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Categories: Ecology: Nature, Offbeat: Plants and Animals

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Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

New roadmap to prevent pandemics centers on protecting biodiversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of 25 scientists has proposed a roadmap for how to prevent the next pandemic by conserving natural areas and promoting biodiversity, thereby providing animals with enough food, safe havens and distance to limit contact and the transfer of pathogens to humans.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

New maps help decision-makers factor albedo into tree-planting decisions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study provides a global analysis of where restoration of tree cover is most effective at cooling the global climate system, considering not just the cooling from carbon storage but also the warming from decreased albedo. The researchers provide a tool practitioners and land managers can use to determine just how much of a problem albedo is for any reforestation or afforestation project on the globe.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Two coral snakes recorded battling for prey in a scientific first      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Two red-tailed coral snakes have been observed competing over a caecilian in the first documented wild case of kleptoparasitism within the family Elapidae.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General
Published

Seeing the forest for the trees: Species diversity is directly correlated with productivity in eastern U.S. forests      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When officials make tough calls on which areas to prioritize for conservation, biodiversity is often their top consideration. But there are several types of diversity, and not all of them overlap perfectly. In a new study, researchers analyzed 20-years' worth of U.S. Forest Service data and show that the simplest measure of diversity is the best predictor of healthy forest growth, providing a roadmap for quickly and efficiently protecting ecological resources.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Bees use antennae to decode hive mates' dances in the dark      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered how honeybees can decipher dances by their hive mates that relay directions to food.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Wild bird gestures 'after you'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A small-bird species, the Japanese tit (Parus minor), uses wing movements as a gesture to convey the message 'after you,' according to new research. When a mating pair arrives at their nest box with food, they will wait outside on perches. One will then often flutter its wings toward the other, apparently indicating for the latter to enter first. The researchers say that this discovery challenges the previous belief that gestural communication is prominent only in humans and great apes, significantly advancing our understanding of visual communication in birds.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Nature Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Researchers discover evolutionary 'tipping point' in fungi      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have found a 'tipping point' in the evolution of fungi that throttles their growth and sculpts their shapes. The findings demonstrate how small changes in environmental factors can lead to huge changes in evolutionary outcomes.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Signs of life would be detectable in single ice grain emitted from extraterrestrial moons      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Could life be found in frozen sea spray from moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter? New research finds that life can be detected in a single ice grain containing one bacterial cell or portions of a cell. The results suggest that if life similar to that on Earth exists on these planetary bodies, that this life should be detectable by instruments launching in the fall.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Tudor era horse cemetery in Westminster revealed as likely resting place for elite imported animals      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Archaeological analysis of a near unique animal cemetery discovered in London nearly 30 years ago has revealed there was an international horse trading network, orchestrated by the elites of late medieval and Tudor England, which brought superior physical specimens to the UK for jousting and for use as status symbols.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Rays were more diverse 150 million years ago than previously thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have explored the puzzling world of rays that lived 150 million years ago and discovered a previously hidden diversity -- including a new ray species. This study significantly expands the understanding of these ancient cartilaginous fish and provides further insights into a past marine ecosystem.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Biology: Zoology Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Researchers name prehistoric amphibian ancestor discovered in Smithsonian collection after Kermit the Frog      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have uncovered the fossilized skull of a 270-million-year-old ancient amphibian ancestor in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The team of researchers described the fossil as a new species of proto-amphibian, which they named Kermitops gratus in honor of the iconic Muppet, Kermit the Frog.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science
Published

Species diversity promotes ecosystem stability      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

What maintains stability within an ecosystem and prevents a single best competitor from displacing other species from a community? Does ecosystem stability depend upon the presence of a wide variety of species, as early ecologists believed, or does diversity do the exact opposite, and lead to instability, as modern theory predicts? A new study suggests an answer to this question that has been a subject of debate among ecologists for half a century.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Heat to blame for space pebble demise      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The dust of comets fills the space between the planets, collectively called the zodiacal cloud. Still, severe breakdown has reduced that dust in size so much that it now scatters sunlight efficiently, causing the faint glow in the night sky known as the 'zodiacal light.' It was long thought that high-speed collisions pulverized the comet ejecta, but now a team of researchers reports that heat is to blame.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Decoding the plant world's complex biochemical communication networks      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A research team has begun translating the complex molecular language of petunias. Their grammar and vocabulary are well hidden, however, within the countless proteins and other compounds that fill floral cells. Being rooted to the ground, plants can't run away from insects, pathogens or other threats to their survival. But plant scientists have long known that they do send warnings to each other via scent chemicals called volatile organic compounds.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography
Published

Forest, stream habitats keep energy exchanges in balance, global team finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Forests and streams are separate but linked ecosystems, existing side by side, with energy and nutrients crossing their porous borders and flowing back and forth between them. For example, leaves fall from trees, enter streams, decay and feed aquatic insects. Those insects emerge from the waters and are eaten by birds and bats. An international team has now found that these ecosystems appear to keep the energy exchanges in balance -- a finding that the scientists called surprising.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Scientists weigh up current status of blue whale populations around the world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The largest living animal, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) which averages about 27 meters in length, has slowly recovered from whaling only to face the rising challenges of global warming, pollution, disrupted food sources, shipping, and other human threats. In a major new study, biologists have taken a stock of the number, distribution and genetic characteristics of blue whale populations around the world and found the greatest differences among the eastern Pacific, Antarctic subspecies and pygmy subspecies of the eastern Indian and western Pacific.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Microbiology Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Deep Earth electrical grid mystery solved      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To 'breathe' in an environment without oxygen, bacteria in the ground beneath our feet depend upon a single family of proteins to transfer excess electrons, produced during the 'burning' of nutrients, to electric hairs called nanowires projecting from their surface.