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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published Lake Erie walleye growth is driven by parents' size, experience



Parent size and the conditions in which actively spawning adults lived are the most influential factors affecting growth of Lake Erie walleye, a new study has found.
Published Tropical Atlantic mixing rewrites climate pattern rules



Changes in the Atlantic Ocean's mixed layer are the primary force behind the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV).
Published A belly full of jelly



For a long time, scientists assumed that jellies (commonly known as jellyfish) were a dead-end food source for predatory fish. However, a team has now discovered that fish in Greenland waters do indeed feed on jellyfish. In two of the analyzed species, they even made up the majority of the food. The results suggest that the role of jellyfish as prey in marine food webs should be reconsidered, especially in regards to the fact that they could be profiting from climate change and spreading farther and farther north.
Published Season of birth is associated with the development of asthma and allergic rhinitis



Being born in autumn or winter is associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis in Finland, a new registry-based study shows.
Published Rising mercury pollution in soil could be related to climate change



In 2017, the Minamata Convention on Mercury went into effect, designed to help curb mercury emissions and limit exposure across the globe. However, a new study of mercury levels in soil suggests that the treaty's provisions might not be enough. The study estimates that soil stores substantially more mercury than previously thought, and it predicts that increases in plant growth due to climate change may add even more.
Published Could manure and compost act like probiotics, reducing antibiotic resistance in urban soils?



Research suggests that, in some cases, boosting urban soil health with compost and treated manure may reduce the amount of pathogenic and anti-biotic resistant bacteria.
Published Decoding the world's largest animal genome



Scientists have sequenced the largest genome of all animals, the lungfish genome. Their data help to explain how the fish-ancestors of today's land vertebrates were able to conquer land.
Published Newly discovered ability of comammox bacteria could help reduce nitrous oxide emissions in agriculture



An international research team has discovered that comammox bacteria, first identified by them in 2015, can grow using guanidine, a nitrogen-rich organic compound, as their sole energy and nitrogen source. This unique ability opens new avenues for targeted cultivation of these enigmatic microbes and could also provide a key to reducing agricultural nitrous oxide emissions.
Published Ecologists put an insect group on century-old map of biodiversity



The distribution of species around the globe is not a random process but an outcome resulting from several evolutionary mechanisms as well as past and current environmental limitations. As a result, since the mid-19th century, biologists have identified several main regions, called biogeographic realms, that depict these large ensembles of species around the world. These biogeographic realms represent one of the most fundamental descriptions of biodiversity on Earth and are commonly used in various fields of biology.
Published Giant fossil seeds from Borneo record ancient plant migration



Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and Australian rainforests, according to researchers who identified the plants.
Published Climate change raised the odds of unprecedented wildfires in 2023-24



Unprecedented wildfires in Canada and parts of Amazonia last year were at least three times more likely due to climate change and contributed to high levels of CO2 emissions from burning globally, according to the a new systematic review. The State of Wildfires report takes stock of extreme wildfires of the 2023-2024 fire season (March 2023-February 2024), explains their causes, and assesses whether events could have been predicted. It also evaluates how the risk of similar events will change in future under different climate change scenarios.
Published Scientists condition crocodiles to avoid killer cane toads



Scientists have trialled a new way to protect freshwater crocodiles from deadly invasive cane toads spreading across northern Australia.
Published Scientists achieve more than 98% efficiency removing nanoplastics from water



Linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in people, nanoplastics continue to build up, largely unnoticed, in the world's bodies of water. The challenge remains to develop a cost-effective solution to get rid of nanoplastics while leaving clean water behind. That's where Mizzou comes in. Recently, researchers created a new liquid-based solution that eliminates more than 98% of these microscopic plastic particles from water.
Published Study reveals urban trees suffer more from heat waves and drought than their rural counterparts



A recent study details how trees in New York City and Boston are more negatively impacted by heat waves and drought than trees of the same species in nearby rural forests. The finding highlights the challenges urban trees face in the context of climate change and underscores the importance of tailored urban forestry management as a tool for protecting tree species and reducing urban heat islands.
Published Changing food consumers' choices may help cut greenhouse gases



Planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions associated with the global food supply chains induced by diets could fall by 17% if people change their food choices towards more plant-based diets.
Published Pit-building venom mixers



Researchers show that the adaptation of antlions to their ecological niche has also changed their venom. They compared the venom system of antlion and closely related green lacewing larvae. Antlions produce a much more complex venom from three different venom glands than lacewing larvae do. All the venom proteins identified come from the insects themselves, not from symbiotic bacteria. Some of the toxins are new and appear to be unique to antlions. Waiting for their victims in pitfall traps in the sand, antlions can use their venom to immobilize larger prey. The venom therefore plays an important ecological role in adapting to their barren habitat.
Published Expansion of agricultural land threatens climate and biodiversity



Food, feed, fiber, and bioenergy: The demand for agricultural raw materials is rising. How can additional cultivation areas be reconciled with nature conservation? Researchers have developed a land-use model that provides answers.
Published Protecting surf breaks mitigates climate change, helps coastal communities



Safeguarding places to hang ten and shoot the curl is an opportunity to simultaneously mitigate climate change, fuel tourism and help surrounding ecosystems, research has shown.
Published Rewriting the evolutionary history of critical components of the nervous system



A new study has rewritten the conventionally understood evolutionary history of certain ion channels -- proteins critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system. The study shows that the Shaker family of ion channels were present in microscopic single cell organisms well before the common ancestor of all animals and thus before the origin of the nervous system.
Published Reduce, reuse, 're-fly-cle'



Black soldier flies are now commercially used to consume organic waste -- but genetic modifications proposed by bioscientists could see the insects digesting a wider variety of refuse, while also creating raw ingredients for industry.