Ecology & Zoology

Why Do Oysters Choose To Live Where They Could Be Eaten?

There are many reasons why living in dense groups with others of your own kind is a good idea. Oftentimes, aggregations of a species serve as protection from predators and harsh environments or may be beneficial to future reproductive success. However, in ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 30 2007 - 11:12pm

Amphibians In Losing Race With Environmental Change

Even though they had the ability to evolve and survive for hundreds of millions of years- since before the time of the dinosaurs and through many climatic regimes- the massive, worldwide decline of amphibians can best be understood by their inability to ke ...

Article - News Staff - May 1 2007 - 1:58am

'Personality-gene' Makes For Great Tits

Great Tits are, of course, songbirds- specifically Parus major. An international team of researchers have now found evidence for the existence of a "curiosity-gene" in our feathered friends. The gene (Drd4) carries the building instructions for a ...

Article - News Staff - May 6 2007 - 11:11am

Drought Tolerance Limits Tropical Plant Distributions

Drought tolerance is a critical determinant of tropical plant distributions, researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama report in the May 3rd issue of Nature. In a novel coupling of experimental measurements and observed p ...

Article - News Staff - May 2 2007 - 12:57pm

Waste-free Corn For Cars

A new variety of corn developed and patented by Michigan State University scientists could turn corn leaves and stalks into products that are just as valuable as the golden kernels. Right now, most U.S. ethanol is made from corn kernels. This is because br ...

Article - News Staff - May 4 2007 - 2:58pm

Wheat Stem Rust A Global Threat To Wheat Supply

A new, highly destructive strain of wheat stem rust is continuing to evolve and has the potential to devastate wheat production worldwide, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS). ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2007 - 1:31pm

Tropical Plants May Acclimate Well To Climate Change

Tropical plants may be more adaptable than commonly thought to changing rainfall patterns expected to accompany a warming climate, new research shows. A University of Florida scientist and other researchers have found that plants in Hawaii have the ability ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2007 - 9:35pm

Invasion Of The Island Bats

Ever since the relationship between land area and number of species crystallized into a mathematical power function, islands and island archipelagoes have been thought of as biological destinations where species from large continents arrive and, over time, ...

Article - News Staff - May 8 2007 - 11:48am

Monkeys In Your Pants And Other Hilarious Antics Of Wildlife Smugglers

Some criminals get caught in the act of smuggling strange cargo and are not always very clever about heir tactics. In the United States, wildlife smuggling is the nation’s second-largest black market, (behind narcotics), worth $9 billion a year. Some of t ...

Article - Sarda Sahney - May 10 2007 - 9:32am

Hooded Seals Get Around

Researchers have discovered a new fact about hooded seals, a mysterious mammal that spends all but a few days each year in the ocean. An international team of researchers led by Dr. David Coltman, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Alberta, ha ...

Article - News Staff - May 9 2007 - 2:35pm