Showing 20 articles starting at article 81

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Ecology: Invasive Species, Paleontology: General

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There is a common belief that prescribed burning, thinning trees, and clearing underbrush reduce risks of the severity of future fires. But is that true? A new project analyzing 40 studies where wildfire burned into different vegetation treatments, spanning 11 western states. Researchers found overwhelming evidence that in seasonally dry mixed conifer forests in the western U.S., reducing surface and ladder fuels and tree density through thinning, coupled with prescribed burning or pile burning, could reduce future wildfire severity by more than 60% relative to untreated areas.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For centuries, scientists thought they knew where the griffin legend came from. A new study takes a closer look at the data and folklore's influence on science.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Chimpanzees appear to consume plants with medicinal properties to treat their ailments, according to a new study.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new dinosaur has been identified and named. The dinosaur's name, Lokiceratops rangiformis, translates roughly to 'Loki's horned face that looks like a caribou.'

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of scientists has recently found that non-native species are expanding their ranges many orders of magnitude faster than native ones, in large part due to inadvertent human help. Even seemingly sedentary non-native plants are moving at three times the speed of their native counterparts in a race where, because of the rapid pace of climate change and its effect on habitat, speed matters. To survive, plants and animals need to be shifting their ranges by 3.25 kilometers per year just to keep up with the increasing temperatures and associated climactic shifts -- a speed that native species cannot manage without human help.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Archipelago case-study shows that removing invasive rats and restoring native vegetation could help bring back hundreds of thousands of breeding pairs of seabirds lost to tropical islands. Calculating that there are enough fish to sustain restored seabird populations should be an important consideration for restoration projects, scientists say. Restored seabird populations also provide huge boost to the health of surrounding coral reef ecosystems through restored nutrient cycles.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Newfound evidence reveals that the upsurge of the exotic Nile perch in Lake Victoria had long-lasting effects on the genetic diversity of various local cichlid species, report scientists. Through large-scale comparative genomic analyses, the researchers found concrete proof in the collective genome of multiple species that this artificially introduced perch decimated many local fish populations, causing a 'bottleneck effect.'

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere -- a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand's South Island. 246 million years ago, at the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa. 'The nothosaur found in New Zealand is over 40 million years older than the previously oldest known sauropterygian fossils from the Southern Hemisphere.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have unraveled the ancestral history of one of the most iconic birds of prey in the current Iberian fauna: the Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata). The study combines evidence from several disciplines, including palaeontology, genetics and ecology, to answer questions about when and why the Bonelli's eagle, a species primarily found in tropical and subtropical areas, colonized the Mediterranean Basin.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has found that sharks retained high levels of functional diversity for most of the last 66 million years, before steadily declining over the last 10 million years to its lowest value in the present day.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Paleontologists have identified a new genus of fossil goby, revealing evolutionary secrets of a lineage that stretches back millions of years.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When it comes to the ocean's response to global warming, we're not in entirely uncharted waters. A new study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth's past caused the exchange of waters from the surface to the deep ocean to decline.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has identified 100-million-year-old fossilized bones discovered in western Queensland as belonging to a newly identified species of pterosaur, which was a formidable flying reptile that lived among the dinosaurs.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have discovered a new species of medium-sized venomous snake in Yunnan, China. Ovophis jenkinsi is dark brownish-grey in color with trapezoidal patches on its back. It is endemic to China's Yingjiang County and is not difficult to find in the wild. In the future, researchers plan to collect more information about this new species, including its appearance, distribution, and habits.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international research team has discovered the oldest known marine plant using a novel genetic clock. This 1400-year-old seagrass clone from the Baltic Sea dates back to the Migration Period. The research project is a significant step towards better understanding and protecting marine ecosystems.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ancient apes in Germany co-existed by partitioning resources in their environment, according to a new study.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a parasitic first, a Baltic amber specimen has revealed that millions of years ago tiny worms known as nematodes were living inside of and feeding on the outer protective layer of pseudoscorpions.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The identity of a prehistoric marine reptile has finally been revealed after experts discovered that some of its remains actually belonged to fish.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Geobiologists reported a 550 million-year-old sea sponge that had been missing from the fossil record. The discovery sheds new light on a conundrum that has stumped zoologists and paleontologists for years.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Winters can be tough on managed honey bee colonies, with beekeepers in the United States reporting that one-third of their colonies die each winter. A new study has found that using not one but multiple pest treatments may help bees make it to spring.