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Categories: Biology: Marine, Paleontology: General

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Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature
Published

Endangered seabird shows surprising individual flexibility to adapt to climate change      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research finds that individual behavioural flexibility and not evolutionary selection is driving the northward shift of Balearic shearwaters. The findings were revealed through a decade-long study which tagged individual birds. The results indicate that individual animals may have greater behavioural flexibility to respond to climate change impacts than previously thought.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Biology: Evolutionary Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

How did humans learn to walk? New evolutionary study offers an earful      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study, which centers on evidence from skulls of a 6-million-year-old fossil ape, Lufengpithecus, offers important clues about the origins of bipedal locomotion courtesy of a novel method: analyzing its bony inner ear region using three-dimensional CT-scanning. The inner ear appears to provide a unique record of the evolutionary history of ape locomotion.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems
Published

Use it or lose it: How seagrasses conquered the sea      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Seagrasses provide the foundation of one of the most highly biodiverse, yet vulnerable, coastal marine ecosystems globally. They arose in three independent lineages from their freshwater ancestors some 100 million years ago and are the only fully submerged, marine flowering plants. Moving to such a radically different environment is a rare evolutionary event and definitely not easy. How did they do it? New reference quality genomes provide important clues with relevance to their conservation and biotechnological application.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Microplastics may be accumulating rapidly in endangered Galápagos penguins' food web      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Model predictions showed a rapid increase in microplastic accumulation and contamination across the penguins' prey organisms resulting in Galapagos penguin showing the highest level of microplastics per biomass, followed by barracuda, anchovy, sardine, herring, and predatory zooplankton.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Humpback whales move daytime singing offshore      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research revealed a daily pattern wherein humpback whales move their singing away from shore throughout the day and return to the nearshore in the evening.

Archaeology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Ancient brown bear genomes sheds light on Ice Age losses and survival      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The brown bear is one of the largest living terrestrial carnivores, and is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike many other large carnivores that went extinct at the end of the last Ice Age (cave bear, sabretoothed cats, cave hyena), the brown bear is one of the lucky survivors that made it through to the present. The question has puzzled biologists for close to a century -- how was this so?

Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Marine heat waves trigger shift in hatch dates and early growth of Pacific cod      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Marine heat waves appear to trigger earlier reproduction, high mortality in early life stages and fewer surviving juvenile Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska, a new study shows. These changes in the hatch cycle and early growth patterns persisted in years following the marine heat waves, which could have implications for the future of Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod, an economically and culturally significant species.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Don't blame the sharks: Why more hooked tarpon are being eaten      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In wave-making research, a team of biologists has quantified the rate at which great hammerhead sharks are eating Atlantic tarpon hooked by anglers at Bahia Honda, Florida -- one of the prime tarpon fishing spots in the Florida Keys.

Biology: Zoology Ecology: Trees Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Student discovers 200-million-year-old flying reptile      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Gliding winged-reptiles were amongst the ancient crocodile residents of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, researchers at the have revealed.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

The megalodon was less mega than previously believed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study shows the Megalodon, a gigantic shark that went extinct 3.6 million years ago, was more slender than earlier studies suggested. This finding changes scientists' understanding of Megalodon behavior, ancient ocean life, and why the sharks went extinct.

Anthropology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Paleontology: General
Published

A window into plant evolution: The unusual genetic journey of lycophytes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of researchers has uncovered a remarkable genetic phenomenon in lycophytes, which are similar to ferns and among the oldest land plants. Their study reveals that these plants have maintained a consistent genetic structure for over 350 million years, a significant deviation from the norm in plant genetics.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Sea otters helped prevent widespread California kelp forest declines over the past century      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The study reveals dramatic regional kelp canopy changes along the California coast over a 100-year period. During this time there was a significant increase in kelp forest canopy along the central coast, the only region of California where southern sea otters survived after being hunted nearly to extinction for their fur in the 1800s. Contrastingly, kelp canopy decreased in northern and southern regions. At the century scale, the species' favorable impact on kelp forests along the central coast nearly compensated for the kelp losses along both northern and southern California resulting in only a slight overall decline statewide during this period.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Biology: Biochemistry Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Woolly mammoth movements tied to earliest Alaska hunting camps      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have linked the travels of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with the oldest known human settlements in Alaska, providing clues about the relationship between the iconic species and some of the earliest people to travel across the Bering Land Bridge. Isotopic data, along with DNA from other mammoths at the site and archaeological evidence, indicates that early Alaskans likely structured their settlements to overlap with areas where mammoths congregated. Those findings, highlighted in the new issue of the journal Science Advances, provide evidence that mammoths and early hunter-gatherers shared habitat in the region. The long-term predictable presence of woolly mammoths would have attracted humans to the area.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Pacific kelp forests are far older that we thought      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fossils of kelp along the Pacific Coast are rare. Until now, the oldest fossil dated from 14 million years ago, leading to the view that today's denizens of the kelp forest -- marine mammals, urchins, sea birds -- coevolved with kelp. A recent amateur discovery pushes back the origin of kelp to 32 million years ago, long before these creatures appeared. A new analysis suggests the first kelp grazers were extinct, hippo-like animals called desmostylians.

Biology: Evolutionary Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: General
Published

Feeding mode of ancient vertebrate tested for first time      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A feeding method of the extinct jawless heterostracans, among the oldest of vertebrates, has been examined and dismissed by scientists, using fresh techniques.

Archaeology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Key moment in the evolution of life on Earth captured in fossils      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has precisely dated some of the oldest fossils of complex multicellular life in the world, helping to track a pivotal moment in the history of Earth when the seas began teeming with new lifeforms -- after four billion years of containing only single-celled microbes.