Because ant colonies behave metabolically like individual organisms, studying how a colony’s size changes its metabolism could offer useful insight for developing theories about medication dosage in humans.
Kissing a frog won’t turn it into a prince — except in fairy-tales ― but frogs may be hopping toward a real-world transformation into princely allies in humanity’s battle with antibiotic-resistant infections that threaten millions of people. Scientists reported that frog skin contains substances that could be the basis for a new genre of antibiotics. Their study is scheduled for presentation in August at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Boston.
Discovery of a new species of turtle in the southeastern United States brings the number of the country's endemic species to 57, with approximately 320 species of turtle documented worldwide.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) are requesting that the Government of Tanzania reconsider the proposed construction of a commercial road through the world’s best known wildlife sanctuary—Serengeti National Park—and recommend that alternative routes be used that can meet the transportation needs of the region without disrupting the greatest remaining migration of large land animals in the world.
University of Illinois at Chicago biologist Jennifer Schmidt analyzed genetic information from preserved whale shark embryos taken from a female caught off the coast of Taiwan 15 years ago. She found all offspring to have the same father -- an unusual reproduction characteristic for sharks. Schmidt cautions that more study is needed to learn more about where and how these giant fish mate.
Herpetologica – For female red-eyed tree frogs, size does seem to matter—and the mating call of the male tells them everything they need to know. A study of the mating calls of male Morelett’s tree frogs in Belize found that larger frogs more readily find a mate. The rate, frequency, and duration of the male’s calls carry this vital information to the listening females.
A team of researchers has found that chestnut-sided warblers have two distinct cultural traditions in song variants that evolve independently – one, used for territorial disputes that changes frequently, and another, used for romance that relies on a small unchanging sampling of classics.
Falsely advertising one's fighting ability might seem like a good strategy for a wimp who wants to come off as a toughie, but in paper wasp societies, such deception is discouraged through punishment, experiments at the University of Michigan suggest.
UT MD Anderson Cancer Center experts discourage supplement use for cancer prevention.
An IU journalism professor's new book takes readers inside the cages, fences and walls of a zoo to reveal the lives of the animals and their keepers and to tell the story of their ambitions.
In a bold effort to save one of the world’s rarest amphibians from extinction, one hundred Kihansi spray toads have been flown home to Tanzania after being painstakingly reared at the Bronx Zoo and The Toledo Zoo working in close partnership with the Tanzanian government and the World Bank.
Man's best friend might just be treated like any other animal depending on where the owners live. A study by David Blouin, of Indiana University South Bend, found that people who think of animals as children tend to have a city background.
Bears have bones that stay strong even when they hibernate. If humans are bedridden or wrestling with the low-to-no gravity of outer space, their bones grow brittle and crumble. What do the bears know that we don't?
Mike Lisieski, a University at Buffalo psychology major, plans to earn an MD/PhD in neuroscience but for now he appears to be the web’s chief “cephalover,” using his blog cephalove (www.cephalove.southernfriedscience.com) to carefully analyze research about octopuses and related animals and post stunning photographs of them.
Like shifting sand dunes, some clouds disappear in one place and reappear in another. New work this week in Nature shows why: Air movement due to rain forms patterns in low clouds that remain cohesive structures even while appearing to shift about the sky, due to a principle called self-organization. These clouds cover much of the open ocean. Understanding how their patterns evolve will eventually help scientists build better models for predicting climate change. This is the first time researchers have shown the patterns cycle regularly and why.
Matthew Bonnan, one of the world's most noted paleobiologists and a sauropod dinosaur expert, took seven Western Illinois University students on a 13-day field course to Utah, where he taught the hands-on how-to's of excavating and shared the students' excitement of discovering Jurassic Period dinosaur bones.
What if trains, planes, and automobiles all were powered simply by the air through which they move? Moreover, what if their exhaust and byproducts helped the environment? Well, such an energy-efficient, self-propelling mechanism already exists in nature. The salp, a smallish, barrel-shaped organism that resembles a kind of streamlined jellyfish, gets everything it needs from the ocean waters to feed and propel itself.
It has long been suspected by scientists that reptiles were the first to make the continental interiors their home. A new discovery of trackways proves this theory.
Human impact is causing lower oxygen and higher carbon dioxide levels in coastal water bodies. Increased levels of carbon dioxide cause the water to become more acidic, having dramatic effects on the lifestyles of the wildlife that call these regions home. The problems are expected to worsen if steps aren’t taken to reduce greenhouse emissions and minimize nutrient-rich run-off from developed areas along our coastlines.
In trying to predict how species will respond to climate change caused by global warming, researchers and scientists are turning to comparative physiology, a sub-discipline of physiology that studies how different organisms function and adapt to diverse and changing environments. By comparing different species to each other, as well as to members within a species that live in different environments, researchers are learning which physiologic features establish environmental optima and tolerance limits. This approach gives the scientific community a “crystal ball” for predicting the effects of global warming, according to George N. Somero, Associate Director of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station.
With global warming and climate change making headlines nearly every day, it could be reassuring to know that some creatures might cope by gradually moving to new areas as their current ones become less hospitable. Nevertheless, natural relocation of species is not something that can be taken for granted, according to Jessica Hellmann, Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame Department of Biological Science in Notre Dame, Ind. By studying two species of butterfly, she and her team have found evidence suggesting that a number of genetic variables affect whether and how well a species will relocate.
It has been widely reported that the build up of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air, which is caused by human behavior, will likely lead to climate change and have major implications for life on earth. But less focus has been given to global warming’s evil twin, ocean acidification, which occurs when CO2 lowers the pH of water bodies, thus making them more acidic. This lesser known phenomenon may have catastrophic effects on all sea life.
Fossils of an ancient crocodile with mammal-like teeth have been discovered in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania, scientists report in this week’s issue of the journal Nature. The unusual creature is changing the picture of animal life at 100 million years ago in what is now sub-Saharan Africa.
Fossils of an ancient crocodile with mammal-like teeth discovered in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania is changing the picture of animal life at 100 million years in what is now sub-Saharan Africa.
Sharks have captivated humans since we began exploring the oceans. They have been featured in countless publications and movies. Nova Southeastern University has a shark expert on hand to separate fact from fiction in regards to these fascinating creatures.
The Wildlife Conservation Society applauded today’s Senate passage of H.R. 1454, the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act. Its passage has been a major legislative objective of WCS and represents a victory for supporters of wildlife and fiscally responsible governance.
Ecologists have long believed that fish tend to return to the same river where they hatched in order to spawn. But researchers have determined that the old rule doesn’t always apply -- not for Lake Erie walleye, at least.
In an unprecedented effort that will be published online on the 28th of July by the international journal Nature, a team of scientists mapped and analyzed global biodiversity patterns for over 11,000 marine species ranging from tiny zooplankton to sharks and whales. The researchers found striking similarities among the distribution patterns, with temperature strongly linked to biodiversity for all thirteen groups studied.
South Dakota State University Department of Plant Science is carrying out fieldwork for the first major inventory of the native bees in the Black Hills. Biologists know that at least 100 species of bees are found in the region. But there’s a possibility that perhaps 80 or more additional species could be found there which will help determine the health of the region.
Biologists studying caterpillars reported a unique two-body locomotion system never previously reported in any animal. The Tufts-led team found the gut of the crawling caterpillar moved forward independently and in advance of the surrounding body wall and legs, not with them. Understanding this motion may impact robotics and human biomechanics.
Bird observatories all over the world may benefit from a newly designed high-resolution imaging system used to study the retinal structure of live birds of prey. In a recently published Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science article, researchers reveal unprecedented three-dimensional information about the retina of four species of raptors — two hawks and two owls — using the non-invasive, powerful imaging tool.
Fisheries researchers at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tenn., found one piece of a scientific puzzle that just may help save the endangered pallid sturgeon from extinction.
Two compounds emitted by mosquito predators that make the mosquitoes less inclined to lay eggs in pools of water may provide new environmentally friendly tactics for repelling and controlling disease-carrying insects.
In a pioneering use of computed tomography (CT) scans, scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have discovered that carbon dioxide (CO2)-induced global warming is in the process of killing off a major coral species in the Red Sea.
A Cornell Lab of Ornithology team working in the Gulf has documented what may be the worst oil spill devastation of a major bird colony in the Gulf so far, on Louisiana's Raccoon Island.
In a report just published in Ecology Letters, wildlife ecologists from Michigan Technological University identify a link between malnutrition early in a moose's life and development of osteoarthritis as the animal ages.
As oil washes ashore along the Gulf Coast, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is asking birders to keep an eye on nesting birds – not just near water, but hundreds of miles inland.
Iowa State University researcher Diane Debinski has been studying the meadows in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Rocky Mountains since 1992 and she believes changing climate could affect the diversity of plants and animals in the region.
Scientific evidence presented indicates top-down regulation by predators operates in most ecosystems.
Deer populations are declining in the southeastern United States, and coyotes may be contributing to this decline. Although cause-and-effect studies have not been conducted, the expansion of the coyote’s range and its increasing numbers have coincided with the decline in deer. Wildlife management policies, such as limiting hunting of deer or manipulating habitat to ensure greater fawn survival, may therefore need to be adjusted.
Female zebra finches make one-note, low-pitch calls. Males sing over a wide range of frequencies. University of Utah scientists discovered how: The males’ stronger vocal muscles, not the pressure of air flowing through their lungs, lets them vary their pitch.
Inspired by the ease with which gecko lizards can move on almost any surface, researchers at Northeastern University, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and Seoul National University hope to reproduce properties found in the gecko’s footpad for applications ranging from adhesives to robotic movement and navigation.
The aroma of rotting flesh may not permeate Western Illinois University's Botany Greenhouse today. But, hopefully, it will either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. WIU's second Titan Arum (known as Titan #3) -- a plant that is also known as the "Corpse Flower," due to its pungent smell once it blooms -- has begun the blooming process, and Greenhouse Manager/Gardner II Jeff Hillyer was hoping that Titan #3 would bloom this afternoon (Monday). But based on his experience with WIU's Titan #1 (which bloomed in May), he is confident it will bloom sometime this week.
A wildlife ecotoxicology reference book co-edited by Texas Tech researchers is projected to become a national and international bestseller, according to the book’s publishers.
A new study in PNAS is believed to be the first to show experimentally that competition could be a factor in regulating ecological communities regardless of the intensity or frequency of disturbance.
People who fish for a living pursue top profits, not necessarily top predators, according to the first-ever analysis of worldwide catch and economic data for the past 55 years. This differs from the observation raised 10 years ago that humans were “fishing down” the food web.
Burn, grow, graze, and repeat. This is a formula that integrates fire and grazing strategies to restore grass to rangelands in the southern plains of the United States. Throughout the world, woody plants are showing an increased presence in grasslands and savannas, reducing the amount of grasses to sustain livestock and altering wildlife habitat and biodiversity. In the U.S. Great Plains, honey mesquite has encroached upon native grasslands to impact cattle grazing strategies and necessitate development of plant control efforts.
The nations of East and Central Africa have developed a 10-year action plan to save the eastern chimpanzee from hunting, habitat loss, disease, and other threats, according to an announcement made today by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Canines trained in Auburn University's EcoDog program can help locate endangered species by identifying their specific excrement, or scat.
Jaguars versus cattle is an age-old conflict for people living on the Brazilian plains. South America’s Pantanal region is important to the continued survival of jaguars, but it also has been home to cattle ranching for more than 200 years. New insights into this conflict are offered through a study using global positioning system (GPS) technology to track the predatory patterns of these jaguars, recording what animals they kill and how often.
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