News tagged with animal diversity

Hunting could hurt genetic diversity of sandhill cranes, research suggests

(PhysOrg.com) -- As Wisconsin lawmakers debate whether to establish a hunting season for sandhill cranes, they may want to consider more than just the sheer number of birds, suggests a University of Wisconsin-Madison ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Not the black sheep of domestic animals

Mapping the ancestry of sheep over the past 11,000 years has revealed that our woolly friends are stars among domestic animals, boasting vast genetic diversity and substantial prospects for continued breeding to further boost ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Trees influence epiphyte and invertebrate communities

Studies in temperate regions have demonstrated that genetic differences between individual trees affect the ecological communities and ecosystem processes associated with them. Now scientists at Manchester ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A new model for understanding biodiversity

(PhysOrg.com) -- Animals like foxes and raccoons are highly adaptable. They move around and eat everything from insects to eggs. They and other "generalist feeders" like them may also be crucial to sustaining ...

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study: Triple threat paints grim future for frogs

Frogs, salamanders and other amphibians may eventually have no safe haven left on the globe because of a triple threat of worsening scourges, a new study predicts.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 16, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study reveals for first time true diversity of life in soils across the globe, new species discovered

(PhysOrg.com) -- Microscopic animals that live in soils are as diverse in the tropical forests of Costa Rica as they are in the arid grasslands of Kenya or the tundra and boreal forests of Alaska and Sweden, ...

Biology / Ecology

created Oct 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Brussels plans green EU farming policy

In a radical overhaul of its controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU plans a greener, fairer farm policy by tying subsidies to environmental concerns, according to documents seen by AFP.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Oct 07, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Scientists air new views on how oxygenation affects aquatic life

Recent work at Plymouth University on how animals breathe underwater suggests that decreases in water quality and oxygenation will have an even greater impact on the diversity of aquatic life than was previously thought.

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

New software used in first global camera trap mammal study

A novel software system developed by researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, has been used in the first global camera trap study of mammals, which made international ...

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists produce first stem cells from endangered species

Starting with normal skin cells, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have produced the first stem cells from endangered species. Such cells could eventually make it possible to improve reproduction ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 04, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

History's normal rate of species disappearance is accelerating, scientists say

Biologist E.O. Wilson once pondered whether many of our fellow living things were doomed once evolution gave rise to an intelligent, technological creature that also happened to be a rapacious carnivore, fiercely territorial ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 31, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (16) | comments 11

Female mate choice enhances offspring fitness in an annual herb

In many organisms females directly or indirectly select mates (or sperm) and potentially influence the fitness of their offspring. Mate choice and sexual selection in plants is more complex in some ways than ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 27, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientist cites enlarged skeletal muscles as reason birds exist

A developmental biologist at New York Medical College is proposing a new theory of the origin of birds, which traditionally has been thought to be driven by the evolution of flight. Instead, Stuart A. Newman, Ph.D., credits ...

Biology / Evolution

created Jun 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Significant litter of cheetah cubs born at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Five cheetah cubs were born May 28 to 6-year-old Amani at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va. Amani is a dedicated mother according to keepers, who have observed her nursing ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 11, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Saving wildlife with forensic genetics

Wildlife face many threats with spreading urbanization, including habitat loss and inbreeding when populations become fragmented and isolated. It doesn't help that there is a billion-dollar international industry ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0