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Categories: Ecology: Endangered Species, Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published Captive-bred birds able to improve their flight and migration performance
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Two types of experiences affect the behavioral skills of animals: the animal's environment during its early development and acquired experience. Researchers followed Egyptian vultures during migration, a critical and challenging period for them, and investigated how their flying skills developed by examining their performance using high resolution tracking.
Published Advancing the generation of in-vivo chimeric lungs in mice using rat-derived stem cells
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Creating a functional lung using interspecies chimeric animals is an attractive albeit challenging option for lung transplantation, requiring more research on the viable conditions needed for organ generation. A new study uses reverse-blastocyst complementation and tetraploid-based organ complementation methods to first determine these conditions in lung-deficient mice and then to generate rat-derived lungs in these mice. It provides useful insights on the intrinsic species-specific barriers and factors associated with lung development in interspecies chimeric animals.
Published Engineers invent octopus-inspired technology that can deceive and signal
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source With a split-second muscle contraction, the greater blue-ringed octopus can change the size and color of the namesake patterns on its skin for purposes of deception, camouflage and signaling. Researchers have drawn inspiration from this natural wonder to develop a technological platform with similar capabilities for use in a variety of fields, including the military, medicine, robotics and sustainable energy.
Published The snail or the egg?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Animals reproduce in one of two distinct ways: egg-laying or live birth. By studying an evolutionarily recent transition from egg-laying to live-bearing in a marine snail, collaborative research has shed new light on the genetic changes that allow organisms to make the switch.
Published Male southern elephant seals are picky eaters
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research suggests these large marine mammals are extremely fussy and only eat their favorite foods.
Published Scientists engineer plant microbiome to protect crops against disease
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have engineered the microbiome of plants for the first time, boosting the prevalence of 'good' bacteria that protect the plant from disease. The findings could substantially reduce the need for environmentally destructive pesticides.
Published Why are bees making less honey? Study reveals clues in five decades of data
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Honey yields in the U.S. have been declining since the 1990s, with honey producers and scientists unsure why, but a new study has uncovered clues in the mystery of the missing honey.
Published 'Giant' predator worms more than half a billion years old discovered in North Greenland
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fossils of a new group of animal predators have been located in the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fossil locality in North Greenland. These large worms may be some of the earliest carnivorous animals to have colonized the water column more than 518 million years ago, revealing a past dynasty of predators that scientists didn't know existed.
Published Researchers improve seed nitrogen content by reducing plant chlorophyll levels
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Chlorophyll plays a pivotal role in photosynthesis, which is why plants have evolved to have high chlorophyll levels in their leaves. However, making this pigment is expensive because plants invest a significant portion of the available nitrogen in both chlorophyll and the special proteins that bind it. As a result, nitrogen is unavailable for other processes. In a new study, researchers reduced the chlorophyll levels in leaves to see if the plant would invest the nitrogen saved into other process that might improve nutritional quality.
Published Early primates likely lived in pairs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Primate social organization is more flexible than previously assumed. According to a new study, the first primates probably lived in pairs, while only around 15 percent of individuals were solitary.
Published Chicken whisperers: Humans crack the clucking code
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has found humans can tell if chickens are excited or displeased, just by the sound of their clucks.
Published 'Juvenile T. rex' fossils are a distinct species of small tyrannosaur
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new analysis of fossils believed to be juveniles of T. rex now shows they were adults of a small tyrannosaur, with narrower jaws, longer legs, and bigger arms than T. rex. The species, Nanotyrannus lancensis, was first named decades ago but later reinterpreted as a young T. rex. The new study shows Nanotyrannus was a smaller, longer-armed relative of T. rex, with a narrower snout.
Published Ants recognize infected wounds and treat them with antibiotics
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The African Matabele ants are often injured in fights with termites. Their conspecifics recognize when the wounds become infected and initiate antibiotic treatment.
Published Electronic 'soil' enhances crop growth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Barley seedlings grow on average 50% more when their root system is stimulated electrically through a new cultivation substrate. Researchers have now developed an electrically conductive 'soil' for soil-less cultivation, known as hydroponics.
Published Reindeer sleep while chewing their cud
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers report that the more time reindeer spend ruminating, the less time they spend in non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep. EEG recordings revealed that reindeer's brainwaves during rumination resemble the brain waves present during non-REM sleep, and these brainwave patterns suggest that the reindeer are more 'rested' after ruminating. The researchers speculate that this multitasking might help reindeer get enough sleep during the summer months, when food is abundant and reindeer feed almost 24/7 in preparation for the long and food-sparse arctic winter.
Published How technology and economics can help save endangered species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A lot has changed in the world since the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted 50 years ago in December 1973. Experts are now discuss how the ESA has evolved and what its future might hold.
Published Discovery: Plants use 'Trojan horse' to fight mold invasions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have discovered that plants send tiny, innocuous-seeming lipid 'bubbles' filled with RNA across enemy lines, into the cells of the aggressive mold. Once inside, different types of RNA come out to suppress the infectious cells that sucked them in.
Published Common insect species are suffering the biggest losses
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Insect decline is being driven by losses among the locally more common species, according to a new study. The meta-analysis of 923 locations around the world notes two significant trends: 1) the species with the most individuals (the highest abundance) are disproportionately decreasing in number, and 2) no other species have increased to the high numbers previously seen. This likely explains the frequent observation that there are fewer insects around now than ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.
Published Wildflowers increasingly doing without insect pollinators
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have discovered that flowering plants growing in farmland are increasingly doing without insect pollinators. As reproduction becomes more difficult for them in an environment depleted in pollinating insects, the plants are evolving towards self-fertilization.
Published World's smallest 'fanged' frogs found in Indonesia
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified a species of frog new to science. The Indonesian amphibian is the size of a quarter, unlike its two-pound cousins, and has tiny fangs. Nearly uniquely among amphibians, they lay their eggs on the leaves of trees, and the males guard and tend to the nests.