Ecology & Zoology

Risk Of Extinction Accelerated Due To Interacting Human Threats

The simultaneous effect of habitat fragmentation, overexploitation, and climate warming could accelerate the decline of populations and substantially increase their risk of extinction, a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B has warned. ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 21 2007 - 1:17am

Deep In The Ocean, A Clam That Acts Like A Plant

How does life survive in the black depths of the ocean? At the surface, sunlight allows green plants to "fix" carbon from the air to build their bodies. Around hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean live communities of giant clams with no gut and ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 21 2007 - 1:20pm

Nectar Is Not A Simple Soft Drink

The sugar-containing nectar secreted by plants and consumed by pollinators shares a number of similarities to fitness drinks, including ingredients such as amino acids and vitamins. In addition to these components, nectar can also contain secondary metabo ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 28 2007 - 12:08am

Iron In Northwest Rivers Fuels Phytoplankton, Fish Populations

A new study suggests that the iron-rich winter runoff from Pacific Northwest streams and rivers, combined with the wide continental shelf, form a potent mechanism for fertilizing the nearshore Pacific Ocean, leading to robust phytoplankton production and ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 28 2007 - 2:07pm

Discovery Of New Cave Millipedes Casts Light On Arizona Cave Ecology

A new genus of millipede was recently discovered by a Northern Arizona University doctoral student and a Bureau of Land Management researcher. J. Judson Wynne, with the Department of Biological Sciences at NAU and cave research scientist with the U.S. Geo ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 5 2007 - 3:11am

Spiders Get Extreme To Enforce Fidelity In Mates

The fact that female wasp spiders have numerous sexual contacts is something which their male partners cannot prevent. What they can do, however, is ensure that no offspring ensue from these tête à têtes with their rivals: the male spiders simply place a ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 6 2007 - 1:04am

MY Mouse Farm!

My mouse farm! Today, after endless finessing, I finally got word that I will be getting my own mice. My own lab mice. To observe. At home. ...

Article - Greg Critser - Mar 7 2007 - 12:34pm

Creating Jack's Beanstalk

Something about normal, run-of-the-mill plants limits their reach upward. There's been no way to create that magical beanstalk in the fairy tales but no one knows why. For more than a century, scientists have tried to find out which part of the plant ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 7 2007 - 3:13pm

Soprano Syndrome In The Mouse House?

    Soprano syndrome in the mousehouse? One of the first things my mice did when introduced to their new Chinese-made home (details on that to come later) was to seek out their new boundaries. Then, almost as a herd, they sought out the little clear red m ...

Article - Greg Critser - Mar 10 2007 - 1:36pm

Genetically Modified Crops- Too Much Technology For The Third World?

Genetically modified crops were supposed to improve efficiency and make life easier for farmers in poor countries. The opposite may be true, according to a Washington University in St. Louis study. Technology may be racing too fast for farmers to keep up. ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 12 2007 - 11:36pm