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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Ecology: Animals

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Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Zoology
Published

Neurobiology: How bats distinguish different sounds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Bats live in a world of sounds. They use vocalizations both to communicate with their conspecifics and for navigation. For the latter, they emit sounds in the ultrasonic range, which echo and enable them to create an 'image' of their surroundings. Neuroscientists have now discovered how Seba's short-tailed bat, a species native to South America, manages to filter out important signals from ambient sound and especially to distinguish between echolocation and communication calls.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Nature
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Snakes do it faster, better: How a group of scaly, legless lizards hit the evolutionary jackpot      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

More than 100 million years ago, the ancestors of the first snakes were small lizards that lived alongside other small, nondescript lizards in the shadow of the dinosaurs.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Ecology: Animals Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research
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Mice surprise: Researchers discover new native species      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Australia can lay claim to two new species of native rodent thanks to a new study. The aptly named delicate mouse was previously thought to be a single species spanning a massive stretch of the country from the Pilbara in Western Australia, across parts of the Northern Territory and through Queensland down to the New South Wales border. We now know there are three distinct species.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Zoology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Scientists can tell where a mouse is looking and located based on its neural activity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have paired a deep learning model with experimental data to 'decode' mouse neural activity. Using the method, they can accurately determine where a mouse is located within an open environment and which direction it is facing, just by looking at its neural firing patterns. Being able to decode neural activity could provide insight into the function and behavior of individual neurons or even entire brain regions.

Biology: Botany Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems
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Modeling tree masting      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The effects of a phenomenon called tree masting on ecosystems and food webs can be better understood thanks to new theoretical models validated by real world observations.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Nature Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Why are fish getting smaller as waters warm? It's not their gills      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A collaborative team of scientists recently found that there is no physiological evidence supporting a leading theory -- which involves the surface area of fish gills -- as to why many fish species are 'shrinking' as waters grow warmer due to climate change. Known as the Gill Oxygen Limitation (GOL) theory, it has been proposed as the universal mechanism explaining fish size and has been used in some predictions of future global fisheries yields. However, the researchers conducted a series of long-term experiments on brook trout and found that, though increased temperatures do lead to significantly decreased body size, gill surface area did not explain the change.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Ecology: Animals Geoscience: Geography
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Weedy rice gets competitive boost from its wild neighbors      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Weedy rice is an agricultural pest with a global economic impact. It is an aggressive weed that outcompetes cultivated rice and causes billions of dollars in yield losses worldwide. A study offers new insights into genetic changes that give weedy rice its edge over cultivated rice in tropical regions of the world.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Zoology Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Butterfly and moth genomes mostly unchanged despite 250 million years of evolution      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Comparison of over 200 high-quality butterfly and moth genomes reveals key insights into their biology, evolution and diversification over the last 250 million years, as well as clues for conservation.

Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Mercury levels in tuna remain nearly unchanged since 1971      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Tuna is one of the most popular seafoods worldwide. But this protein-rich fish can build up high levels of methylmercury from feeding on contaminated prey, like smaller fish or crustaceans. Despite efforts to reduce mercury emissions into the environment, researchers report that levels in tuna appear to be unchanged since 1971. They warn that more aggressive emission reduction targets are needed to start nudging down tuna mercury levels.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Toxic elements found in stranded whales, dolphins over 15 years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers evaluated the prevalence, concentration and tissue distribution of essential and non-essential trace elements, including heavy metal toxicants in tissue (blubber, kidney, liver, skeletal muscle, skin) and fecal samples collected from 90 whales and dolphins stranded in Georgia and Florida from 2007 to 2021.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life
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Unlocking the energetic secrets of collective animal movement: How group behavior reduces energy costs in fish      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers questioned if coordinated group movements by animals moving through a fluid could reduce the energy cost of locomotion. By combining biomechanics and bioenergetics the researchers found not only a significant amount of energy conservation, but also identified the reduced energy use per tail beat.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Water
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Even very low levels of pesticide exposure can affect fish for generations      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fish exposed to some pesticides at extremely low concentrations for a brief period of time can demonstrate lasting behavioral changes, with the impact extending to offspring that were never exposed firsthand, a recent study found.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Panama Canal expansion rewrites history of world's most ecologically diverse bats      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a new study, paleontologists describe the oldest-known leaf-nosed bat fossils, which were found along the banks of the Panama Canal. They're also the oldest bat fossils from Central America, preserved 20-million years ago when Panama and the rest of North America were separated from southern landmass by a seaway at least 120 miles wide.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems
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Artificial reefs help preserve coral reefs by shifting divers away from the natural ones, according to new long-term study of one in Eilat      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Divers are essentially tourists who love coral reefs and invest a lot of time and effort to watch them. Unfortunately, divers also cause damage to corals, often unintentionally, through disturbing and resuspending sand, touching them, hitting them with their equipment, and scaring fish away. Artificial reefs have been proposed as a means of diverting diving pressure from the natural reef to alternative sites, thus preserving both dive tourism and the coral reef.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography
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Nature's checkup: Surveying biodiversity with environmental DNA sequencing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A thousand kilometers south of Tokyo, far into the largest ocean on Earth, lies a chain of small, volcanic islands -- the Ogasawara Islands. Nature has been able to develop on its own terms here, far from both humans and the warm Kuroshio current, which acts like a shuttle, moving marine species from Taiwan, over the Ryukyu Islands, and up the Pacific coast of mainland Japan. With upwards of 70 % of trees and many animal species being endemic to the archipelago, the islands have been dubbed 'the Galapagos of the East', as they are valuable as both a biodiversity hotspot and a cradle of scientific discovery.

Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Zoology Engineering: Graphene
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Fresh meat: New biosensor accurately and efficiently determines meat freshness      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Despite the technological advances keeping meat fresh for as long as possible, certain aging processes are unavoidable. Adenosine triphosphate is a molecule produced by breathing and responsible for providing energy to cells. When an animal stops breathing, ATP synthesis also stops, and the existing molecules decompose into acid, diminishing first flavor and then safety. Hypoxanthine and xanthine are intermediate steps in this transition. Assessing their prevalence in meat indicates its freshness.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity
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First-ever report of nesting of incredibly rare and endangered giant turtle      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Knowledge from local communities has resulted in the first-ever nesting evidence and discovery of a breeding population of an incredibly rare turtle in India.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
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Bat 'nightclubs' may be the key to solving the next pandemic      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are studying how bats can carry deadly viruses, but not develop symptoms. They found that what happens during swarming behavior -- like social gatherings for bats -- may hold the key to understanding their viral tolerance and translate to human health in fighting off diseases like Ebola and COVID-19.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature
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Pollinator's death trap turns into nursery      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a group of plants that is famous for luring its pollinators into a death trap, one species offers its flowers as a nursery in exchange. The discovery blurs the line between mutualism and parasitism and sheds light on the evolution of complex plant-insect interactions.