Ecology & Zoology

Survivors From The Last Ice Age

Scientists have discovered two species of groundwater amphipods that are found solely in Iceland. These finding can only be explained by these animals surviving glaciations in some kind of refugium under the glaciers. Many scientists believe that the ice a ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 19 2007 - 5:22pm

Attractive Males Make Females Want To Have Babies

Even in the Animal Kingdom, there are some common sense rules. The more likely to get a big return, for example, the more work will be invested. That goes for male-female relationships as well. A French team of behavioral ecologists demonstrated that in th ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 19 2007 - 9:47pm

Penguin Poop Pollution

Penguin guano in the Antarctic is adding to organic pollutant problems there, according to a report to be featured in a Royal Society of Chemistry publication. Adrian Covaci at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and colleagues found unexpectedly high leve ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 28 2007 - 4:01am

Riparian Buffers Decrease Nitrogen Levels

Excess nitrogen caused by fertilizers, animal waste, leaf litter, sewer lines, and highways is responsible for contaminating groundwater. It can also cause human health risks when found in drinking water and oxygen depleted water bodies endangering animals ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 30 2007 - 3:33pm

The Limits Of Carbon Dioxide 'Tree Banking'

While 10 years of bathing North Carolina pine tree stands with extra carbon dioxide did allow the trees to grow more tissue, only those pines receiving the most water and nutrients were able to store significant amounts of carbon that could offset the effe ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2007 - 12:16am

Lost Forest Reveals New Bat, Rodent And Frog Species

An expedition led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to a remote corner of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has uncovered unique forests which, so far, have been found to contain six animal species new to science: a bat, a rodent, two shrew ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2007 - 4:47pm

Fastest Sugar-Burning Mammal On Earth? Long-Tongued Bats

Nectar-feeding bats burn sugar faster than any other mammal on Earth – and three times faster than even top-class athletes – ecologists have discovered. The findings, published in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology, illustrate ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 11 2007 - 10:48pm

Circadian Clock Controls Plant Growth Hormone Auxin

The plant growth hormone auxin is controlled by circadian rhythms within the plant, UC Davis researchers have found. The discovery explains how plants can time their growth to take advantage of resources such as light and water, and suggests that many othe ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 13 2007 - 11:39am

Contract To Revolutionize Ground Water Purification

Central Michigan University Research Corporation and Dendritic Nanotechnologies, Inc. have developed technology capable of absorbing toxic chemicals from ground water that could lead to a revolutionary ground water purification system. The U.S. Department ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 13 2007 - 3:14pm

The Mystery Of Lake Baikal's Oil Leak

Called by some the Blue Eye of Siberia and by others the Sacred Sea, Lake Baikal, at more than 5,000 feet (1,620 meters), is the world’s deepest lake. The lake has many other interesting features also. For example, more than 330 rivers flow in but only the ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Sep 29 2007 - 11:11am