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Categories: Ecology: Invasive Species, Paleontology: General

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Biology: General Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Joro spiders aren't scary: They're shy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Despite their intimidating appearance, the giant yellow and blue-black spiders spreading across the Southeastern U.S. owe their survival to a surprising trait: They're rather timid. The Joro spider may be the shyest spider ever documented.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Out of this world control on Ice Age cycles      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A research team, composed of climatologists and an astronomer, have used an improved computer model to reproduce the cycle of ice ages (glacial periods) 1.6 to 1.2 million years ago. The results show that the glacial cycle was driven primarily by astronomical forces in quite a different way than it works in the modern age. These results will help us to better understand the past, present, and future of ice sheets and the Earth's climate.

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

We now know exactly what happens in nature when we fell forests      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Deforestation is the biggest threat to the planet's ecosystems, and new research has now mapped out exactly what happens when agriculture replaces forestry.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Nature Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: General
Published

Butterfly tree of life reveals an origin in North America      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered where butterflies originated and which plants the first butterflies relied on for food. To reach these conclusions, researchers created the world's largest butterfly tree of life, which they used as a guide to trace trace the evolution of butterflies through time in a four-dimensional puzzle that led back to North and Central America.

Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: General
Published

Giants of the Jurassic seas were twice the size of a killer whale      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There have been heated debates over the size of Jurassic animals. The speculation was set to continue, but now a chance discovery in an Oxfordshire museum has led to palaeontologists publishing a paper on a Jurassic species potentially reaching a whopping 14.4 meters -- twice the size of a killer whale.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Geography
Published

Invading insect could transform Antarctic soils      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A tiny flightless midge which has colonized Antarctica's Signy Island is driving fundamental changes to the island's soil ecosystem, a study shows.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

A jumping conclusion: Fossil insect ID'd as new genus, species of prodigious leaper, the froghopper      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A fossil arthropod entombed in 100-million-year-old Burmese amber has been identified as a new genus and species of froghopper, known today as an insect with prodigious leaping ability in adulthood following a nymphal stage spent covered in a frothy fluid.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Earth's first animals had particular taste in real estate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Even without body parts that allowed for movement, new research shows -- for the first time -- that some of Earth's earliest animals managed to be picky about where they lived.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Vanishing glaciers threaten alpine biodiversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

With glaciers melting at unprecedented rates due to climate change, invertebrates that live in the cold meltwater rivers of the European Alps will face widespread habitat loss, warn researchers. Many of the species are likely to become restricted to cold habitats that will only persist higher in the mountains, and these areas are also likely to see pressures from the skiing and tourism industries or from the development of hydroelectric plants.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Zoology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

New tusk-analysis techniques reveal surging testosterone in male woolly mammoths      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Traces of sex hormones extracted from a woolly mammoth's tusk provide the first direct evidence that adult males experienced musth, a testosterone-driven episode of heightened aggression against rival males, according to a new study.

Geoscience: Earth Science Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

'Golden' fossils reveal origins of exceptional preservation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A recent study found that many of the fossils from Germany's Posidonia shale do not get their gleam from pyrite, commonly known as fool's gold, which was long thought to be the source of the shine. Instead, the golden hue is from a mix of minerals that hints at the conditions in which the fossils formed. The discovery is important for understanding how the fossils -- which are among the world's best-preserved specimens of sea life from the Early Jurassic -- came to form in the first place, and the role that oxygen in the environment had in their formation.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Fossil find in California shakes up the natural history of cycad plants      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

According to researchers, a new analysis of an 80-million-year-old permineralized pollen cone found in the Campanian Holz Shale formation located in Silverado Canyon, California, offers a more accurate cycad natural history -- one where the plants diversified during the Cretaceous.

Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature
Published

'Zero plant extinction' is possible, says plant ecologist      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Like animals, many plant species are struggling to adapt to a human-dominated planet. However, plants are often overlooked in conservation efforts, even though they are cheaper and easier to protect than animals and play a pivotal role in bolstering our food, fuel, and medical systems. A plant ecologist suggests an approach for preventing all future land plant extinctions across the globe which includes training more plant experts, building an online 'metaherbarium,' and creating 'microreserves.'

Anthropology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Geoscience: Earth Science Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: General
Published

New research redefines mammalian tree of life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists from around the globe are using the largest mammalian genomic dataset in history to determine the evolutionary history of the human genome in the context of mammalian evolutionary history. Their ultimate goal is to better identify the genetic basis for traits and diseases in people and other species.

Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Nature Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Ecosystem evolution in Africa      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research pushes back the oldest evidence of C4 grass-dominated habitats in Africa -- and globally -- by more than 10 million years, with important implications for primate evolution and the origins of tropical C4 grasslands and savanna ecosystems across the African continent and around the world.