A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
New research shows that Amazonian diversity has evolved
An international team of scientists, including a leading evolutionary biologist from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, have reset the agenda for future research in the highly diverse Amazon region by showing that the extraordinary diversity found there is much older than generally thought.
Continue reading… “New Explanation for the Origin of High Species Diversity in Amazon”
major predators help control the populations of their prey… (but not people)
There may be many similarities between the importance of large predators in marine and terrestrial environments, researchers concluded in a recent study, which examined the interactions between wolves and elk in the United States, as well as sharks and dugongs in Australia.
Continue reading… “Sharks and Wolves: Prey Interactions Similar on Land and in Oceans”
Females can be too attractive to the opposite sex — too attractive for their own good — say biologists at UC Santa Barbara. They found that, among fruit flies, too much male attention directed toward attractive females leads to smaller families and, ultimately, to a reduced rate of population-wide adaptive evolution.
Continue reading… “Female Fruit Flies Can Be ‘Too Attractive’ to Males, Scientists Show”
Alligators display the same loyalty to their mating partners as birds reveals a study published today in Molecular Ecology. The ten-year-study by scientists from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory reveals that up to 70% of females chose to remain with their partner, often for many years.
Continue reading… “Loyal Alligators Display Mating Habits Of Birds”
The catastrophic decline around the world of “apex” predators such as wolves, cougars, lions or sharks has led to a huge increase in smaller “mesopredators” that are causing major economic and ecological disruptions, a new study concludes.
Continue reading… “Loss Of Top Predators Causing Surge In Smaller Predators, Ecosystem Collapse”
Sometimes to see something properly, you have to stand farther back. This is true of Chuck Close portraits where a patchwork of many small faces changes into one giant face as you back away.
Continue reading… “Frog Fungus Hammering Biodiversity Of Communities”
Like the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors, carnivorous plants rely on animal prey for sustenance. Fortunately for humans, carnivorous plants found in nature are not dependent on a diet of human blood but rather are satisfied with the occasional fly or other insect. The existence of carnivorous plants has fascinated botanists and non-botanists alike for centuries and raises the question, “Why are some plants carnivorous?”
Continue reading… “For Carnivorous Plants, Slow But Steady Wins The Race”
A new study of 30-million-year-old-fossil ‘mega-dung’ from extinct giant South American mammals, published in Palaeontology, reveals evidence of complex ecological interactions and theft of dung-beetles’ food stores by other animals.
Continue reading… “Fossilized Dung Balls Reveal Secret Ecology Of Lost World”
An international team of scientists warns that accelerating losses of seagrasses across the globe threaten the immediate health and long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems. The team has compiled and analyzed the first comprehensive global assessment of seagrass observations and found that 58 percent of world’s seagrass meadows are currently declining.
Continue reading… “Disappearing Seagrass Threatening Future Of Coastal Ecosystems Globally”
Scientists have found the existence of two types of males of a fiercely invasive fish spreading through the Great Lakes, which may provide answers as to how they rapidly reproduce.
Continue reading… “Not One, But Two Kinds Of Males Found In Invasive Round Goby Fish”
Frogs and salamanders, those amphibious bellwethers of environmental danger, are being killed in Yellowstone National Park. The predator, Stanford researchers say, is global warming.
Continue reading… “Global Warming Killing Frogs And Salamanders”
