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) -- Like children everywhere, kids in Hawaii love to run barefoot through tall grass. But an invasive pest called the nettle moth caterpillar can take the fun out of this simple childhood pleasure, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research entomologist Eric B. Jang. http://www.physorg.com/news177842969.html Biology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:20:02 EST news177842969 (PhysOrg.com) -- Experiments led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have demonstrated that normally friendly ants can turn against each other by exploiting the chemical cues they use to distinguish colony-mates from rivals. http://www.physorg.com/news175894442.html Biology Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:34:55 EST news175894442 Five giant non-native snake species would pose high risks to the health of ecosystems in the United States should they become established here, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report released today. http://www.physorg.com/news174665310.html Biology Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:00:02 EST news174665310 Human activities have meant invasive species have been able to populate parts of the world to which they are not native and alter biodiversity there over thousands of years. Now, an international team of scientists has studied the impact of the black rat on bird populations on Mediterranean islands. Despite the rat's environmental impact, only the tiny European storm petrel has been affected over time by its enforced cohabitation with the rat. http://www.physorg.com/news173696887.html Biology Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:20:14 EST news173696887 (PhysOrg.com) -- Good news for your utility bills and the environment: New University of Florida research shows that landscape shrubs need much less water to establish healthy roots than you might expect. http://www.physorg.com/news173036378.html Space & Earth Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:10:01 EST news173036378 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whether for introduced muskrats in Europe or oak trees in the United Kingdom, zebra mussels in United States lakes or agricultural pests around the world, scientists have tried to find new ways of controlling invasive species by learning how these animals and plants take over in new environs. http://www.physorg.com/news172429473.html Biology Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:08:33 EST news172429473 (PhysOrg.com) -- On Sept. 11, a standard cruise on Lake Mendota's University Bay began for students in University of Wisconsin-Madison's Zoology 315, a course that introduces them to the study of lakes. With the sampling craft Limnos anchored about one-quarter mile offshore on a clear sunny day, four students pulled up a small net and began poking through its contents. http://www.physorg.com/news172338579.html Biology Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:00:02 EST news172338579 NASA scientists Maury Estes and Mohammad Al-Hamdan have been seafaring in the Gulf of Mexico, and one of them grew a bit green around the gills. It's not surprising that a space agency scientist might have trouble getting his sea legs, but what was he doing out there in the surf to begin with? http://www.physorg.com/news170353865.html Space & Earth Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:00:01 EST news170353865 The ability to envisage the future may be closer than you would think. A recent paper by Sean Hammond and Karl Niklas in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Botany presents an algorithm that may be used to predict the future dynamics of plant communities, an increasingly interesting area of study as significant environmental changes, such as global climate change and invasive species, are affecting current plant communities. http://www.physorg.com/news170071058.html Biology Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:58:31 EST news170071058 A collaborative team led by a University of Hawai'i at Manoa researcher has published the first-ever assessment of snail and slug species that are of potential threat to the nation's agriculture industry and the environment, should they ever be introduced in the U.S. http://www.physorg.com/news168252688.html Biology Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:52:28 EST news168252688 A study of oyster reefs in a once-pristine California coastal estuary found them devastated by invasive Atlantic Coast crabs and snails, providing new evidence of the consequences when human activities move species beyond their natural borders. http://www.physorg.com/news167056720.html Biology Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:39:27 EST news167056720 (AP) -- A pet Burmese python broke out of a glass cage last week and killed a 2-year-old girl in her Florida bedroom. The tragedy became the latest and most graphic example of a problem that has plagued the state for more than a decade: a nonnative species that is wreaking havoc in the Everglades, threatening people, the environment and native wildlife. http://www.physorg.com/news166298108.html Biology Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:55:32 EST news166298108 (AP) -- Cameron Davis, leader of a Chicago-based environmentalist group, has been appointed to oversee President Barack Obama's initiative to clean up the Great Lakes. http://www.physorg.com/news163361262.html Space & Earth Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:08:04 EST news163361262 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research by a North Carolina State University biologist and colleagues shows that using landscape corridors, the "superhighways" that connect isolated patches of habitat, to protect certain plants has a large "spillover" effect that increases the number of plant species outside the conservation area. http://www.physorg.com/news162049825.html Biology Wed, 20 May 2009 14:50:43 EST news162049825 A new initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is using music to raise public awareness about aquatic invasive species in the state. http://www.physorg.com/news160827329.html Space & Earth Wed, 06 May 2009 11:16:13 EST news160827329 Wildlife imports into the United States are fragmented and insufficiently coordinated, failing to accurately list more than four in five species entering the country, a team of scientists has found. The effect, the scientists write in a paper in this week's issue of Science, is that a range of diseases is introduced into the United States, potentially decimating species, devastating ecosystems and threatening food supply chains and human health. http://www.physorg.com/news160321726.html Biology Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:50:09 EST news160321726 A handful of ravenous, venomous lionfish, a species native to the western Pacific, were spotted off North Carolina in 2000. Turns out they like it here. A lot. http://www.physorg.com/news159706864.html Biology Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:01:42 EST news159706864 Invasive species can disrupt natural and human-made ecosystems, throwing food webs out of balance and damaging the services they provide to people. Now scientists have begun to put a price tag on this damage. In a study published this week in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment e-view, ecologists have listed the invasive species that cause the most harm to environment and cost the most money to control. http://www.physorg.com/news159448851.html Biology Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:21:20 EST news159448851 A volcanic eruption over the weekend has taken a toll on the wildlife of the ecologically-fragile Galapagos Islands, causing the deaths of numerous fish and various sea lions, said officials on Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news159127819.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:10:39 EST news159127819 Ecologists in Australia have discovered that cane toads are far more susceptible to being killed and eaten by meat ants than native frogs. Their research - published in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology - reveals a chink in the cane toad's armour that could help control the spread of this alien invasive species in tropical Australia. http://www.physorg.com/news157620513.html Biology Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:29:30 EST news157620513 Many native fishes in the Pacific Northwest are threatened or endangered, notably salmonids, and hundreds of millions of dollars are expended annually on researching their populations and on amelioration efforts. http://www.physorg.com/news155187498.html Biology Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:38:58 EST news155187498 Global airlines be forewarned: June 2010 could be a busy month for invasive plants, insects and animals seeking free rides to distant lands. http://www.physorg.com/news154803740.html Biology Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:03:47 EST news154803740 When the sun rides low on the horizon and winter chills wrap us all in down and fleece, global trade brings blueberries from South America, oranges from Israel. But trade in exotic goods also comes with significant local economic costs, explains Charles Perrings, professor of environmental economics at Arizona State University. http://www.physorg.com/news153832653.html Space & Earth Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:19:16 EST news153832653 (PhysOrg.com) -- Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Tracy Langkilde has shown that native fence lizards in the southeastern United States are adapting to potentially fatal invasive fire-ant attacks by developing behaviors that enable them to escape from the ants, as well as by developing longer hind legs, which can increase the effectiveness of this behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news151688677.html Biology Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:45:03 EST news151688677 U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) Ecologist Jim Miller, Ph.D., one of the foremost authorities on nonnative plants in the South, today identified the invasive plant species he believes pose the biggest threats to southern forest ecosystems in 2009. http://www.physorg.com/news150991399.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:03:19 EST news150991399 Removing an invasive species from sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, a World Heritage Site, has caused environmental devastation that will cost more than A$24 million to remedy, ecologists have revealed. Writing in the new issue of the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, they warn that conservation agencies worldwide must learn important lessons from what happened on Macquarie Island. http://www.physorg.com/news150989903.html Biology Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:38:23 EST news150989903 (PhysOrg.com) -- The latest "damming" evidence suggests that manmade reservoirs are facilitating the spread of invasive species in Wisconsin lakes. http://www.physorg.com/news143304636.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:50:36 EST news143304636