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Categories: Biology: Evolutionary, Ecology: Sea Life

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An LMU team has studied the biodiversity of larvae from the insect order neuroptera over the past 100 million years.

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A new Griffith University study has found that humpback whales will use sandy, shallow bay areas to 'roll' around in sandy substrates to remove dead skin cells on their return journeys south to cooler waters. Using data and footage collected from the tags, whales were observed performing full and side rolls in up to 49m water depth on the sea floor that was lined with fine sand or rubble.

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The genomes of two hornet species, the European hornet and the Asian hornet (or yellow-legged hornet) have been sequenced.

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For the first time, scientists have recorded brain activity in a free-ranging, wild marine mammal, revealing the sleep habits of elephant seals during the months they spend at sea. The new findings show that while elephant seals may spend 10 hours a day sleeping on the beach during the breeding season, they average just 2 hours of sleep per day when they are at sea on months-long foraging trips. They sleep for about 10 minutes at a time during deep, 30-minute dives, often spiraling downward while fast asleep, and sometimes lying motionless on the seafloor.

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Evolution of two contagious cancers affecting Tasmanian devils underlines unpredictability of disease threat. Scientists have traced the family trees of two transmissible cancers that affect Tasmanian devils and have pinpointed mutations which may drive growth of deadly diseases.

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Anthropogenic climate change has, together with the intensive use and destruction of natural ecosystems through agriculture, fishing and industry, sparked an unprecedented loss of biodiversity that continues to worsen. In this regard, the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis are often viewed as two separate catastrophes. An international team of researchers calls for adopting a new perspective.

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Imagine the view from the western coastline of southern Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) over twenty thousand years ago: in the distance you would see at least fifteen large islands -- the largest 300 square kilometers in area -- swarming with hundreds of millions of marine birds and penguin colonies.

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A team of researchers has identified a single-celled organism called a ciliate as the cause of a massive die-off event to a marine animal vital to coral reef health.

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We now know more about the diet of a prehistoric creature that grew up to two and a half meters long and lived in Australian waters during the time of the dinosaurs, thanks to the power of x-rays. Researchers used micro-CT scans to peer inside the fossilized stomach remains of a small marine reptile -- a plesiosaur nicknamed 'Eric' after a song from the comedy group Monty Python -- to determine what the creature ate in the lead up to its death.

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The diverse swimming techniques of the ancient reptiles that ruled the Mesozoic seas have been revealed.

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Scientists have discovered extensive, ancient deep-sea coral reefs within the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR) -- the first of their kind ever to be documented inside the marine protected area (MPA) since it was established in 1998. The first reef observed was found at 400-600m (1,310-1,970 feet) depth at the summit of a previously unmapped seamount in the central part of the archipelago and supports a breathtaking mix of deep marine life.

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The high seas have been colonized by a surprising number of coastal marine invertebrate species, which can now survive and reproduce in the open ocean, contributing strongly to the floating community composition. Researchers found coastal species, representing diverse taxonomic groups and life history traits, in the eastern North Pacific Subtropical Gyre on over 70 percent of the plastic debris they examined. Further, the debris carried more coastal species than open ocean species.

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For several years, a team of researchers used underwater microphones to listen for seals at the edge of the Antarctic. Their initial findings indicate that sea-ice retreat has had significant effects on the animals' behavior: when the ice disappears, areas normally full of vocalizations become very quiet.

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Insect pollination is a decisive process for the survival and evolution of angiosperm (flowering) plants and, to a lesser extent, gymnosperms (without visible flower or fruit). There is a growing interest in studies on the origins of the relationship between insects and plants, especially in the current context of the progressive decline of pollinating insects on a global scale and its impact on food production. Pollinating insects can be recognized in the fossil record, although to date, there has been no protocol for their differentiation. Fossil pollinators have been found in both rock and amber deposits, and it is in rock deposits that the first evidence of plant pollination by insects is being studied across the globe. But how can we determine which was a true insect pollinator in the past?

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Studying mass extinction events from the past can build our understanding of how ecosystems and the communities of organisms within them respond. Researchers are looking to the Late Devonian mass extinction which happened around 370 million years ago to better understand how communities of organisms respond in times of great upheaval.

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Research has traced the evolutionary adaptations of octopus and squid sensing capabilities. The researchers describe for the first time the structure of an octopus chemotactile receptor, which octopus arms use for taste-by-touch exploration of the seafloor.

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Scientists have developed a software package to help answer key questions about genetic factors associated with shared characteristics among different species.

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Pollinators such as honeybees produce special enzymes that detoxify defence chemicals produced by plants, new research shows.

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A research team has recently made a significant discovery about the evolutionary age of different type of cells in a small animal called Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). By using single-cell transcriptomic data and refined phylostratigraphy, the team determines the transcriptomic age of individual cells, which means they are able to estimate the evolutionary origin of different cells based on the age of the genes expressed in the cells.

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Scientists have described a new species of bat based on the oldest bat skeletons ever recovered. The study on the extinct bat, which lived in Wyoming about 52 million years ago, supports the idea that bats diversified rapidly on multiple continents during this time.