Ecology & Zoology

How Fast Can A Rat Smell?

140 milliseconds. So in less time than it took you to read those two words a rat knew everything he needed to know about what his nose detected. Daniel Wesson and colleagues from Boston University write that rats are able to discriminate odors much more qu ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2008 - 10:09pm

Rethinking The Way We Study Ecological Succession

Succession is one of the first things that students learn about in ecology. Each intervening stage modifies the environment in such a way that lays the groundwork for the next stage, while making the environment less hospitable to its own offspring. Only ...

Article - Ian Ramjohn - Apr 14 2008 - 10:33am

Bikini Atoll After The Bomb Not A Moonscape- But Don't Eat The Coconuts

Half a century after the last earth-shattering atomic blast shook the Pacific atoll of Bikini, the corals are flourishing again. Some coral species, however, appear to be locally extinct. These are the findings of a remarkable investigation by an internati ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 15 2008 - 9:12am

Females Are Fickle- The Science Is In

Female fruit flies sometimes choose males who are aggresive, sometimes choose males who do not fight at all, and sometimes choose males for no reason science can explain, write a team of biologists, and the findings help explain the large variation in aggr ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 15 2008 - 9:12pm

Dalarna Spruce In Sweden Is World's Oldest Living Tree

The world’s oldest recorded tree is a 9,550 year old spruce in the Dalarna province of Sweden. The spruce tree has shown to be a tenacious survivor that has endured by growing between erect trees and smaller bushes in pace with the dramatic climate changes ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 16 2008 - 10:29am

The Evolution Impact Of Fishing Regulations

Fishing activities can provoke volatile fluctuations in the populations they target, namely by altering the “age pyramid.” Lopping off the few large, older fish that make up the top of the pyramid leaves a broad base of faster-growing small younglings and ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 17 2008 - 1:31am

Inbred Mice Have A Different Scent

Female mice can steer clear of inbred males on the basis of their scent alone, according to evidence in Current Biology. The researchers found that female mice chose to associate with males producing a greater diversity of major urinary proteins (MUPs), ev ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 25 2011 - 5:19pm

Lizard Foraging Sheds Light On Evolution Of Biomechanics

As you might expect, much of the evolution of how lizards move is related to getting food. A research team led by Ohio University doctoral student Eric McElroy tracked 18 different species of lizards as they walked or ran in order to understand how their f ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 22 2008 - 1:36am

It Was An Anomalocaris-Eat-Trilobite World, But Still A Lot Like Today

Because dogs didn't exist back then, more relevant analogies had to be used in that title. Why? Because analyses of Chengjiang and Burgess Shale food-web data suggest that most, but not all, aspects of the trophic structure of modern ecosystems were i ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 28 2008 - 11:53pm

Domesticated Sunflowers 4000 Years Earlier Than Previously Believed- And In Mexico

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati and Florida State University have confirmed evidence of domesticated sunflowers in Mexico — 4,000 years before what had been previously believed. “People sometimes ask “What is the big deal about sunflower?” says ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 29 2008 - 12:42am