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Wild Biology News - March 2008 Archives
 | One species of armed beetle is proving that size doesn't necessarily matter when it comes to finding a mate. ...> Full Article |
 | Finding could stimulate new study of free radicals' role in inflammation, cancer, aging ...> Full Article |
 | The catastrophic action a tiny beetle is wreaking on the deteriorating Chihuahuan desert ...> Full Article |
 | Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are rising at an alarming rate, and new research indicates that soybean plant defenses go down as CO2 goes up. Elevated CO2 impairs a key component of the plant's defenses against leaf-eating insects ...> Full Article |
The rate at which new species are formed in a group of closely related animals decreases as the total number of different species in that group goes up
...> Full Article
 | Also found spray residue actually attracts bears ...> Full Article |
 | Mantis shrimp can see the world in a way that had never been observed in any animal before, researchers report in the March 20th Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The discovery-which marks the fourth type of visual system-suggests that the ability to perceive circular polarized light may lend mantis shrimp a secret mode of communication. ...> Full Article |
 | Ferrets, frogs and finches are becoming more common as pets, but the list of unusual species adopted into human households now includes some of the most exotic creatures on the planet. The trade in exotic pets has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise, but expansion of the industry sometimes outpaces veterinary knowledge of how to treat the maladies that afflict these unusual animals. ...> Full Article |
 | Rain falling on snow sounds like a relatively harmless weather event, but when it happens in the far north it can mean lingering death for reindeer, musk oxen and other animals that normally graze on the Arctic tundra. ...> Full Article |
 | Researchers have discovered that our visual system can estimate number, just as it can guess size or speed. And they believe we see number in the same way we see colour and shape, and that other species, even bees, can do so too. ...> Full Article |
 | Male songbirds produce a subtly different tune when they are courting a female than when they are singing on their own. Now, new research offers a window into the effect this has on females, showing they have an ear for detail. The finding provides insights not only into the intricacies of songbird attraction and devotion but also into the way in which the brain develops and responds to social cues, in birds - and humans. ...> Full Article |
 | Insects' hard bodies and feces are home to many mold species that could be triggering allergies in the kids and adults who handle the bugs ...> Full Article |
Similarities highlight environment's role in shaping evolution of taste preferences
...> Full Article
 | Take a deer's body, attach a camel's head and add a Jimmy Durante nose, and you have a saiga - the odd-ball antelope with the enormous schnoz that lives on the isolated steppes of Central Asia. Unfortunately, they are as endangered as they are strange-looking due to over-hunting ...> Full Article |
 | Could sharks be catching on to human techniques for tagging them - and learning how to avoid them? ...> Full Article |
 | Far from being a model of social co-operation, the ant world is riddled with cheating and corruption - and it goes all the way to the top ...> Full Article |
 | Study determines flexible mating calls may contribute to ecological success of species ...> Full Article |
 | The announcement of the discovery of a new bird comes with a twist: It's a white-eye, but its eye isn't white. Still, what this new bird lacks in literal qualities it makes up for as one of the surprises that nature still has tucked away in little-explored corners of the world. ...> Full Article |
 | A PhD student with a talent for discovering new species of insects has stumbled across an entirely new genus and species of flying grasshopper after examining fossils labelled 'stick insects' ...> Full Article |
 | Microbial profiles serve as the ecological version of the human genome project ...> Full Article |
 | Nature is full of examples of creatures that try to look as big as possible in an effort to scare away potential predators. But to avoid being eaten alive the larvae of sand dollars appear to have a different strategy, in a way exchanging a dollar for a couple of dimes. ...> Full Article |
 | Biological control decimates glassy-winged sharpshooter populations in French Polynesian islands ...> Full Article |
The organic soup that spawned life on Earth may have gotten generous helpings from outer space, according to a new study. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have discovered concentrations of amino acids in two meteorites that are more than ten times higher than levels previously measured in other similar meteorites. This result suggests that the early solar system was far richer in the organic building blocks of life than scientists had thought, and that fallout from space may have spiked Earth's primordial broth.
...> Full Article
 | Competing against older brothers and sisters can be tough work, as any youngest child will tell you. ...> Full Article |
 | The strongest creature in the world, the Hercules Beetle, has a colour-changing trick that scientists have long sought to understand. Research published today, Tuesday, 11 March, in the New Journal of Physics, details an investigation into the structure of the specie's peculiar protective shell which could aid design of 'intelligent materials'. ...> Full Article |
 | Invasive species can also have a surprisingly "creative" side ...> Full Article |
 | The first study of how individual wandering albatrosses find food shows that the birds rely heavily on their sense of smell. The birds can pick up a scent from several miles away, U.S. and French researchers have found. ...> Full Article |
 | A long-term study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the BioDiversity Research Institute, and other organizations has found and confirmed that environmental mercury-much of which comes from human-generated emissions-is impacting both the health and reproductive success of common loons in the Northeast. ...> Full Article |
 | Predators have considerably more influence than plants over how an ecosystem functions, according to a Yale study published Feb. 15 in Science that offers a revolutionary shift in thinking on the subject. ...> Full Article |
 | U.S. Forest Service scientists believe an Oregon State University graduate student working on a cooperative project with the agency's Pacific Southwest Research station on the Tahoe National Forest has photographed a wolverine, an animal whose presence has not been confirmed in California since the 1920s. ...> Full Article |
 | Antarctic fish species that adopts a winter survival strategy similar to hibernation ...> Full Article |
 | Like many northerners who head south to warmer climates for the winter, many Northern right whales also head south in November and stay into April. Their destination is the only known calving ground for this rare and endangered population-the waters off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. When they arrive, NOAA scientists are there to greet them, and to take DNA samples. ...> Full Article |
 | Butterflies and moths are well known for their striking metamorphosis from crawling caterpillars to winged adults. In light of this radical change, not just in body form, but also in lifestyle, diet and dependence on particular sensory cues, it would seem unlikely that learned associations or memories formed at the larval or caterpillar stage could be accessible to the adult moth or butterfly. However, scientists at Georgetown University recently discovered that a moth can indeed remember what it learned as a caterpillar. Their findings are published in the March 5, 2008 edition of the journal PLoS ONE. ...> Full Article |
 | Charles Darwin maintained that the domesticated chicken derives from the red jungle fowl, but new research from Uppsala University now shows that the wild origins of the chicken are more complicated than that. ...> Full Article |
Wee creatures are key to Earth's environment
...> Full Article
 | As western states debate removing the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act, a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society cautions that doing so may result in an unintended decline in another species: the pronghorn, a uniquely North American animal that resembles an African antelope. ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists have recently found evidence that rain-making bacteria are widely distributed in the atmosphere. These biological particles could factor heavily into the precipitation cycle, affecting climate, agricultural productivity and even global warming ...> Full Article |
 | Biologists have developed a series of global maps that show where projected habitat loss and climate change are expected to drive the need for future reserves to prevent biodiversity loss. ...> Full Article |
 | Rats use their whiskers in a way that is closely related to the human sense of touch: Just as humans move their fingertips across a surface to perceive shapes and textures, rats twitch their whiskers to achieve the same goal. Now, in a finding that could help further understanding of perception across species, MIT neuroscientists have used high-speed video to reveal rat whiskers in action and show the tiny movements that underlie the rat's perception of its tactile environment. ...> Full Article |
 | Giant bluefin tuna are in trouble, primarily because the powerful muscles that propel their extensive ocean migrations come with an Achilles' heel: They're tasty. ...> Full Article |
 | Some of the smallest plants on the planet may play a vital role in some of the largest questions facing mankind today, according to marine scientists at the University of Portsmouth and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS). ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists find physical and genetic reasons for various juniper species' drought-resistance ...> Full Article |
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Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Scientists locate apparent hydrothermal vents off Antarctica
Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing
What drives our genes? Researchers map the first complete human epigenome
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Tracking down the human 'odorprint'
Fill 'er up - with algae
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
American pika are thriving in the Sierra Nevada and southwestern Great Basin
Decoding the long calls of the orangutan
Barnacles prefer upwelling currents, enriching food chains in the Galapagos
Bringing bison back to North American landscapes
If bonobo Kanzi can point as humans do, what other similarities can rearing reveal?
Pesticide atrazine can turn male frogs into females
How can accidental captures of loggerhead turtles be reduced?
A convincing mimic: Scientists report octopus imitating flounder in the Atlantic
Study shows natural antioxidants give top barn swallows a leg on competitors
Fish can recognize a face based on UV pattern alone
New clues found linking larger animals to colder climates
The bigger the animal, the stiffer the 'shoes'
A magnetometer in the upper beak of birds?