Ecology & Zoology

Has There Really Been A Sardine Crash?

Sardines have been a hot news topic in recent weeks. Environmental groups and others have claimed that the sardine population is collapsing like it did in the mid-1940s.  The environmental group Oceana has been arguing this point loudly in order to shut do ...

Article - D.B. Pleschner - Mar 4 2014 - 5:32pm

Maybe The Dingo Ate Your Poison

Poisoning of dingoes- wild dogs- has a deleterious effect on small native mammals such as marsupial mice, bandicoots and native rodents, according to a new paper which found that loss of dingoes after baiting is associated with greater activity by foxes, ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 11 2014 - 8:49pm

Tequila Plant May Be Good For Diabetics

The agave's claim to fame is as the plant from which the distilled adult beverage Tequila, named after the nearby town that made it famous, is produced. But that may change. A sweetener created from the agave plant could lower blood glucose levels fo ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 17 2014 - 2:30am

FrankenMoss Comes Back To Life After 1,500 Years

Even after over 1,500 years frozen in Antarctic ice, moss can come back to life and continue to grow. Writing in Current Biology, the team report that they observed moss regeneration after at least 1,530 years frozen in permafrost.  For the first time, th ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 17 2014 - 5:20pm

126 Million Year Old Cretophasmomima Melanogramma Is Oldest Stick Insect To Mimic Plants

An ancient stick insect species, Cretophasmomima melanogramma from in Inner Mongolia at the Jehol locality, may have mimicked plant leaves for defense as far back as 126 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, according to a new study. ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 19 2014 - 8:39pm

Sea Turtle And Marine Mammal By-Catch: Unintended Consequence Of Global Fisheries

Seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals can be unintended victims – by-catch – of global fishing. Accidental entanglement in fishing gear is the single biggest threat to some species in these groups, according to a new analysis co-authored by Stanford bi ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 21 2014 - 10:35am

Rhynchohyalus Natalensis: Four-Eyed Deep-Sea Barreleye Fish Has 360 Degree Vision

The Rhynchohyalus natalensis in a recent paper was caught about 1000 meters under the Tasman Sea and it has two pairs of eyes, allowing it to spot danger from every angle. One pair is upward-facing tubular eyes, to spot danger from above, while another set ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Mar 28 2014 - 6:00am

Whey Acid Dumping: Greek Yogurt Is Killing Gaia

Enjoy Greek yogurt? Maybe, if you hate nature. Because it is now a $2 billion a year industry, activists have turned on it, a fate that the $29 billion organic food industry has so far escaped. One Green Planet says the greek yogurt manufacturing process i ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 4 2014 - 9:36am

Spanish Male Fish 'Feminized' By Pollution

The University of the Basque Country Cell Biology in Environmental Toxicology group has conducted research using thick-lipped grey mullet and in six zones and report acquisition of feminine features by male fish in all the estuaries, not only in the chara ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 28 2014 - 12:08pm

Dracula Ants: Minor Workers Become Queens In Mystrium

Six new species of Dracula ants from the Malagasy region have been discovered and they represent a completely new twist in the typically rigid caste system of ants, where anatomy is typically destiny.  Mystrium species have unique features such as long, s ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 31 2014 - 10:28am