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Categories: Biology: Marine, Offbeat: Earth and Climate

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Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Singing humpback whales respond to wind noise, but not boats      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study has found humpback whales sing louder when the wind is noisy, but don't have the same reaction to boat engines.

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

Global warming puts whales in the Southern Ocean on a diet      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the autumn, when right whales swim towards the coasts of South Africa, they ought to be fat and stuffed full. But in recent years, they have become thinner because their food is disappearing with the melting sea ice.

Biology: Botany Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Like ancient mariners, ancestors of Prochlorococcus microbes rode out to sea on exoskeleton particles      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Throughout the ocean, billions upon billions of plant-like microbes make up an invisible floating forest. As they drift, the tiny organisms use sunlight to suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Collectively, these photosynthesizing plankton, or phytoplankton, absorb almost as much CO2 as the world’s terrestrial forests. A measurable fraction of their carbon-capturing muscle comes from Prochlorococcus — an emerald-tinged free-floater that is the most abundant phytoplankton in the oceans today. New research suggests the microbe's ancient coastal ancestors colonized the ocean by rafting out on chitin particles.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Hammerhead sharks hold their breath on deep water hunts to stay warm      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scalloped hammerhead sharks hold their breath to keep their bodies warm during deep dives into cold water where they hunt prey such as deep sea squids. This discovery provides important new insights into the physiology and ecology of a species that serves as an important link between the deep and shallow water habitats.

Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: General
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Giants of the Jurassic seas were twice the size of a killer whale      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There have been heated debates over the size of Jurassic animals. The speculation was set to continue, but now a chance discovery in an Oxfordshire museum has led to palaeontologists publishing a paper on a Jurassic species potentially reaching a whopping 14.4 meters -- twice the size of a killer whale.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

A jumping conclusion: Fossil insect ID'd as new genus, species of prodigious leaper, the froghopper      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A fossil arthropod entombed in 100-million-year-old Burmese amber has been identified as a new genus and species of froghopper, known today as an insect with prodigious leaping ability in adulthood following a nymphal stage spent covered in a frothy fluid.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology
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How life and geology worked together to forge Earth's nutrient rich crust      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Around 500 million years ago life in the oceans rapidly diversified. In the blink of an eye -- at least in geological terms -- life transformed from simple, soft-bodied creatures to complex multicellular organisms with shells and skeletons. Now, research has shown that the diversification of life at this time also led to a drastic change in the chemistry of Earth's crust -- the uppermost layer we walk on and, crucially, the layer which provides many of the nutrients essential to life.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Research Environmental: Ecosystems Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Kangaroo Island ants 'play dead' to avoid predators      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

They're well known for their industrious work, but now a species of ant on Kangaroo Island is also showing that it is skilled at 'playing dead', a behavior that researchers believe is a recorded world first.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Basic 'toolkit' for organ development is illuminated by sea star      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

One of the basic and crucial embryonic processes to unfold in virtually every living organism is the formation of hollow, tubular structures that go on to form blood vessels or a digestive tract, and through branching and differentiation, complex organs including the heart and kidneys. This study illuminates fundamental design principles of tubulogenesis for all chordates, including mammals.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
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Earth's first animals had particular taste in real estate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Even without body parts that allowed for movement, new research shows -- for the first time -- that some of Earth's earliest animals managed to be picky about where they lived.

Biology: Botany Biology: Microbiology Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Exploring the underground connections between trees      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fungal networks interconnecting trees in a forest is a key factor that determines the nature of forests and their response to climate change. These networks have also been viewed as a means for trees to help their offspring and other tree-friends, according to the increasingly popular 'mother-tree hypothesis'. An international group of researchers re-examined the evidence for and against this hypothesis in a new study.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Gutless marine worms on a Mediterranean diet: Animals can synthesize phytosterols      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Phytosterols are good for your health, but humans and other animals are not able to make them themselves, only plants can. To acquire phytosterols, humans are increasingly turning to supplements, green smoothies, or a Mediterranean diet with plenty of plant-based foods. Researchers have now discovered that tiny gutless worms from the Mediterranean can synthesize phytosterols on their own. Their study provides evidence that many other animals also have the genes needed to make their own phytosterols.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geography
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How seaweed has been misleading scientists about reef health      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For decades, scientists have used the amount of seaweed at the ocean's surface as a proxy for the health of coral reefs below. However, a new global study of more than 1,200 marine locations over a 16-year period reveals that this approach has been misleading -- and may even have hidden signs of reef stress.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Extinction Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Indo-Pacific corals more resilient to climate change than Atlantic corals      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the face of global warming and other environmental changes, corals in the Atlantic Ocean have declined precipitously in recent years, while corals in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are faring better. By describing several species of symbiotic algae that these corals need to grow, an international team has found that these mutualistic relationships from the Indo-Pacific may be more flexible and ultimately resilient to higher ocean temperatures than those in the Atlantic.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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A stormy, active sun may have kickstarted life on Earth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The first building blocks of life on Earth may have formed thanks to eruptions from our Sun, a new study finds. A series of chemical experiments show how solar particles, colliding with gases in Earth's early atmosphere, can form amino acids and carboxylic acids, the basic building blocks of proteins and organic life.

Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Researchers discover that the ice cap is teeming with microorganisms      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Greenlandic ice is teeming with life, both on the surface and underneath. There are microscopic organisms that until recently science had no idea existed. There is even evidence to suggest that the tiny creatures color the ice and make it melt faster.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Previously unknown intercellular electricity may power biology      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have discovered that the electrical fields and activity that exist through a cell's membrane also exist within and around another type of cellular structure called biological condensates. Like oil droplets floating in water, these structures exist because of differences in density. Their foundational discovery could change the way researchers think about biological chemistry. It could also provide a clue as to how the first life on Earth harnessed the energy needed to arise.

Biology: Botany Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Mushrooms and their post-rain, electrical conversations      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Certain types of fungi can communicate with each other via electrical signals. But much remains unknown about how and when they do so. A group of researchers recently headed to the forest to measure the electrical signals of Laccaria bicolor mushrooms, finding that their electrical signals increased following rainfall.