http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Not just birds, but also a few species of bats face a long journey every year. Researchers at Princeton University in the U.S. and at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany studied the migratory behaviour of the largest extant family of bats, the so-called "Vespertilionidae" with the help of mathematical models. They discovered that the migration over short as well as long distances of various kinds of bats evolved independently within the family. http://www.physorg.com/news177948336.html Biology Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:06:17 EST news177948336 The rapid growth of China's forests over the past 20 years makes them the fastest growing forest resources in the world, according to an assessment published in the November issue of BioScience. http://www.physorg.com/news176387511.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:01 EST news176387511 (PhysOrg.com) -- If the climate is not quite right, birds will up and move rather than stick around and sweat it out, according to a new study led by biologists at the University of California, Berkeley. http://www.physorg.com/news172161207.html Biology Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:33:52 EST news172161207 Australian birds have shrunk over the past century because of global warming, scientists have found. http://www.physorg.com/news169377749.html Biology Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:23:51 EST news169377749 Human impact on one of the world's most threatened bird species can be beneficial rather than destructive - and could even save it from extinction - according to counterintuitive new findings by the University of East Anglia (UEA). http://www.physorg.com/news167903400.html Biology Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:10:02 EST news167903400 (PhysOrg.com) -- When Tony Goldberg is not whacking through the brush of central Africa, one of the world's great cauldrons of emerging human and animal disease, he is scouring another disease hot spot: the southwestern suburbs of Chicago. http://www.physorg.com/news167582012.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:10:01 EST news167582012 A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences bird populations, findings with implications for the fate of ecological communities situated amid growing urban clamor. http://www.physorg.com/news167571326.html Biology Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:35:51 EST news167571326 Wild birds of several species are dying in large numbers from a paralytic disease with hitherto unknown cause in the Baltic Sea area. A research team at Stockholm University, Sweden, led by Associate Professor Lennart Balk, has demonstrated strong relationships between this disease, breeding failure, and advanced thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency in eggs, young, and adults. The results are presented in the article "Wild birds of declining European species are dying from a thiamine deficiency syndrome", published in the on-line Early Edition of the well-reputed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news166805084.html Biology Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:50:02 EST news166805084 Retaining a network of wildlife conservation areas is vital in helping to save up to 90 per cent of bird species in Africa affected by climate change, according to scientists. http://www.physorg.com/news163103381.html Biology Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:30:10 EST news163103381 (AP) -- Britain's cuckoo bird, known for its distinctive call, is in danger of extinction along with 51 other species, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said in a new report Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news162743964.html Biology Thu, 28 May 2009 15:40:05 EST news162743964 (PhysOrg.com) -- Fairy-wrens are notorious for their infidelity: despite living in seemingly harmonious monogamous pairs, females produce mostly illegitimate young, and males spend more time courting other females than their own partner. Among these promiscuous birds, researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology in Germany and the University of Freiburg, Germany have now found a uniquely faithful species, the purple-crowned fairy-wren. What's more, males of this species have lost all striking adaptations for extra-pair mating that characterise the other fairy-wrens, including presentation of flower petals during courtship displays. http://www.physorg.com/news161958744.html Biology Tue, 19 May 2009 13:33:26 EST news161958744 Researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) have documented that a variety of North American bird species are extending their breeding ranges to the north, adding to concerns about climate change, according to a study published by the journal Global Change Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news154793277.html Biology Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:09:40 EST news154793277 (PhysOrg.com) -- Why do some species of birds lay only one egg in their nest, while others lay 10 or more? A global study of the wide variation among birds in this trait, known as the "clutch size," now provides biologists with some answers. The study, published in the current issue of the journal PLoS Biology, combined data on the clutch sizes of 5,290 species of birds with information on the biology and environment of each of these species. http://www.physorg.com/news148048524.html Biology Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:35:24 EST news148048524 A study by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that the more diverse a bird population is in an area, the less chance humans have of exposure to West Nile Virus (WNV). http://www.physorg.com/news142526166.html Biology Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:36:06 EST news142526166 Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have discovered a new species of bird in Gabon, Africa, that was, until now, unknown to the scientific community. Their findings were published in the international science journal Zootaxa today, Aug. 15. http://www.physorg.com/news138022450.html Biology Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:34:10 EST news138022450 The sense of smell might indeed be as important to birds as it is to fish or even mammals. This is the main conclusion of a study by Silke Steiger (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) and her colleagues. The sense of smell in birds was, until quite recently, thought to be poorly developed. Recent behavioural studies have shown that some bird species use their sense of smell to navigate, forage or even to distinguish individuals. http://www.physorg.com/news135432690.html Biology Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:11:30 EST news135432690