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. A scientist from the University of Salamanca and another from Yale University have shown that the presence of predators affects the behaviour of Acanthodactylus beershebensis, a lizard species from the Negev Desert in the Near East. According to the study, these reptiles move less and catch less mobile and different prey if they are under pressure from predators. http://www.physorg.com/news178978395.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:30:01 EST news178978395 (PhysOrg.com) -- As the world`s seawater becomes more acidic due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide, some shelled marine creatures may actually become bigger and stronger, according to a new study. http://www.physorg.com/news178904818.html Space & Earth Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:51:26 EST news178904818 A journey that started with a box of bird feet carried three Montana State University graduate students into the gruesome world of raptors and led to their findings being published in a prominent journal. http://www.physorg.com/news178349344.html Biology Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:50:07 EST news178349344 Predators with experience of skunks avoid them both because of their black-and-white coloration and their distinctive body shape, according to UC Davis wildlife researcher Jennifer Hunter. The study was published online Oct. 21 in the journal Behavioral Ecology. http://www.physorg.com/news177095422.html Biology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:11:28 EST news177095422 Although most wolves in Yellowstone National Park live to be nearly six years old, their ability to kill prey peaks when they are two to three, according to a study led by Dan MacNulty and recently published online by Ecology Letters. The study will appear in the journal's December print issue. http://www.physorg.com/news175787683.html Biology Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:30:01 EST news175787683 Satellite tracking has allowed a research team to uncover the mysteries of the migration of Eleanora's falcon for the first time. In total, the bird flies more than 9,500 kilometres across the African continent from the Balearic and Columbretes Islands before reaching the island of Madagascar. Some of the previously-obscure secrets now revealed by the scientists show that these falcons migrate by both day and night, and cross supposed ecological barriers such as the Sahara Desert. http://www.physorg.com/news174908334.html Biology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:43:17 EST news174908334 Although humans experience their world through vision, touch and the other senses, many creatures gather information about their surroundings through unique sensory mechanisms that humans don`t have. http://www.physorg.com/news174846367.html Biology Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:30:03 EST news174846367 (PhysOrg.com) -- During a recent research cruise, a rare giant squid was captured in the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.physorg.com/news172763342.html Biology Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:49:15 EST news172763342 Could you filter 100,000 cubic metres of syrup every day to find food in a concentration of two grains of rice per cubic metre? http://www.physorg.com/news171188248.html Biology Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:18:51 EST news171188248 It is unclear if the three wolves were too greedy or simply hungry, but what is certain is that by killing more sheep than they should, they have violated Swiss law. http://www.physorg.com/news170672567.html Biology Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:30:03 EST news170672567 They gracefully swim through the complete darkness of submarine caves, constantly on the lookout for prey. Instead of eyes, predatory crustaceans of the class Remipedia rely on long antennae which search the lightless void in all directions. Like some type of science fiction monster, their head is equipped with powerful prehensile limbs and poisonous fangs. http://www.physorg.com/news170331220.html Biology Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:14:29 EST news170331220 Two titans fighting a bloody battle -- that often turns fatal for both of them. This is how big predatory dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus are often depicted while hunting down their supposed prey: even larger herbivorous dinosaurs. The fossils, though, do not account for that kind of hunting behavior but indicate that theropods, the large predatory dinosaurs, were frying much smaller fish. http://www.physorg.com/news168793217.html Other Sciences Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:01:04 EST news168793217 Orchids are famous for their deceptions. Most of those with nothing of value to offer their pollinators lure them instead with the scents of more rewarding flowers or potential mates. Now, a report published online on August 6th in Current Biology reveals for the first time that a species of orchid, which lives on the Chinese island of Hainan, fools its hornet pollinator by issuing a chemical that honeybees use to send an alarm. http://www.physorg.com/news168791912.html Biology Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:00:01 EST news168791912 The findings, published in this week's issue of Science, conclude that food-web stability is enhanced when many diverse predator-prey links connect high and intermediate trophic levels. The computations also reveal that small ecosystems follow other rules than large ecosystems: differences in the strength of predator-prey links increase the stability of small webs, but destabilize larger webs. http://www.physorg.com/news168787660.html Biology Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:20:01 EST news168787660 Men are better at seeing things in the distance due to their hunter-gatherer past chasing animals, while women are better focusing on things at close range, a British study said Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news168157251.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:21:48 EST news168157251 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the animal kingdom, everything is not as it seems. Individuals of the same species can look very different from each other - what biologists term 'polymorphism.' http://www.physorg.com/news167562918.html Biology Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:16:10 EST news167562918 (PhysOrg.com) -- If you are a cricket and it is a dry season on the San Pedro River in Arizona, on your nighttime ramblings to eat leaves, you are more likely to be ambushed by thirsty wolf spiders, or so a June 19 study suggests, published in the journal Ecology, and featured in the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news165163648.html Biology Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:20:03 EST news165163648 A study of venomous snails on remote Pacific islands reveals genetic underpinnings of an ecological phenomenon that has fascinated scientists since Darwin. http://www.physorg.com/news162057692.html Biology Wed, 20 May 2009 17:02:17 EST news162057692 (PhysOrg.com) -- Some Michigan mammal species are rapidly expanding their ranges northward, apparently in response to climate change, a new study shows. In the process, these historically southern species are replacing their northern counterparts. http://www.physorg.com/news161361652.html Biology Tue, 12 May 2009 15:41:19 EST news161361652 A study published in the Proceeding of The Royal Society B entitled "Tonically Immobilized Selfish Prey Can Survive By Sacrificing Other", authored by researchers at Okayama University in Japan point out death feigning has broad application among animal species. http://www.physorg.com/news160294218.html Biology Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:37:17 EST news160294218 Most fish rely primarily on their vision to find prey to feed upon, but a University of Rhode Island biologist and her colleagues have demonstrated that a group of African cichlids feeds by using its lateral line sensory system to detect minute vibrations made by prey hidden in the sediments. http://www.physorg.com/news158862769.html Biology Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:33:15 EST news158862769 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new UC Davis study of 110 years of mountain-lion attacks on people suggests the conventional wisdom of standing your ground may not always be the right course. http://www.physorg.com/news158431831.html Biology Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:50:59 EST news158431831 (AP) -- The two dozen or so gray wolves that wander an island chain in northwestern Lake Superior are suffering from backbone malformations caused by genetic inbreeding, posing yet another challenge to their prospects for long-term survival, according to wildlife biologists. http://www.physorg.com/news158049807.html Biology Sat, 04 Apr 2009 07:44:08 EST news158049807 The Wildlife Conservation Society`s India Program (WCS - India) has released a unique training video on YouTube that showcases the latest scientific methods for estimating the numbers of wild tigers and their prey. http://www.physorg.com/news155831310.html Biology Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:29:18 EST news155831310 No trace remains of the wolves whose howls ricocheted for millennia down the lush valleys of the Olympic Peninsula. Settlers and trappers killed them all in little more than three decades. http://www.physorg.com/news152463800.html Biology Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:03:55 EST news152463800 The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released photos today from the first large-scale census of jaguars in the Amazon region of Ecuador -one of the most biologically rich regions on the planet. http://www.physorg.com/news152294109.html Biology Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:55:31 EST news152294109 Like something from a horror movie, the swarm of bacteria ripples purposefully toward their prey, devours it and moves on. Researchers at the University of Iowa are studying this behavior in Myxococcus xanthus (M. xanthus), a bacterium commonly found in soil, which preys on other bacteria. http://www.physorg.com/news144500117.html Biology Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:55:17 EST news144500117 Some years ago, within the Department of Conservation Biology of the Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Seville, Spain), a recently established group (colloquially named the Night Ecology Group) started to explore the possibility of visual communication in crepuscular and nocturnal birds. http://www.physorg.com/news138434878.html Biology Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:07:58 EST news138434878 (PhysOrg.com) -- The ability to work together and capture larger prey has allowed social spiders to stretch the laws of nature and reach enormous colony sizes, UBC zoologists have found. http://www.physorg.com/news137173947.html Biology Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:52:27 EST news137173947 Faced with earlier studies stating that the big predators such as tigers, lions, and lynxes fulfil their dietary needs by eating one or two types of prey, scientists from the University of Malaga assure us now that felines need from 5 to 7 different types of prey to fulfil their dietary needs, although they may be more specialised anatomically than the canines (wolves, dogs?) who can obtain 100% ingested biomass by eating three types of prey. This study brings new keys to the paleoecology of the big predators from the past, such as sabre-toothed tigers. http://www.physorg.com/news134982580.html Biology Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:09:40 EST news134982580