Feature Channels: Nature

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Insects may have tiny brains the size of a pinhead, but the latest research from the University of Adelaide shows just how clever they really are.

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Fish exposed to fly ash at the site of the Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill are faring better than some expected, researchers have learned.

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For two months, artist Clara Dutton often wept as she worked on a three-paneled image of a creature she loves — the elephant. Through her oil-on-canvas painting “The Harvest,” she hopes to call attention to the increase in elephant poaching and the flourishing illegal ivory trade.

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Being outside in nature makes people feel more alive, finds a series of studies published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology. And that sense of increased vitality exists above and beyond the energizing effects of physical activity and social interaction that are often associated with our forays into the natural world, the studies show.

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Using notes taken by Darwin himself, GW researchers uncovered the identity of the species, Leucauge argyrobapta, which will now help taxonomists understand the complicated lineage of orb-weaving spiders.

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The Weddell seal is one of the deepest diving seals on earth and can hold its breath underwater for up to 90 minutes in their native habitat of Antarctica. Scientists have just begun to unravel what physiological characteristics in the seals’ swimming muscles allow them to dive so deep and for so long. But now, new research from Baylor University biologists has found that there is a switching of fuel usage as this animal goes from a non-diving pup to a juvenile diver.

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Artibeus schwartzi's existence has long baffled biologists. Until now.

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New book by veteran filmmaker Chris Palmer is first insider account, calls for changes to questionable practices in wildlife filmmaking.

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A Texas Tech endangered species specialist can describe perils faced by whales, dolphins and endangered sea turtles.

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Research of how Galapagos marine iguanas respond to El Niño could provide insight into how wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico will respond to the current oil spill. In emergencies, animals secrete corticosterone to help them cope. However, prolonged hormone production can also be lethal.

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Scientists have caught male topi antelopes in the act of faking fear in front of females in heat as a way to improve their chances of having sex.

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Minnow with fangs, golden orb spider and carnivorous sponge make the 2010 list.

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Scientists in the Pacific Northwest are bracing for what’s shaping up to be the worse grasshopper outbreak in 30 years. The USDA reports it found a dramatic increase in the number of grasshopper eggs during surveys last fall. When combined with a relatively mild spring, the conditions are perfect for a major grasshopper infestation.

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Even tiny patches of woods in urban areas seem to provide adequate food and protection for some species of migrating birds as they fly between wintering and breeding grounds, new research has found.

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A new insect that will help control the invasive weed waterhyacinth has been released by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators.

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The face looks familiar but… Just as humans don't always know their neighbors, new research at the University of Michigan shows even the most social of animals don't always recognize individuals they regularly encounter, the first known evidence of "missing social knowledge" in non-human primates.

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A mass extinction of fish 360 million years ago hit the reset button on Earth's life, setting the stage for modern vertebrate biodiversity, a new study reports. The mass extinction scrambled the species pool near the time at which the first vertebrates crawled from water towards land, University of Chicago scientists report.

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Kudzu, “the vine that ate the South,” is not just swallowing landscapes and altering ecosystems in the southeastern U.S., it is also increasing ozone pollution according to a new report published in the May 17, 2010 on line edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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Female sagebrush lizards with greater courtship experience are more likely to be courted by their male counterparts, according to a recent study.

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Field studies have shown for the first time that several common species of seaweeds in both the Pacific and Caribbean Oceans can kill corals upon contact using chemical means.

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As oil continues to gush into the ocean from the Deepwater Horizon well, Gulf Coast bird watchers are taking action by surveying beaches and marshes for birds. By entering their counts at www.ebird.org, they are helping scientists track hundreds of species that could be affected as the oil spreads toward land.

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Despite reduced catches in Canada since 1992, cod are now at such historically low levels that they may no longer be able to replace themselves in their ecosystem, increasing the chances the species could face extinction according to Dalhousie University researcher, Jeffrey Hutchings.

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Research led by Michigan Technological University scientists has identified the molecular mechanism that poplar trees use to adapt to changing soil conditions, as well as some of the genes that turn the process on or off.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society announced the results of the first-ever evaluation of a large, “landscape-wide” conservation approach to protect globally important populations of elephants and great apes.

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Already this year, six wild coyotes have been spotted in Manhattan. Area residents also are witnessing a surge in raccoon, deer and Canada geese populations. Why are urban wildlife populations exploding? Cornell natural resources professor Paul Curtis will talk with the media about the latest research, and help sort fact from fiction.

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Among the worrisome environmental effects of global warming is the thawing of Arctic permafrost---soil that normally remains at or below the freezing point for at least a two-year period and often much longer. Monitoring changes in permafrost is difficult with current methods, but a study by University of Michigan researchers offers a new approach to assessing the extent of the problem.

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Travel from the tropics to the poles, and you'll notice that the diversity of mammals declines with distance from the equator. Move from lowland to mountains, and you'll see diversity increase as the landscape becomes more varied. Ecologists have proposed various explanations for these well-known "biodiversity gradients," invoking ecological, evolutionary and historical processes.

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A Baylor University study has found female mosquitoes prefer to lay their eggs on or close to water in which other mosquito larvae have developed, suggesting that female mosquitoes can somehow detect where other larvae have been successful.

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Of all the things that might control the onset of disease epidemics in Michigan lakes, the shape of the lakes' bottoms might seem unlikely. But that is precisely the case, and a new BioScience report by scientists from Indiana University Bloomington and four other institutions explains why.

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Diversity in some coral populations may significantly influence their response to extreme temperature disturbances — such as those predicted from climate warming. A team demonstrated natural selection acting on the species of algae living within corals may determine survival in extreme temperatures.

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A Texas Tech University professor has edited the first textbook to address environmental threats to wildlife in a single volume and recommend proven mitigation techniques to protect and sustain Earth’s wildlife populations.

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SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT: EFFECT OF OIL SPILLS ON ENVIRONMENT Dr. Richard E. Dodge Professor and Dean, NSU Oceanographic Center Executive Director, National Coral Reef Institute Contact Dr. Dodge Cell phone 954.629.2134

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McGill Biologist Dr. Frédéric Guichard says marine life can communicate over thousands of kilometres, calling into question current fishery management and marine preservation practices.

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Two Baylor University researchers have published a paper on their creation of a new equation for estimating rainfall amounts in ancient ecosystems.

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The Titan Arum, known as the Corpse Flower, housed in the Western Illinois University Botany Greenhouse began blooming during the afternoon and evening hours Sunday, May 2.

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A team of international researchers has brought the primary component of mammoth blood back to life using ancient DNA preserved in bones from Siberian specimens 25,000 to 43,000 years old.

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Using DNA samples and images from Earth-orbiting satellites, conservationists from Columbia University, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and Fundación AquaMarina, are gathering new insights about the franciscana—a poorly known coastal dolphin species of eastern South America—in an effort to understand populations and conserve them.

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Disappearing coral reefs are among a host of ecological markers that showcase how promises to protect the planet’s biodiversity are not being met, according to a study this week in the journal Science. The findings are an assessment of targets made at the 2002 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). UNC marine scientist John Bruno is a study co-author.

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Survival of the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains of the United States depends not as much on the wolves as on people. Humans are both predators and protectors of this species, which has been reintroduced into parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. Humans were responsible for eradicating gray wolves from this area by the 1930s. Annual survival was considered adequate to sustain the present population, but killing, both legal and illegal, continues and should be monitored to ensure their survival.

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The growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico could void years of conservation work to save a species of turtle that calls the Alabama Gulf Coast home, say the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) biologists who are behind the effort.

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Biologists have discovered that, contrary to their name, hermit crabs may find new housing using previously unknown social networking skills. These behaviors may shed light on other animals that rely on discrete, reusable resources, from hole-nesting woodpeckers to city apartment dwellers.

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A rare flower housed in Western Illinois University's Biological Sciences Botany Greenhouse is set to bloom within the next week, making it part of a relatively small elite group of such flowers that have bloomed in cultivation since the 1880s.

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Catch-and-release is a familiar concept in fishing but is more contentious when it comes to cats. To deal humanely with feral cat populations, some advocate a trap–neuter–release approach. Wild cats are allowed to continue living freely, with food provided for them, but have been sterilized and will not continue to reproduce and add to the unwanted pet population.

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Cornell University researchers discover that fragmentation of natural habitats by roads – even smaller, low-traffic highways – has had a significant effect on genetic structure of timber rattlesnakes, as has been noted with other species. The study underlines concerns over habitat fragmentation and species survival.

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Fungi fuel hungry humans, cure infections and have changed the course of history, says a University of Arkansas biology professor in his new book on this little examined kingdom.

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Working in a rare, “natural seafloor laboratory” of hydrothermal vents that had just been rocked by a volcanic eruption, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and other institutions have discovered what they believe is an undersea superhighway carrying tiny life forms unprecedented distances to inhabit the post-eruption site.

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Researchers are hopeful that the new core they drilled through an ice field on the Antarctic Peninsula will contain ice dating back into the last ice age. If so, that record should give new insight into past global climate changes.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society released a list of critically endangered species dubbed the “Rarest of the Rare” – a group of animals most in danger of extinction, ranging from Cuban crocodiles to white-headed langurs in Vietnam.

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The vivid colors and designs animals use to interact with their environments have awed and inspired since before people learned to draw on the cave wall.

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Rangelands—Exotic plant species are invading the world’s rangelands at an unprecedented rate, imposing both ecological and economic costs. Identifying the causes of invasive plant expansion can contribute to the planning and execution of successful management techniques. Collaboration between resource managers and research scientists is needed to offer future generations more effective strategies to prevent and control invasive plant species.