Ecology & Zoology

Rebellious Young Loggerhead Turtles Don't Go With The Flow

Juvenile loggerhead turtles don't just passively drift through life, they swim into oncoming ocean currents, according to a new study. ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2014 - 5:30am

Pyrazoles And Neonicotinoids Linked To Reduced Honeybee Mitochondrial Activity

A new paper has found that two broad-spectrum systemic insecticides, fipornil and imidacloprid, may be impacting honeybees. Fipronil, part of the phenylpyrazole chemical family, is a highly effective insecticide which can be applied at very low doses for ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2014 - 10:19pm

Anthropogenic Noise Makes Eels More Susceptible To Predators

Slippery as an eel may be a popular phrase but it turns out they are a lot easier to catch when marine vessels make noise nearby. In a Global Change Biology paper, researchers from the Universities of Exeter and Bristol found that fish exposed to playback ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2014 - 9:00am

Ecology Could End The Wildlife Management Versus Conservation War

Conservation wants to preserve nature as it is while wildlife management seeks to maintain responsible levels for animal populations. There is a reasonable balance. In Pennsylvania, for example, there are plenty of state and national park acres but huntin ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 12 2014 - 10:00am

Do Dolphins And Whales Experience Pleasure?

 Humans train animals by rewarding them with tasty treats and trainers couple the reward with a sound, such as a buzz or a whistle. Once the animal has mastered the task, the trainer stops dispensing food, relying instead on the whistle or buzzer to infor ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 13 2014 - 6:31pm

Plants Use Newly Discovered Language To Communicate?

A scientist has discovered a potentially new form of plant communication, one that allows them to share an extraordinary amount of genetic information with one another. Professor Jim Westwood examined the relationship between a parasitic plant, dodder, an ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 15 2014 - 1:30am

Climate Implicated In Tree Height

Trees have been a part of the human existence for as long as humans have existed but that doesn't mean we know everything about them, like why they are the size they are. What limits the height of trees? Is it the fraction of their photosynthetic ene ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 14 2014 - 3:46pm

Spider Personalities Can Tell Us Which Are The Best Parents

A new paper delineating spiders’ roles within their colonies is intriguing because the spiders’ specialization (like caregiver or hunter-warrior) isn’t determined by size or physical structure, like with ants, but by personalities. Aren't spiders lone ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 15 2014 - 5:30am

Magpies Are Only 3 Percent The Thieves We Think They Are

In European culture, it is widely accepted that magpies (Pica pica) are the thieves of the bird kingdom, attracted to sparkly things and prone to stealing them for their nests. But psychologists at the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) at the ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 15 2014 - 7:14pm

Lizards Help Us Find Out Which Came First: The Baby Or The Egg?

By Oliver Griffith, University of Sydney Have you ever wondered why we give birth to live young rather than lay eggs? Scientists have pondered this for a long time and answers have come from an unlikely source: some of Australia’s lizards and snakes! In re ...

Article - The Conversation - Aug 20 2014 - 8:00am