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Categories: Ecology: Nature, Offbeat: Space

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Perfectly adapted microorganisms live in extreme environments from deep-sea trenches to mountaintops. Learning more about how these extremophiles survive in hostile conditions could inform scientists about life on Earth and potential life on other planets.

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We expect tropical animals to handle a certain degree of heat, but not wild swings in temperature. That seems to be true for tropical ectotherms, or 'cold-blooded' animals such as amphibians, reptiles, and insects. However, in a new study of 'warm-blooded' endotherms, a research team found tropical birds can handle thermal variation just fine.

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Emperor penguin populations have been exceedingly difficult to monitor because of their remote locations, and because individuals form breeding colonies on seasonal sea ice fastened to land (known as fast ice) during the dark and cold Antarctic winter. New research that incorporates very high-resolution satellite imagery with field-based validation surveys and long-term data has provided the first multi-year time series that documents emperor penguin global population trends.

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A new study has found that the summer solstice acts as a 'starting gun' to synchronize beech tree reproduction across vast distances in Europe, affecting ecosystem functions.

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Imported giant sequoia trees are well adapted to the UK, growing at rates close to their native ranges and capturing large amounts of carbon during their long lives, finds a new study.

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A comprehensive study of the floristic diversity of Agguttinni Territorial Park, Nunavut's newest and largest Territorial Park, has documented 141 vascular plant, 69 bryophyte, and 93 lichen species from this unique protected area on northern Baffin Island. Through a combination of extensive fieldwork in 2021 and examination of hundreds of existing herbarium specimens, the authors have documented species newly reported for Baffin Island and have crafted a biodiversity baseline important for park management and conservation.

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A new study of rice paddy snakes in Southeast Asia gives key details to their diversification and natural history, adding molecular evidence that the rise of the Khorat Plateau and subsequent environmental shifts in Thailand may have altered the course of the snakes' evolution some 2.5 million years ago.

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Rainforest seedlings are more likely to survive in natural forests than in places where logging has happened -- even if tree restoration projects have taken place, new research shows.

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Sand ripples are symmetrical. Yet wind -- which causes them -- is very much not. Furthermore, sand ripples can be found on Mars and on Earth. They would be even more fascinating if the same effect found on Mars could be found here on Earth as well. What if one unified theory could explain their formation on both planets?

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Fish populations that experience rapid-range shift decline noticeably, up to 50 per cent over a decade. The populations affected most are those living on the northern poleward edges of their species' range. Researchers combined data from two large databases to examine the population numbers of range-shifting species. Their analysis revealed that extremely fast poleward shifting species, defined as upward of 17 kilometers per year, show marked declines in population, compared to negligible increases in populations that did not shift.

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A new article looked at 40 years of data collected on 40 pronghorn herds residing in the Wyoming Basin Shrub Steppe. Overall, 80% of the herds saw a decrease in productivity, and nearly 43% saw a significant decrease. After looking at a number of variables that could potentially contribute to the decline, the researchers identified the two most strongly associated: development of oil and gas resources and woody encroachment.

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Giraffes, with their bizarre body plan, have always held a special place in the minds of evolutionary biologists and non-experts alike. In a new study whole-genome sequencing data was used to investigate the evolutionary processes occurring within giraffes. In particular, the authors were interested in establishing whether different populations of giraffes really have been isolated from each other for extended periods of time, which is normally a requirement before new species can arise.

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The formation of stars and the chaotic environments they inhabit is one of the most well-studied, but also mystery-shrouded, areas of cosmic investigation. The intricacies of these processes are now being unveiled like never before by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

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When you are trying to solve one of the biggest conundrums in cosmology, you should triple check your homework. The puzzle, called the 'Hubble Tension,' is that the current rate of the expansion of the universe is faster than what astronomers expect it to be, based on the universe's initial conditions and our present understanding of the universe's evolution.

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A new study of Joshua trees, kit foxes and solar energy developments highlights the need to consider climate-induced range shifts for species as we expand clean energy.

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As more people seek to go where no man has gone before, researchers are exploring how forensic science can be adapted to extraterrestrial environments. A new study highlights the behavior of blood in microgravity and the unique challenges of bloodstain pattern analysis aboard spacecraft.

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The chance sighting of a dead snake beside a sandy track in remote Western Australia, and the investigation of its stomach contents, has led researchers to record the first known instance of a spotted mulga snake consuming a pygmy spiny-tailed skink, raising concerns for a similar-looking, endangered lizard species.

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Sound waves thought to be from a 2014 meteor fireball north of Papua New Guinea were almost certainly vibrations from a truck rumbling along a nearby road, new research shows. The findings raise doubts that materials pulled last year from the ocean are alien materials from that meteor, as was widely reported.

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In a new study, researchers have used the fossil record to better understand what factors make animals more vulnerable to extinction from climate change. The results could help to identify species most at risk today from human-driven climate change.

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Researchers propose that governments apply a new method for calculating the benefits that arise from conserving biodiversity and nature for future generations.