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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Offbeat: Earth and Climate
Published Study compares salmonella rates in backyard, commercial poultry farm samples



Researchers find less Salmonella on backyard poultry farms. But concerns remain about the prevalance of multidrug-resistant bacteria on both large and small farms.
Published Tropical fish are invading Australian ocean water



A study of shallow-water fish communities on rocky reefs in south-eastern Australia has found climate change is helping tropical fish species invade temperate Australian waters.
Published New compound from blessed thistle promotes functional nerve regeneration



Blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus) is a plant in the family Asteraceae. For centuries, it has been used as a medicinal herb as an extract or tea, e.g. to aid the digestive system. Researchers have now found a completely novel use for Cnicin. Animal models as well as human cells have shown that Cnicin significantly accelerates axon (nerve fibers) growth.
Published 'Itinerant breeding' in East Coast shorebird species



A study has found direct evidence of a species -- the American woodcock, a migratory shorebird from eastern and central North America -- that overlaps periods of migration and reproduction, a rare breeding strategy known as 'itinerant breeding.'
Published Lemur's lament: When one vulnerable species stalks another



What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa.
Published Key protein regulates immune response to viruses in mammal cells



Researchers have revealed the regulatory mechanism of a specific protein, TRBP, that plays a key role in balancing the immune response triggered by viral infections in mammal cells. These findings could help drive the development of antiviral therapies and nucleic acid medicines to treat genetic disorders.
Published Helping migrating salmon survive mortality hot-spot



Researchers used acoustic telemetry to tag and track coho on their journey.
Published New research shines a light on how expert mapmakers see the world differently



Researchers have found differences between experienced Ordnance Survey (OS) mapmakers and novices in the way that they interpret aerial images for mapmaking, which could lead to improved training processes for new recruits.
Published Why can zebrafish regenerate damaged heart tissue, while other fish species cannot?



A heart attack will leave a permanent scar on a human heart, yet other animals, including zebrafish, can clear cardiac scar tissue and regrow damaged muscle as adults. Biologists sheds new light on how zebrafish heal heart tissue by comparing how this species responds to heart injury with medaka, a fish species that cannot regenerate cardiac tissue.
Published Fourteen years after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, endemic fishes face an uncertain future



The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest accidental spill in history, released almost 100 million gallons of oil, causing significant pollution. A decade later, its long-term effects remain unclear. A study investigating the impact on endemic fish species found 29 of 78 species unreported in museum collections since the spill, suggesting potential loss of biodiversity.
Published Marine microbial populations: Potential sensors of the global change in the ocean



Animal and plant populations have been extensively studied, which has helped to understand ecosystem processes and evolutionary adaptations. However, this has not been the case with microbial populations due to the impossibility of isolating, culturing and analyzing the genetic content of the different species and their individuals in the laboratory. Therefore, although it is known that populations of microorganisms include a great diversity, this remains largely uncharacterized.
Published Data-driven music: Converting climate measurements into music



A geo-environmental scientist from Japan has composed a string quartet using sonified climate data. The 6-minute-long composition -- entitled 'String Quartet No. 1 'Polar Energy Budget'-- is based on over 30 years of satellite-collected climate data from the Arctic and Antarctic and aims to garner attention on how climate is driven by the input and output of energy at the poles.
Published Paleontologists unearth what may be the largest known marine reptile



The fossilized remains of a second gigantic jawbone measuring more than two meters long has been found on a beach in Somerset, UK.
Published Mountain chickadees have remarkable memories. A new study explains why



Mountain chickadees have among the best spatial memory in the animal kingdom. New research identifies the genes at play and offers insight into how a shifting climate may impact the evolution of this unique skill.
Published Copper beads in pig feed reshape swine gut microbiome



Copper is a natural antimicrobial material that, when added to pig feed, may promote the growth and health of the animals. Since pigs can tolerate high levels of the metal, researchers recently investigated whether copper might be used to promote their gut health and reduce the shedding of microbes to the environment.
Published Making crops colorful for easier weeding



To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts. This could involve altering the crops' genomes so that they express pigments that are already produced by many plants, for example, anthocyanins, which make blueberries blue, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange. Then, they say, weeding robots could be trained to remove only the weeds using machine learning.
Published Storks fly with a little help from their friends



All storks choose to migrate with conspecifics, but young storks rely more on social influences than adults do.
Published Reproductive success improves after a single generation in the wild for descendants of some hatchery-origin Chinook salmon



Researchers who created 'family trees' for nearly 10,000 fish found that first-generation, wild-born descendants of hatchery-origin Chinook salmon in an Oregon river show improved fitness.
Published Huge database gives insight into salmon patterns at sea



A massive new analysis of high seas salmon surveys is enhancing the understanding of salmon ecology, adding details about where various species congregate in the North Pacific Ocean and their different temperature tolerances. The project integrates numerous international salmon studies from the North Pacific dating back to the 1950s.
Published Older males out-compete young males outside breeding pairs, bird study shows



Young male blue tits are less successful in fathering offspring outside their breeding pair, not because of a lack of experience, but because they are outcompeted by older males, researchers report.