Nature News

September 30, 2016

Flies Are Key Pollinators of the High Arctic

Oxygen Levels Key to Early Animal Evolution

Trophy Hunting of Lions Can Conserve the Species

Where, How Climate Change Is Altering Species

Latest Headlines

updated 7:54am EDT

Wind Turbines Killing More Than Just Local Birds

Sep. 29, 2016 — Wind turbines are known to kill large birds, such as golden eagles, that live nearby. Now there is evidence that birds from up to hundreds of miles away make up a significant portion of the raptors ... read more

Contrary to Popular Belief, Coca Not the Driving Force of Deforestation, Report Reveals

Sep. 29, 2016 — Most of the world’s coca—the plant source of cocaine—grows in the Amazon forests of the Andean countries of Colombia, ... read more

Saving Two Adult Eagles Per Year to Save the Population of This Endangered Species

Sep. 29, 2016 — Dying due to electrocution at the power lines is the most common death for Bonelli’s eagle <em>(Aquila fasciata</em>), a ... read more

Optimization Technique Identifies Cost-Effective Biodiversity Corridors

Sep. 27, 2016 — A new optimization technique could help conservation biologists choose the most cost-effective ways of connecting isolated populations of rare, threatened and endangered ... read more

How Choosy Should You Be?

Sep. 28, 2016 — When animals choose their mates, how discriminate they are varies a great deal. For some male Mormon crickets, any female will do; in contrast, blue peahens rarely fall for the first cock courting ... read more

Fossils Can Help Predict Future Species Survival

Sep. 27, 2016 — Many people are concerned about conservation of the planet's cute and cuddlies. But in a world of global climate change, sometimes we must prioritize which species we can and ... read more

Ocean Fronts Attract Ocean Wanderers

Sep. 21, 2016 — Foraging seabirds use oceanic fronts as an efficient means to forage for food, according to an international study that could help safeguard the future of protected ... read more

Malaysia's Unique Freshwater Mussels in Danger

Sep. 21, 2016 — Peninsular Malaysia hosts at least three rare mussel species, one of which (Hyriopsis bialata) is not found anywhere else on the planet. Now investigators suggest that this species may be in danger. ... read more

More Than One in Ten UK Species Threatened With Extinction

Sep. 21, 2016 — Climate change, urban expansion and agricultural intensification blamed for risk to some of Britain's best loved species. Some of the UK's leading nature experts have delivered a clarion call for ... read more

Fate of Turtles, Tortoises Affected More by Habitat Than Temperature

Sep. 20, 2016 — Habitat degradation poses a greater risk to the survival of turtles and tortoises than rising global temperatures, according to new research. More than 60 per cent are listed as vulnerable, ... read more

New Protections for Pangolins

In Kenya, Lion Hunters Become Defenders

Africa's Elephant Population Suffers Worst Drop in 25 Years

Shy Pangolins Need World Spotlight to Survive

Gaps in Data Place Thousands of Illegally Traded Wild Animals at Risk, Say Researchers

Sep. 26, 2016 — The fate of over 64,000 live wild animals officially reported to have been confiscated by enforcement agencies remains untraceable, according to a new report. Between 2010 and 2014, more than 64,000 ... read more

Underwater 'Cystoseira Zosteroides' Forests, the Mediterranean Algae, Threatened by Human Activity Impact

Sep. 23, 2016 — The effects of an intense storm every twenty-five years could make the marine alga populations of <em>Cystoseira zosteroides</em> disappear – an endemic species of the Mediterranean ... read more

Different Tree Species Use the Same Genes to Adapt to Climate Change, Researchers Find

Sep. 22, 2016 — Both pine and spruce use the same suite of 47 genes to adapt to geographic variation in temperature, and to appropriately time acquisition of cold hardiness -- a trait that allows plants to tolerate ... read more

New Model Could Point Way to Microbiome Forecasting in the Ocean

Sep. 22, 2016 — A new mathematical model integrates environmental and molecular sequence information to better explain how microbial networks drive nutrient and energy cycling in marine ... read more

How a Native Plant Ended Up on Reality TV, and Why It's at Risk

Sep. 22, 2016 — In one of television’s more bizarre recent offerings, the History Channel show “Appalachian Outlaws” follows a band of West Virginians as they hunt rugged forests for American ginseng, a ... read more

Quality, Not Quantity, of Diet Is Key to Health of Baby Birds

Sep. 21, 2016 — In a new study that upends the way ornithologists think about a young bird's diet -- but won't shock parents used to scanning the nutritional profile of their children's food -- ... read more

Scientists Triple Known Types of Viruses in World’s Oceans

Sep. 21, 2016 — Researchers report they've tripled the known types of viruses living in waters around the globe, and now have a better idea what role they play in nature. The discovery could influence carbon ... read more

Feeding a Mars Mission: The Challenges of Growing Plants in Space

Sep. 21, 2016 — Plants will play a critical role in the survival of human beings on long-duration space missions, such as a mission to Mars. However, as a new paper shows, many challenges need to be addressed if ... read more

Environmental Stress Enhances the Effects of Pollutants

Sep. 21, 2016 — Each and every organism on Earth is exposed to the influence of various environmental conditions and of other living organisms. These factors can trigger stress and make the living organism more ... read more

To Understand the Oceans' Microbes, Follow Function, Not Form

Sep. 21, 2016 — A mathematician may have discovered a key to understanding the constantly changing distribution of microbial species in the world’s oceans—classify microorganisms by their biochemical function, ... read more

Environmental DNA Provides Early Detection of Invasive Crayfish

Sep. 20, 2016 — Every plant and animal has a unique genetic composition, which makes a lake like a bowl of DNA soup—every spoonful contains the combined DNA of the lake’s inhabitants. Scientists have only ... read more

Plant Diversity Alleviates the Effects of Flooding on Crops

Sep. 20, 2016 — In grasslands, growing plants in higher diversity fields may help alleviate the negative impacts of flooding. This finding may extend to how we grow important food crops. In a long-term biodiversity ... read more

Heatwaves in the Ocean: Risk to Ecosystems?

Sep. 19, 2016 — Marine ecosystems are responsible for about half of global annual primary production and more than one billion people rely on fish as their primary protein source. Latest studies show that enormous ... read more

How Wave Dynamics and Water Flows Affect Coral Reefs

Sep. 19, 2016 — While climate change threatens coral reefs in oceans around the world, not all reefs are affected equally. As oceans warm, physical forces like wave strength and water flow influence which reefs ... read more

Reptilian Anachronism: American Alligator Older Than We Thought

Sep. 17, 2016 — From climate to the peninsula's very shape, not much in Florida has stayed the same over the last 8 million years. Except, it turns out, ... read more

What Dinosaurs' Color Patterns Say About Their Habitat

Sep. 16, 2016 — After reconstructing the color patterns of a well-preserved dinosaur from China, researchers have found that the long-lost species Psittacosaurus (meaning "parrot lizard," a reference to ... read more

Urban Shorelines Support More Animal Life, Floating DNA Reveals

Sep. 15, 2016 — Researchers are now able to capture the cells of animals, sequence their DNA and identify which species were present in water at a point in time. A new University of Washington study is the first to ... read more

NASA Begins Study of Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Sep. 15, 2016 — A NASA airborne mission designed to transform our understanding of Earth's valuable and ecologically sensitive coral reefs has set up shop in Australia for a two-month investigation of the Great ... read more

For 20 Million Years, the Diversity of Large Terrestrial Mammals Depended on Plant Growth

Sep. 15, 2016 — For more than 20 million years, the ups and downs of diversity in terrestrial large mammals were determined by primary production, i.e. net production of plant biomass. This pattern changed with the ... read more

Larger Marine Animals at Higher Risk of Extinction, and Humans Are to Blame

Sep. 14, 2016 — In today's oceans, larger-bodied marine animals are more likely to become extinct than smaller creatures, according to a new report. It's a pattern that is unprecedented in the history of ... read more

Monday, September 26, 2016