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. Looks can be deceiving, but certain bird species have figured out that a voice can tell them most of what they need to know to find the right mate. http://www.physorg.com/news178976123.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:36:15 EST news178976123 Broadly speaking, ants have two different feeding strategies. A large proportion of all species are "carnivorous," meaning that they are generalist predators feeding on other small animals or scavenging on their remains. Some, however, are "herbivorous". http://www.physorg.com/news178893395.html Biology Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:37:42 EST news178893395 A new scientific organisation is needed to monitor the commitments that will be made by developing countries at Copenhagen to cut their deforestation rates, according to research at the University of Leeds. http://www.physorg.com/news178811477.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:52:38 EST news178811477 Plans to be discussed at the forthcoming UN climate conference in Copenhagen to cut deforestation in developing countries could save some species from extinction but inadvertently increase the risk to others, scientists believe. http://www.physorg.com/news177610833.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:40:02 EST news177610833 Logged rainforests can support as much plant, animal and insect life as virgin forest within 15 years if properly managed, research at the University of Leeds has found. http://www.physorg.com/news175258536.html Space & Earth Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:56:36 EST news175258536 Aggressive African bees were accidentally released in Brazil in 1957. As "killer bees" spread northward, David Roubik, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, began a 17-year study that revealed that Africanized bees caused less damage to native bees than changes in the weather and may have increased the availability of their food plants. http://www.physorg.com/news173628737.html Biology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:30:22 EST news173628737 (PhysOrg.com) -- The world's last remaining "pristine" forest - the boreal forest across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries - is under increasing threat, a team of international researchers has found. http://www.physorg.com/news170403353.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:16:25 EST news170403353 Tropical rainforests play a crucial role in Earth's carbon cycle by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in biomass. However, mapping these carbon stocks from space poses a huge technical challenge. An airborne campaign, being carried out in South America, is showing how spaceborne radar could be an answer. http://www.physorg.com/news170077227.html Space & Earth Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:50:01 EST news170077227 Movement through a complex meshwork of small branches at the heights of tropical forests presents a unique challenge to animals wanting to forage for food safely. It can be particularly dangerous for large animals where a fall of up to 30m could be fatal. Scientists found that dangerous tree vibrations can be countered by the orang-utan's ability to move with an irregular rhythm. http://www.physorg.com/news167934050.html Biology Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:21:25 EST news167934050 A new report published today provides compelling evidence that paying to conserve billions of tons of carbon stored in tropical forests could also protect orangutans, pygmy elephants, and other wildlife at risk of extinction. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Conservation Letters, is one of the first to offer quantitative evidence linking the drive to reduce carbon emissions from forests with the push to preserve threatened mammal biodiversity. http://www.physorg.com/news163361427.html Space & Earth Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:11:11 EST news163361427 A new study finds that it will take more than 75 years for the carbon emissions saved through the use of biofuels to compensate for the carbon lost when biofuel plantations are established on forestlands. If the original habitat was peatland, carbon balance would take more than 600 years. The study appears in Conservation Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news158927041.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:24:40 EST news158927041 Seeds of some tree species in the Panamanian tropical forest can survive for more than 30 years before germinating. That is 10 times longer than most field botanists had believed. http://www.physorg.com/news157817323.html Biology Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:09:08 EST news157817323 Colorful poison frogs in the Amazon owe their great diversity to ancestors that leapt into the region from the Andes Mountains several times during the last 10 million years, a new study from The University of Texas at Austin suggests. http://www.physorg.com/news155883644.html Biology Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:01:26 EST news155883644 The Amazon is surprisingly sensitive to drought, according to new research conducted throughout the world's largest tropical forest. The 30-year study, published today in Science, provides the first solid evidence that drought causes massive carbon loss in tropical forests, mainly through killing trees. http://www.physorg.com/news155485964.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:34:20 EST news155485964 From geckos and iguanas to Gila monsters and Komodo dragons, lizards are among the most common reptiles on Earth. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. One even pitches car insurance in TV ads. They seemingly can adapt to a variety of conditions, but are most abundant in the tropics. http://www.physorg.com/news155333999.html Biology Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:20:19 EST news155333999 Severe fires in Indonesia - responsible for some of the worst air quality conditions worldwide - are linked not only to drought, but also to changes in land use and population density, according to a new study in Nature Geoscience led by Robert Field of the University of Toronto. http://www.physorg.com/news154540375.html Space & Earth Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:53:38 EST news154540375 An international team of scientists have discovered that rainforest trees are getting bigger. They are storing more carbon from the atmosphere in their trunks, which has significantly reduced the rate of climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news154186040.html Space & Earth Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:27:53 EST news154186040 Farmers across the tropics might raze forests to plant biofuel crops, according to new research by Holly Gibbs, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment. http://www.physorg.com/news153853175.html Space & Earth Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:00:22 EST news153853175 New technology deployed on airplanes is helping scientists quantify landscape-scale changes occurring to Big Island tropical forests from non-native plants and other environmental factors that affect carbon sequestration. http://www.physorg.com/news152011959.html Space & Earth Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:33:06 EST news152011959 A shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation threatens the world's tropical forests but offers new opportunities for conservation, according to an article coauthored by William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. "New Strategies for Conserving Tropical Forests" will be featured in the September issue of the leading journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. http://www.physorg.com/news137176376.html Space & Earth Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:32:56 EST news137176376 Biofuels, by recycling atmospheric carbon, are a potential boon to the world's ailing climate. But efforts in the tropics to significantly expand biofuel production by replacing tropical forests with oil palm, sugarcane and other agricultural biofuels could, in fact, accelerate climate change, according to a new study published this week (July 9). http://www.physorg.com/news134836727.html Space & Earth Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:38:47 EST news134836727