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Categories: Biology: Evolutionary, Environmental: Wildfires

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Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

Smoke particles from wildfires can erode the ozone layer      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study finds that smoke particles in the stratosphere can trigger chemical reactions that erode the ozone layer -- and that smoke particles from Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020.

Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

To help dry forests, fire needs to be just the right intensity, and happen more than once      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Research into the ability of a wildfire to improve the health of a forest uncovered a Goldilocks effect -- unless a blaze falls in a narrow severity range, neither too hot nor too cold, it isn't very good at helping forest landscapes return to their historical, more fire-tolerant conditions.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Wildfires in 2021 emitted a record-breaking amount of carbon dioxide      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires, which have been gradually increasing since 2000, spiked drastically to a record high in 2021, according to an international team of researchers.

Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology
Published

Illuminating the evolution of social parasite ants      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The findings offer a new way to understand how some ants become total layabouts.

Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Biology: Zoology
Published

Fluorescent protein sheds light on bee brains      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of bee researchers has integrated a calcium sensor into honey bees to enable the study of neural information processing including response to odors. This also provides insights into how social behavior is located in the brain.

Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Evolutionary
Published

Pink + pink = gold: hybrid hummingbird's feathers don't match its parents      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists thought a gold-throated hummingbird was a new species. DNA revealed that it's a hybrid of two different species, each with pink throats. The discovery sheds light on how birds produce feather colors and how hummingbirds evolved their dazzling hues.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity
Published

Better metric for prioritizing conservation of 'evolutionarily distinctive' species      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have published an updated metric for prioritizing species' conservation that incorporates scientific uncertainty and complementarity between species, in addition to extinction risk and evolutionary distinctiveness.

Biology: Evolutionary Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published

Parental investment may have aided evolution of larger brains      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A review of evidence from prior research provides new support for the possibility that the evolution of larger brains in some species was enabled through increased energy investment by parents in their offspring.

Anthropology: General Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Jurassic shark: Shark from the Jurassic period was already highly evolved      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.

Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Experts demand fire safety policy change over health impact of widely used flame retardants      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Leading environmental health experts have called for a comprehensive review of the UK's fire safety regulations, with a focus on the environmental and health risks of current chemical flame retardants.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Marine Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Ecology: Trees
Published

Who are the first ancestors of present-day fish?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

What is the origin of the ancestors of present-day fish? What species evolved from them? A 50-year-old scientific controversy revolved around the question of which group, the 'bony-tongues' or the 'eels', was the oldest. A study has just put an end to the debate by showing through genomic analysis that these fishes are in fact one and the same group, given the rather peculiar name of 'Eloposteoglossocephala'. These results shed new light on the evolutionary history of fish.

Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular
Published

Evolutionary history of detoxifying enzymes reconstructed      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Biochemists have succeeded in resurrecting the ancestral genes of five detoxifying enzymes which are present in all tetrapods to show how their divergence in function has occurred.

Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

The rediscovery of an ethereal fairy lantern brightly illuminates their mysterious past      (via sciencedaily.com) 

After more than 30 years, botanists have rediscovered Thismia kobensis, a type of mysterious-looking rare plant commonly referred to as 'fairy lanterns'. Thismia kobensis was presumed extinct and the surprise rediscovery of this Japanese variety has illuminated hidden aspects of fairy lanterns that have puzzled and fascinated botanists for centuries.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Ancient proteins offer new clues about origin of life on Earth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and humans.

Biology: Evolutionary
Published

How birds got their wings      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Modern birds capable of flight all have a specialized wing structure called the propatagium without which they could not fly. The evolutionary origin of this structure has remained a mystery, but new research suggests it evolved in nonavian dinosaurs. The finding comes from statistical analyses of arm joints preserved in fossils and helps fill some gaps in knowledge about the origin of bird flight.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Microbiology
Published

Deadly waves: Researchers document evolution of plague over hundreds of years in medieval Denmark      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists who study the origins and evolution of the plague have examined hundreds of ancient human teeth from Denmark, seeking to address longstanding questions about its arrival, persistence and spread within Scandinavia.

Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Research Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Insect bite marks show first fossil evidence for plants' leaves folding up at night      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Plants can move in ways that might surprise you. Some of them even show 'sleep movements,' folding or raising their leaves each night before opening them again the next day. Now, researchers offer convincing evidence for these nightly movements, also known as foliar nyctinasty, in fossil plants that lived more than 250 million years ago.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

A labyrinth lake provides surprising benefits for an endangered seal      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The endangered Saimaa ringed seal is an Ice Age relict living in the highly labyrinthine Lake Saimaa, Finland. The newly published work shows that although individual seals have greatly reduced genetic variation, the loss of variation has been complementary, preserving the adaptive potential of the whole population.

Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Marine Biology: Molecular Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Single gene causes sea anemone's stinging cell to lose its sting      (via sciencedaily.com) 

When scientists disabled a single regulatory gene in a species of sea anemone, a stinging cell that shoots a venomous miniature harpoon for hunting and self-defense shifted to shoot a sticky thread that entangles prey instead, according to a new study.

Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

A fifth of California's Sierra Nevada conifer forests are stranded in habitats that have grown too warm for them      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers created maps showing where warmer weather has left trees in conditions that don't suit them, making them more prone to being replaced by other species. The findings could help inform long-term wildfire and ecosystem management in these 'zombie forests.'