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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Offbeat: Earth and Climate
Published Hailstone library to improve extreme weather forecasting
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers are measuring and scanning samples for a global 'hailstone library'. Storm simulations using 3-D modelling of real hailstones -- in all sorts of weird shapes from oblong to flat discs or with spikes coming out -- show it behaves differently than spherical hail shapes. Data from the hail library could lead to more accurate storm forecasts.
Published Rethinking the dodo
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers are setting out to challenge our misconceptions about the Dodo, one of the most well-known but poorly understood species of bird. Researchers have undertaken the most comprehensive review of the taxonomy of the Dodo and its closest relative, the Rodriguez Island Solitaire.
Published New research shows unprecedented atmospheric changes during May's geomagnetic superstorm
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source On May 11, a gorgeous aurora surprised stargazers across the southern United States. That same weekend, a tractor guided by GPS missed its mark. What do the visibility of the northern lights have in common with compromised farming equipment in the Midwest? A uniquely powerful geomagnetic storm, according to new research.
Published Blind cavefish have extraordinary taste buds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A biologist studies blind cavefish, a species of fish that dwell in cave ponds in Mexico. He looked at the timeline for when the cavefish develop additional taste buds on the head and chin, finding the taste bud expansion starts at five months and continues into adulthood.
Published As human activities expand in Antarctica, scientists identify crucial conservation sites
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Establishing Key Biodiversity Areas in the Southern Ocean will be vital for safeguarding the ecosystem from the impact of human activities, researchers say.
Published Lake Erie walleye growth is driven by parents' size, experience
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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 A belly full of jelly
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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 Decoding the world's largest animal genome
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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 Ecologists put an insect group on century-old map of biodiversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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 Scientists condition crocodiles to avoid killer cane toads
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have trialled a new way to protect freshwater crocodiles from deadly invasive cane toads spreading across northern Australia.
Published Pit-building venom mixers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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 Rewriting the evolutionary history of critical components of the nervous system
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 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.
Published A new mechanism for shaping animal tissues
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A key question that remains in biology and biophysics is how three-dimensional tissue shapes emerge during animal development. Research teams have now found a mechanism by which tissues can be 'programmed' to transition from a flat state to a three-dimensional shape.
Published Researchers find unexpectedly large methane source in overlooked landscape
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers reported that upland landscapes were releasing some of the highest methane emissions yet documented among northern terrestrial ecosystems. The research was sparked when a potent greenhouse gas began ballooning under lawns in Fairbanks.
Published Nature at risk in the hunt for the perfect selfie
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The need for a dramatic selfie or the perfect landscape photo is proving detrimental to nature, a new research collaboration has found.
Published Researchers make breakthrough in understanding species abundance
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The key finding was that temperature and genome size, not body size, had the greatest influence on the maximum population growth rate of the diatoms. Yet body size still mattered in colder latitudes, conserving Bermann's Rule.
Published Individuals vary in how air pollution impacts their mood
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Affective sensitivity to air pollution (ASAP) describes the extent to which affect, or mood, fluctuates in accordance with daily changes in air pollution, which can vary between individuals, according to a new study.
Published When mammoths roamed Vancouver Island
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mammoths, the massive pre-historic ice age cousins of the modern-day elephant, have always been understood to have inhabited parts of British Columbia, but the question of when has always been a bit woolly. Now, a new study has given scientists the clearest picture yet when the giant mammals roamed Vancouver Island.