http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/plants_animals/nature/ Nature. Read the latest scientific research on the natural world, ecology and climate change. en-us Mon, 12 May 2008 03:05:01 EDT Mon, 12 May 2008 03:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/plants_animals/nature/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508173558.htm Eco-friendly plant and animal life have been thriving in intensively managed cereal farms alongside increasing crop yields, according to the first study of its kind. The analysis of 230 farms shows that Government and EU policies which subsidize farmers to protect the environment are - at least to some degree - working. Sun, 11 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508173558.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508142820.htm An endangered species of flora or fauna ups the risk of the extinction of the other species in its ecological community. Trophically unique species are more vulnerable for cascading extinction, according to studies of a team of theoretical biologists. Sun, 11 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508142820.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508131118.htm New research shows increased temperatures and carbon dioxide levels are a threat to the Australian national icon, the koala. Biologists have been researching the effects of carbon dioxide increases and temperature rises on eucalypts. They have shown in the laboratory that increases in carbon dioxide affect the level of nutrients and 'anti-nutrients' (things that are either toxic or interfere with the digestion of nutrients) in eucalypt leaves. Anti-nutrients in eucalypts are built from carbon and an increase in carbon dioxide levels will favor the production of anti-nutrients over nutrients. Koalas are fussy about the species of eucalypts that they eat as different species contain different ratios of nutrients to anti-nutrients. Fri, 09 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508131118.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083955.htm Nearly 35% of all amphibians are now threatened of extinction raising them to the position of the most endangered group of animals in the world. Decline of amphibian populations and species is ongoing due to habitat loss, fungal disease, climate shift and agrochemical contaminants. These impacts are even worse to frogs that reproduce in water bodies such as streams and ponds. Scientists now propose a priority set of areas for the conservation of frogs and toads in Latin America. The study is unprecedented in terms of not only the proposition of key-conservation areas, but also because it shows that the inclusion of species biological traits, such as reproductive modes, affects the performance of area-prioritization analyses. Fri, 09 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083955.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083958.htm Walking through the last rainforests on the volcanic island of Mauritius, located some 800 km east of Madagascar, one is surrounded by ghosts. Since human colonisation in the 17th century, the island has lost most of its unique animals. The litany includes the famous flightless dodo, giant tortoises, parrots, pigeons, fruitbats, and giant lizards. It is comparatively easy to notice the los­­s of a species, but much more difficult to realise how many interactions have been lost as a result. Fri, 09 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083958.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509171616.htm Reducing the spread of some invasive species into our lakes could be as simple as asking boaters and fishers to dry out their equipment, says one biology professor studying invasive species in Lake Ontario. When anchor rope, fishing line and the boats themselves are thoroughly dried, the invasive species and their eggs will die, rather than spreading to another location, she explains. "It's such a simple thing for the general public to do, and yet it could make a big difference in the way that our lake ecosystems function." Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509171616.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133259.htm The Amazon rainforest, so crucial to the Earth's climate system, is coming under threat from cleaner air say prominent climate scientists. The new study identifies a link between reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal and increasing sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, resulting in a heightened risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest. Thu, 08 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133259.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080506195605.htm An event as simple as the world's first bite may have sparked an ancient "explosion" of life 500 million years ago that led to the rise of the broad groups of animals that are still alive today. A Harvard professor suggests that it was an increase in interactions between species, such as predation, that drove an escalating evolutionary process that led to the development of teeth and claws and the wide variety of characteristics that we see among Earth's animals today. Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080506195605.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105549.htm Research led by Iowa State University limnologist John Downing finds that ponds around the globe could absorb as much carbon as the world's oceans. Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105549.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133330.htm What if hydrology is more important for predicting biodiversity than biology? New research challenges current thinking about biodiversity, and opens up new avenues for predicting how climate change or human activity may affect biodiversity patterns. Thu, 08 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507133330.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507084005.htm Some Malagasy mouse lemurs are so similar that picking a mate of the right species, especially at night time in a tropical forest, might seem like a matter of pot luck. However, new research has shown that our desperately cute distant cousins use vocalizations to pick up a partner of the right species. Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507084005.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211822.htm Highly diverse and so far apparently untouched by emergent diseases, Malagasy frogs nevertheless are threatened by ongoing habitat destruction, making proactive conservation actions especially important for preserving this unique, pre-decline, amphibian fauna. Tue, 06 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211822.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211806.htm The quality of pollen a plant produces is closely tied to its sexual habits, ecologists have discovered. As well as helping explain the evolution of such intimate relationships between plants and pollinators, the study also helps explain the recent dramatic decline in certain bumblebee species found in the shrinking areas of species-rich chalk grasslands and hay meadows across Northern Europe. Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211806.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211835.htm The Arctic has become a poster child for the negative effects of climate change, but new research that species living in the tropics likely face the greatest peril in a warmer world. Tue, 06 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505211835.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501180253.htm Fewer caribou calves are being born -- and more of them are dying -- in West Greenland as a result of a warming climate. The researchers believe that caribou may serve as an indicator species for climate changes including global warming. The research shows that the timing of peak food availability no longer corresponds to the timing of caribou births. Fri, 02 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501180253.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501062734.htm The relatively recent expansion of China's overseas trade probably accounts for China's being less invaded than the United States by alien plants, but the potential for invasion of China by shrubs, trees, climbers and aquatic plants is high. Decisive action is needed now to avert potentially large economic losses from invasive plants in China and other countries in Asia. Fri, 02 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501062734.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430141200.htm Scientists have discovered a new climate pattern, the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. This pattern explains, for the first time, changes in the water important in helping commercial fishermen understand fluctuations in the fish stock. They're also finding that as the Earth is warming, large fluctuations in these factors could help climatologists predict how oceans will respond in a warmer world. Fri, 02 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080430141200.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501154209.htm Scientists rediscovered the highly distinctive greater dwarf cloud rat, last seen in 1896. Thought to be extinct, Carpomys melanuru has never before been discovered in its natural habitat. It has dense fur, black mask around large eyes, and a broad/blunt snout. It was found in the canopy of a large tree, on a branch covered with moss, orchids, and ferns. This gives hope for the conservation of one of the world's most diverse, threatened mammal fauna. Fri, 02 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501154209.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm Similarities between half-billion-year-old and recent food webs point to deep principles underpinning the structure of ecological relationships, as shown by researchers from the Santa Fe Institute, Microsoft Research Cambridge and elsewhere. Analyses of food-web data suggest that most, but not all, aspects of the trophic structure of modern ecosystems were in place over a half-billion years ago. Thu, 01 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428200309.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429130927.htm Bison can repopulate large areas from Alaska to Mexico over the next 100 years provided a series of conservation and restoration measures are taken, according to continental assessment of this iconic species. Bison once numbered in the tens of millions but were wiped out by commercial hunting and habitat loss. By 1889 fewer than 1,100 animals survived. Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429130927.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428133928.htm Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rain forests were cut down, researchers are attempting what many thought was impossible -- restoring a tropical rain forest ecosystem. When the researchers planted worn-out cattle pastures in Costa Rica with a sampling of local trees in the early 1990s, native species of plants began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rain forests could one day be replaced. Ten years after the tree plantings, researchers counted the species of plants that took up residence in the shade of the new planted areas. They found remarkably high numbers of species -- more than 100 in each plot. And many of the new arrivals were also to be found in nearby remnants of the original forests. Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428133928.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429095049.htm Researchers discovered a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker along with 12 other suspected new species in Brazil's Cerrado, one of the world's 34 biodiversity conservation hotspots. The Cerrado's wooded grassland once covered an area half the size of Europe, but is now being converted to cropland and ranchland at twice the rate of the neighboring Amazon rainforest, resulting in the loss of native vegetation and unique species. Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080429095049.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428124235.htm German scientists are engaging bats to kick-start natural reforestation in the tropics by installing artificial bat roosts in deforested areas. The researchers report that the deployment of artificial bat roosts significantly increases seed dispersal of a wide range of tropical forest plants into their surroundings, providing a simple and cheap method to speed up natural forest regeneration. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428124235.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424115706.htm In less than three decades the round goby has become one of the most colorful features of the southern Baltic. The fish, which comes from the Black Sea, has rapidly adapted to Baltic conditions and can locally dominate coastal fish populations. This has led to competition with indigenous fish species, such as the flounder, but it has also become a significant contribution to the diet of important predatory fishes, such as cod and perch. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424115706.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424112455.htm The Wildlife Conservation Society recently launched a four-year study to determine if climate change is affecting populations of a quintessential Arctic denizen: the rare musk ox. The research team will be assessing how musk ox are faring in areas along the Chukchi and northern Bering Seas, and the extent to which snow and icing events, disease, and possibly predation may be driving populations. Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424112455.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424112451.htm In the first experiment in a natural environment, scientists have shown that greater plant diversity significantly enhances an ecosystem's productivity. The finding underscores the importance of biodiversity to an ecosystem's value, such as capturing the global warming gas carbon dioxide. Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424112451.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423154558.htm The loss of sea ice due to climate change could spell disaster for polar bears and other Arctic marine mammals. Sea ice is the common habitat feature uniting these unique and diverse Arctic inhabitants. Sea ice serves as a platform for resting and reproduction, influences the distribution of food sources, and provides a refuge from predators. The loss of sea ice poses a particularly severe threat to Arctic species, such as the hooded seal, whose natural history is closely tied to, and depends on, sea ice. Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423154558.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080422203315.htm East Africa's Lake Tanganyika has a highly diverse fauna which closely resembles marine animals. A researcher has traced the origins of the Lake's freshwater herring to a marine invasion which occurred in West Africa 25 to 50 million years ago. The ancient freshwater capture of marine organisms may help to explain the origins of other species unique to this Lake. Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080422203315.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423131624.htm Researchers have produced a first draft of the papaya genome. This draft sheds new light on the evolution of flowering plants. And because it involves a genetically modified plant, the newly sequenced papaya genome offers the most detailed picture yet of the genetic changes that make the plant resistant to the papaya ringspot virus. Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423131624.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080422115016.htm Researchers have proposed a new option for incorporating deforestation into the international climate change treaty. The approach would provide carbon credits for developing countries that both set aside a portion of existing forests and slow the rate at which the remaining forests are cut down. A key point in the approach is its call for a deceleration of deforestation. Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080422115016.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421160728.htm Increased carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is causing microscopic ocean plants to produce greater amounts of calcium carbonate (chalk) - with potentially wide ranging implications for predicting the cycling of carbon in the oceans and climate modelling. Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421160728.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080418105531.htm The global Fish Barcode of Life Initiative plans to collect at least five representatives each of all 30,000 plus marine and freshwater species in the world. FISH-BOL is part of the global Consortium for the Barcode of Life, started in 2003 to barcode everything from fishes, mushrooms and flowers, to microbes, insects and animals of every description. Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080418105531.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416165732.htm Scientists have developed a new model that accurately maps where coral reefs are in the most trouble, and identifies regions where reefs can be protected best. The model is being applied in areas throughout the Indian Ocean. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416165732.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416151943.htm When frogs hit the road, many croak. Researchers found more than 65 animal species killed along a short stretch of roads and nearly 95 percent of the total dead were frogs and other amphibians, suggesting that road-related death, or road-kill, possibly contributes to their worldwide decline. Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416151943.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416213653.htm A critically endangered turtle that previously was thought to be extinct in the wild has been discovered in northern Vietnam. Experts confirmed that they have identified the only known living specimen of a Swinhoe's soft-shell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) in nature. Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416213653.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415210623.htm One of Hawaii's most dominant plants, Metrosideros, has been a resident of the islands far longer than previously believed. Metrosideros, commonly called "ohi'a" in the Hawaiian Islands, has puzzled researchers for years. Although previously thought to be a newcomer to the islands, these plants are well integrated into the islands' ecosystems. Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415210623.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080409205136.htm When Charles Darwin first set foot on Patagonia, he was a fresh-faced 22-year old yet to finesse his revolutionary theory of evolution by natural selection. But traveling around the tip of South America aboard the HMS Beagle--part of an epic, five-year scientific expedition--the young naturalist had his eyes opened to the immense diversity of species and landscapes. Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080409205136.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408202041.htm Scientists have rediscovered a fly living in the mouth of land crabs. One of the more bizarre choices of breeding substrates comes from Drosophila endobranchia. This species is one out of three known fruit flies that have found a home on (and inside) land-crabs. Although frequently mentioned in biology textbooks, the crab flies have somewhat surprisingly been neglected in active research since their description. The fly has actually not even been seen since its initial discovery in 1966. Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408202041.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080409170333.htm One of the world's great wildlife spectacles is under way across Australia: as many as two million migratory shorebirds of 36 species are gathering around Broome before an amazing 10,000-kilometer annual flight to their northern hemisphere breeding grounds. But an alarming new study has revealed that both these migrants and Australia's one million resident shorebirds have suffered a massive collapse in numbers over the past 25 years. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080409170333.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410153648.htm A new study mapping the evolutionary history of animals indicates that Earth's first animal -- a mysterious creature whose characteristics can only be inferred from fossils and studies of living animals -- was probably significantly more complex than previously believed. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410153648.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410140535.htm Biologists have developed a remarkable new roadmap for finding and protecting the best remaining holdouts for thousands of rare species that live only in Madagascar, an island nation considered one of the world's jewels of biodiversity. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410140535.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404131211.htm The discovery of a new genus of a tiny booklouse from a northern Arizona cave may lead to further protection for cave ecosystems. This is the third new genus of invertebrates found by the same two scientists since 2006. They discovered a new cricket genus and a new millipede genus in Grand Canyon region caves. Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404131211.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403125426.htm According to a new report by the Wildlife Conservation Society, several species of rare waterbirds from Cambodia's famed Tonle Sap region have staged remarkable comebacks, thanks to a project involving a single team of park rangers to provide 24-hour protection to breeding colonies. Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403125426.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403104353.htm Millions of people tend birdfeeders in their backyards each year, often out of a desire to help the animals. But a new survey of research on the topic finds that feeding may not always bring a positive outcome for the birds. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403104353.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403140921.htm If you get a chance to sip some shade-grown Mexican organic coffee, please pause a moment to thank the bats that helped make it possible. At Mexican organic coffee plantations, where pesticides are banned, bats and birds work night and day to control insect pests that might otherwise munch the crop. Until now, the birds got nearly all the credit. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403140921.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402151409.htm Scientists have provided the first description of a fungus responsible for the wilt of redbay trees along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Plant pathologists have now provided results from their assessment of the fungus, the beetle that carries it, and their combined effect on redbay and other members of the laurel family, including sassafras, spicebush and avocado. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402151409.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402213640.htm Federal efforts to recover endangered salmon on the Columbia and Snake rivers can no longer ignore global warming, which already has fundamentally changed the river and ocean habitats of salmon and steelhead, warns a new scientific review. Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402213640.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402071538.htm In the first experiment of its kind conducted in nature, evolutionary biologists have come up with strong evidence for one of Charles Darwin's cornerstone ideas -- adaptation to the environment accelerates the creation of new species. Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402071538.htm