Ecology & Zoology

5 Ways To Stop The World’s Wildlife From Vanishing

Going, going, gone: wildlife like the loris are disappearing. Credit: N. A. Naseer, CC BY-NC-ND By Paul Jepson, University of Oxford ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 2 2014 - 8:00am

Sharks Have Personalities

Some sharks are more 'gregarious' than others and have strong social connections while others are solitary and prefer to remain inconspicuous. That's not an exception, according to a new study, these notorious predators have personality tra ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 2 2014 - 7:30am

The Voices Of Fish Larvae Recorded

Researchers recently used audio and video recording tools to record larval orientation behavior in the pelagic environment.  In their field experiment, the scientists put the recording devices i a drifting in situ chamber called DISC  near Fowey Rocks lig ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 2 2014 - 9:18am

Who You Calling An Elephant? Animals Have Weight Issues Too

You're not getting any pudding. Credit: Steve Parsons/PA By Robert Young, University of Salford I run 50 kilometers per week on my treadmill and eat a calorie-restricted diet; this is something our ancestors didn’t have to do. But then they didn’t si ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 6 2014 - 11:31am

Learning Science From Fiction: A Review Of Ryan Lockwood’s “Below”

In last month’s review of Preparing the Ghost, I mentioned that you can actually learn facts from some fiction. Below is one such novel,  crammed with science. As author Ryan Lockwood wrote in an e-mail, “Hopefully, most of the biology described in the bo ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Oct 10 2014 - 1:48pm

What The Evolution Of Violins And Plants Have In Common

What could the natural diversity and beauty of plant leaves have in common with the violin, one of mankind's greatest musical inventions? More than you think. Dan Chitwood, Ph.D., assistant member, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, M ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 8 2014 - 5:30pm

Nemo And Chips? Tropical Fish Might Flee Warming Waters, Head To The Poles

Credit: Ed Bierman, CC BY By Clive Trueman, University of Southampton Fish are acutely aware of sea temperature; it’s one of the key reasons particular species of fish live where they do. As the oceans warm however, many tropical species are moving toward ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 12 2014 - 12:30pm

New Land Snail Species Named In Honor Of Gay Marriage Movement

A research team has discovered that a snail long confused with a far more common snail is actually distinct- and so they named it Aegista diversifamilia. 'Diverse family' being in honor of the modern gay marriage movement, the authors say. Aegis ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 13 2014 - 9:41am

‘Inner GPS’ Of Bird Brains May Be Better Than That Of Humans

Credit: Wing-Chi Poon, CC BY-SA By Sana Suri, University of Oxford The 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to three neuroscientists for their pioneering work on the brain’s “inner GPS system”. Over the course of four decades, they rev ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 13 2014 - 9:48am

Why Do Tropical Ecosystems Have Higher Biodiversity?

Why is biodiversity is higher in the tropics than in colder regions? It's one of ecology’s unsolved puzzles and has been since the European explorers and naturalists of the 17th and 18th centuries discovered there is a stunningly rich biodiversity in ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 14 2014 - 8:00am