Ecology & Zoology

Squid Fishing Fight Not 'David Vs Goliath' But More Like 'Boy Who Cried Wolf'

Is a David and Goliath battle brewing in commercial squid fishery, with larger purse seiners robbing "scoop" fishermen of their livelihoods, sometimes illegally? That is what Virginia Hennessey wrote in the Monterey Herald. Hearing claims of thre ...

Article - Michael Conroy - May 4 2013 - 12:00pm

Subnivium: Harsher Winters But Less Snow Are A Double Whammy For Plants And Animals

If you are toughing out harsh winter weather, snow can be a relief. It's a respite from biting winds and subzero temperatures. But winter and spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has declined in recent years, putting plants and animals that d ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2013 - 3:00pm

Galleria Mellonella: At 300 KHz, Greater Wax Moth Is The World's Most 'Extreme Hearing' Animal

The greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella of the family Pyralidae) is capable of sensing sound frequencies of up to 300 kHz, making it possessor of the highest recorded frequency sensitivity of any animal in the natural world. Humans are only capable of h ...

Article - News Staff - May 8 2013 - 1:25pm

Reed Warbler, Who Be Your Daddy?

Depending on the species, males have different strategies to try and insure that they reproduce, rather than just being a step-parent. They may try to ensure paternity by increased surveillance and fighting off the competition, they may have more frequent ...

Article - News Staff - May 16 2013 - 12:00pm

Phototrope Toward The Light

Many seeds germinate in the soil and get their nutrition in the dark from limited reserves of starch and lipids, so as soon as possible they  grow toward light. Light-sensing proteins find the shortest route to sunlight – and then plants are even able to ...

Article - News Staff - May 29 2013 - 10:00am

Haptoclinus Dropi: New Fish Species Discovered In Southern Caribbean

A new species of tiny blenniiform fish has been discovered in the southern Caribbean. Haptoclinus dropi is only around 2cm in length with a color pattern that includes iridescence on the fins. The proposed common name of the species is four-fin blenny, du ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 5 2013 - 12:00pm

Parasites Get No Respect In Food Web Theory?

Parasites comprise a large proportion of the diversity of species in every ecosystem but they are rarely included in analyses or models of food webs.  Would it make a difference? A new paper says that including parasites does alter the structure of food w ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2013 - 4:31pm

Assessment Of Shale Gas Fracking On Biodiversity

Fracking, which mines natural gas using horizontal, hydraulically fractured wells, is widespread across Pennsylvania, with high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (HVHHF) from the Marcellus and Utica shales covering up to 280,000 km² of the Appalachia ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 18 2013 - 11:09am

The Contribution Of Particulate Matter To Forest Decline

Air pollution is related to forest decline and also appears to attack the protecting wax on tree leaves and needles, say scientists who have now discovered a responsible mechanism: particulate matter salt compounds that become deliquescent because of humi ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2013 - 11:30am

The Circadian Rhythm Of Arctic Summer

Our internal circadian clock regulates daily life processes and is synchronized by external cues, the Zeitgeber, with the main cue being the light-dark cycle. But the light-dark cycle effect is largely reduced in extreme habitats such as in the Arctic dur ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2013 - 1:31pm