Ecology / Conservation posts
- January 12, 2015
- 05:08 PM
- 351 views
Study shows rise in mass die-offs
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
You really don’t hear much about mass die-offs from mainstream news outlets; this might make you think they don’t happen that often. However, an analysis of 727 mass die-offs of nearly 2,500 animal species from the past 70 years has found that such events are increasing among birds, fish, and marine invertebrates. At the same time, the number of individuals killed appears to be decreasing for reptiles and amphibians, and is unchanged for mammals.... Read more »
Samuel B. Fey, Adam M. Siepielski, Sébastien Nusslé, Kristina Cervantes-Yoshida, Jason L. Hwan, Eric R. Huber, Maxfield J. Fey, Alessandro Catenazzi, & Stephanie M. Carlson. (2015) Recent shifts in the occurrence, cause, and magnitude of animal mass mortality events. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. info:/10.1073/pnas.1414894112
- January 12, 2015
- 10:24 AM
- 310 views
Collective Personality and Our Environment
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
We are all familiar with the concept of the personality of an individual. We are less familiar with group- or collective personalities (although most teachers can tell you at length about the personalities of each of their classes). The concept is the same: whereas an individual personality relates to an individual’s consistent behaviors across time and contexts, a collective personality relates to a group’s consistent behaviors across time and contexts. Collective personalities can be stron........ Read more »
Modlmeier, A., Forrester, N., & Pruitt, J. (2014) Habitat structure helps guide the emergence of colony-level personality in social spiders. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 68(12), 1965-1972. DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1802-z
- January 7, 2015
- 08:00 AM
- 398 views
The Fungus And The Frog
by Mark Lasbury in As Many Exceptions As Rules
Amphibians are some of the most vulnerable animals on Earth. Their numbers have been crashing for years. The reasons for this are several, but one fungal infection is a big contributor. This fungus teaches us about evolution, common descent, and phylogenetics – but hopefully it’ll be eaten up by a newly discovered water flea!... Read more »
Martel, A., Spitzen-van der Sluijs, A., Blooi, M., Bert, W., Ducatelle, R., Fisher, M., Woeltjes, A., Bosman, W., Chiers, K., Bossuyt, F.... (2013) Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans sp. nov. causes lethal chytridiomycosis in amphibians. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(38), 15325-15329. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1307356110
Buck, J., Truong, L., & Blaustein, A. (2011) Predation by zooplankton on Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: biological control of the deadly amphibian chytrid fungus?. Biodiversity and Conservation, 20(14), 3549-3553. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-011-0147-4
- January 6, 2015
- 06:11 PM
- 398 views
Tropical forests absorbing more carbon dioxide than previously thought
by Jonathan Trinastic in Goodnight Earth
New analyses of theoretical models backed by experimental measurements indicate that tropical forests are absorbing much more CO2 than previously known!... Read more »
Schimel D, Stephens BB, & Fisher JB. (2014) Effect of increasing CO2 on the terrestrial carbon cycle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 25548156
- January 6, 2015
- 08:00 AM
- 514 views
What It Takes To Kill A Watt
by Mark E. Lasbury in The 'Scope
Do you have any idea where your home's electricity comes from? Sure, people have all heard of solar power, wind power, and fossil fuels, but they know very little about how electricity is most often generated. Is fossil fuel the most important natural resource for electricity production – nope, it’s water.... Read more »
Sheng, X., Bower, C., Bonafede, S., Wilson, J., Fisher, B., Meitl, M., Yuen, H., Wang, S., Shen, L., Banks, A.... (2014) Printing-based assembly of quadruple-junction four-terminal microscale solar cells and their use in high-efficiency modules. Nature Materials, 13(6), 593-598. DOI: 10.1038/nmat3946
- January 6, 2015
- 07:05 AM
- 220 views
Large-scale effects of temperature and zooplankton on phytoplankton in the North Atlantic
by sceintists from the Marine group at CEES in Marine Science blog
Phytoplankton biomass is controlled by a combination of “bottom-up” factors such as temperature, light and nutrients and “top-down” factors, in particular zooplankton predation. In a recent study we analysed large-scale data on ocean chlorophyll, copepod abundance and temperature in order to assess the general importance of bottom-up and top-down factors in controlling phytoplankton biomass.
... Read more »
Feng, J., Stige, L., Durant, J., Hessen, D., Zhu, L., Hjermann, D., Llope, M., & Stenseth, N. (2014) Large-scale season-dependent effects of temperature and zooplankton on phytoplankton in the North Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 25-37. DOI: 10.3354/meps10724
Fischer, A., Moberg, E., Alexander, H., Brownlee, E., Hunter-Cevera, K., Pitz, K., Rosengard, S., & Sosik, H. (2014) Sixty Years of Sverdrup: A Retrospective of Progress in the Study of Phytoplankton Blooms. Oceanography, 27(1), 222-235. DOI: 10.5670/oceanog.2014.26
- December 31, 2014
- 09:23 AM
- 273 views
The Pine Marten of the Mourne Mountains
by Denise O'Meara in Denise O'Meara
O’Mahony’s data indicated that the pine marten population in this part of Ireland is quite low, with as few as only nine estimated breeding females in the area. The analysis also showed that pine marten only bred in some of the sampled woodlots. O’Mahony warns of the possibility of local population extinctions due to the small number of breeding females, especially as some of the woodlots are small and isolated which may hamper movement of animals across the entire landscape.
........ Read more »
O’Mahony, D., Turner, P., & O’Reilly, C. (2014) Pine marten (Martes martes) abundance in an insular mountainous region using non-invasive techniques. European Journal of Wildlife Research. DOI: 10.1007/s10344-014-0878-0
Sheehy, E., O’Meara, D., O’Reilly, C., Smart, A., & Lawton, C. (2013) A non-invasive approach to determining pine marten abundance and predation. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 60(2), 223-236. DOI: 10.1007/s10344-013-0771-2
- December 23, 2014
- 09:31 PM
- 385 views
The top saline lake research of 2014
by Egor Zadereev in Science of Salt Lakes
Now, it is time to analyze the research output. The traditional approach is to use the Web of Science and to make search for “salt lake or saline lake” and “salinity and lake”. The combined list of 690 papers published in year 2014 will be the database for brief analysis and selection of best papers.... Read more »
Oh, D., Hong, H., Lee, S., Yun, D., Bohnert, H., & Dassanayake, M. (2014) Genome Structures and Transcriptomes Signify Niche Adaptation for the Multiple-Ion-Tolerant Extremophyte Schrenkiella parvula. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, 164(4), 2123-2138. DOI: 10.1104/pp.113.233551
Ruecker A, Weigold P, Behrens S, Jochmann M, Laaks J, & Kappler A. (2014) Predominance of biotic over abiotic formation of halogenated hydrocarbons in hypersaline sediments in Western Australia. Environmental science , 48(16), 9170-8. PMID: 25073729
Lazar, B., Sivan, O., Yechieli, Y., Levy, E., Antler, G., Gavrieli, I., & Stein, M. (2014) Long-term freshening of the Dead Sea brine revealed by porewater Cl− and δO18 in ICDP Dead Sea deep-drill. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 94-101. DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.019
Nelson, D., & Sachs, J. (2014) The influence of salinity on D/H fractionation in dinosterol and brassicasterol from globally distributed saline and hypersaline lakes. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 325-339. DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2014.03.007
Erin F. Jones and Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh. (2014) The Great Salt Lake’s monimolimnion and its importance for mercury bioaccumulation in brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana). Limnology and Oceanography, 59(1), 141-155. info:/
- December 23, 2014
- 09:53 AM
- 315 views
Quiz: Do You Always Remember a (Bear) Face?
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
You know how embarrassing it is to introduce yourself to someone at a party, and realize too late that you've already met? Just imagine if that person was a bear.
To prevent moments like this, San Diego Zoo conservation researcher Russell Van Horn and his colleagues asked people to try identifying bears by their faces. Actually, their motivation had nothing to do with awkward party moments. It had more to do with citizen science. Can volunteers be trusted to look at photos from a camera trap,........ Read more »
Horn, R., Zug, B., LaCombe, C., Velez-Liendo, X., & Paisley, S. (2014) Human visual identification of individual Andean bears . Wildlife Biology, 20(5), 291-299. DOI: 10.2981/wlb.00023
- December 23, 2014
- 06:21 AM
- 290 views
Plant virus found in ancient reindeer poo
by Abigail Rumsey in The Plantwise Blog
Virologists that work on detecting new animal and human viruses have successfully extracted two 700-year-old viruses from frozen remains of caribou faeces in the north of Canada. The faeces sample was taken from a metre below the surface, in the permafrost layer of the Selwyn mountains of the Yukon and Northern Territories. The frozen evidence shows that […]... Read more »
Ng, T., Chen, L., Zhou, Y., Shapiro, B., Stiller, M., Heintzman, P., Varsani, A., Kondov, N., Wong, W., Deng, X.... (2014) Preservation of viral genomes in 700-y-old caribou feces from a subarctic ice patch. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(47), 16842-16847. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1410429111
- December 19, 2014
- 10:26 AM
- 213 views
Uniting ecologists into a smooth, tasty and potent blend: Blend of the year 2015
by sceintists from the Marine group at CEES in Marine Science blog
In 2005 Stenseth and colleagues wrote a tribune in the Theme section of MEPS ‘
Bridging the gap between aquatic and terrestrial ecology
’ arguing on the mutual benefit of uniting ecologists to give birth to new science and understanding. In December 2014 we got funded a big project by the
Norwegian Research Council to do just so in Norway.
... Read more »
Stenseth N.C., Mysterud A., Durant J.M., Hjermann D.O., & Ottersen, G. (2005) Uniting ecologists into a smooth, tasty and potent blend. Marine Ecology Progress Series , 289-292. info:/
- December 19, 2014
- 07:52 AM
- 293 views
The stench of compatibility: How otters identify one another, and potential mates by smelling their poop
by Denise O'Meara in Denise O'Meara
Otters don’t tend to be very visible to us, but they are more abundant than we might perceive them to be. Otters mostly live in isolation of one another, yet they manage to remotely communicate to one another without the aid of modern technology that we so often depend upon for communication.
On this blog, I previously wrote how otters communicate with one another using their spraints (faeces). They use them to mark their territory and to leave messages for other otters. As part of the rese........ Read more »
Kean, E., Chadwick, E., & Müller, C. (2014) Scent signals individual identity and country of origin in otters. Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde. DOI: 10.1016/j.mambio.2014.12.004
- December 18, 2014
- 09:47 AM
- 298 views
Temperature effects on Calanus finmarchicus vary in space, time and between developmental stages
by sceintists from the Marine group at CEES in Marine Science blog
Increased sea temperature due to climate change can influence the distribution, abundance and seasonal timing of zooplankton. Changing zooplankton dynamics might in turn impact the higher trophic levels, such as fish and seabirds, feeding on these animals. In a recent paper, we show that temperature variation in the Atlantic waters of the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea might have stronger effects on the abundance of the younger than older development stages of Calanus fin........ Read more »
Kvile, K., Dalpadado, P., Orlova, E., Stenseth, N., & Stige, L. (2014) Temperature effects on Calanus finmarchicus vary in space, time and between developmental stages. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 85-104. DOI: 10.3354/meps11024
- December 16, 2014
- 11:38 AM
- 292 views
Spying on Animals' Movements to Learn How They're Feeling
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
Rory Wilson recalls some nervous waterbirds.
"I've seen pelicans in Galapagos, in the port," the Swansea University biologist says. One set of birds was standing by the fish-gutting area and waiting for scraps, while another group stood out of the fray in some nearby bushes. Although both sets of pelicans acted the same, a closer look at the birds waiting for fish scraps revealed that they were quaking slightly. The tips of their wings trembled.
Wilson thinks the tremor in the pelicans... Read more »
Wilson, R., Grundy, E., Massy, R., Soltis, J., Tysse, B., Holton, M., Cai, Y., Parrott, A., Downey, L., Qasem, L.... (2014) Wild state secrets: ultra-sensitive measurement of micro-movement can reveal internal processes in animals. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12(10), 582-587. DOI: 10.1890/140068
- December 11, 2014
- 07:00 AM
- 381 views
Without it no music?
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
A short entry to announce a theme issue on Musicality in Philosophical Transactions B, to be out in February 2015... the year when the worlds first journal dedicated to science will celebrate its 350th anniversary.... Read more »
Honing H, ten Cate C, Peretz I, & Trehub SE. (2015) Without it no music: cognition, biology and evolution of musicality. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. info:/10.1098/rstb.2014.0088
- December 10, 2014
- 07:39 AM
- 366 views
The genome sequence of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and evidence for independent domestication
by Alice Breda in genome ecology evolution etc
Oryza glaberrima is an African species of rice that is not of the same origin as the Asian rice (Oryza sativa) and was independently domesticated from the progenitor Oryza barthii about 3,000 years ago.In this study recently published by Nature … Continue reading →... Read more »
Wang, M., Yu, Y., Haberer, G., Marri, P., Fan, C., Goicoechea, J., Zuccolo, A., Song, X., Kudrna, D., Ammiraju, J.... (2014) The genome sequence of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and evidence for independent domestication. Nature Genetics, 46(9), 982-988. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3044
- December 10, 2014
- 04:46 AM
- 297 views
Seeds of change?
by Isabel Torres in Science in the clouds
Plant science is probably one of the least appreciated fields of life sciences, and yet, perhaps no other research area has produced as many technological advances beneficial for society. In an open letterreleased last month, 21 out of the 27 most cited plant scientists in Europe pledged decision makers to back plant research, which they feel is currently threatened by lack of funding and global public and political opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). “In comparison for i........ Read more »
Bonneuil C., & C. Marris. (2007) Disentrenching Experiment: The Construction of GM--Crop Field Trials As a Social Problem. Science, Technology , 33(2), 201-229. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0162243907311263
- December 9, 2014
- 09:30 PM
- 247 views
The Bat with the Identity Crisis
by Andrew Harrington in Denise O'Meara
There is a misfortunate bat species that is going through a bit of an identity crisis at the moment. This poor creature is Natterer’s bat, or Myotis nattereri to give it its formal name (named after the distinguished 19th Century Austrian naturalist Johann Natterer, not because it makes a lot of noise, as I have sometimes been asked). Natterer’s bat is distributed across Europe and north-west Africa, and is mainly considered to be a woodland species- in other words, it has specialised in hun........ Read more »
Barratt, E., Deaville, R., Burland, T., Bruford, M., Jones, G., Racey, P., & Wayne, R. (1997) DNA answers the call of pipistrelle bat species. Nature, 387(6629), 138-139. DOI: 10.1038/387138b0
- December 9, 2014
- 09:00 PM
- 283 views
How to Look for Squirrels
by Denise O'Meara in Denise O'Meara
The Eurasian red squirrel is, in my opinion at least, one of the cutest additions to the Irish countryside. The little ear tufts of the red squirrel help differentiate it from the invasive grey squirrel, the North American competitor of the red squirrel introduced here about 100 years ago. Other features include the size difference, as the grey squirrel is quite a bit larger. You might think that it should be relatively easy to differentiate the species by colour, but colourations can vary consi........ Read more »
Rob Strachan. (2009) Mammal Detective (British Natural History Series) . Whittet Books Ltd. info:/
- December 8, 2014
- 08:02 AM
- 656 views
Climate Change: Heatwaves and Poverty in Pakistan
by Jalees Rehman in The Next Regeneration
In the summer of 2010, over 20 million people were affected by the summer floods in Pakistan. Millions lost access to shelter and clean water, and became dependent on aid in the form of food, drinking water, tents, clothes and medical supplies in order to survive this humanitarian disaster. It is estimated that at least $1.5 billion to $2 billion were provided as aid by governments, NGOs, charity organizations and private individuals from all around the world, and helped contain the devastating ........ Read more »
Mueller V, Gray C, & Kosec K. (2014) Heat Stress Increases Long-term Human Migration in Rural Pakistan. Nature climate change, 182-185. PMID: 25132865
Miralles, D., Teuling, A., van Heerwaarden, C., & Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, J. (2014) Mega-heatwave temperatures due to combined soil desiccation and atmospheric heat accumulation. Nature Geoscience, 7(5), 345-349. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2141
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