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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Ecology: Endangered Species

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Scientists have mapped the reproductive strategies and life cycle of an endangered coral species, the purple cauliflower soft coral Dendronephthya australis. Lab-grown larvae have been successfully introduced back into the wild.

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New research has found that monkeys increase their use of scent markings to compensate for human noise pollution. The study has investigated how primates change their communication strategies in response to noise pollution. The researchers studied endangered pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor), which use both vocal calls and scent markings. The researchers found that the frequency of scent marking directly increased in line with noise decibel levels.

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Researchers have developed a method that lets them genetically modify each cell differently in animals. This allows them to study in a single experiment what used to require many animal experiments. Using the new method, the researchers have discovered genes that are relevant for a severe rare genetic disorder.

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A groundbreaking study is reshaping our understanding of crocodile evolution by pinpointing the onset of slow growth rates to the Late Triassic period, much earlier than the previously assumed Early Jurassic timeline. The research highlights newly discovered fossil crocodile ancestors (known as crocodylomorphs) that exhibited slow growth rates, similar to modern-day crocodilians. Intriguingly, these early crocodylomorphs were not the lethargic, semi-aquatic creatures we are familiar with today; they were small, active, and fully terrestrial. The study also suggests that this slow-growth strategy was not a mere evolutionary quirk but a survival mechanism, as only the slow-growing crocodylomorphs managed to survive the End-Triassic mass extinction. This stands in stark contrast to the fast-growing dinosaurs of the same era, setting the stage for the divergent evolutionary paths that would later define their modern descendants.

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The bright lights of big cities could be causing an evolutionary adaptation for smaller eyes in some birds, a new study indicates. Researchers found that two common songbirds, the Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren, that live year-round in the urban core of San Antonio, Texas, had eyes about 5% smaller than members of the same species from the less bright outskirts. Researchers found no eye-size difference for two species of migratory birds, the Painted Bunting and White-eyed Vireo, no matter which part of the city they lived in for most of the year. The findings have implications for conservation efforts amid the rapid decline of bird populations across the U.S.

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Plants are often attributed with abilities similar to those known in the animal or human world. Trees are said to have feelings and can therefore care for their offspring, like mothers. Researchers analyzed the claims in two popular publications on forests and reached the conclusion that conjecture is equated with fact. They warn against 'anthropomorphizing' plants.

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X-rays of an ancient jawless fish shows earliest-known example of internal cartilage skull, unlike that of any other known vertebrate.

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While many species are undergoing drastic declines in their numbers and geographic ranges, other species seem to be thriving. Researchers investigating the great-tailed grackle, a bird that has been establishing new populations across North America in the past few decades, reveal that behavior might play a key role in their success. They found that the population on the range's edge is more persistent and has more variability in flexibility, and that this species has shifted toward living more in urban, arid environments.

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A new study finds that most Rafflesia species, which produce the world's largest flowers, face extinction. Lack of protection at local, national, and international levels means that remaining populations are under critical threat.

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Scientists have found a plant gene that drives the growth of root hairs, the tiny structures that help plants find water and nutrients in the soil. The gene, dubbed 'BUZZ,' causes faster-growing, denser webs of roots and may also determine how plants find and use nitrates, a prime source of nitrogen essential to plant growth. Nitrates are also used in fertilizers that can pollute the environment as runoff, and this genetic discovery could ultimately help plant scientists find ways to grow crops more sustainably.

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A new study sheds new light on the origins of modern brain cells. Researchers find evidence that specialized secretory cells found in placozoans, tiny sea creatures the size of a grain of sand, have many similarities to the neuron, such as the genes required to create a partial synapse. From an evolutionary point of view, early neurons might have started as something like these cells, eventually gaining the ability to create a complete synapse, form axons and dendrites and create ion channels that generate fast electrical signals -- innovations which gave rise to the neuron in more complex animals such as jellyfish. Though the complete story of how the first neuron appeared remains to be told, the study demonstrates that the basic building blocks for our brain cells were forming in the ancestors of placozoans grazing inconspicuously in the shallow seas of Earth around 800 million years ago.

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Studying a lizard species in Arizona mountains, researchers found 70 years' worth of climate-related extinction occurred in only seven years.

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Scientists are investigating the previously largely unknown biosynthetic pathway that leads to the formation of cardenolides in plants. In a new study, they present two enzymes from the CYP87A family as key enzymes that catalyze the formation of pregnenolone, the precursor for the biosynthesis of plant steroids, in two different plant families. The discovery of such enzymes should help to develop platforms for the cheap and sustainable production of high quality steroid compounds for medical use.

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The research team generated a series of fire susceptibility maps. These show the proportion of Australia experiencing 'high' or 'very high' fire susceptibility increasing from 14.9% now to 15.66% by 2070 -- while fire susceptibility of areas suitable for the plants that koalas depend on is tipped to jump from 39.56% to 44.61% by 2070.

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It takes over the brains of ants, causing them to cling to blades of grass against their will. The lancet liver fluke has an exceptional lifecycle strategy, in which snails, ants and grazing animals are unwitting actors. Researchers now reveal more about the mind-bending workings of this tiny parasite.

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Tweaks to the mitochondrial genome hold the potential for better hybrid seed production or to introduce seedless fruits.

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• Twenty-year experiment finds that active replanting beats natural recovery for restoring logged tropical forests. • The higher the diversity of replanted tree species, the more quickly canopy area and biomass recovered. • Results emphasize the importance of preserving biodiversity in pristine forests and restoring it in recovering logged forest.

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The better a songbird is at working its way around obstacles to retrieve a snack, the more complex its vocal learning ability will be.

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Rock faces in Namibia are decorated with hundreds of stone-age images not only of animals and human footprints, but also of animal tracks. These have been largely neglected to date as researchers lacked the knowledge required to interpret them. Archaeologists have now worked together with animal tracking experts to investigate the engraved animal tracks on six rock faces in more detail, and were able to determine detailed information on the species, age, sex, limbs, side of the body, trackway and relative direction of the tracks.

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Scientists are trying to raise as many urchins as possible because they eat algae that could otherwise smother reef ecosystems and kill corals. Researchers have identified algae on which larval sea urchins grow into juveniles in a lab setting.