the discovery of extremely rare early human fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores, including an astonishingly small adult limb bone. Dated to about 700,000 years old, the new findings shed light on the evolution of Homo floresiensis, the so-called 'Hobbits' of Flores whose remains were uncovered in 2003 at Liang Bua cave in the island's west.
Published Greenland fossil discovery reveals increased risk of sea-level catastrophe
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Seeds, twigs, and insect parts found under two miles of ice confirm Greenland's ice sheet melted in the recent past, the first direct evidence that the center -- not just the edges -- of the two-mile-deep ice melted away in the recent geological past. The new research indicates that the giant ice sheet is more fragile than scientists had realized until the last few years -- and reveals increased risk of sea-level catastrophe in a warmer future.
Published Fossil shows how penguins' wings evolved
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A tiny fossil penguin plays a huge role in the evolutionary history of the bird, an international study shows.
Published Sea level changes shaped early life on Earth, fossil study reveals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Shifts in the Earth's continental plates that drove long-term changes in sea level set the stage for the evolution of the earliest animals on Earth, a study suggests.
Published Combined effects of plastic pollution and seawater flooding amplify threats to coastal plant species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study highlights how a combination of environmental stressors -- namely plastic pollution and seawater flooding -- can increase the threats faced by plants in some of the planet's critical ecosystems. It showed that both stressors had some effects on the species tested, but being exposed to both microplastics and flooding together -- a threat likely to increase as a result of climate change and plastic use -- had a more pronounced impact on their resource allocation.
Published Half a billion-year-old spiny slug reveals the origins of mollusks
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest mollusks were flat, armored slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata, was covered with hollow, organic, cone-shaped spines. The fossils preserve exceptionally rare detailed features which reveal that these spines were produced using a sophisticated secretion system that is shared with annelids (earthworms and relatives).
Published Climate change may lead to shifts in vital Pacific Arctic fisheries
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Commercially important marine fish and invertebrate species will likely shift northwards under a warmer climate, according to new research.
Published Monarch butterflies need help, and a little bit of milkweed goes a long way
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers and community scientists monitored urban milkweed plants for butterfly eggs to learn what makes these city gardens more hospitable to monarchs. They found that even tiny city gardens attracted monarchs and became a home to caterpillars.
Published Scientists using new sound tech to save animals from extinction
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists are using new technology to help endangered animals by listening to their sounds.
Published From genes to jeans: New genetic insights may lead to drought resilient cotton
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Cotton is woven into the very fabric of our lives, from soft T-shirts to comfortable jeans and cozy bedsheets. It's the world's leading renewable textile fiber and the backbone of a global industry worth billions. As climate change intensifies, cotton farmers face increasing challenges from drought and heat. However, new research offers hope for developing more resilient varieties that can maintain high yields even under water-stressed conditions.
Published Scientists untangle interactions between the Earth's early life forms and the environment over 500 million years
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The atmosphere, the ocean and life on Earth interacted over the past 500-plus million years in ways that improved conditions for early organisms to thrive. Now, an interdisciplinary team of scientists has produced a perspective article of this co-evolutionary history.
Published Two shark species documented in Puget Sound for first time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have made the first scientific confirmation in Puget Sound of two distinct shark species, one of them critically endangered.
Published Climate is most important factor in where mammals choose to live, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Using data from 6,645 camera traps across the United States, researchers mapped populations of 25 mammal species. They determined that climate, not human activity, was the primary factor in mammals deciding where to live.
Published Thousands of birds and fish threatened by mining for clean energy transition, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Our increasing demand for metals and minerals is putting over four thousand vertebrate species at risk, with the raw materials needed for clean energy infrastructure often located in global biodiversity hotspots, a study has found.
Published The ancestor of all modern birds probably had iridescent feathers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Birds tend to be more colorful in the tropics, and scientists wanted to find out how they got there: if colorful feathers evolved in the tropics, or if tropical birds have brightly-colored ancestors that came to the region from somwhere else. Scientists built a database of 9,409 birds to explore the spread of color across the globe. They found that iridescent, colorful feathers originated 415 times across the bird tree of life, and in most cases, arose outside of the tropics -- and that the ancestor of all modern birds likely had iridescent feathers, too.