Ecology & Zoology

Protoeaster Nodosus: Charmers Of The Indo-Pacific

  If you're lucky enough to swim in the warm, shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific region, you may encounter one of the most charming of all the sea stars, the Protoeaster nodosus. These beauties are commonly known as Horned Sea Stars or, my personal f ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 20 2019 - 9:32am

More 'Intensive' Beekeeping Doesn't Lead To More Bee Diseases

The number one killer of honeybees is not pesticides, despite expensive marketing campaigns by environmental groups trying to claim that is the case (1), and it isn't even the very lucrative industry of trucking bees around to engage in artificial pol ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jul 17 2019 - 10:09am

Horseshoe Crabs: Xiphosura Arthropods

Horseshoe crabs are classic living fossils. These marine and brackish water arthropods of the order Xiphosura are slowly evolving, conservative taxa. ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 24 2019 - 6:11pm

Has Your Relationship Been Disrupted? Blame Climate Change

In a warming climate change scenario, higher mean temperatures may have an impact on plants and animals by disrupting their mutually beneficial relationship: The pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris), for example, is sensitive to rising temperatures and will ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 24 2019 - 4:29pm

Lion King: In Reality It's More Game Of Thrones Than The Circle Of Life

Last week saw the release of the rebooted The Lion King, an attempt to capitalize on the billion-dollar success of the 1994 original. With a star-studded cast, the reboot closely follows the plot of the first movie (spoilers to follow, obviously). Mufasa, ...

Article - The Conversation - Jul 30 2019 - 5:00am

Sloths: A Habitat For Algae, Fungi & Insects

Ever wonder why the slow moving sloth has a slightly greenish hue? Ever consider the sloth at all? Well, perhaps not. Location, location, location, is the mantra for many of us in our macro world, but it is also true for the small world of algae. ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Aug 11 2019 - 1:27pm

Heracles Inexpectatus- The World's Largest Parrot Has Been Discovered

Palaeontologists have discovered the world's largest parrot, standing up to 1m tall with a massive beak able to crack most food sources, and given it the name Heracles inexpectatus to reflect its Herculean myth-like size and strength and the unexpecte ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2019 - 9:08am

Male Honeybees Inject Toxins During Sex That Cause Temporary Blindness

Though bees can live for years, their mating period is brief so male honeybees use a bee version of Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol- colloquially roofies) to improve their chances of being the successful dad. They inject vision-imparing toxins during sex that caus ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 10 2019 - 10:13am

Ecologists Say Neonicotinoid Seed Treatments Give Birds Anorexia

A team of ecologists exposed Zonotrichia leucophrys (white-crowned sparrows) to the seed treatment known as imidacloprid (in the class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids) and say the measured weight mass declined in just a few hours, which led to the ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 12 2019 - 7:33pm

Palorchestes Azael: Wombat Ancestor Weighed 2,000 Lbs.

When we think of marsupials (carrying young in a pouch) they are small and cute (opossum, wombat) to a little more menacing (kangaroos in boxing gloves) but nothing like  Palorchestid marsupials, an extinct group of Australian megafauna, who were large, ha ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 15 2019 - 1:39pm